Black Elk's Speech

Information Technology High School
Ms. Hyde
English 6
4-13-08
Marya Altaf




You have noticed that everything an Indian does is always done in a circle, and that is because the Power of the world always works in circles.

Everything the power of the world does is done in a circle. The sky is round and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball and so are all the stars. The wind, in its greatest power, whirls. Birds make their nests in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours. The sun rises and sets back down in a circle. The moon does the same. Even the seasons form a great circle.

The east gave peace and light, the south gave warmth, the west gave rain and the north with its wind gave strength and hope.

The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood. The nation's hoop is a nest of many nests, where the Great Spirit meant for us to hatch our children, our loved ones.

Black Elk
Oglala Sioux 1863-1950