The People: And Other Uncollected Fiction by Bernard Malamud Page B

knew. He would make of certain weeds tobacco with an aroma the white settlers would be unable to resist. “We will give them bad medicine weeds to smoke, and afflict them with a spicy smell they will never in their lives escape from. When they smoke this magic tobacco weed, one after another they will forget they want to force us to leave our peaceful valley. Their minds will waver and go lame.”
    Indian Head then spoke: “How will you get the settlers to smoke your magic weed? Won’t they distrust it if we give it to them and urge them to smoke the bad weed?”
    “Wherever the aroma is they will forget their purpose.”
    “But won’t we have to smoke it first to produce an aroma?”
    “We will smoke for a minute and they will forget forever.”
    The medicine man laughed, but Indian Head said he didn’t think it would work.
    Last Days disagreed with him. “Still, if you don’t trust my magic weed I can think up other things to try. It won’t take me long to think of a better plan.”
    Indian Head, speaking from where he sat, said to Jozip, “Is there nothing we can do to persuade the whites to change their minds and let us go on living where we have lived so many moons?”
    Jozip, still speaking slowly in the tribal tongue, said these words: “I often think of our old chief, One Blossom’s father. He was an enlightened man who taught himself new things every day. One reason I don’t want to leave this valley is that his grave lies here.
    “Now, if you ask me what I think we ought to do I must say, in truth, that I do not believe in any act that will lead to war with the whites, no matter how they trouble the Indians and make our lives very difficult. If they offer us nothing we will take nothing, yet defeat them in quiet ways. I do not mean by fighting a war against them. What we must do is outwit them. Let me tell you how.”
    “Yah,” said the Indians sitting in Jozip’s lodge.
    “We could surprise them by starting an action that will trick them and overturn them if the Great Spirit helps us. Do you want to know what this action might be?”

    “Yah,” said the Indians.
    “We know that the white man has betrayed us many times and will betray us until the skies turn purple in order to take away our land. So I think we must leave this country as soon as we can and move into Canada, which is moons away, but is still a friendly country where we will not have to face the American pony soldiers anymore. I give you this thought for your consideration.”
    Indian Head then said, “Canada is our grandmother’s country. Maybe it will welcome our people.”
    Split Jug spoke in his deep voice: “My brothers, I do not think that the Americans will let us just pack our goods, take our cattle and our horses, and walk out of this land. I don’t think we will be allowed to leave without engaging in an act of war. I think they will try to keep us from entering Canada. And what good is this long trek northward if we have no promise from the Canadians that we could stay there? We have heard that Sitting Bull is in Canada now, but all he is allowed to do is sit.”
    “I will tell you what I have done,” said Jozip. “I have sent messengers to Canada. The Canadians have already agreed to accept us because they know our reputation for peace through a long correspondence they had with our Great Chief Joseph. As for the American pony soldiers, they may try to make it hard for us to leave but that is a chance we will have to take. Otherwise there is no future for us here. They offer us nothing, not even charity if we ask for it. I did not know this until I thought it out, but now I am secure in my thoughts. If the Americans are as civilized as they say they are, they will step aside at our approach. We must depart from here, my brothers, before we find ourselves prisoners in some smelly reservation much unlike this that they are forcing us to leave. We can’t trust them. Shouldn’t we attempt to escape from those