Big Thunder talks about the earth

Bedagi, a well-known speaker of the wabanakis (the micmac, passamaquoddy, penobscot and maliseet) in the early twentieth century, spoke about nature, birth and death. Although there are variations, the main theme of the speech is obvious: humans, animals and plants are born from the earth, are part of it, and eventually return to their origin. Our Father is the Great Spirit, while our Mother is the Earth, who supplies us with food. It gives us the plants that heal and it returns us what we put into the soil. Yeah, we're hurt. We went to see our mother and we tried to get her to cure us. When we go hunting, it is not our arrow that kills the arrow, but nature, regardless of the power of the bow. The alce turns to our Mother to heal him and support the wound on the ground, but only gets the arrow a little more as it clings to the flank. Meanwhile, I'm following him. The alce disappears from my sight and, as I hold my ear on a tree, I perceive its next leap and I chase it. Every time it stops to rub, your arrow clings a little bit further into the flank. At last I find him, he's exhausted and his body is pierced by a arrow.