 The
man and the woman on the left is Lewis Broken Jaw and his wife, Louise
Broken Jaw, 1913.
The family on the right is Jack No Ear,
second spouse of Creth Little Cook. The child is Alfred No Ear. Jack No
Ear died and Creth remarried her first husband, Big Snake.
These names are simply attempted by English
speaking interpreters to simplify the lovely descriptive language, No Ear
could have been, "He Will Not Hear Quarreling." The interpreter
wrote down, "No Ear."
Lewis Broken Jaw was the brother of Esther
Broken Jaw, Little Cook, mother of Elizabeth Little Cook. Lewis's branch
of the family returned to Nebraska with Chief Standing Bear. Lewis visited
the area and his family here, only occasionally.
Sa-Su-Weh, Daniel Clark Jones, grandson of
Elizabeth Little Cook, worked to film the story, "The Trial of
Standing Bear," and it was aired nationally on PBS, one hundred years
after the event occurred. The story was about the Ponca's forced removal
from their Nebraska lands to Oklahoma.
Although the Ponca and Osage were
separated, only by the Arkansas River, and were supposed to be both a
branch off the Sioux, they were so different in personality. It was the
Osage who named them, "Pah-Hahn-Kah," Gentle Leader". *The
word Pah actually meant nose, or that part of the body to go before the
rest, or in an English description, " leader."
It is sad to see the lovely, descriptive
language no longer used, but since it is a difficult language to master
few speak it. Too, the quiet gentle way so far apart from our everyday
world is missed.
A member of the Ponca tribe, Liz King
Switch, Indian name, Who-Cha, descendant of Sam Little Cook tells:
"My daughter missed the bus and didn't
come home from school. I went to look for her and found her sitting on the
steps of the school. She was sitting, patiently waiting. As we drove out
the drive a coyote ran across the road in front of the car and I said to
her, "Look! The old man has been watching you."
This is in agreement with their teaching
that tells when a person is in a place where he shouldn't be, the coyotes
sits off at a distance in the woods and watch their people relatives.
It is true, there is no other animal as
like a human as a coyote. He is crafty, quick, inventive, and a survivor.
The Poncas respect him and call him, "old man," or one who is
wise.
Also, it is a warning, "Even when you
think you are getting away with something, there is always someone there
to see what you are doing. If it is but a coyote, remember, he is your
relative."
*Page 129, The Osages, John Joseph Mathews,
O.U. Press
In March
of the year 2006 Mr. and Mrs. Robinette along with their daughter. Tanya,
and brother Sandy Taylor visited the Ponca tribe at White Eagle, Oklahoma.
We of the Flood-Jones family were honored with their visit to our own home
in the Osage.
Upon their return to
Nebraska five inches of snow fell on them and their home and we received
good rains to break our short drought. It was a way of marking, for us,
our mutual pleasure at having met some of the tribe who was broken away
from us so many years ago when Standing Bear returned to Nebraska.
Here is some of Sandy Taylor's research into the Broken Jaw name. I
feel this is rare and priviledged information shared.
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