FOLLOWING A WINDING PATH
As she pulls berries from the canes, tears silently fall into her gathering basket. Closing her
eyes lessens not one of the pains, the physical nor the emotional she knows. Not one of her needs
will be met, the price of choices made many, many summers ago...Let me tell you the story of
Sunalie Noquisi.....
In the summer of Noquisi’s 12 th year, the white settlers had come within 50 miles of her
town. As the years passed, game was getting scarce as the settlers hunted all, males, females,
does with fawns. The eastern buffalo was no more, even ducks and geese were getting harder
and harder for men and women to find. The men tried to show their white neighbors why they
must obey Ga’lu’ho’s Way, that you must take only what you need and always leave enough for
the next, but they were laughed at and patted on the back in much the same way the Uncles
would when No’qui’si’s brothers said or did something foolish. The women’s fields of corn,
beans, and squash had to be made larger and larger each growing season. Fresh deer meat in
the iron cook pots was becoming a treat instead of the norm.
Trade goods at Tom’s Forks were a delight to No’qui’si. She wore trade cloth shirts, skirts and leggings. She sat for hours in her family’s cabin, beading their moccs and shoulder bags along side her (E’tsi) Mother and (E’li’si) Grandmother, all working by the light of the oil lamp(E’do’da) Dada obtained by trade. No’qui’si worked just as hard in the fields, hoeing the corn, beans, and squash. Chasing goga (crow) out, tying the gi’tli (dogs) in the fields at night to keep kv’tli (raccoon) from wasting so much good green corn. She worked at weaving honeysuckle vine baskets to be used to trade for needles, thread, beads, cloth and anything else No’qui’si may need, and sometimes just want, like the beautiful silver ear drops she got in trade for 3 large baskets she wove. Sometimes, Tom would offer some stick candy,but Dada always gave one side shake of his head and hold up his hand.
Time passed some more and the Cherokee had allied themselves with Andrew Jackson in his Red Stick War against the Creek people. In fact, Cherokee saved Jackson from death at Horseshoe Bend. Jackson’s way of appreciating this was to sign the Removal Act... ordering the Cherokee, the Creek, the Choctaw, the Chickasaw, and the Seminole Nations to give up their sacred Mother lands and move west to “new” lands. Some Cherokees accepted this and sold the lands to the US government, but the majority of Cherokees wouldn’t hear of such a thing, so Jackson ordered all the people gathered together into what was really stockades. Soldiers and riffraff swarmed over Cherokee lands, grabbing Indian people as they found them... no time to gather anything.
No’qui’si’s father heard the news of what was coming and sat her down. He told her they may
not be able to stay together, he heard families were being separated, taken to different places.
He told her should that happen to get to Tom’s Fork as quick as she could. Tom would help her
to stay safe. ‘Qui’si was but not too worried... Father had always kept them safe.
‘Qui’si was at the creek washing clothes when she heard shouting ... then gunfire ... more shouting ... her Mother’s and Grandmother’s wails of anguish filled the air .... The sounds getting lower and lower as if they were moving away from her. ‘Qui’si ran toward the cabin. The first thing she saw were two of her youngest brothers lying on the ground, the little bows and bird arrows under them. They had been shot ... and lie dead with the morning sun shining on their faces. ‘Qui’si closed her eyes against the terrible pain in her heart ... boys...11 summers and 8 summers. The door to the cabin was open ... she ran into the cabin ... noone was there. Outside she ran for the back where the horses were kept. As she came round the corner ... The silent scream started in her gut and rose like ice through her to her throat where it became the chilling cry of a woman in absolute grief. There, lying in a heap together, was Dada, Ta’li Yona (Two Bears) 35 summers and two more brothers, Osada Wodi (Good Hawk) 13 summers,
their hunting rifles gone, the horses gone, Mother and Grandmother gone, (Us’ti) Baby, little sister, 1 summer, gone.
‘Qui’si sunk to the ground, wailing, pulling on her hair, scratching her face and arms until the blood ran in streams, the physical pain did nothing to stop her spirit from crying out to join
her loved ones. She went from one to the other, straightening them, brushing away the dirt.
She carried the two youngest and lay them next to their Father. Standing, she went to the cabin and got blankets for the two youngest boys and wrapped them carefully. Making three more trips she brought out the buffalo robes. Preparing her Father and two other brothers took a long time. She had the strength to do what needed to be done. Going back inside she brought out the shovel her Father had traded for. Beginning what needed to be done. As ‘Qui’si dug the graves, she heard a horse coming at a fast gallop ... she silently slid her work knife into the top of her legging ... and continued to dig. “Let what happens .... happen”, she was thinking. “I am ready”.
The horse and rider was in the cabin yard now. She could hear the animal breathing in great gulps of air. “Siyo, tsu’na’li”. It was Trader Tom. ‘Qui’si didn’t answer, she kept on doing what needed to be done ... silently praying the ancestors understood the need for haste.
“Where is everyone?” Tom came around the corner of the cabin and saw the three buffalo robes wrapped in burial way around three bodies ... two smaller bodies wrapped in trade blankets from his own place. He saw ‘Qui’si
... digging .... digging .... digging.
Tom closed his eyes, these were people he respected, liked, considered friends since Two
Bears had come to him and asked that her come by to visit and eat with him and his family. He
quietly carved on a piece of wood while the daughter of this good man dug until she could dig no
more, as she leaned on the shovel, exhausted, Tom walked over and gently took the tool away
from her, led her to sit beside what remained of her family. He worked until he had five openings in the earth. “Qui’si rose and went into the cabin. When she returned she was carrying a honeysuckle vine basket. In it were belongings of her Father’s and her four brothers. Tom
helped her to lay each one into the earth, standing silently as she said prayers for each one,
watching as she knelt and laid each ones possessions along side them. She laid some gift on the
chest of each one and a sprinkle of tobacco. She poured a handful of dirt on each one as she
finished the prayers, then she knelt and wailed and wailed. Tom’s blood froze, he had never
witnessed such grief. He filled each grave gently while silently saying his own prayers such as
they were for his friend and his friends’ sons.
Tom picked up the piece of wood he had been carving and he placed it at the head of Two Bears’ grave. He and No’qui’si stood for a moment, then turned away.
The board read :
Two Bears
lived good
Aug 28,1838
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
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