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spell it would be A-P-O-0-N-G-O S-T-A-H-N-E-G-E-E, And so
I said, "What is Apoongo Stahnegee?"
And Morton Silver, the lawyer of Indian tribes, says,
"That means rumor-bearer."
And I said, "Howard!"
And Howard said, "Morton, don't be ridiculous!"
Howard Osceola said to me, "Jane, Apoongo Stahnegee is
a man. He's a messenger. He goes around to all the villages
telling them about what arrangements are being made this year
for the Green Corn Dance and the snake dance. He's a messen-
ger." But Morton preferred to translate it "rumor-bearer,"
which kinda amused everybody.
K: What messages did you take back?
R: Well, the messages I had taken back in the intervening years
between 1950 and about 1957, when I got this egret headdress
feather...well....
K: Do you still have it?
R: Yes, my mother put it in her cedar chest to keep the bugs out
of it.
I made quite a number of friends, close personal friends,
among the Miccosukees on the Tamiami Trail. These are not
reservation Indians. They live on pieces of land that their
daddies had staked out, or bought, or something in the 1930s,
and most of them were born there. I became very good friends
with William McKinley Osceola's children, and with Tiger
Tiger's children. William has eight children; and very de-
voted, all of them. Their names are Homer, and Mittie Jim--
who doesn't speak any English, but makes the prettiest shirts
on the Tamiami Trail--and Wild Bill Osceola, who has a daughter
named after me--Jane Wood Osceola--and Howard, and Alice, who
is married to a nice white man who is a stock car racer.
And Ethel, who is married to a nice white man. Ethel just
had an eleven pound baby; her husband was extremely proud.
And John, who was a charming man and drinks; and Douglas,
who is the handsomest Indian in the Everglades. Those are
eight of William's children. He has another son, Mike,
who none of them speak to, because Mike, back many years ago,
sued his daddy over land, and that's considered as bad taste
among Indians as it is among white people. But the Osceola
family--William McKinley Osceola's children--I love 'em all,
and they have helped me out when my car was broken down,
helped me through waters and swamps. I love them.