Legends of our Nation

The Prophecy of The Great White Serpent

The Prophecy of the Great White Serpent is known by many Indian nations. This happened a long time ago. Two young warriors who were recognized by their village as being great hunters, decided to go east towards the rising sun in search of bigger game. They hunted until they came across a great body of water. They noticed that the water was different – it was salty. They also noticed something lying on a log, drifting towards them. Something strange, never seen by these hunters before. They began to approach this strange creature, it glowed with a bright silver color. The warriors thought of this as something being of power. The creature had two heads which were speaking at the same time, in a language which they did not understand. It had a forked tongue. It seemed helpless, hungry and sick, lying there on the log. So they decided to take it home with them, feed it, and give it strength.

They gathered all the dry meat from the game they had killed before, and with their strange creature, headed home. They brought this creature back to the village and showed them what they had found. An old woman came to the people and told them that the young warriors would have to take the serpent back where it came from. The hunters did not listen, instead they built a home for this serpent, away from the village, agreeing they would be the only two to know of the serpent; it would be their pet. Their serpent was small and weak , so they fed and gave it medicine to heal. Soon the serpent became strong. The hunters continued to hunt for their people. They soon began to notice the enormous appetite of their pet. They had to stop and give half of what they hunted to the serpent. The people in the village began to wonder why the two hunters were not bringing in as much game as the used to. This was because they were giving most of the game to the serpent. Its appetite was getting enormous and there was nothing they could do but feed it.

The next day, the young warriors called their people together and told them what they had done; that they had never taken the serpent back where they found it. They had only taken the serpent over the hill and built a small cage for it. At first the young warriors were given the serpent insects, birds, and rats, then small game like rabbits, raccoon, but now they had to feed it half of the game they hunted. All the people in the village became alarmed and very frightened of the size of the animal. So, the people all got together and built a new stockage for the serpent. They all hunted to feed the serpent. Many children went hungry for there was not enough food for everyone. Finally, one night the serpent broke out of the stockade where he was hidden and headed for the village and devoured most of the people, including the two hunters that kept the serpent for a pet.

It went westward to other nations killing many people. The elders counseled together and said that there was only one way to stop this creature. This prophecy is passed on to this day from elder to elder, from grandfather to grandfather. There is a great meaning to what our grandfathers told us, we interpret that prophecy as those belonging to the white race who first came to our shore, they were weak, sick and it was our people that helped them, cured them, and showed them how to live on Mother Earth. It was the white race (the white serpent) that kept demanding more. At first our people gave them a piece of land to live on and then later they wanted more. It was the white serpent that began to grow just like the white race began to grow and more people kept coming, their appetite getting bigger. Today we look around us, we see that the white serpent has destroyed everything that it has come across. The rivers, lakes, and streams including the air we breathe are polluted.

Our elders tell us today, “there is the great white serpent.” As the prophecy says, it is our obligation and duty to tell this to the next generation. The great white serpent is here now. It has caused too much destruction. The signs that we were told to watch are here. We must ask our elders now what is this means and what we must do.