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that the de Escobar family occupies this cynical way of thinking about the Indians because they have contrast livings in which lavishness and royal etiquette are
firmly applied. More to Don Diego’s nobility, he has only experiences as a royalist in serving the Spanish throne rather than the new world’s reality
. The new paradigm that John Cooper has shown to Don Diego, indeed, has given him a lot of lessons that Don Diego has eventually brightened his own
thoughts about those Indians. He no longer possesses cynical thought about them, rather he appreciates their existences.
4.2.1.5 Superstitious
Most Indians believed the Great Spirit as their prime god, despite the fact that some tribes worshiped more than one god. They also had their own typical
histories of gods that influenced their traditions to believe in such spiritual prophecies and superstitions Shoen, 1955, p. 15. They interpreted natural
phenomena as the sign of what their gods might tell them concerning with their deeds. If they had got certain advantages from both nature and people around
them, we would consider them as gifts from gods whom they had pleased. Otherwise, they would call them as curses if things happened on the contrary of
what they had expected because they believed that they must have done something displeasing their gods Brinkley, 1997, p. 6. The Indians believed in
evil spirits that might live within certain places and animals. Once they misbehaved to those spirits, they believed that they would be haunted with curses
or bad lucks Paul et al., 1990, p. 8. They translated the natural phenomena as spiritual signs that conveyed the meaning of either good or bad luck.
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The Ayuhwa Sioux, the Skidi Pawnee, the Dakota Sioux and the Jicarilla Apache believe in superstitious things as they happen along the story of The Hawk
and the Dove. The first experience, when John Cooper comes to the Ayuhwa Sioux village with Kandaka, urges him to use some tricks upon the Indians. He
already perceives that the Indians are superstitious and they honor brave people as they do to their life. “If you show an Indian fine trick, it will impress him and he
will have respect for your magic” p. 100. It is what his father has told him about the Indians who are superstitious. John Cooper knows that most Indians have not
known Lancaster. Thus, he applies his trick on telling them that he has a long magical stick that thunders and spits fire so that it can kill animals and even a
great bear. Many Indians believe that John Cooper possesses such powerful magic
within his long stick and even he proves it by killing a lot of animals in the hunting games with them. The Indians appreciate him so much. It is because John
Cooper can bring very good luck to their village. With his long stick that thunders and spits fire, John Cooper can kill a lot of buffalo. John Cooper’s Reacting Part
contributes great deal of thoughts that he, on good purpose, is able to deceive the Indians. Even though he plays tricks on the Indians’ thoughts, he fulfills his
promises to bring them plenty of foods with his Lancaster. John Cooper is aware that some of Indian tribes cook dog meat and even
wolf cubs in their feasts. Every Indian tribe that John Cooper has come to, except for the Ayuhwa Sioux, asks him to serve Lije as the main food in their feast. They
believe that Lije will share his spiritual power and courage to the braves who eat
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his flesh. John Cooper, instead of using offensive words, decides to deceive them. He exclaims that Lije is not an ordinary god as they may think about. John Cooper
explains to Peltalaro, the tribal chief of Skidi Pawnee, that Lije is possessed by the ghost of a great warrior from far across the seas where evil spirits and demons
live. If any of the Skidi Pawnee dares to kill him, it will indeed be true that the demons and the devils dwell and curse the village and no one can stop them p.
216. He deceives the Indians as the response of his Reacting Part in order to protect Lije from being their food in the feast. The similar trick is also devised in
Dakota Sioux and Apache, with Lobo – Lije’s whelp after his death, when the same statement is exclaimed by their chiefs. The result is that Lije or Lobo is
always safe and even the Skidi Pawnee, the Dakota Sioux and the Jicarilla Apache treat him as equal as they do to his master.
The Ayuhwa Sioux Indians believe that, if a brave is murdered by a wild animal, the curse brought by the animal is haunting over the squaw of the
deceased brave. Therefore, the wife will be an outcast in the village. The law forbids her from remarrying another brave until the animal is slain. It is because
they believe that she will bring the curse upon her new husband and even her family. It happens to Degala, an Ayuhwa girl whose husband, Latiwaka, is killed
by a black bear. The villagers believe that she is cursed and they make her as an outcast in her own village. The fact is, as Kandaka tells John Cooper, that she
shall not take another brave as her husband before the killer bear is slain and not until that happens, the curse is still clinging on her life as ever p. 112.
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John Cooper realizes that the Indian are considerably superstitious. He feels sorry for Degala and he promises to kill the bear so that the curse upon
Degala’s life can be lifted. After months of hunting the black bear, John Cooper has successfully slain it by himself. The news that is spreading about his killing
the black bear has got rid of Degala’s curse upon herself as she can no longer live in outcast. The truth that John Cooper has slain the bear also honors him as the
mightiest hunter in all the villages of Ayuhwa. John Cooper’s perception that the Indians are superstitious does not make
him persecute the Indians or take his own advantages over them, either. Otherwise, he tends to manifest it as a devise that they can accept him as a friend.
John Cooper pays their trust by hunting with them and shares plenty of foods with the people in the Indian villages. The background characterization –humble,
generous, and honest– of John Cooper underlies the psychological factor of his making perception. Thus, it pleases them considerably and it enhances their
mutual relationships as they love and consider John Cooper as their own people.
4.2.2 Catarina de Escobar’s Perception about the Indians
