The Lakota Way and Story Telling

While readin the Lakota way I seem to have been pulled into it quite quickly.  This book has pulled me in quicker than a bunch of the others we have read this semester.  I believe the reason why is because it is written just like someone telling a story.  The voice I have created in my head for the narrator is an elder, with a soft voice, and I am sitting in front of a fire or at a dinner table.  The way this book is written suggests contentment, at least to me.  Starting with the very first story, it reminds me of a style of story telling that may not necessarily be as exciting as, let's say, the Trickster Tales--but it is real.  It is about real people which makes it very interesting.

This particular kind of story telling pulls me in more than others because it focuses on real people and real events while not being too grandiose or too above my head.  There are explanations, the stories are not too abstract, and the history is not too dense.  It is very much so a beginner's listening guide to the Lakota, in my opinion.

One of the most intriguing stories is the second one about Crazy Horse, playing off of the humility of the first story.  The narrator makes him very human, very real.  He is no longer legendary or just in a history book, he becomes a person who is shy, who is humble, who is a leader not because he is asked to be one but because people trust him.  I really love that the narrator clarifies that Crazy Horse rarely ever decked his outfits out with extravagant decorations, or any decoration at all.  On page 11 there is a short paragraph higher up on the page that goes "For all his life Crazy Horse was painfully shy and probably spoke in public only twice.  Though he was entitled to wear the symbols of his many achievements on the battlefield--eagle feathers--he was known to dress plainly.  If he wore any decoration, at all it was usually a single feather."  The picture to the left is of Crazy Horse, reputedly.

Humility is made to be a main component of the Lakota's way of life.  It is important for every Lakota to practice.  It is described to us in the first story, the story of No Moccasins and Three Horns.  The story that Three Horns tells on his deathbed is that No Moccasins, once called Carries the Fire, saved him from an enemy tribe and that is the only reason he was able to grow and become a fine warrior with many achievements--because his wife allowed it to be so.  Three Horns then told all the elders that he wished for his wife to have all of his awards for years of being a warrior, he did not wish to be buried in any of those things he had achieved.  Beginning the book this way is touching and pulled me in.  I'm not sure if it was because I thought the first story sweet, that a husband would admit to everyone that he was not responsible for his own awards, or if I was intrigued.  I think I little bit of both.  I was intrigued that this was how the author chose to begin the book, but I am not disappointed.  It is obvious now that humility is an important aspect of the Lakota culture and that to understand the "Lakota Way" we must begin here.