She begins her version of the ohunkaka _Stone Boy (Inyan Hok si)_ by
placing it in relation to the Tagluzaza Topa, which she translates as
"The Cleansing", an event similar to the "Great Flood" recounted by the
Hebrew book _Genesis_. By doing so, she calls to mind the fact that
this story occurred after a cataclysmic event and is part of a renewal
of structures that have maintained the earth ever since that point. In
none of the other versions cited (see chart, pages i - v) is such a
reference found, it is, perhaps, assumed. The inclusion of this
reference, is probably for the benefit of her non-Indian audience and
serves, in this instance, to further her political point that, "if
humans make the wrong choices, they will have to bear the
responsibility of selecting their own genocide."
In establishing the human setting of the story, she chooses the point
in time when there is relative stability in the core "family" that
represents every (Lakota) human family. There are four brothers and
one sister that are, as she notes, "a family of choice, while not
related, come together and choose to be a family." They can also be
seen to be representative of the space we inhabit. The four brothers
can be seen as corresponding to the four directions or the four winds
coming together to one location to define a point in time and space
encircled by the circle of the tipi, their home, often referred to by
the Lakota as a symbol of the cosmos. They are however, static and it
is the inclusion of the feminine force that allows for change and,
thus, life to occur. In many of the versions that have been related,
the first woman who arrives at their tipi is evil and attempts to
destroy all of them. Well, not utterly destroy, but to deanimate them
and construct from their dead parts either a robe (Deloria) or a shield
(Sword) for herself. This misuse of resources for a non-life-giving
and inherently selfish purpose, also points to the practices of the
people prior to "The Cleansing" that necessitated their destruction by
the flood to protect "the work of Hor'e Win (She Makes a Mark =
Creation) [who] was in danger of being interrupted and a time of choice
was among the nations - a red and blue day if Hor'e Win was allowed to
complete her task or the humans could declare for their own decision of
abandoning the robe of creation." The robe of creation that Maka
works on is one composed of the life-giving attributes of the energy
raised by the interaction through kinship relationships - not simply
their dead material parts. Thus, the woman can be seen as a
manifestation or personification of a human society's relationship with
the earth.
When the woman is good, she can also be seen as representation or an
extension of the earth, not only as a female, life-giving aspect, but
also through her ability to animate stone (Inyan). "She had found a
little transparent pebble which she was carrying in her mouth. One
day, while weeping, she chanced to swallow it. The result was that a
little boy was born to her." This exactly parallels the creation
story of the Lakota people. As, Charlotte Black Elk notes in her
version of Otakahe Ekta:
At the time of the first motion, Inyan -from which it is-is.
Before anything had meaning, Inyan is.
the spirit of Inyan is Wakan Tanka -that which is that it is,
is beyond understanding, what makes it what it is and always is.
Inyan is soft and Inyan is supple,
the power of Inyan flows from his blood,
and the blood of Inyan is different
and the difference is blue.
Hanhepi -it is without motion- is then,
but hanhepi does not have meaning,
for Hanhepi is only the dark emptiness
that is the void of space.
Inyan desires that another exist . . .
So, Inyan takes of himself and shapes a disk,
this he wraps over and around himself.
He names this new being, "Maka" -I am from the first.
He desires that Maka be great,
so he opens his veins and
allows his blood to run freely.
All of Maka is great
but her heart is more great and special
and it stands first of all the places of Maka.
Now, Maka becomes the earth,
and the liquid of Inyan's blood
becomes the water, Mini -life sustaining fluid-
circling Maka,
the blue of the sky, Marpiya To -
I am the difference tossed upward
So the other would be Inyan takes of himself, completely,
now his spirit, power, and meaning are reduced.
He now becomes inyan -the stone - brittle and hard . . .
Here, now, within the context of this, the sister's loss of her four
brothers, the four directions can be seen as the loss of a locative
place. She is "Hanhepi" and does not have meaning and is devoid of
space. This would also be true within the Lakota system of kinship
relationships, as Ella Deloria notes in her novel _Waterlily_, "Almost
from the beginning everyone could declare, 'I am not afraid; I have
relatives.' To be cast out from one's relatives was literally to be
lost. To return to them was to recover one's rightful haven."
Therefore, she is in the place within the Creation myth that exists
before the creation of Maka and becomes Maka after she swallows the
stone (inyan). In light of this, I see Ms. Black Elk's inclusion of
the sister's feelings of anger over her pregnancy as interesting.
These feelings are not attributed to her in any of the other versions
of the story I have cited, and must be a result of the non-Lakota
audience to whom this version is directed.
In Marie McLaughlin's version, she transposes the creation of Inyan
Hos ki from a pregnancy to a throwing into the water.
"She picked up a pure white pebble, smooth and round, and after looking
at it for a long time, threw it into the water [a stream]. No sooner
had it hit the water than she saw it grow larger. She took it out and
looked at it and threw it in again. This time it had assumed the form
of a baby."
Although, her reasons for choosing this allegory for the pregnancy may
have been due to Victorian prudery over an unwed, illegitimate
pregnancy, or it could be due to her source being from the Dakota
rather than the Lakota (although she had access to the Lakota and lived
amongst them for most of her life)-in any case, her analogy is correct
according to Lakota motifs. The moving water is the blood of Inyan and
is where his power flows, and the growth of the stone into a baby is
correctly correlated with the interaction (throwing back and forth)
between the male Inyan and the female Maka. This analogy also allows
us to see the Lakota symbolic meaning behind the mother throwing her
child out of the tipi, that is her circle, which is not because she
thinks the child is necessary evil, as noted by Black Elk, but because
it is this interaction that brings about life. When she throws him out
of the tipi where does he go? As seen in McLaughlin's version, he goes
to Inyan, his father, the water and continues to be sent to him, until
he becomes a man who can help his mother.
The return of the brothers is not described in any detail in Black
Elk's version nor is it attributed to any actions(s) of Inyan
Hos ki and thus, it must not be perceived as having any bearing on the
Black Hills case. This section seems to deal with the process of
individuation through the successful navigation between circles in
space. This is traced on his trip between the home (tipi) of his
mother, to his encounter with the old witch (Iya) and her/his
degenerated form of tipi, to the sweatlodge (inipi) where his uncles
are restored, and finally back home. I see, once again, the
reenactment of a form of "The Cleansing" in this portion of the tale in
the life of the family of Stone Boy. Stone Boy acts to destroy a being
(the Iya) that acts to misappropriate (once again) the powers of his
four uncles and keeps them in an inanimate form in (or on) his tipi
(cosmos or construction of the world). There is some support that this
is an reenactment of the first sister's destruction (and therefore, the
previous "cleansing" motif in the story). In Ella Deloria's "Synopsis
of Tales" given in _Dakota Texts_, she notes that the first part of the
Stone Boy tale is similar to that of "Double Face and the Four
Brothers" in which "Double-Face, posing as a young woman, comes to live
with the four brothers as their sister." Once again, it is Hakela
(youngest brother) who discovers her identity and rescues his brothers.
Double-Face is also the Iya, as related to Hakela in another tale by
Iktomi. This corresponds with McLaughlin's version (which lacks a
first evil sister) in which the old witch who captures the brothers
says, "I hate her [the good sister], for I was going to try and keep
house for them and marry the oldest, but she got ahead of me and became
their sister." The witch is identified as the Iya (Double-Face) also
in Bad Wound's version. Thus, the original sister is Iya, as well as
the witch (which could be a reference to the two faces of Double-Face,
which have the same source and each conceal the same intent).
That she would gloss over this aspect of the story is particularly
surprising when, as noted in two of the versions (Bad Wound's and
McLaughlin's), Stone Boy's very reason for existence is to free his
mother's brothers. "My father sent me to you so that I could find my
uncles for you, and nothing can harm me, because I am stone and my name
is 'Stone Boy'", and again, "the Great Beast told her that the four
brothers were kept by a stone and that a stone would find them and
bring them back to her."
In addition to this, by entirely cutting out Iya from her version she
may have lost a very potent archetype for the materialist society she
sees as being very destructive to the earth. As, however, the battle
with the Iya does not take place directly in the home of the Lakota
people, but often, in the home of the Iya, itself, it is not directly
applicable to the Black Hills case, and may have even detracted
somewhat from her argument as to the Black Hills being the specific
location of a 'final battle" between good and evil.
In the sledding scene, Black Elk claims that Inyan Hok si's desire to
smash the cubs is out of jealousy for their beloved (or hunka) status
and as symbolic embodiments of wisdom. In all the other versions where
this scene is included, these beloved children are symbolized by
buffalo, normally four in number, or as in McLaughlin's version, twins,
another way, consistent with Lakota symbolism of conveying a beloved
status. Black Elk, probably uses the bear (mato) to continue a line
of symbolism she developed in a previous story of the Race around the
Black Hills between the winged and the four-legged (Otakuye Topa Wamaka
Og'naka I'Cante oki'inyanke) in order to determine the fate of the
two-leggeds. She attributes the winged's desire to save the
two-leggeds to their respect for the wisdom of the bear. This reason
is not mentioned in her Great-grandfather Black Elk's version
documented in _The Sixth Grandfather_. Charlotte Black Elk's use of
the Mato interpretation, however, demonstrates the pedagogical nature
of the ohunkaka. It allows her to use a symbol, Mato, wisdom to
reconnect humanity to the rest of creation and endow us with a debt and
respect for the powers of the four-legged, the winged and the other
two-leggeds to whom we now owe our existence.
The theme brought up in Bad Wound's version of the ohunkaka is also
expounded in Black Elk's interpretation of the sledding scene. She
interprets Inyan Hos ki's actions to not only arise from a desire to be
feared for being the "one who killed a child so special. All would
clear a path for the one who would crush wisdom," but as the right
thing to do as, "the representation of evil, aligning itself with good,
in this case the esteemed child of the earth the bear, is a lesson that
evil will hide behind goodness (thereby corrupting even wisdom) to
achieve its own ends." Although, this is not so clearly articulated in
any of the other versions of the sledding scene, it may be implied.
This is supported by Bad Wound's version, which does not contain a
sledding scene but espouses a similar interpretation for Inyan Hos ki's
smashing of his father, the stone, who has become evil and made a deal
with the Iya, and we also find the bear (Iya's "child") who helps the
Iya perpetuate his evil deeds, as well. As Stone Boy notes, "I broke
my own father because he was evil." This could also apply to modern
society, in that it can be interpreted as the misuse of a beloved child
of wisdom (science) in our own society for destructive acts against
creation and Maka. The use for evil purposes of inyan, the stone can
be seen in the use by the modern Iya (capitalistic society) of the
energy resources under Maka (the earth), which is, according to the
Creation myth, Inyan (the stone).
The revenge scene, is preluded by the "Old Man" scene (as I have termed
it on my chart). This scene is included to allow us to see who it is
that stands behind these beloved children. In the Lakota way, this
would relate to who it is that holds them beloved and is such high
esteem that they would hold great give-aways in their honor and
provides this with this status. In Black Elk's version we see it is
the monster, Tata Gnaxkiya who as Deloria notes is a bad spirit. In
another ohunkaka documented in _Dakota Texts_, "Boy-Beloved's Blanket",
this monster "Crazy Buffalo" attempts to steal a beloved child's
blanket (identity) and give it to his own child. This supports Black
Elk's premise that it is but an evil spirit attempting to coopt and
misdirect the powers of the good. Stone Boy, therefore is correct in
smashing them like he did his own father who was similarly coopted.
The references to the day that the attack will occur as set up in Black
Elk's version explicitly alludes to another cataclysmic event on the
scale of "The Cleansing". She writes, "the Lakota will be at a time of
war (the day of blowing skies) . . . the moon turning orange is a
symbol of disruption in the balance of wiconi/wicunt'e (the power to
make live and the power to destroy). The earth staggering in her path
is a symbol of final destruction as the earth is dying." Her
description of the day is similar to that of other versions cited,
although she substitutes an orange moon for the "brown-tinged clouds"
described in the other versions and includes a reference to the earth
staggering that is not mentioned in any of the others. This could be
an additional symbol to drive home the point to a non-Lakota audience
in terms that they could appreciate (an earthquake) and presently fear.
In Black Elk's version, the Tata Gnaxkiya also specifies that he wants
part of the root of the tree, she notes this as being, "a reference to
the center of the Lakota "Ho coka" (sacred hoop), where stands the
sacred tree." It is interesting that Bad Wound, in his version,
describes Stone Boy's mother as being from "the heart of the tree,"
thus, as a symbol of Maka (as earlier established) the monster is
asking for part of the earth.
To defend against this attack, Inyan Hos ki, in all versions cited,
must construct circular walls around his home, a circular tipi, all
symbols of wholeness, completeness, the cosmos. It is also the symbol
of the Lakota people, and is a name they use for their own camps, ho
coka and for the Black Hills, Ho coka yapi, a sacred name meaning
simply, the center. Another name for the Black Hills is Otiwita, which
means "home sanctuary". The red race track encircling the Black Hills
is used as a motif in her version to denote the final wall, which is
red in color (sa, also meaning decorated) and shaped like a tipi. This
does not correspond to any of the other versions cited, which describe
four fences (not three as Black Elk stipulates) constructed of wood,
not stone, except is one case. In McLaughlin's version, the final
barrier is constructed at the last minute by Stone Boy (as are all the
barriers in Black Elk's version) and is made of white stone (not red).
Red (sa) and white (ska) are somewhat similar in sound, but connote
slightly endings to the story, I believe. There is of course, the
analogy that the color red possesses to the Black Hills itself, but it
also may be seen as identifying with the Lakota way. Today, red is
associated with the Indian people by most Lakota medicine men and
seeking sanctuary in a red tipi may symbolize seeking sanctuary in
traditional Lakota ways, particularly those associated with the home
and kinship. White on one level, could be seen as signifying the
European lifestyle, as Mrs. McLaughlin herself did espouse. It does
however, also refer back to Stone Boy's own creation from a white
stone, and the shooting up is reminiscent of the "throwing up" of
Marpiya To and another form of birth, as is the "rubbing together" of
the stones as seen in Black Elk's version. This act of "birth",
however produces a child (the stone barrier) that protects him, unlike
his smashing of his own father in Bad Wound's version.
In this last use of symbolism, we can see how a choice has been made,
and as Charlotte Black Elk's notes in her testimony, what distinguishes
us two-leggeds (both the bear and the human) is this proclivity for
choice. It is obvious which choice she would like for the Lakota
people to make and for the White people to support and she has made
this clear through the symbolism of the ohunkaka's pedagogical
grandstand of ideas.
--- Jacqueline.F.Keeler@Dartmouth.edu