A missionary once undertook to instruct a group of Indians in the truths of his holy religion. He told them of the creation of the earth in six days, and of the fall of our first parents by eating an apple.
The courteous savages listened attentively, and, after thanking him, one related in his turn a very ancient tradition concerning the origin of the maize. But the missionary plainly showed his disgust and disbelief, indignantly saying:—
"What I delivered to you were sacred truths, but this that you tell me is mere fable and falsehood!"
"My brother," gravely replied the offended Indian, "it seems that you have not been well grounded in the rules of civility. You saw that we, who practice these rules, believed your stories; why, then, do you refuse to credit ours?"
— From Chapter 5, The Unwritten Scriptures in The Soul of the Indian by Charles Alexander Eastman (Ohiyesa)
/misc | Mar 07, 2021