Excerpts From The Forest and The Fort

At McKees Rocks

At first Nymwha said nothing. He smoked for a long time. He looked at the boy keenly. Then for the first time he passed the pipe to his nephew, the Little Turtle, who also now blew the smoke out through his nose.

"Now," said Nymwha, "listen like a man. These things are but the beginning of wisdom":

Go alone, go with one other, or go with many. Never go with two; one of them will prove an enemy.

Paint thine honorable scars with vermilion; to conceal them will arouse suspicion.

Keep thy big medicine in a secret place or it will surely be stolen from thee.

Give gifts to those who do not need them. Those who have nothing will always desire more.

Strike when thou art angry that the blow may have meaning and last.

Two suck marrow from the same bone with difficulty.

Slay for thine own necessity. Not for others.

Manitou must be sought in the high, stony mountains; fat buffalo in the valley where the grass grows long.

When the seasons are mild and the hunting is easy, old men will rule. Flee then into the high mountains

Listen or thine own tongue will keep thee deaf.

Have one door to they Lodge, and sleep across it.

Women, war, and horses can always break loose.

Shouting at eagles brings out the wolves.

Threaten like the thunder, after the lightning falls.

Unbelt carefully and keep thy moccasins tied on.

Two loves to become one.

Three is the number of all that befalls.

Leave the company of the unlucky, or become awkward, too.

Lend a canoe to a fool in the winter. Borrow his horse in the spring.

Look at a man's hands if you would know him, his face is a favored lie.

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