FROM THE SIOUX

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 137, 31 August 1927, Page 6

FROM THE SIOUX

TO SILVER RIPPLE Silver Ripple maid of the Wigwam: Hast seen the autumn leaf caught by the swift current of the flooded river? Poor helpless thing—it goes whirling and eddying away, borne far by the dark and relentless tide. So it is with the Sioux whose voice is sometimes heard in the circle of the Wigwam. Is there not a River of Life, swift, silent and unrelenting, sweeping the human leaves along the earthly trail and out to the deep seas? I have heard your voice. Redfeather, ever watchful for the children of the Wigwam, has spoken, saying: “Is the fountain dry?” Has the Sioux no message from the far trails?” And I answer: “Hear my voice, O Chief. The leaf on the eddying tide is not master of itself. And even as the leaf, so are the human fragments on the swift River of Life. They are carried afar until voices sound but faintly and then are lost. But joy! Some kindly current sweeps them back.” “Ah, then, you have a message?” “Yes,” I answer. “It is for Silver Ripple, the faithful one, and its words run thus: Every stream and far-flung ocean has a kindly tide; every weary, storm-tossed bosom has a tender side. When the Moon god mounts the heavens, peace is his decree, and his tokens—Silver Ripple—on the flowing sea.” What would the waters be without the bounty of the Moon god—or the Wigwam without its namesake? Alas, I know not. The heart of the Sioux is ever with the faithful ones. Joy be to thee, Silver Ripple. —Sitting Bull.