Re: OT - DOGS
- To: Multiple recipients of list <i*@rt66.com>
- Subject: Re: OT - DOGS
- From: "* G* C* <j*@erols.com>
- Date: Mon, 5 Jan 1998 18:49:28 -0700 (MST)
Jeff and Carolyn Walters wrote:
>
> Griff Crump writes:
>
> > Well, John, with full knowledge that I am stepping onto "terra infirma",
> > I would say that, for all of their endearing qualities, there is still
> > something about dogs that evokes a pejorative connotation when compared
> > with whatever is favored. Witness the Cheyenne -- a proud and resilient
> > people, yet described to Europeans by their neighbors, the Sioux, as
> > "les chiens" -- "dogs".
>
> OTOH, did not those same Cheyenne refer to the members of their elite
> warrior society as the Dog Soldiers?
>
Jeff -- The dog apparently occupied an ambivalent place in Indian
society, as in European society. Among the plains Indians, the dog was a
beast of burden, the hauler of loads before the horse, regarded as a
nuisance in camp (LaFarge, A Pictorial History of the American Indian),
but also a sentinel. The Cheyenne, Hidatsa and Mandans, among others,
had Dog Societies or Kit-Fox Societies whose members performed
police-type duties and were pledged to heroism in war. Sitting Bull, a
Hunkpapa Sioux, was a member of the Kit-Fox Society. "Dog Soldier", as I
recall from various readings, was applied with grudging admiration to
the Cheyenne by their opponents, the U.S. Cavalry.
I recently heard a presentation by an Oneida (Iroquois) woman, who said
that her grandfather related a tale of the time when dogs could speak in
the language of humans. The problem, he said, was that dogs talked too
much. When one came to visit, the dogs would rush out to meet the guest,
announcing "They say you only come to visit when it is supper time!", or
"They say you always stay too long!" Because of this, the Creator told
the dogs, "You will no longer be able to speak in the language of
humans. From this time on, you will only be able to bark." And so it is
that when you come to visit someone, the dogs rush out to meet you,
saying "Bark, bark bark!" They are trying to tell you all that they have
heard, but they cannot be understood.
Griff Crump, along the tidal Potomac near Mount Vernon, VA
jgcrump@erols.com
