Waltey

Prevod

Kamen, ki štrli z enega od visokih bregov Missourija v Južni Dakoti, je dal ime indijanski agenciji Standing Rock, ki je zaradi številnih posvetov, pogodb, spopadov, gostij in plesov, ki so se zvrstili tam, najbolj znana med obmejnimi postojankami. Še pred prihodom belega človeka je bilo to priljubljeno zbirališče Siouxov. Sam kamen je visok le osemindvajset palcev in širok petnajst, tako da bi ga bilo mogoče brez težav izruvati in odnesti, vendar noben rdečekožec ni dovolj pogumen, da bi to storil, saj je to preobraženo telo Indijanke, ki jo je Manitou spremenil v kamen, ker je moža po krivem sumila nezvestobe.

Po preobrazbi ni le ohranila zavesti, temveč je pridobila tudi nadnaravne moči, ki so si jih Siouxi skušali pridobiti z darovi biserov, tobaka in trakov, barvil, krzna in divjadi — navado, ki so jo opustili šele, ko so med njimi začeli učinkovati nauki misijonarjev. Vojaki in lovci na kožuhovino menijo, da je zgodba domiselna zvijača, s katero naj bi preprečili preveč zavzeto poizvedovanje o življenju nekaterih plemenskih veljakov. Arickareeji pa imajo ta kamen za ženo enega svojih bojevnikov, ki jo je tako zabolelo in ponižalo, ko si je njen mož vzel drugo ženo, da je odšla v prerijo in ni ne jedla ne pila, dokler ni umrla; tedaj jo je Veliki duh spremenil v Stoječi kamen. Indijanke se ob domačih težavah še vedno zatekajo k njemu.

Izvirnik

The stone that juts from one of the high banks of the Missouri, in South Dakota, gives its name to the Standing Rock Agency, which, by reason of many councils, treaties, fights, feasts, and dances held there, is the best known of the frontier posts. It was a favorite gathering place of the Sioux before the advent of the white man. The rock itself is only twenty-eight inches high and fifteen inches wide, and could be plucked up and carried away without difficulty, but no red man is brave enough to do that, for this is the transformed body of a squaw who was struck into stone by Manitou for falsely suspecting her husband of unfaithfulness.

After her transformation she not only remained sentient but acquired supernatural powers that the Sioux propitiated by offerings of beads, tobacco, and ribbons, paint, fur, and game--a practice that was not abandoned until the teachings of missionaries began to have effect among them. Soldiers and trappers think the story an ingenious device to prevent too close inquiry into the lives of some of the nobility of the tribe. The Arickarees, however, regard this stone as the wife of one of their braves, who was so pained and mortified when her husband took a second wife that she went out into the prairie and neither ate nor drank until she died, when the Great Spirit turned her into the Standing Stone. The squaws still resort to it in times of domestic trouble.

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