Wohpe And The Gift Of The Pipe Analysis

Native Voices Oral tradition, used by Native Americans, is their way of passing down stories from generation to generation. The oral tradition could include speaking, dancing, singing, and many other forms of communicating. Each story was listened to with respect. Storytelling was all they had as a means of passing on their heritage, history, and culture to the next generation. Stories not only told their history, they passed on courage to deal with change. As the video emphasizes, even though the written word in poems and textbooks tells stories of their lives, they are still based on oral tradition. As we learned from the video, Native American storytelling is not simply passed from one person to one person. It is one story that becomes …show more content…
As stated in the text, another version of this story was written by John G. Neihardt in 1932 (Belasco and Johnson 48). These are of the same legend from different viewpoints, but equally respected. The respect of the spoken word and the trust that the Lakotas had for one another was clearly conveyed in “Wohpe and the Gift of the Pipe.” The story is of a young man that is met by a woman who gives him instructions. She urges him to “call all the council together and tell them that in a short time they would see four puffs of smoke under the sun at midday” (Walker, 49). The boy was further instructed to make sure a feast was prepared upon seeing the puffs of smoke (Walker, 49). The important thing to note here, is that the boy heeded her word and those in the village believed the boy. This trust, belief and faith in each other is what guaranteed their future as a people. If it is spoken, it must be truth. They live by that philosophy, believing in each other. The peace pipe tradition and its story is still told today and is sacred tradition due to oral stories of its origin passed from one generation to the