& so it was in a country across the water, she gave birth to a son & wrapped him in a buffalo robe. The raccoon & elk & deer gathered in the hogan-manger. & there were shepherds, or animal-watchers, in the field, & lo, an angel, a spirit-being with wings, a bird-person, appeared the way a coyote or tumbleweed crosses the headlights on a reservation road at night. & the high-beam of Wakan Tanka, the Great Spirit, shined as if all the campfires of the stars burned at once. & the animal-watchers, the shepherds, were afraid. But the angel said, fear not, for the news is good. Unto all people this night is born a Chief who is Wovoka, Christ our Lord. & suddenly there were other angels & hosts of spirit-beings in war-paint & feathers shouting their war-cries & praising Wakan Tanka, the Great Spirit, who had sent a Chief to walk among us. Though still a baby he would be the light for our darkness. He would be the sustenance for our lives. & the angels & war-beings chanted glory in heaven & on earth, a peace-pipe. Then all the spirit-beings flew back to heaven, & the elk & deer & caribou returned to the woods, & the Wovoka baby slept in the manger. Meanwhile, 3 scouts, 3 Medicine Men, made their vision-quest under one star still burning like a yard-light on the prairie. As if the Great Spirit didn’t want to leave the baby, or in case the baby wanted to migrate back from earth. So the Medicine Men hurried with their bundle-gifts to find a hogan in Bethlehem. They hurried to find the Wovoka-child wrapped like a holy ear of corn.
Excerpt from Claiming Breath by Diane Glancy. © 1992 by the University of Nebraska Press. Used with permission.
