Black Elk's Journal

The offering of the pipe

Black Elk believes himself as a symbol of his tribal values. According to him, he embodies the spiritual forces which have been bestowed upon him by the superiors of his tribe. In the first chapter, he has mentioned how the sacred pipe came to his tribe and the values borne by it.

"Behold!! She said. "With this you shall multiple and be a good nation. Nothing but good shall come from it. Only the hands of the good shall take care of it and the bad shall not even see it." Then, she sang and went out of the tepee; and as the people watched here going. (Niehardt 3)"

In most of the religions of the world, there is always a character who is message bearer. It is amazing to see this similarity in the tribal history of Black Elk as well....
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