The Plowboy Interview
(Page 12 of 18)
So they were as cast ashore as humans could be. And
starving and naked before too long, as you'd imagine. When
nearly dead, as he describes it in his account, they were
taken in by Indians and nursed to health. They were treated
well-as well as could beand then passed along. So they
started traveling westward and went from group to group,
being accepted everywhere they , went. They weren't speared
or hunted down, and the people they encountered as they
moved from group to group weren't fighting with each other.
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Initially-for the first year or two-they were more or less
in shock, h,. then, at one point along the journey, a group
brought some sick people. Cabeza de Vaca, and he was asked
to heal them (he had learned a kin,: . sign language by
then, had gradually developed a means of communications.
And he said that he had never been a healer, that he had
never thought of himself as having any power to heal. But
the sick people were there, dill so he prayed. Being a
Catholic, he said, "Well, at least I can pray."
And the people got well! Of course, then more and more
patients were brought to him and he found that he
was a healer. He felt a real power of healing
rising v :in him. As a result of that power, he became
quite famous.
At any rate, at the end of his travels he wrote a letter to
the king, describing his adventures in North America, and
said, in effect, "On the paths-and trail, w the New \C
World hour Majesty ; people without weapons, naked andf
powerless, the natives of the New World, meet each other at
the crossroads of their world and plumb the depths of each
other simply by a look in the eyes." And he added, "A
greater gulf separates the New World from the Old World
than can ever be described."
He left us a good account of primitive (or
pre-white-contact) North America, which was a world in
which there were no policemen; it was a world in which you
might take your chances. But, on balance, a person with
courage and a straightforward look and a spirit of
generosity could walk across all the boundaries with no
difficulty.
That was true, of course, because part of the
ethics of the old ways was never to be stingy and
to always be hospitable. That was so even with the most
warlike Plains Indian tribes (who became warlike
after they got the horse). If you could get inside
the tepee and sit down as a guest, they wouldn't harm you.
You could go into an enemy village, wearing all of the gear
that showed that you were a member of the opposing
tribe, and-though you might be cut down going
through the villageif you got inside somebody's
tepee and sat down, they wouldn't touch you: You'd become a
guest. You'd be served food, and you'd be given safe
conduct outside the boundaries of the village. Then you'd
be on your own again. [Laughter]
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