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---THE STORY OF THE OLD INDIAN On a blistering hot summer day in ~958, a minister named David Young was dri . ving along a highway that stretched through desert country, not far from Taos., New Mexico. Toward noon, he saw an elderly Indian walking on the road's gravel shou1der, and knowing he must be suffering from the heat, Young stopped and asked him if he would like a ride to the next town. The old man nodded. and got in. For several minutes the Indian said nothing, but then he finally spoke: "I am White Feather, a Hopi of the ancient Bear Clan. In my liang life I ha,ve travelled through this land, seeking my brothers, and learning from them many things of wisdom. I have foF lowed the sacred Ipaths to my people, who inhabit the forests and many lakes in the east, the land of ice and long nights in !the north, the mountains and streams of jumping fish in the west, and the place of holy altars of stone buiH long ago by my brothers' fathers in the south. From all these I have heard the stories of the past, and the prophecies of the future. Today, many of the prophecies have turned to stories, and few are left: the past grows longer, and the future grows shorter. "And now White Feather is dying. His sons have all joined his ancestors, and soon be too shall be with them. But there is no one left, no one to recite and pass on the ancient wisdom to. My people have Itired 'of the old! ways: the grean ceremonies which tell of our origios, of our emergence intol the Fourth World, are almost all abandoned, forgotten. Yet even this has been foretold. The ti~e grows short." The old Iodian fell silent again, but after a minute spoke once more: "My people await Pahana, the lost white brother, as do all our brotbers in the land. He will not be like the white men we know now, who are cruel and greedy. We were told of their coming long ago. But still we await Pahana. "He will bring with him the symbols, and the missing piece of that sacred tablet now kept by the ercters, given to him when he left, that shall be restored to the tablet and make it whole. TQis shall identify him as our true white brother." Turning to Young, he said: "You are much like Pahana, and not like other white men. You stopped to give an old man a ride, to lighten his burden. That is the way of Pahana. He will come soon, for the prophecies are nearly done." Resting a moment, the Indian found! his breath, and then continued: "The Fourth World shall end soon, and the FiHh World will begin. This the elders everywhere know. The Signs over many years have been fulfilled, and so few are left. "This is the First Sign: We were told of the coming of white-skinned men, like Pahana, but not living like Pahana-men who took the land that was not theirs. And! men who struck their enemies with Ithunder." Young later realised' this is how the Indian prophets would have described gunpowder. "This is the Second Sign: Our lands will see the coming of spinning wheels of wood filled with voices. In his youth, my father saw this prophecy come true with his eyes-the white men bringing their families in wagons across the prairies. "This is the Third Sign: A strange beast, like a buffalo, but with great long horns will overrun the land in large numbers. These White Feather himself saw with his eyes-the coming of the white man's cattle. "This is the Fourth Sign: The prairie will be crossed by snakes of iron...." At that moment, Young slowed his car to drive over a railroad crossing-and this time it was his own eyes, looking down miles of winding track, that saw how the prophecy had been ful filled. FEBRUARY -MARCH 1995 NEXUS • 37