Miriam Moore reads TheWalkingPeople:ANativeAmericanOralHistory, by Paula Underwood.

230-35

The People begin the talk together about two young men who were always curious about the People and their experiences before they had joined the People.

The Two Strong Men laugh at what women might invite two such old men to sit with them at the fire.  They gain the Wester Ocean, and learn the path for a whole people, counting day-distance, their awareness bringing them to the flat grassland where their people might be.  They had much on the mind, planning the path by walking many directions, marking the way for many circles of seasons. 

Two Strong Brothers began a long search for  possibility between these never-ending mountains. moving West, South, and southwest.

beginning song

We walk south, and two strong young men decide, and are allowed by the People, to go south, traveling for many years, to find the way through these never-ending mountains, seeking a way West to edge of ocean.

From tree to grassland, sung in her elder years, Eight Winter Child listened to Ancient Wisdom:  She listened to the songs of Ancient Wisdom, and now sings them to us. This is a long ago long ago, long ago song before we found our edge of ocean home on the Great Island we left behind.

A quiet humming is heard among the People, She of Ten Winters stood. We listen and appreciate the words of our progeny, spoken by this one.  The danger of  oceans running fast is before us, and we must devise a path again here.  Many echoes of her words were heard. Tthis is our new purpose. 

the nature of many difficult crossings with thoughts only of the descendents

finding the edge of mountain for Ancient Vision to. see the nature of our purpose and possibility