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They acquired horses, and their ancient nomadic spirit was suddenly free of the ground. They acquired Tai-me, the sacred Sun Dance doll, from that moment the object and symbol of their worship, and so shared in the divinity of the sun. Not least, they acquired the sense of destiny, therefore courage and pride. When they entered upon the southern Plains, they had been transformed. No longer were they slaves to the simple necessity of survival; they were a lordly and dangerous society of fighters and thieves, hunters and priests of the sun. According to their origin myth, they entered the world through a hollow log. From one point of view, their migration was the fruit of an old prophecy, for indeed they emerged from a sunless world.
他們得到了馬，使得他們那古老的游牧民族的精神突然懸空而起。他們得到了太米，即神圣的太陽舞木偶。自那時起太米就成了他們的崇拜物和象征物，并且在太陽的神力下共有。同樣重要的是，他們也擁有了天命感，由此產生了勇氣和自豪。當他們進人南部平原時，他們實際上已經被改變了。他們不再是為了簡單的生活必需品而奮斗的奴隸，而是一個由專橫危險的斗士和小偷、獵人和太陽的牧師所組成的團體。根據有關他們祖先來源的神話，他們是通過一根空心木頭來到這世界的。從某種程度上說，他們的遷移是一個古老預言的結果，因為他們確實是從一個沒有太陽的世界出現的。
Although my grandmother lived out her long life in the shadow of Rainy Mountain, the immense landscape of the continental interior lay like memory in her blood. She could tell of the Crows, whom she had never seen, and of the Black Hills, where she had never been. I wanted to see in reality what she had seen more perfectly in the mind's eye, and traveled fifteen hundred miles to begin my pilgrimage.
雖然我的祖母是在雨山的陰影下度過了漫長的余生，但那大陸內部的廣袤景色卻駐扎在她的記憶中。她能談論關于克羅人的事情，盡管她從未見過；她還可以談論黑山，盡管她從未去過。實際上我很想見見她想象中的完美的世界，于是我步行了一千五百英里，開始了我的參拜之行。
Yellowstone, it seemed to me, was the top of the world, a region of deep lakes and dark timber, canyons and waterfalls. But, beautiful as it is, one might have the sense of confinement there. The skyline in all directions is close at hand, the high wall of the woods and deep cleavages of shade. There is a perfect freedom in the mountains, but it belongs to the eagle and the elk, the badger and the bear. The Kiowas reckoned their stature by the distance they could see, and they were bent and blind in the wilderness.
在我看來，黃石可算是世界上最好的地方，一個遍布著深水湖、深色樹木、峽谷和瀑布的地區。雖然那里十分美麗，但人們可能有受束縛、被禁錮的感覺。放眼望去，四周天際線近在咫尺，觸手可及。這天際線是一道道樹的高墻和一條條樹蔭形成的幽深裂縫。而在山里卻是完全自由的，可是這自由只屬于老鷹、美洲赤鹿、獾和熊。克爾瓦人根據他們所能看到的距離來推斷他們的領地；但是在荒野中的密林中他們只能彎著腰，看不到很遠。
