“A little while and I will be gone from among you, whither I cannot tell. From nowhere we came, into nowhere we go. What is life? It is a flash of a firefly in the night. It is a breath of a buffalo in the winter time. It is as the little shadow that runs–”
Dying words of Chief Crowfoot, Alberta Blackfoot warrior and orator, looking over Bow River, Alberta, April 25, 1980.
Did he die mid sentence there?
I take it he was a Native Canadian. Do they live on reservations like in the US? There always seems to be a certain sadness in Native American/Canadians.
[quote]comedypedro wrote:
Did he die mid sentence there?
[/quote]
no. there was a pause to insert the glycerin teardrop that would down his cheek as he watched people litter from their vehicles. oh wait, that was sometime in the early/mid '70s. never mind.
DB
[quote]dollarbill44 wrote:
comedypedro wrote:
Did he die mid sentence there?
no. there was a pause to insert the glycerin teardrop that would down his cheek as he watched people litter from their vehicles. oh wait, that was sometime in the early/mid '70s. never mind.
DB[/quote]
Didn’t he get eaten by Woodsy Owl and Smokey the Bear?
[quote]danreeves1973 wrote:
Didn’t he get eaten by Woodsy Owl and Smokey the Bear?
[/quote]
No… Prof X.
I’ve re-read the quote a few times and now I have a couple of questions:
Who used whither in 1980 (or was it 1880, which I could then understand because they spoke funny back then)?
“It is as the little shadow that runs–”
What the hell does that mean? Shadows don’t move by themselves. Maybe he should have stopped after the first few comparisons. Maybe that’s why it trails off in mid-sentence, like he understood that he’d gone too far already and there was no way to salvage the thought.
DB
[quote]dollarbill44 wrote:
I’ve re-read the quote a few times and now I have a couple of questions:
Who used whither in 1980 (or was it 1880, which I could then understand because they spoke funny back then)?
“It is as the little shadow that runs–”
What the hell does that mean? Shadows don’t move by themselves. Maybe he should have stopped after the first few comparisons. Maybe that’s why it trails off in mid-sentence, like he understood that he’d gone too far already and there was no way to salvage the thought.
DB[/quote]
it’s supposed to be a metaphor for something. Frankly I’m impressed the guy was that lucent and creative as he was dying.
I remember what they said my Uncle Mikes last words were…“You said your husband wouldn’t be home till 9.”