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Keith Bear is a world-renowned Mandan-Hidatsa storyteller
and musician from the Three Affiliated Tribes
in Fort Berthold, ND.
He shares the rich history of his people
through new and traditional
Native American songs and stories, many of which
have been passed down for hundreds of years.
[playing very melodically]
♫
(Keith) I started telling these stories to my children.
There are stories that I heard as a child as I grew up.
My name is O'Mashi! Ryu Ta
in the language of my mother, the Nu E'ta people.
This was given to me when I joined the military.
This is my Mandan name.
This name in the Nu E'ta language translates
to "the bright light that waves in the north sky,"
and in English, my name is Northern Lights.
My everyday name, the name I go by,
the white man name was given to me as a child, is Keith Bear.
A lot of people from around
America would come to visit
at our home, and when they
would come to visit
they would bring stories about their people.
As a child, I was fascinated with those stories
because they were so good.
I wanted to be like those guys.
The arts are to entertain,
but they're also to teach,
and they tell a story about a person or a thing
that's happening or wants to happen.
You can use them to call for something.
You can use them to bless something.
You can us them for prayers; you can use them for love.
You can use them for war, your exploits.
So when I would tell these to non-Indian people,
trying to describe it, you know, using the war club,
it's not just a rock and a stick.
This is a grandfather; this rock is somebody who has been here
forever, and this stick is part of that tree of life,
and you use that to build your home,
you use it to cook your food, you use it to hunt with,
you use it now to protect the people.
It just depends on what item you're talking about
because everything that we have has a story.
There's also that singular power you have,
the opportunity to become
something more than
what you are with the stories,
to do your best at whatever you can.
Maybe we're not always the best.
We have a lot of our stories that say
well, that didn't quite work out that time for the coyote,
or it didn't work out in that love way for this man,
or in that war aspect, he had to learn things.
And so we're not always a success,
but we learn to deal with life,
realizing that life has failures,
that we need to teach our children how to deal with that.
There's more to the story
than just the words.
It's the thought concept, it's the physical process
of those animals with those stories and the imagination
that are just thought provoking for these children.
That's what we want them to do-- think!
[flute plays softly]
♫
Here along the great smokey waters,
today it's called the Missouri River,
we the Nu E'ta, we have always lived here.
We have lived here for many generations,
and over those generations
we were known far and wide as generous people.
We were known far and wide as those who have the best gardens.
And so they would come from the north, the east,
the south and the west, and they would gather here
along the shores of this great river,
and when they came, they would bring things
from the mountains that we don't have.
They would bring things from the north that we don't have,
the south and the east-- here they would gather.
When they would gather, there would be good trading
and there would be good songs,
and there was lots of good dancing.
Many relatives were made,
and a lot of children came the next year.
So when these people come, everybody gathers.
We may have been enemies last week, maybe last month,
but when they come, they raise their hand
and they come in peace.
We have set aside our differences.
And there was a time when this young man,
he lived there in the village with the Nu E'ta people,
and his name was Turtle.
He was raised by his grandparents
because his mother and father had left this world,
and this child was a little bit slow and they called him Turtle
because he just laid there and looked
with those big, beautiful, brown eyes,
and he was always quiet just like a turtle.
So they taught him.
The uncles would take him and show him how to make a bow.
The grandfather took him and showed him how to hunt.
The grandmother showed him songs and things
about how to make moccasins and how to make good things.
The uncles and those who taught him the ways of war
and the ways of men, they taught him very well,
and as he grew, he became known for his generosity.
When he went hunting, he always brought back things
for those men that had been injured in war,
he gave things to those women who had children and no man,
he gave things to the elders who had very few to hunt for them,
take care of them, but he always provided for his grandparents
who did a very good job of raising him.
"Someone is coming!" they said. "There are many horses coming.
Prepare yourselves." They didn't know to prepare
for battle or for war or for friendship.
We always were ready to fight.
And so we were ready when we heard them
coming over the hills, and as they brought all those horses,
they were singing the song [speaks Nu E'ta].
Horses, they were singing songs to those horses
about how they dance
and how they were beautiful in the sunlight.
And as they came into the village, the people were happy.
It was like thunder upon the ground.
And all that dust was flying, and in the middle of that dust,
there was one beautiful voice that he heard.
So Turtle, he watched as those horses went by,
and the dust cleared a little bit, and he saw
the long flaxen hair, just like a raven's wing,
just dark and beautiful blue, shining.
And the voice that came out was just beautiful,
and it found a place in his heart.
That night, that's all he could think about.
And that night he said, "All through the night
I have dreamed of you, and all through the night
you have been my dream."
I woke this morning and I sat upon the hill
and I waited for you to bring sunlight into the day.
As I sat, I twisted sweet grass with the flowers that grow.
When you stepped from your lodge,
you stepped upon the earth,
the sun began to shine, the birds began to sing,
the butterflies began to dance, and my heart began to pound.
When you walked towards me
I wanted to say beautiful things to you,
but when I looked into your eyes, I became lost.
My mind was like a cloud, I could not think,
my tongue was so thick I could not speak.
I lowered my eyes to the ground
and I raised my hand with this bracelet,
and you took it from me as you walked past.
And I turned and looked after her and I said,
there goes the light of my life.
There goes the source of my desire.
There goes the woman of my dreams.
And all through the night I dreamed of you,
and all through the night I shall dream of you again.
One morning he took that chance
when he seen the brother taking the horses to water.
He crawled through the grass.
He crawled up behind her and he got close enough,
and he took a stick, and he poked her in the ankle,
and she lifted her ankle and she said
"What are you doing here? Don't you know my brothers
will beat you? What are you doing here?"
He said "I had to find out your name."
"Don't you know that they're going to kill you?"
He said "Death would be sweet. I have to know your name."
And she said, "My name is Pretty Crane.
And you, you look just like a turtle in the grass."
And he said "That's who I am.
I am Turtle, of the Nu E'ta people."
And several times they met like this down by the river.
And so he made a song for her,
a song that made him feel good.
♫ Oh my honey don't you know ♫
♫ That I'll be with you tonight ♫
♫ We'll go walking by the water ♫
♫ We'll hold hands in the moonlight ♫
♫ [sings in Nu E'ta] ♫
♫ [sings in Nu E'ta] ♫
But you know, we have stories,
and if you look down there
in the springtime, if you look down there in the summer
or in the fall, you watch.
Have you seen them cranes?
You can hear them calling.
You watch down there by the river.
Do you see that one standing on one leg?
Is she talking to a turtle?
You see, that's what we believe.
We believe that she was given back to the Spirit,
and we believe that his spirit went to join her,
and they were put back on this earth to inspire a young man.
Take your time, have a strong heart.
Her voice gave beauty to the earth.
Her love gave strength to a man.
And so that's the way it was long ago.