A cold wind blew off Hanging Dog Mountain and I had no fire, nor dared I strike so much as a spark that might betray my hiding place. Somewhere near, an enemy lurked, waiting.
Here there is land for all, and no man need work for another.
‘There is but one thing we know, Ni’kwana, and that is that nothing forever remains the same. Always there is change. Your people have remained long undisturbed by outside influences. This may seem good, but it can be bad also, for growth comes from change. A people grows or it dies.’
…it had been the way of the world for men, animals and plants to move where there is opportunity and where they can survive.
‘The Kickapoo are strong because of our enemies. Deny us our enemies and we would grow weak.’
Uninformed he might be, but unintelligent he was not … (Jubal Sackett on his companion Koekotah)
‘The Natchee will not change.’
For a long moment, I hesitated and then I said, ‘I fear there will be no future for those who do not change. When there are no new ideas things can remain the same, but strangers are coming with different ways – ‘
‘There are strangers in our villages. There has been no change.’
‘I noticed one of your men with a steel knife, a white man’s knife. That is a change. I saw one of your women sewing with a steel needle. That is a change. Do not others want such knives and needles?’
‘We do not need them.’
‘Need and desire have no connection,’ I said. ‘Many people desire things they do not need. Happiness can be measured by what one does not need, but often to see is to want.’
I am here. Why? Because I wanted to see, to know, to understand. I wanted to go beyond the plains. I want even to go beyond the mountains where we now are. I think I am in this world to find beauty in lonely places. At least, that is what I wish to think.
All things are valued according to their scarcity, and a time might come when this gift would seem as nothing. What was worth little to us was worth much to them because they were things they could not get elsewhere.
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