Kansa people

“ But there was one tribe or nation which refused thus to konza, and of it I shall speak presently.
As time went by, our new nation grew in numbers and strength—though the latter might be our weakness in the day of grave trial. For we had incorporated into our army the youth of such tribes as we had conquered and whom the king deemed capable of bearing arms. These Amaholi, or slaves, were really our dogs, and even of this they might have been proud, for in our veins ran the clear unmixed blood of the “People of the Heavens;” ”

“ The first mention of the Kansas Indians in the white man's history was about the beginning of the 17th century, when Juan de Onate gave them the name of Escansaques. It will be noticed that the second and third syllables of this word form the name "Cansa," which is one of the numerous forms later used. George P. Morehouse of Topeka, who has made a rather exhaustive study of Indian lore and tradition, says "The famous historic word Cansa or Kansa is neither of French or Indian origin. ”

“ And though we may know from hearsay that great powers in race and religion have lived within the walls of Kano to fight and struggle for power and existence through ages of History—as is the destiny of kingdoms—it is difficult to realise how slowly time has advanced in this secluded back-eddy, and how very close the past is to the present, until you have walked within the ancient walls and fallen under the spell of the old-world character of the people, and their dwellings, and their customs. ”

“ In reality his excess of faith hinders the way to conditions his idealism has ever been seeking.
The Kansan is, after all, but a phase—a magnificent present-day example and striving—of the mighty democratic spirit which has been groping forward through centuries towards its ideal, the human race’s ideal of ideals. ”

“ As for dress, manners, religion, modes of making war, &c., the Kanzas are like the savages of their neighborhood, with whom they have preserved peaceful and friendly relations 68 from time immemorial. In stature, they are generally tall and well made. ”

“ After these things had happened, Aristha, the bull demon and Dhenuka and Pralamba had been destroyed, Govardhana had been uplifted, the serpent Kailya had been vanquished, the two trees had been broken, the female fiend Putanā had been destroyed and the wagon had been overturned, Nārada went to Kansa and related to him the whole, beginning with the transference of the child from Devaki to Yosadā. Hearing this from Nārada, Kansa was greatly enraged with Vasudeva and remonstrated with him hard, and with all the Yadavas in an assembly of the race. ”

“ A foreigner, especially a woman without money and without friends, would be helpless in China. Why should the people help her? It takes them all they know to keep their own heads above water. And Kansu was always turbulent ”

“ But he refused and quoth the young man to him, "What aileth thee, O man, that thou wilt not eat?" Quoth Kanmakan, "I have a vow upon me." The youth asked, "What is the cause of thy vow?", and Kanmakan answered, "Know that King Sasan seized upon my kingdom like a tyrant and an enemy, although it was my father's and my grand father's before me; yet he became master of it by force after my father's death and took no count of me, by reason of my tender years. So I have bound myself by a vow to eat no man's victual till I have eased my heart of my foe." ”

“ It is not to be inferred from the apparent pleasantry of this remark that the chief spoke lightly of Religion; on the contrary, the Kanzas, like all the Indian tribes, never speak on the subject without becoming solemnity. The more they are observed the more evident does it become that the religious sentiment is deeply implanted in their souls, and is, of all others, that which is most frequently expressed by their words and actions. Thus, for instance, they never take the calumet, without first rendering some homage to the Great Spirit. ”

“ Or asserting that the development of Kansas was without parallel in the history of American States? Or affirming that there were more railroads to the square mile, and more corn and wheat to the acre, and more prosperous and growing cities per county, and greater wealth per capita, in Kansas, than in any other section of the civilized globe? These facts are told in histories, census reports, geographies, and other official records, but you never hear a Kansan boasting about them! We are a modest people, and are not puffed up, even if we have the best and greatest State in the Union. ”

“ Then Kanmakan rose to Sasan and said, "Is aught left to set thy heart against me?" "No, by Allah!" replied Sasan. So they agreed to return to Baghdad and Sabbah the Badawi said, "I will go before you, to give folk the fair tidings of your coming." Then he rode on in advance, acquainting women and men with the good news; so all the people came out to meet Kanmakan with tabrets and pipes; and Kuzia Fakan also came out, like the full moon shining in all her splendour of light through the thick darkness of the night. So Kanmakan met her, and soul yearned to soul and body longed for body. ”

“ The man said then, ‘Kisesa has been in a hurry to die to come so soon to Kwikuru, the capital of the King of Urori. Does Kisesa usually fight in such a hurry? It has been our custom to talk first before we fight. What does Kisesa mean?’ asked the King, for it was he, though we could not see him, as he took care not to let himself be seen.
“‘Thou art a dog, and a son of a dog!’ answered Kisesa. ‘Hast thou not been making war upon our merchants, killing them in the forest for the sake of their ivory? Hast thou not been mutilating their young sons by cutting off their right hands? ”

“ But even while the tender young mother crooned her love-songs to her soft nestling, the cruel edict went forth that the babe was to be taken from her, as also each new-born man-child that came into the land, for, as a blighting flash from the clouds that strikes the healthy young sapling at the root, there had come to Kangsa's fear-burdened mind the knowledge that in his former birth he had been dethroned and slain by one of his own kin, who was said to have come from on high even to still the power of the wicked and exalt the lowly and virtuous. ”

“ However cruel they may be to their foes, the Kanzas are no strangers to the tenderest sentiments of piety, friendship and compassion. They are often inconsolable for the death of their relations, and leave nothing undone to give proof of their sorrow. Then only do they suffer their hair to grow—long hair being a sign of long mourning. The principal chief apologised for the length of his hair, informing us, of what we could have divined from the sadness of his countenance, that he had lost his son. ”

“ All were very hungry, and, as the food looked tempting, they needed no second invitation.
"To begin with," said the woman, "my name is Kanka. I am the recognized head of all the women and girls in this valley.
"No men live here at all, and the way our race is kept up is this: About twenty miles to the south of this valley there is a very fine country which is inhabited by people of my own race. ”

“ Then came the war, in which the Y. M. C. A. convinced all true Kansans that it was their Christian duty to furnish cigarettes for the soldiers. Kansas was never known to shirk its duty.
It has never lost its passion to prohibit things, however, but been difficult ever since to decide just what to prohibit. The Legislature has been known to stall along for weeks at a time without seriously interfering with the people's habits.
Music is front page stuff at last, for has not Signor Gigli tossed Frau Jeritza for a row of footlights? ”

“ Most people fail in being behind their day, Makanna failed in being before it. Enjoying constant intercourse with Europeans, and invariably choosing for his companions men of eminence among them, his own mind had become sufficiently enlarged to perceive the infinite superiority of European civilization, and to know that if he could only succeed in infusing their ideas into the minds of his subjects, the Kosa nation would not only be the equal of, but be far superior to the Zulu empire, which was erected by violence and preserved by bloodshed. ”

“ Then he left her and went out to order the affairs of the realm. Such, then, was the case with King Sasan; but as regards Kanmakan, on the next day he came in to his mother and said, "O my mother! I am resolved to ride forth a-raiding and a-looting: and I will cut the road of caravans and lift horses and flocks, negroes and white slaves and, as soon as I have collected great store and my case is bettered galore, I will demand my cousin Kuzia Fakan in marriage of my uncle Sasan." Replied she, "O my son, of a truth the goods of men are not ready to hand like a scape-camel ”

“ The disconsolate young man went home with a sadder heart and firmer determination than ever. He was fully convinced that Kinsan had been untrue, yet in charity he charged her failure to the law’s barrier. At first he had been stunned, and his love momentarily wavered; but as he gained freedom and more carefully reflected, his heart withstood the test and his mind regained its composure; and when he arose the next morning he set himself to his task with a will that knows no better victory than constancy. ”

“ KANSAS AND JUDEA
How did it happen that political agitators, living in the Mississippi Valley at the end of the nineteenth century, were identical in spirit with religious prophets in Asia Minor five hundred years before Christ? The answer is that civilizations rise and fall, and history repeats itself. Let me describe one historic process, and you watch my statement phrase by phrase, and see if you can tell whether I am referring to ancient Judea or to modern Kansas.
A people traveled for a long distance, fleeing from{33} despotism and seeking religious liberty. ”

“ Counter-Revolution in Kanchow
After leaving Canton we plunged into an atmosphere of even more active civil war. For us this atmosphere crystallized itself around the name of Kanchow, the third largest city of Kiangsi province. Days before reaching there we began to hear of events which had spread terror throughout the trade union and peasant movement of the south. At Nananfu on March 16th we had a conference with the leaders of the trade unions and peasant unions. They told us: "The countryside is in terror; the Kuominchun (revolutionary army) has turned against the people. ”

“ And while he so did, all the palace-people and head-men marvelled at the beauty of the stallion and said, "No King is like unto this man." So Kanmakan went in to King Sasan and saluted him as he rose to receive him; and, kissing his hands and feet, offered him the horse as a present. The King greeted him, saying, "Well come and welcome to my son Kanmakan! By Allah, the world hath been straitened on me by reason of thine absence, but praised be Allah for thy safety!" And Kanmakan called down blessings on him. ”

“ So if you make a practice of inviting Kansans to visit you to see something you have to show, and then call on them to talk, you may not be able to catch them again. Kansans are not accustomed to blowing their own horns. You never heard a Kansan exalting the wealth and prosperity of his State, did you? Or telling any one that Kansas was the center, the glory, the bright particular star of the Universe? ”

“ Now certain of her damsels became aware of her secret, and one of these slave girls disclosed it to King Sasan, who went into Kuzia Fakan and, drawing his sabre upon her, would have slain her: but her mother Nuzhat al-Zaman entered and said to him, "By Allah, do her no harm, for if thou hurt her, the report will be noised among the folk and thou shalt become a reproach amongst the Kings of the age! Know thou that Kanmakan is no son of adultery, but a man of honour and nobility, who would not do aught that could shame him, and she was reared with him. ”

“ Women with cheeks bright red without the aid of rouge, yet with the tiniest of feet, were no more unusual in Kansu than the filthy, old, and totally unattractive ones who scuttled away into their holes as if they were in imminent danger when two harmless foreigners rode by on travel-weary pack-mules. ”

“ Even in this material age his fame spread as the mists of his own land, and his name was known in barbarian countries far across the sea. Tokyo might fall under the blight of progress, but Kano would hold to the traditions of his race. To live as a true artist,—to die as one,—this was his care. ”

“ So they both grew up the brightest of the people of their time and the bravest; but Kuzia Fakan became a maiden of good sense and understanding and knowledge of the issues of events, whilst Kanmakan approved him a generous youth and freehanded, taking no care in the issue of aught. ”

“ Still the Pawnee went on: he represented the injury which first kindled the war between the two nations. “My young men,” said he, “visited the Konzas as friends: the Konzas treated them as enemies. They were strangers in the Konza tribe, and the Konzas fell upon them, and slew them—and concealed their death.” ”

“ In the evening the principal Kanzas chief paid us a visit in our tent. He is a young man about twenty-five years of age, straight as a poplar, and with a noble countenance and bearing, but he appeared to me to be marvellously deficient in most of the requisites which go to make the character of a real Indian chief, at least of such Indian chiefs as we read of in our popular books. I begin to suspect, in truth, that these lofty and dignified attributes are more apt to exist in the fertile brain of the novelist, than in reality. ”