sold

Untitled

by Richard Zane Smith

web # 7056

Pottery

Natural Clay and Paint Made of Natural Pigments

16"h x 13 1/2"w x 12"d

Here's the old Wyandot story"the boy and his pet snake" told by Catherine Johnson in Wyandot (in 1912) roughly translated into english The Boy and His Pet Snake "A boy went off along a creek with rocks scattered about where he was walking.He saw a pretty little snake that he liked as a pet.So he carefully built a stone wall to keep her from getting out. He finished it. Then he went off. However,he did not report anything when he returned,nor did he tell the clan mothers. The next day he went back to visit the little snake at the same place where she was staying. He worked to make a hole in the rock enclousure where he poured water in for the snake to drink. Then he went hunting and killed a bird. He plucked it and went to where the snake was. Then he prepared the bird in small pieces and fed it to the little snake. The pretty little thing ate the meat smartly. The next day he went back,as before,to the place where she was. And again he gave her water to drink. Again he killed a bird. Again he fed her and she gobbled it up. Now again he went hunting and killed some birds. Again she noisily gobbled everything up. The next day he went there again. Now she was much bigger. Again he gave her something to drink. Then he went hunting again and killed three this time. He fed her and she gobbled up all three. Every day she was getting bigger and she was eating everything. Now she was much bigger. So he made another stone enclosure and put her there. Then he went hunting again. Now she was eating a great deal. He went back the next day. Although it had not been along time,it was inadequate and he rebuilt the stone enclosure,making it much bigger. Then he went hunting again. Now this time he killed a great many rabbits. He fed her all of them and she gobbled them up. The next day he went hunting three times. That day she devoured everything. After awhile he was not able to get her enough. Repeatedly he put the rabbit bodies in her mouth one at a time. All day long he hunted so as to kill a great deal,all of which she gobbled up. The next day he went there again.Once more he went to visit his pet,and this time he was swallowed up by her himself! Thereupon she started toward a spit of land where there was a village.Now she went that way,the snake did,at night. The next day as people were getting up,she had placed herself cutting off the village. It was impossible to get out at all. She slew all the villagers and swallowed them up. At this point there were two,one a small girl,who were orphan children. They were a little distance from their home.The boy then found out that the snake had laid siege. Now it was at night and he was afraid. But he did not know where thy could go to escape. Late at night he could not sleep. It seemed he heard her coming. At that moment he heard a voice. It said," Make yourself a bow of Black Locust wood,also just two arrows from a dogwood stick. This is what you must use to attach to them -from the eagle tail that you have pluck feathers to fix to the arrow. There is a spot on the side of her body - on that side, the right side - like a heart imprinted on that spot. Right there you must shoot,on that side. Next you must run to her when she turns her body.There is a similar spot where you must shoot this time." He went there,and shot her.Sure enough,he saw the spot just as he had been told. So he shot her. Indeed,it happened at once that she turned the other side around. This time he shot her again. He finally killed her. The one who killed the giant snake was a boy. That night he dreamed again and understood how it all happened,how she was able to grow because some boy had cared for her. He understood how it all happened, that she only thought,"I will kill them".She only seemed small and pretty. Right off the next day he set out to report this at nearby villages. All the villagers came there, even great distances,to see for themselves the gigantic creature the boy had killed. Here now they found her all packed full of people. They pulled out all the bodies and buried them. As for the other,the snake - they burned its body. But all the time she still held power over them. At last they decided to turn the few remains of bone that were not burned up into a curative 'medicine'. At this point the boy was agreeable and he said,"You must not use this so that anyone causes bodily harm to anyone. This is only for our protection, for our good fortune for not having all been slain. Indeed,you must use this only for good fortune and such kinds of things,to always have easy success when you go hunting." Sure enough,as they were picking things up,people spoke to others about the only kind of intended use, with harm to no one. That is all. yihae!

A preview for Richard Zane Smith's pots will take place on Friday August 17th at 8:00 am. These remarkable pieces will become available for purchase at 10:00 am through the lottery at BRG in Santa Fe. Can't make it to the show? Please contact the gallery for more information or to be placed on the reserve list.