Deganawidah: the Two Serpents
[From Native American Prophecies by Scott Peterson]
You will face a time of great suffering. You will distrust your leaders and the principles of peace and of the Great Peace. A great white serpent will come upon you and will intermingle with you for a time and will be accepted by the People who will treat the serpent as a friend. This serpent will become so powerful that it will attempt to destroy the People and the serpent will seem to choke the lifeblood out of you. At this point, all hope will seem to be lost and when things look their darkest a red serpent will come from the north and approach the white serpent which will be terrified and upon seeing the red serpent he will release you and you will fall to the ground like a helpless child while the white serpent will turn all his attention to the red serpent. The white serpent will be stunned and take part of the red serpent and accept him. Then shall they argue and fight. Then shall the People revive and crawl toward the hilly country where you shall assemble the people together and they shall renew their faith and the principles of the Great Peace. Then will exist among you a great love and forgiveness for your brother and in this gathering will come streams from all over—not only for you, the Haudenosaunee, but for all the People and you will gather together in the hilly country and renew your friendship. I say to you that you must remain neutral in this fight between the white serpent and the red serpent.
As you watch this struggle between the two serpents, a message will come to you, which will make you humble. When you become humble, you will be waiting for a leader, a youth from among the People who has not yet attained manhood, who will be a choice seer. No one will know who he is or where he comes from, but he will be given great power and will be heard by many people. He will give you the guidance and hope to refrain from going back to your land and he will be the accepted leader.
You shall gather together in the hilly country under the branches of an elm tree and burn tobacco and call upon me by name. You shall call upon the name Deganawida in your darkest hour and I will return. The choice seer shall speak to the People that number as the blades of grass and will be heard by all at the same time. As you are gathered watching the struggle of the serpents, you will notice from the south a black serpent approaching from the sea dripping with salt water. He will rest for a time and collect his breath while looking north to the land where the white and red serpents are fighting. They will begin slowly to fight, but will increase in intensity until the violence of their struggle shall cause the mountains to crack and the rivers will boil and the fish will turn up on their bellies. There will be no leaves on the trees in the area where they struggle. There will be no grass on the ground and strange bugs will crawl from the ground and attack the white and red serpents, which will become sickened when a great heat causes the stench of death to overcome them.
As the boy seer watches this fight, the red serpent reaches around the back of the white serpent and pulls from him a hair which is carried to the south by a great wind into the waiting hands of the black serpent. As the black serpent studies the hair, it changes into a woman, a white woman who tells him things that he knows to be true but he wants to hear them again. When she finishes talking, he takes her and places her gently on a rock with great love and respect. Becoming exceedingly angry at what she has told him, he proceeds in haste directly to the north and enters the baffle between the white and red serpents with such speed and anger that he defeats the two serpents that are already battle-weary. Standing on the chest of the white serpent, the black serpent begins to boast like a conqueror and looks about for another serpent to conquer. Looking to the land of the hilly country, he sees the People standing with arms folded and knows that this is not who he should fight. Turning eastward, he will be momentarily blinded by a great light many times brighter than the sun. The light will come from east to west across the water and the black serpent will become terrified and will go directly into the sea swimming to the south and shall never again be seen by the People.
The white serpent will revive and make a feeble attempt to go toward that light. A portion of the white serpent will refuse to remain but will go to the land of the hilly country to join the People with a great love like that of a lost brother. The remnant of the white serpent will go into the sea and disappear from sight for a time. Reappearing suddenly, the white serpent will swim slowly toward the light and will never again be a trouble to the People. The red serpent will revive and shiver with great fear when he sees the light. He will crawl to the north leaving a bloody, shaky trail northward never again to be seen by the People. 1, Deganawida, shall be that light and when I return to my people, you shall be a greater nation than ever before.
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[From Native American Prophecies by Scott Peterson]
You will face a time of great suffering. You will distrust your leaders and the principles of peace and of the Great Peace. A great white serpent will come upon you and will intermingle with you for a time and will be accepted by the People who will treat the serpent as a friend. This serpent will become so powerful that it will attempt to destroy the People and the serpent will seem to choke the lifeblood out of you. At this point, all hope will seem to be lost and when things look their darkest a red serpent will come from the north and approach the white serpent which will be terrified and upon seeing the red serpent he will release you and you will fall to the ground like a helpless child while the white serpent will turn all his attention to the red serpent. The white serpent will be stunned and take part of the red serpent and accept him. Then shall they argue and fight. Then shall the People revive and crawl toward the hilly country where you shall assemble the people together and they shall renew their faith and the principles of the Great Peace. Then will exist among you a great love and forgiveness for your brother and in this gathering will come streams from all over—not only for you, the Haudenosaunee, but for all the People and you will gather together in the hilly country and renew your friendship. I say to you that you must remain neutral in this fight between the white serpent and the red serpent.
As you watch this struggle between the two serpents, a message will come to you, which will make you humble. When you become humble, you will be waiting for a leader, a youth from among the People who has not yet attained manhood, who will be a choice seer. No one will know who he is or where he comes from, but he will be given great power and will be heard by many people. He will give you the guidance and hope to refrain from going back to your land and he will be the accepted leader.
You shall gather together in the hilly country under the branches of an elm tree and burn tobacco and call upon me by name. You shall call upon the name Deganawida in your darkest hour and I will return. The choice seer shall speak to the People that number as the blades of grass and will be heard by all at the same time. As you are gathered watching the struggle of the serpents, you will notice from the south a black serpent approaching from the sea dripping with salt water. He will rest for a time and collect his breath while looking north to the land where the white and red serpents are fighting. They will begin slowly to fight, but will increase in intensity until the violence of their struggle shall cause the mountains to crack and the rivers will boil and the fish will turn up on their bellies. There will be no leaves on the trees in the area where they struggle. There will be no grass on the ground and strange bugs will crawl from the ground and attack the white and red serpents, which will become sickened when a great heat causes the stench of death to overcome them.
As the boy seer watches this fight, the red serpent reaches around the back of the white serpent and pulls from him a hair which is carried to the south by a great wind into the waiting hands of the black serpent. As the black serpent studies the hair, it changes into a woman, a white woman who tells him things that he knows to be true but he wants to hear them again. When she finishes talking, he takes her and places her gently on a rock with great love and respect. Becoming exceedingly angry at what she has told him, he proceeds in haste directly to the north and enters the baffle between the white and red serpents with such speed and anger that he defeats the two serpents that are already battle-weary. Standing on the chest of the white serpent, the black serpent begins to boast like a conqueror and looks about for another serpent to conquer. Looking to the land of the hilly country, he sees the People standing with arms folded and knows that this is not who he should fight. Turning eastward, he will be momentarily blinded by a great light many times brighter than the sun. The light will come from east to west across the water and the black serpent will become terrified and will go directly into the sea swimming to the south and shall never again be seen by the People.
The white serpent will revive and make a feeble attempt to go toward that light. A portion of the white serpent will refuse to remain but will go to the land of the hilly country to join the People with a great love like that of a lost brother. The remnant of the white serpent will go into the sea and disappear from sight for a time. Reappearing suddenly, the white serpent will swim slowly toward the light and will never again be a trouble to the People. The red serpent will revive and shiver with great fear when he sees the light. He will crawl to the north leaving a bloody, shaky trail northward never again to be seen by the People. 1, Deganawida, shall be that light and when I return to my people, you shall be a greater nation than ever before.
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