John Neihardt Speaks

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"My friend, I am going to tell you the story of my life, as you wish; and if it were only the story of my life I think I would not tell it; for what is one man that he should make much of his winters, even when they bend him like a heavy snow? So many other men have lived and shall live that story, to be grass upon the hills."

from Black Elk Speaks

John G. Neihardt opened his most successful book, Black Elk Speaks with his own words, expressing them in the sense of Black Elk's "mood and manner" for telling his life story (Neihardt 2008). The book reaches us, the readers, as a collaborative effort of many participants, with Black Elk speaking as the Lakota holy man and Neihardt as the poetic writer. The former told the saga, while the latter orchestrated its transcription, translation, and publication, sending a united voice to the universe.

The book's first six paragraphs, in Chapter One, "The Offering of the Pipe," introduce us, as readers, to Black Elk, much as Neihardt may have felt introduced as he came to know the holy man. These paragraphs set the mood, tone, and voice of the book. They express Neihardt's "... own words," wrote Raymond J. DeMallie, in the 2008 edition of Black Elk Speaks. They likewise express, "... his sense of Black Elk's mood and motivation for telling his life story." The holy man and writer have sent a voice.

Six Strands Binding Neihardt and Black Elk 

Neihardt, in this six paragraph introduction, has anchored the strands of Black Elk's saga. The reader will come across these strands throughout Black Elk Speaks.


1. Humility. Neihardt's interpretation of Black Elk's story denotes his appreciation of the humility of this man so well known among the Lakotas and non-Lakotas. He wrote, ...

"My friend, I am going to tell you the story of my life, as you wish; and if it were only the story of my life I think I would not tell it; for what is one man that he should make much of his winters, even when they bend him like a heavy snow? So many other men have lived and shall live that story, to be grass upon the hills."

He notes, that Black Elk clarifies that the tale is " ... not the tale of a great hunter of a great warrior, or of a great traveler," noting that many have done the things he has done. Black Elk practiced humility, and Neihardt certainly appreciated his this in the great Lakota elder.

2. The Universal Story. The Lakota healer told his own tale because "... it is the story of all life that is holy and is good to tell." He told the story as he lived it, "... in happiness and sorrow," Black Elk and his people practiced storytelling as part of an oral tradition, and Neihardt perceived in the Native American the universality.

3. Oneness. Black Elk saw, according to Michael F. Steltenkamp (2009), a "... sacred connectedness everywhere." Here, in the introduction, Neihardt demonstrated this, as he developed Black Elk's introduction, in which the visionary Lakota describes his life as ...

"... the story of all life that is holy and is good to tell, and of us two-leggeds sharing in it with the four-leggeds and the wings of the air and all green things; for these are children of one mother and their father is one Spirit."

3. The Vision. Both Neihardt and Black Elk experienced, separately, visions that gave direction to their lives. Neihardt's vision included a ghostly brother that urged him on and influenced him to move on to become a poet. The Lakota healer's vision, in the book's introduction, was that "of a holy tree that should have flourished in a people's heart with flowers and singing birds, and now is withered." 

Neihardt's introduction sets the scene for Black Elk's vision:

"But now that I can see it all as from a lonely hilltop, I know it was the story of a mighty vision given to a man too weak to use it; of a holy tree that should have flourished in a people's heart with flowers and singing birds, and now is withered; and of a people's dream that died in bloody snow.

But if the vision was true and mighty, as I know, it is true and mighty yet; for such things are of the spirit, and it is in the darkness of their eyes that men get lost."

It seems that both Neihardt and Black Elk attributed great importance to the vision in the life of anyone who had the presence to recognize it.

4. Offering. The book, Black Elk Speaks sends a voice to the Spirit of the World, or the Great Spirit, Wakan Tanka (Standard Lakota Orthography: Wakȟáŋ Tȟáŋka), and Black Elk, as interpreted by Neihardt, in the first chapter introduction, sends a voice for the first time in the text, "...because no good thing can be done by any man alone." 

5. Spiritual Tools. The Lakota peoples, before we condemned them to tiny reservations, wandered the Great Plains, and lived lifestyles in which material belongings were limited to those they were willing to carry with them as nomads. Anyone who has toted a child around easily appreciates, then, that any item that was not a part of meeting daily needs, like eating and providing shelter from the elements, must have had great value. Spiritual tools ranked among these valuable items.

As Neihardt's introductory paragraphs ease into Black Elk's actual dialogue, Black Elk made an offering to "help [him] to be true...," quite possibly a habit that he practiced with appreciable company and discussion of importance. Black Elk readers might note the degree of detail and symbolism associated with what a Wasichu might consider an interruption. Black Elk and Neihardt demonstrate this ceremonial element, together with its material, spiritual tool, to be critical elements of the process.

6. Symbolism. The symbolism we describe, when using the mocassin of the literary practitioner, meant much more to Black Elk, his Lakota family, and Neihardt. This symbolism plays an especially important role for those who aspire to practice Native American beliefs, and in this symbolism, the material and non-material worlds meet and express tangible structure. 

7. Sharing. Neihardt does not specifically mention sharing in his opening interpretation of Black Elk's introduction. However, he does imply it, as the visionary complies with his writer's wish. As discussed above, in the sixth fiber, "Symbolism," Black Elk relates, in what a Wasichu might find a laborious description of the pipe and its construction.

These "threads" weave throughout Black Elk Speaks, and, as we move forward, look for them (and others) that make the book a spiritual monument in Native American literature. So John Neihardt speaks!

...con todas mis relaciones! Aho!

References Cited

• Neihardt, J. G. 2008. Black Elk Speaks. The Premier Edition. Excelsior Editions, State University of New York Press, Albany, New York. 
• Neihardt, John G., and Black Elk. 1972. Black Elk speaks; being the life story of a holy man of the Oglala Sioux. Pocket Books, Third Edition.
• Steltenkamp, M. F., 2009. Nicholas Black Elk: Medicine Man, Missionary, Mystic.  University of Oklahoma Press, as viewed on Google View EBook (https://books.google.com.mx/books?id=Wx-25H6KpWoC&pg=PA225&lpg=PA225&dq=black+elk+connectedness&source=bl&ots=nCamLmg6tc&sig=uRcEEiCNsu-2cCZQ3nzJH1HaFNw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjz-O_0wpnRAhXprlQKHWeSBPQQ6AEIGzAA#v=onepage&q=black%20elk%20connectedness&f=false), Reviewed 29 December 2016.