*First published in Pleiades, 2000. Lakewood, CO.
*THE SNAKE
BY
KEITH LAUFENBERG

'1'
THE CHASE

Nature teaches beasts to know their friends.
Shakespeare. Coriolanus. Act ii, sc. 1, 1. 6.




The daylight was fading fast, as the Indian made his way through the forest hurriedly. He was Black Eagle, a Cherokee and a member of one of the many clans that were being forced from their homes and off the lands that the white men called North Carolina and Georgia. The white men wished these lands for themselves, and did not wish as much the lands they called Oklahoma, and so they gathered up the Cherokee tribes and forced them to travel to the Oklahoma lands to live. The white men were crazy, all the Real People knew this, because they thought they could own the land, which all Cherokees knew was the Great Spirit's and no human being could claim to own; they laughed at this crazy thought but they no longer laughed when the white soldier coats began forcing them from their homes and killing many of their braves, and even their women and children. The white men wanted the land and they wanted the Cherokees out of the way but many Cherokees were in hiding and would not be taken. Black Eagle was one of these and he was running through the forest with two soldiers fast on his trail. He hurried down the dirt trail but then stopped suddenly, as he felt something under his moccasin. He bent down and saw that it was only a large brown earthworm and reached over and picked it up, examining it. Seeing it was only slightly hurt Black Eagle set it down, away from the beaten trail where it could be crushed to death. Black Eagle knew that the worm was a living thing and also knew that it was an essential part of growing healthy crops, during the planting season. He cocked his head slightly and heard hoof-beats off in the distance, the soldier coats were closer than he had expected. He stooped over, towards the worm, and hissed:
'Ah, Earth-eater, I am sorry I stepped on you and I place you away from the trail in a safer place and wish you good luck and success in your future, as I know you do me.'�
As Black Eagle stood up, the worm, as if on cue, began swallowing particles of dirt through its front end, passing them through his body, and then depositing them out the other end, where they became a finer, more fertile nutritive and productive soil. He stood up and was about to run down the trail when he felt an ominous presence and glancing to his right saw a huge rattlesnake, coiled and ready to strike. Black Eagle relaxed and nodded at the snake, then said:
'Ah, Brother Snake, I am in a hurry and mean you no harm. There are soldier coats after me and they mean me great harm, they would kill me if they catch me, as they will you also. They are not Real People and they take everything we have and they kill without compunction or remorse. They do not know the Great Spirit as we do. Go in peace, Brother Snake, but beware of these devils for they will kill you and they will do it for no reason.
The rattler slithered away, even as Black Eagle continued down the pathway, his speed increasing, even as his smooth moccasins failed to betray his whereabouts.


-2--
THE SNAKE

Man spurns the worm, but pauses ere he wake
The slumbering venom of the folded snake;
The first may turn-but not avenge the blow;
The last expires-but leaves no living foe.
Byron, The Corsair. Canto 1, st. 11.





Sergeant Terry 'Red' Calahan nodded at Private Buck Phillips and rolled a cigarette, then lit it. Exhaling a stream of noxious smoke through his nostrils, Calahan barked:
'Way-yull, I guess it looks like this ol' Injun's slowin' down, huh Buck?'�
'Yeah, we oughta be comin' up on'nim now pretty soon Sarge. See those broken branches, he's in a hurry, who-whooo, a real hurry, huh Sarge?'�
Calahan smiled and jammed his spurs into his mount but the horse became skittish and reared up in the air, just as Phillips saw the cause of the horses excitement.
'Gee'zuz Sarge, over there, a damn rattler; gee'zuz he's a big'gun too.'�
Calahan saw the eight-foot rattler was coiled and poised to strike and screamed:
'Shoot 'im Buck, shoot 'im NOW!'�
Private Buck Phillips pulled the trigger on his six-shooter but just as he did Calahan's mount reared up again and the bullet hit the horse just below his left eye. He collapsed onto Phillips' horse and both riders spilled to the ground, where the rattlesnake awaited them, sinking his poisonous fangs first into Calahan and then, quickly into Phillips.
Black Eagle was less than a mile from this engagement and heard the gunshot, just as it reverberated throughout the forest. He saw Phillips' horse walking in the distance and called to him; he called to him not as a superior, in a gruff, loud tone, but softly and humbly, as a brother, for Black Eagle well-knew that the horse was a brother to the Cherokee.

2
-3-
ESCAPE

Tyrants are a money-loving race.---Sophocles, Antigone, 1. 1056.




As the sun slowly faded into the darkness of night, Black Eagle rode the soldiers' horse, heading east, into a wooded area that he knew many Anikawi Cherokees were, in hiding. Although he was Anidzogohi Cherokee, a member of the Wolf Clan, he knew that his brothers in the Deer Clan would welcome him, for they were all Cherokees, all brothers and all united in their beliefs; they knew that the white men were crazy and must be avoided, at all costs. They were determined to die if necessary, before submitting their will to that of the white soldier coats, who they knew wanted to kill them anyway. They would listen to the Great Spirit and their medicine men, their holy men who talked with the Great Spirit and who told them that they must walk the red road, the path to peace and transcendence and stay off of the white man's dark path that led only to materialism and suffering. If the white men killed them they knew they would go and live with the Great Spirit, in the spirit land, and not below the earth, where the Great Dragon lived and where the white man's road led.
Black Eagle pulled his horse up to a slow gait, as he sensed danger, but then smiled when he saw one of his Cherokee brothers walk out of the forest to greet him.
It was Lone Wolf, from his own clan, and they greeted one another warmly. They exchanged information of the chase and Black Eagle told of his encounter with Brother Snake and the sound of gunfire. As Black Eagle joined his brother Cherokees and they disappeared into the forest, they all knew that the soldier coats would not be coming now, as Brother Snake had seen to that, the white soldier coats would try to kill him, as they looked upon everything as an enemy instead of a friend to live peacefully with, and the Cherokees knew that Brother Snake was very wily and powerful when he knew his enemy was coming to do him harm.










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