The Waltons (1971–1981): Season 6, Episode 4 - The Warrior - full transcript
An elderly Indian and his grandson visit the mountain to find their family burial ground. It is on the Waltons' land.
You have penned your
animals on sacred ground.
You walk up on the mountain and
see some writing on an old stone
and come down here and tell
me I've to tear down my barn?
I came here to tell you I'm sorry
for what the whites did to the Indians.
Before I met you, I didn't
know anything about the Indians.
I'd seen them in pictures in books
scalping people and burning their houses.
Daddy! Daddy! Wake up,
everybody! The barn's on fire!
Most of us tend to be convinced
of the rightness of our heritage,
our traditions, our way of life
until some event happens that shakes
our deepest beliefs to their foundations.
On a da y in 1939, two
strangers came to our mountain.
A s a consequence
of their visit,
we were to learn that others ha d roots
there which reached deeper than our own.
I think she's sick, Daddy.
She won't even get up to eat.
- She hasn't been eating much lately, huh?
- No. Not much of an appetite.
Could be a touch of arthritis,
honey. Maybe an infection.
If she's not better by
tomorrow, we'll call Doc Culler.
Something I can do for you?
We need a place
to spend the night.
Uh-huh.
Any chance you'd let
us sleep in your barn?
- Where you folks from?
- North Carolina.
- Just passing through?
- Oh, we'll be on our way in the morning.
Make yourselves comfortable.
- I'm Matthew Teskigi.
- John Walton.
- This is my grandfather, Joseph Teskigi.
- Nice to meet you.
This is my daughter, Elizabeth.
- Are you really an Indian?
- Really.
Something's wrong with
her. Her name's Myrtle.
Could be bloat.
That's what I thought,
but there's no swelling.
It doesn't always show.
Think you can make
her well again, sir?
We will try.
Daddy? Elizabeth?
Mama says supper's ready.
We'll be right in, son.
- Daddy, could we invite them to supper?
- I guess we can handle that.
You men like to
have supper with us?
Oh, we have our own food.
We don't want to be any bother.
We know you have your own food,
but Mama thought you
might like something warm.
You did not have to do it,
but thank you just the same.
Why don't you bring the grain sack
over here? We can use it like a table.
Great, honored
spirit, giver of all life,
thank you for this nourishment
and for kind friends.
Amen.
It's a pretty cup.
I had this since I was six. Made
and given to me by my mother.
That's me there.
It must be awfully old.
I never did care for goat's milk,
which was all we had to drink.
To get me to drink it, my
mother made me this special cup.
She told me if I did
not drink the milk,
I would always stay this size
and never grow as tall as my father.
Was your father tall?
I was told he was. I never really
saw him. He died when I was a baby.
Have you been sleeping
out on the ground?
Yes, but I'd rather have a nice
soft bed. Grandfather says I'm soft.
Even at home he
always sleeps on the floor.
The old ways are healthier.
You know much
about the old ways?
Do you think you could
get Myrtle better again?
I'm not sure. I can try.
- What you need is goldenseal.
- I know where there's some.
We'll look for it
in the morning.
Good night, everybody.
- Where are you off to?
- The Dew Drop Inn.
- Oh, yes. Well, give my love to Thelma.
- All right.
Hey. I thought you said them
Indians was over there in the barn.
I thought they were.
Everything all right?
My grandfather just
wanted to look around.
Why don't you come
up and sit a while?
Ben, move on down
there, will you, son?
This is my father. This is
Mr. Teskigi. Mr. Walton. My son, Ben.
- Good evening.
- Have a seat, Mr. Teskigi.
And this is his
grandson, Matthew.
- Matthew.
- Hi.
- Hi.
- Hi.
Have you seen our
farm, Mr. Teskigi?
GRANDFATHER
JOSEPH: It is good land.
Are you a farmer, Mr. Teskigi?
I have a very small
farm. We are poor people.
We know something
about that around here.
Mmm. You are of the
Cherokee tribe, hmm?
I am.
Oh, the Cherokees once
lived all over the Appalachians
and they were driven west.
I've always heard the
Cherokees were great hunters.
Do you ever use a bow and arrow?
Grandfather taught me
when I was a little boy.
- Did you ever hit anything?
- The side of our barn.
Our people were good hunters.
They were also very intelligent.
They were the first Indians
to have a written alphabet.
A great leader named
Sequoya invented it.
Sounds like those big trees
they have out in California.
- They were named in his honor.
- Sequoia giganteum.
And I read that in 1827 the
Cherokees published a newspaper.
We did that last year.
You and your grandson have
come a long way. Must be a reason.
I was born in this
part of the country.
I have good reason to believe our
sacred burial ground is on the mountain.
How you gonna find it?
My people left directions
on a great stone.
- Do you know where the stone is?
- Somewhere in the mountains.
How are you gonna find it?
There is a scar on the
mountainside shaped like an arrow.
Framed between two pines, it
points the way to a circle of stones.
There is written the
way to the burial ground.
Indian Rock.
- Is it far from here?
- Not far. Not far at all.
- Just up the side of our mountain.
- Will you show it to us?
Would be glad to in the
morning when it's light.
I thought you said we were
gonna go look for the goldenseal.
If you made a promise, keep it.
You go with the child and
I'll go up to the mountain.
I will see you all in the
morning, sir. Good night to all.
Good night.
Slow down, young man.
Been a long time
since anybody said
anything like that to me.
I'm old enough
to be your father.
- Have a little respect for age.
- Yes, sir.
Any of this land around
here familiar to you?
I was an infant when
our people left here,
but I was told that
the land gave of itself...
- Yes.
- And that game was plentiful.
Yes, there's still plenty
of game all around here.
Well, we've lived through a war and
the Depression by living off the land.
- You have had many wives?
- Only one. And you?
Oh, I have outlived four wives.
Let's rest.
The first I married
when I was 17.
It was an adventure.
Since we did not
marry in our own tribe,
it was arranged that I was supposed
to marry a girl in another reservation.
Only twice did I
leave the reservation.
This time, now, and that other
time when I went to take my bride.
Facing marriage is
frightening enough,
but it didn't help when, at that same
time, I had to face the outside world.
I was brave when I left home.
But on the way, I came to
the first city I have ever seen.
I remember seeing
a young couple.
The girl was looking adoringly at
the man who wore his hair short.
My hair fell past my shoulders.
It struck me that if I wore
my hair as short as his
that my intended bride
could look at me with
the same favorable look.
Adoration.
The first barber turned me away
saying that they
served whites only.
The second, a shop run by a
negro, took me in and cut my hair.
When I got to the reservation
where my intended wife waited,
all the men in the family laughed and
said that I didn't look like a real Indian.
I thought I'd lost the
young woman's hand,
but when she came closer and
noticed the scent in the lotion
that the barber had put on my
hair, she found it to her liking.
To this day, instead
of bear grease,
I dress my hair with a
potion called witch hazel.
Witch hazel, I know it well.
- Find some?
- Not it.
- Do you live in a tepee?
- No, I live in a house.
- Like ours?
- Not as big. Not as nice.
Where is it?
On a reservation
in North Carolina.
What's that?
Probably someone
kin to me made this.
When my people
still owned all the land,
we were free to hunt and fish
and live however we wanted to.
- Can't you still?
- As long as we stay on the reservation.
Well, we're almost there.
The Indian Rock. I hope
you won't be too disappointed.
I've lived here all my life and I've
never seen an Indian burial ground.
I have faith in
our tribal legends.
I would like to go on alone.
She doesn't seem to
be getting any better.
I agree with you,
Elizabeth. No, she don't.
- We couldn't find the goldenseal.
- Goldenseal? There's a lot of it.
There's a big patch of it
right halfway up the mountain.
- Elizabeth knows where it is.
- Someone dug it all up.
Well, that was a dumb
thing to do as you might say.
I have found our burial ground.
Where is it?
It is here under your barn.
- Is that so?
- Grandfather, are you sure?
You mean there are people
underneath our barn, dead people?
My ancestors.
The writing on the
stone leaves no question.
Well, now that puts us in sort of
an awkward position, don't it, John?
This building must be torn down.
- Oh, now, come on.
- It must be done.
You have penned your
animals on sacred ground.
- The ground has been desecrated.
- Now, wait just a minute.
You walk up on the mountain and
see some writing on an old stone
and come down here and tell
me I've to tear down my barn?
Like hell I will!
- The ground must be purified.
- Now, you listen to me.
I'm not gonna tear down this
barn for you or anybody else.
This is crazy.
There was nothing on this
land when my pa came here.
- There was a burial ground here.
- How was he supposed to know that?
There was no cemetery
here, no tombstones, no grave!
Take it easy, John. We can
work things out some way.
- We can tear down this barn.
- No.
- Yes!
- No!
Then we will find another way.
Now, listen here, I told
you two you could stay,
but I've changed my
mind. I want you to leave.
He's right, Grandfather.
We should go.
- John, I think you're being too hasty.
- I'm not being hasty, Pa.
This barn's as much
yours as it's mine.
You put it up plank by plank.
You wanna see it torn down?
- Daddy, listen to Grandpa.
- Let's go home, Grandfather.
No. No. Let us sit down and talk
over this thing until we find a solution.
- We can tear down the barn.
- I told you to leave!
Come on, Grandfather, let's go.
John, we ought to look
into what he's saying.
Look into what, Pa?
He's not willing to talk.
He doesn't wanna sit
down and talk about this.
When I first built here,
there was nothing here
- but maybe a pile of rocks.
- All he wants to do is tear it down, Pa.
There's no use talking to him.
I know. We could listen
to what he says anyway...
Grandpa, isn't there
something we could do for him?
What are we supposed to
do? Tear down the barn?
There's probably a whole
bunch of old bones under it.
Jim-Bob, don't talk about bones.
This thing is creepy enough as it is.
Is the land really
theirs, Grandpa?
The land was theirs
once. Now it's ours.
- Well, who says it's ours?
- I do.
Elizabeth, that's
a big question.
People been trying to answer
that for hundreds of years.
There's probably a
million ghosts out there.
They all come out at
night and do a war dance.
Jim-Bob, sometimes
you are so juvenile.
Yeah, I guess.
Let's put it this
way, Elizabeth.
Suppose some people with different
colored skins is to come here and say
they wanted our place
and told us to get off of it?
- Could they do that?
- But that's never gonna happen.
Daddy, that's what
we did to the Indians.
This is our land and
it's gonna stay our land.
It's been a long day. Now,
come on, off to bed. Come on.
- Good night, honey.
- Good night.
- Good night.
- Good night.
John, I had a long walk
with that old man this morning
and I think I know
what's in his heart.
Tearing down our barn
is what's in his heart.
Well, maybe, but I think I know
what's most important to him.
He wants to know that when
he crosses over into eternity
that he can be buried
where his people are.
I know that feeling real well.
I wanna be buried right up
here on Walton's Mountain.
Only I'm a lot younger than
he is, and will last longer maybe.
I understand all that, Pa.
You say you want
our barn torn down?
No, I'm just saying it takes one old
man to understand another old man.
Pa, we usually we see
eye to eye on most things.
How come we're on the
opposite sides of the fence in this?
Yeah, it's just so sad.
Just think, all they've lost.
- We weren't the ones that did it.
- Weren't we?
You can't turn back history.
Always the white
man has shamed us.
- The Waltons were nice to us.
- Don't be so quick to excuse them.
These are your ancestors
sleeping under cow dung.
If the white man hadn't come, this
land would've been all yours now,
and I didn't have to walk all the way
from North Carolina to find a place to die.
- Let's go home, Grandfather.
- This mountain is my home.
Grandfather, what
are you saying?
The white man has
told me where to live.
I will not let him
tell me where to die.
Daddy! Daddy! Wake up,
everybody! The barn's on fire!
Get Myrtle out of
here! Get her out now!
Come on, get the buckets!
Somebody get the hose! Come on!
Myrtle. Where's Myrtle?
Myrtle!
Come on, get out of
here. I'll deal with you later.
Come on, Pa, bring
those buckets over here!
Here, Daddy!
Hey, Ben!
Watch out!
Hurry, more water!
Good girl! Good girl!
I think we've put it out.
Well, we're gonna have
to rebuild these walls.
Good thing the animals got out.
Lucky it didn't reach the house.
- You all right, Elizabeth?
- I'm scared.
It's over now.
Did you start the fire?
I have done it.
Old man, get off this place before
I do something I'll be sorry for.
The sacred ground
must be purified with fire.
Next time I will not fail.
Jason, get the Sheriff.
- Grandpa?
- Uh-huh?
- Why aren't you working on the barn?
- Sheriff says to leave it for evidence.
Want some help?
Yes, I always could
use some help from you.
Just hold this nail... No, you
hold the board while I nail it.
What's gonna
happen to Mr. Teskigi?
Well, he's in jail now, and he's
likely to stay there for a while.
It's our fault, isn't it?
No, that old man got
himself into that fix he's in.
- Yeah, but it's because of us.
- No.
It's because of something that happened
years and years before we was even born.
Still, I'd like to
say I'm sorry.
Elizabeth, you mustn't go around
blaming yourself for something
that happened so many years
ago and that you couldn't help.
But I know your feeling, though.
I've been having some of the
same kind of feeling all this morning.
Fence mended.
- I hear you're looking for me, Ep.
- Yeah.
- What have I done this time?
- Oh, I tell you, Judge,
I'd have to think twice, maybe
three times before I arrested you.
Now, what's this about you
locking up some old Indian?
No respect for age?
Yeah, well, then I guess you
heard about John Walton's barn.
Mmm-hmm. You... You
think the man's guilty?
Oh, he admits it, Judge.
In fact, he claims next time he's
gonna burn her all the way to the ground.
Hmm.
What are we... What are
we gonna do with him?
Well, Judge, it's up to you.
Yeah.
Jim-Bob, I need
a ride to Rockfish.
- What for?
- It's personal.
Well, next time I'm going
over there, I'll give you a ride.
This has to be today.
Elizabeth, I'm not
running a taxi service.
If you were, how much
would you charge?
- How much do you have?
- A quarter.
- That's not enough.
- I did some sewing for Erin.
When she gets paid, she's gonna
give me a dime. Thirty-five cents?
Still not enough.
All right, 50 cents, but I don't
know how I'm gonna get it.
Well, 50 cents is enough
to pay for that inner tube
they've been holding
for me at the junk shop.
Okay, Elizabeth, you
got yourself a taxi service.
Well, morning, Miss Elizabeth.
- I have to see Mr. Teskigi.
- Yeah? What do you wanna see him for?
- I have to talk to him.
- Oh.
- Your folks know you're here?
- Jim-Bob brought me.
You haven't got any concealed
weapons or any hacksaws
to help him escape, have you?
- No, sir.
- Sure.
Come on.
Chief, you got company.
I'm sorry you're in jail.
Me, too.
I thought you
might like a visitor.
Thank you.
It cost me 50 cents
to come over here.
I've been in Sheriff Bridges' office,
but I've never been back here. It's awful.
I came here to tell you I'm sorry
for what the whites did to the Indians.
Before I met you, I didn't
know anything about the Indians.
I'd seen them in pictures
in books and in the movies,
but they were always on the warpath,
scalping people and burning their houses.
But you're not like that.
You're real people just like us.
Your skin isn't even red. It's
tan like we get in the summertime.
I'm afraid you don't know
what I'm trying to say.
In our legends,
it is told at one time all
things living were in the sky.
They lived on sky rock, and this
was before the world was made.
All the animals could talk to
man and man understood them.
Then man dishonored
the privilege
and he was stricken deaf from
the talk of the animals and birds.
The Great One over the sky rock
punished man so that he could
only understand his own kind.
And most tragically today,
man cannot always
understand man.
Now, Mr. Teskigi, this
is not a formal hearing.
You have caused considerable
anguish to a citizen of this county
by trying to burn his barn down.
Now, frankly, I don't
know what to do with you,
but maybe by the end
of this hearing we will.
We've asked Mr. Cross to step in
here to look out for your interests.
Mr. Cross, do you have any
statement to make at this time?
Well, I've met with
Mr. Teskigi, Your Honor,
and I'm sorry to say he's been
completely uncommunicative.
- You mean he won't talk to you?
- That's right, sir.
Do you have anything
to say, Mr. Walton?
The harm's already
been done, Your Honor.
I'd just like to make sure he doesn't
come around my place anymore.
Well, sounds reasonable to me.
How does that sound
to you, Mr. Teskigi?
The ground must be purified.
Well, surely not at the
cost of John Walton's barn.
- It must be done.
- No, Mr. Teskigi, it must not be done.
We here in Virginia are tolerant of a
good many intrusions on our way of life,
but barn burning is
savage and reprehensible,
and we cannot and will
not allow that to happen.
May I remind you that
your actions are no different
than when the settlers first came here
and your forbearers pillaged and burned
and went on the warpath,
burning and killing at will.
I was told by a young
friend this morning
that she had found me
to be a human being.
This came to her as some surprise
because of the way she was taught.
Only she seems to be
aware that I am not a savage,
nor were my ancestors.
I am 101 years old. I will
not live many more years.
Go on, Mr. Teskigi.
When I was an infant, the white
settlers came to Cherokee land,
a land rich in forest and game.
The white man decided
he wanted those lands.
Laws were made forcing
the Indians to leave.
Soldiers were sent against us,
and my people were forced at gunpoint
to leave their land and their homes.
They were forced to march thousands
of miles through forest and rivers
to resettle in a place
called Oklahoma.
Though many dropped with hunger
and exhaustion, the march never stopped.
Those that could not keep up, the
old, the sick, the women with children,
were left to die
beside the trail.
Seventeen thousand
Cherokees started that march.
Four thousand
died along the way.
They called it
the Trail of Tears.
You did not go on
that march, Mr. Teskigi.
A handful of people from
my tribe escaped into the hills.
I was carried there in
the arms of my mother.
My father was forced
to join the march.
We never saw him again.
I remember nothing of
this, but it is part of me.
I know that the bones
of many of my ancestors
lie thousands of miles
away along that trail.
My own father lies forever
in some distant forest,
unburied, un-mourned.
It is the belief of the Cherokee
that for his spirit to rest in peace,
he must be buried
in sacred ground.
When my days on
this earth are ended,
I would go to my death
with a peaceful heart
if my bones could lie with those
of my ancestors in sacred ground.
Mr. Walton, I'm sorry.
Is he dead?
I don't think so.
Thought I'd put her
out in the sun here.
She doesn't seem to
be getting much better.
Just have to wait
and hope, honey.
- You all right?
- I don't know.
So many sad things
have been happening.
- I'll probably never see Matthew again.
- Probably not.
When his grandfather
gets better,
they'll probably send him
back to North Carolina.
Grandpa, do you think
they're really here?
Who's here?
- The Indian graves.
- Maybe. Maybe not.
If they are here, their
bones won't be any different
than the bones buried up there on
Walton's Mountain, our own ancestors.
They've just been here a
mite longer though maybe.
There's only one
way to find out.
Pa, what are you doing?
I'm just satisfying an
old man's curiosity.
Well, when your curiosity is satisfied,
Pa, there's work to be done in the mill.
Grandpa, look!
This shows that there was Indians
around here on this very spot.
- Some of their pottery.
- Doesn't prove it's their burial ground.
Here.
Skull!
Grandfather Joseph was right.
This is their Indian burial ground.
- Burial ground?
- Yes, and this proves it.
Erin, we found a skull.
Sheriff Bridges called
me at the switchboard.
Mr. Teskigi died.
You gonna sit up all night?
I'll be along, Liv.
You didn't cause
that old man's death.
I don't know.
He was over 100 years old.
I've been thinking that...
I've been thinking about
that day I chased him away.
Him claiming he was
gonna tear down our barn,
me losing my temper, Pa
trying to find a middle ground.
Maybe if I'd listened to the
old man, he'd be alive today.
Stop blaming yourself.
He was right, Liv. This
is their burial ground.
Pa found a lot more bones
in that hole he started.
If you'd known that then, would
you have torn down the barn?
I don't know.
What's the matter?
Someone's in the barn.
Grandpa!
What the thunder
is going on, Livie?
There's somebody in the
barn. John's out there now.
I'd better go, too.
Oh, no!
Pa, douse the fire!
- Thought you'd finish the job, huh?
- I came back to treat Myrtle.
I found the root in the
woods. I made a fire to boil it.
Goldenseal.
The goat is better now. I will go
and I won't trouble you ever again.
Hold on.
Your grandfather was right
about the burial ground. It's here.
I built this barn with my own
hands when I was a young man.
- If I'd had known...
- This was your sacred ground. We're sorry.
I understand.
Every burial ground begins with
a single grave, a single loved one.
Up on Walton's Mountain, there's an
unspoiled ridge near the Indian Rock.
We can begin a burial
ground there if you like.
Pa, you wanna say something?
We have come here
today for a solemn purpose.
We're here to grant Matthew
Teskigi the right to this plot of land
in the hope it will serve as a fitting
resting place for his grandfather.
Father Sun, Mother Moon,
and your children, the stars,
I ask blessings
on this mountain.
Let it be from this time forward an
honored Cherokee burial grounds.
May its sheltering soil give comfort
to those who come here to rest
before that last great
journey to the unknown.
Hallowed land, earth of my
ancestors, receive my grandfather.
I return him once more
to your lasting embrace.
Who owns the land?
Only the land knows.
We mortals are passersby
and our lives are but a brief moment
in the great span of time and space.
We are born, we live out our lives,
and most of us do the best we can with it.
But the wind is forever, and
the rivers flow forever to the sea,
and all the seasons of the weathers
will come and go after we are gone,
but the earth endures.
The earth is eternal.
- Grandpa?
- Yes, Elizabeth?
When Indians die, do they go
to the same heaven as we do?
Very definitely, yes.
- Grandpa?
- Yes?
If you get there ahead of me, will
you look up Grandfather Joseph?
I certainly will.
Just tell him Myrtle and
me will be along one day.
- I'll do that.
- Thank you.
- Good night, Elizabeth.
- Good night.
English -SDH
animals on sacred ground.
You walk up on the mountain and
see some writing on an old stone
and come down here and tell
me I've to tear down my barn?
I came here to tell you I'm sorry
for what the whites did to the Indians.
Before I met you, I didn't
know anything about the Indians.
I'd seen them in pictures in books
scalping people and burning their houses.
Daddy! Daddy! Wake up,
everybody! The barn's on fire!
Most of us tend to be convinced
of the rightness of our heritage,
our traditions, our way of life
until some event happens that shakes
our deepest beliefs to their foundations.
On a da y in 1939, two
strangers came to our mountain.
A s a consequence
of their visit,
we were to learn that others ha d roots
there which reached deeper than our own.
I think she's sick, Daddy.
She won't even get up to eat.
- She hasn't been eating much lately, huh?
- No. Not much of an appetite.
Could be a touch of arthritis,
honey. Maybe an infection.
If she's not better by
tomorrow, we'll call Doc Culler.
Something I can do for you?
We need a place
to spend the night.
Uh-huh.
Any chance you'd let
us sleep in your barn?
- Where you folks from?
- North Carolina.
- Just passing through?
- Oh, we'll be on our way in the morning.
Make yourselves comfortable.
- I'm Matthew Teskigi.
- John Walton.
- This is my grandfather, Joseph Teskigi.
- Nice to meet you.
This is my daughter, Elizabeth.
- Are you really an Indian?
- Really.
Something's wrong with
her. Her name's Myrtle.
Could be bloat.
That's what I thought,
but there's no swelling.
It doesn't always show.
Think you can make
her well again, sir?
We will try.
Daddy? Elizabeth?
Mama says supper's ready.
We'll be right in, son.
- Daddy, could we invite them to supper?
- I guess we can handle that.
You men like to
have supper with us?
Oh, we have our own food.
We don't want to be any bother.
We know you have your own food,
but Mama thought you
might like something warm.
You did not have to do it,
but thank you just the same.
Why don't you bring the grain sack
over here? We can use it like a table.
Great, honored
spirit, giver of all life,
thank you for this nourishment
and for kind friends.
Amen.
It's a pretty cup.
I had this since I was six. Made
and given to me by my mother.
That's me there.
It must be awfully old.
I never did care for goat's milk,
which was all we had to drink.
To get me to drink it, my
mother made me this special cup.
She told me if I did
not drink the milk,
I would always stay this size
and never grow as tall as my father.
Was your father tall?
I was told he was. I never really
saw him. He died when I was a baby.
Have you been sleeping
out on the ground?
Yes, but I'd rather have a nice
soft bed. Grandfather says I'm soft.
Even at home he
always sleeps on the floor.
The old ways are healthier.
You know much
about the old ways?
Do you think you could
get Myrtle better again?
I'm not sure. I can try.
- What you need is goldenseal.
- I know where there's some.
We'll look for it
in the morning.
Good night, everybody.
- Where are you off to?
- The Dew Drop Inn.
- Oh, yes. Well, give my love to Thelma.
- All right.
Hey. I thought you said them
Indians was over there in the barn.
I thought they were.
Everything all right?
My grandfather just
wanted to look around.
Why don't you come
up and sit a while?
Ben, move on down
there, will you, son?
This is my father. This is
Mr. Teskigi. Mr. Walton. My son, Ben.
- Good evening.
- Have a seat, Mr. Teskigi.
And this is his
grandson, Matthew.
- Matthew.
- Hi.
- Hi.
- Hi.
Have you seen our
farm, Mr. Teskigi?
GRANDFATHER
JOSEPH: It is good land.
Are you a farmer, Mr. Teskigi?
I have a very small
farm. We are poor people.
We know something
about that around here.
Mmm. You are of the
Cherokee tribe, hmm?
I am.
Oh, the Cherokees once
lived all over the Appalachians
and they were driven west.
I've always heard the
Cherokees were great hunters.
Do you ever use a bow and arrow?
Grandfather taught me
when I was a little boy.
- Did you ever hit anything?
- The side of our barn.
Our people were good hunters.
They were also very intelligent.
They were the first Indians
to have a written alphabet.
A great leader named
Sequoya invented it.
Sounds like those big trees
they have out in California.
- They were named in his honor.
- Sequoia giganteum.
And I read that in 1827 the
Cherokees published a newspaper.
We did that last year.
You and your grandson have
come a long way. Must be a reason.
I was born in this
part of the country.
I have good reason to believe our
sacred burial ground is on the mountain.
How you gonna find it?
My people left directions
on a great stone.
- Do you know where the stone is?
- Somewhere in the mountains.
How are you gonna find it?
There is a scar on the
mountainside shaped like an arrow.
Framed between two pines, it
points the way to a circle of stones.
There is written the
way to the burial ground.
Indian Rock.
- Is it far from here?
- Not far. Not far at all.
- Just up the side of our mountain.
- Will you show it to us?
Would be glad to in the
morning when it's light.
I thought you said we were
gonna go look for the goldenseal.
If you made a promise, keep it.
You go with the child and
I'll go up to the mountain.
I will see you all in the
morning, sir. Good night to all.
Good night.
Slow down, young man.
Been a long time
since anybody said
anything like that to me.
I'm old enough
to be your father.
- Have a little respect for age.
- Yes, sir.
Any of this land around
here familiar to you?
I was an infant when
our people left here,
but I was told that
the land gave of itself...
- Yes.
- And that game was plentiful.
Yes, there's still plenty
of game all around here.
Well, we've lived through a war and
the Depression by living off the land.
- You have had many wives?
- Only one. And you?
Oh, I have outlived four wives.
Let's rest.
The first I married
when I was 17.
It was an adventure.
Since we did not
marry in our own tribe,
it was arranged that I was supposed
to marry a girl in another reservation.
Only twice did I
leave the reservation.
This time, now, and that other
time when I went to take my bride.
Facing marriage is
frightening enough,
but it didn't help when, at that same
time, I had to face the outside world.
I was brave when I left home.
But on the way, I came to
the first city I have ever seen.
I remember seeing
a young couple.
The girl was looking adoringly at
the man who wore his hair short.
My hair fell past my shoulders.
It struck me that if I wore
my hair as short as his
that my intended bride
could look at me with
the same favorable look.
Adoration.
The first barber turned me away
saying that they
served whites only.
The second, a shop run by a
negro, took me in and cut my hair.
When I got to the reservation
where my intended wife waited,
all the men in the family laughed and
said that I didn't look like a real Indian.
I thought I'd lost the
young woman's hand,
but when she came closer and
noticed the scent in the lotion
that the barber had put on my
hair, she found it to her liking.
To this day, instead
of bear grease,
I dress my hair with a
potion called witch hazel.
Witch hazel, I know it well.
- Find some?
- Not it.
- Do you live in a tepee?
- No, I live in a house.
- Like ours?
- Not as big. Not as nice.
Where is it?
On a reservation
in North Carolina.
What's that?
Probably someone
kin to me made this.
When my people
still owned all the land,
we were free to hunt and fish
and live however we wanted to.
- Can't you still?
- As long as we stay on the reservation.
Well, we're almost there.
The Indian Rock. I hope
you won't be too disappointed.
I've lived here all my life and I've
never seen an Indian burial ground.
I have faith in
our tribal legends.
I would like to go on alone.
She doesn't seem to
be getting any better.
I agree with you,
Elizabeth. No, she don't.
- We couldn't find the goldenseal.
- Goldenseal? There's a lot of it.
There's a big patch of it
right halfway up the mountain.
- Elizabeth knows where it is.
- Someone dug it all up.
Well, that was a dumb
thing to do as you might say.
I have found our burial ground.
Where is it?
It is here under your barn.
- Is that so?
- Grandfather, are you sure?
You mean there are people
underneath our barn, dead people?
My ancestors.
The writing on the
stone leaves no question.
Well, now that puts us in sort of
an awkward position, don't it, John?
This building must be torn down.
- Oh, now, come on.
- It must be done.
You have penned your
animals on sacred ground.
- The ground has been desecrated.
- Now, wait just a minute.
You walk up on the mountain and
see some writing on an old stone
and come down here and tell
me I've to tear down my barn?
Like hell I will!
- The ground must be purified.
- Now, you listen to me.
I'm not gonna tear down this
barn for you or anybody else.
This is crazy.
There was nothing on this
land when my pa came here.
- There was a burial ground here.
- How was he supposed to know that?
There was no cemetery
here, no tombstones, no grave!
Take it easy, John. We can
work things out some way.
- We can tear down this barn.
- No.
- Yes!
- No!
Then we will find another way.
Now, listen here, I told
you two you could stay,
but I've changed my
mind. I want you to leave.
He's right, Grandfather.
We should go.
- John, I think you're being too hasty.
- I'm not being hasty, Pa.
This barn's as much
yours as it's mine.
You put it up plank by plank.
You wanna see it torn down?
- Daddy, listen to Grandpa.
- Let's go home, Grandfather.
No. No. Let us sit down and talk
over this thing until we find a solution.
- We can tear down the barn.
- I told you to leave!
Come on, Grandfather, let's go.
John, we ought to look
into what he's saying.
Look into what, Pa?
He's not willing to talk.
He doesn't wanna sit
down and talk about this.
When I first built here,
there was nothing here
- but maybe a pile of rocks.
- All he wants to do is tear it down, Pa.
There's no use talking to him.
I know. We could listen
to what he says anyway...
Grandpa, isn't there
something we could do for him?
What are we supposed to
do? Tear down the barn?
There's probably a whole
bunch of old bones under it.
Jim-Bob, don't talk about bones.
This thing is creepy enough as it is.
Is the land really
theirs, Grandpa?
The land was theirs
once. Now it's ours.
- Well, who says it's ours?
- I do.
Elizabeth, that's
a big question.
People been trying to answer
that for hundreds of years.
There's probably a
million ghosts out there.
They all come out at
night and do a war dance.
Jim-Bob, sometimes
you are so juvenile.
Yeah, I guess.
Let's put it this
way, Elizabeth.
Suppose some people with different
colored skins is to come here and say
they wanted our place
and told us to get off of it?
- Could they do that?
- But that's never gonna happen.
Daddy, that's what
we did to the Indians.
This is our land and
it's gonna stay our land.
It's been a long day. Now,
come on, off to bed. Come on.
- Good night, honey.
- Good night.
- Good night.
- Good night.
John, I had a long walk
with that old man this morning
and I think I know
what's in his heart.
Tearing down our barn
is what's in his heart.
Well, maybe, but I think I know
what's most important to him.
He wants to know that when
he crosses over into eternity
that he can be buried
where his people are.
I know that feeling real well.
I wanna be buried right up
here on Walton's Mountain.
Only I'm a lot younger than
he is, and will last longer maybe.
I understand all that, Pa.
You say you want
our barn torn down?
No, I'm just saying it takes one old
man to understand another old man.
Pa, we usually we see
eye to eye on most things.
How come we're on the
opposite sides of the fence in this?
Yeah, it's just so sad.
Just think, all they've lost.
- We weren't the ones that did it.
- Weren't we?
You can't turn back history.
Always the white
man has shamed us.
- The Waltons were nice to us.
- Don't be so quick to excuse them.
These are your ancestors
sleeping under cow dung.
If the white man hadn't come, this
land would've been all yours now,
and I didn't have to walk all the way
from North Carolina to find a place to die.
- Let's go home, Grandfather.
- This mountain is my home.
Grandfather, what
are you saying?
The white man has
told me where to live.
I will not let him
tell me where to die.
Daddy! Daddy! Wake up,
everybody! The barn's on fire!
Get Myrtle out of
here! Get her out now!
Come on, get the buckets!
Somebody get the hose! Come on!
Myrtle. Where's Myrtle?
Myrtle!
Come on, get out of
here. I'll deal with you later.
Come on, Pa, bring
those buckets over here!
Here, Daddy!
Hey, Ben!
Watch out!
Hurry, more water!
Good girl! Good girl!
I think we've put it out.
Well, we're gonna have
to rebuild these walls.
Good thing the animals got out.
Lucky it didn't reach the house.
- You all right, Elizabeth?
- I'm scared.
It's over now.
Did you start the fire?
I have done it.
Old man, get off this place before
I do something I'll be sorry for.
The sacred ground
must be purified with fire.
Next time I will not fail.
Jason, get the Sheriff.
- Grandpa?
- Uh-huh?
- Why aren't you working on the barn?
- Sheriff says to leave it for evidence.
Want some help?
Yes, I always could
use some help from you.
Just hold this nail... No, you
hold the board while I nail it.
What's gonna
happen to Mr. Teskigi?
Well, he's in jail now, and he's
likely to stay there for a while.
It's our fault, isn't it?
No, that old man got
himself into that fix he's in.
- Yeah, but it's because of us.
- No.
It's because of something that happened
years and years before we was even born.
Still, I'd like to
say I'm sorry.
Elizabeth, you mustn't go around
blaming yourself for something
that happened so many years
ago and that you couldn't help.
But I know your feeling, though.
I've been having some of the
same kind of feeling all this morning.
Fence mended.
- I hear you're looking for me, Ep.
- Yeah.
- What have I done this time?
- Oh, I tell you, Judge,
I'd have to think twice, maybe
three times before I arrested you.
Now, what's this about you
locking up some old Indian?
No respect for age?
Yeah, well, then I guess you
heard about John Walton's barn.
Mmm-hmm. You... You
think the man's guilty?
Oh, he admits it, Judge.
In fact, he claims next time he's
gonna burn her all the way to the ground.
Hmm.
What are we... What are
we gonna do with him?
Well, Judge, it's up to you.
Yeah.
Jim-Bob, I need
a ride to Rockfish.
- What for?
- It's personal.
Well, next time I'm going
over there, I'll give you a ride.
This has to be today.
Elizabeth, I'm not
running a taxi service.
If you were, how much
would you charge?
- How much do you have?
- A quarter.
- That's not enough.
- I did some sewing for Erin.
When she gets paid, she's gonna
give me a dime. Thirty-five cents?
Still not enough.
All right, 50 cents, but I don't
know how I'm gonna get it.
Well, 50 cents is enough
to pay for that inner tube
they've been holding
for me at the junk shop.
Okay, Elizabeth, you
got yourself a taxi service.
Well, morning, Miss Elizabeth.
- I have to see Mr. Teskigi.
- Yeah? What do you wanna see him for?
- I have to talk to him.
- Oh.
- Your folks know you're here?
- Jim-Bob brought me.
You haven't got any concealed
weapons or any hacksaws
to help him escape, have you?
- No, sir.
- Sure.
Come on.
Chief, you got company.
I'm sorry you're in jail.
Me, too.
I thought you
might like a visitor.
Thank you.
It cost me 50 cents
to come over here.
I've been in Sheriff Bridges' office,
but I've never been back here. It's awful.
I came here to tell you I'm sorry
for what the whites did to the Indians.
Before I met you, I didn't
know anything about the Indians.
I'd seen them in pictures
in books and in the movies,
but they were always on the warpath,
scalping people and burning their houses.
But you're not like that.
You're real people just like us.
Your skin isn't even red. It's
tan like we get in the summertime.
I'm afraid you don't know
what I'm trying to say.
In our legends,
it is told at one time all
things living were in the sky.
They lived on sky rock, and this
was before the world was made.
All the animals could talk to
man and man understood them.
Then man dishonored
the privilege
and he was stricken deaf from
the talk of the animals and birds.
The Great One over the sky rock
punished man so that he could
only understand his own kind.
And most tragically today,
man cannot always
understand man.
Now, Mr. Teskigi, this
is not a formal hearing.
You have caused considerable
anguish to a citizen of this county
by trying to burn his barn down.
Now, frankly, I don't
know what to do with you,
but maybe by the end
of this hearing we will.
We've asked Mr. Cross to step in
here to look out for your interests.
Mr. Cross, do you have any
statement to make at this time?
Well, I've met with
Mr. Teskigi, Your Honor,
and I'm sorry to say he's been
completely uncommunicative.
- You mean he won't talk to you?
- That's right, sir.
Do you have anything
to say, Mr. Walton?
The harm's already
been done, Your Honor.
I'd just like to make sure he doesn't
come around my place anymore.
Well, sounds reasonable to me.
How does that sound
to you, Mr. Teskigi?
The ground must be purified.
Well, surely not at the
cost of John Walton's barn.
- It must be done.
- No, Mr. Teskigi, it must not be done.
We here in Virginia are tolerant of a
good many intrusions on our way of life,
but barn burning is
savage and reprehensible,
and we cannot and will
not allow that to happen.
May I remind you that
your actions are no different
than when the settlers first came here
and your forbearers pillaged and burned
and went on the warpath,
burning and killing at will.
I was told by a young
friend this morning
that she had found me
to be a human being.
This came to her as some surprise
because of the way she was taught.
Only she seems to be
aware that I am not a savage,
nor were my ancestors.
I am 101 years old. I will
not live many more years.
Go on, Mr. Teskigi.
When I was an infant, the white
settlers came to Cherokee land,
a land rich in forest and game.
The white man decided
he wanted those lands.
Laws were made forcing
the Indians to leave.
Soldiers were sent against us,
and my people were forced at gunpoint
to leave their land and their homes.
They were forced to march thousands
of miles through forest and rivers
to resettle in a place
called Oklahoma.
Though many dropped with hunger
and exhaustion, the march never stopped.
Those that could not keep up, the
old, the sick, the women with children,
were left to die
beside the trail.
Seventeen thousand
Cherokees started that march.
Four thousand
died along the way.
They called it
the Trail of Tears.
You did not go on
that march, Mr. Teskigi.
A handful of people from
my tribe escaped into the hills.
I was carried there in
the arms of my mother.
My father was forced
to join the march.
We never saw him again.
I remember nothing of
this, but it is part of me.
I know that the bones
of many of my ancestors
lie thousands of miles
away along that trail.
My own father lies forever
in some distant forest,
unburied, un-mourned.
It is the belief of the Cherokee
that for his spirit to rest in peace,
he must be buried
in sacred ground.
When my days on
this earth are ended,
I would go to my death
with a peaceful heart
if my bones could lie with those
of my ancestors in sacred ground.
Mr. Walton, I'm sorry.
Is he dead?
I don't think so.
Thought I'd put her
out in the sun here.
She doesn't seem to
be getting much better.
Just have to wait
and hope, honey.
- You all right?
- I don't know.
So many sad things
have been happening.
- I'll probably never see Matthew again.
- Probably not.
When his grandfather
gets better,
they'll probably send him
back to North Carolina.
Grandpa, do you think
they're really here?
Who's here?
- The Indian graves.
- Maybe. Maybe not.
If they are here, their
bones won't be any different
than the bones buried up there on
Walton's Mountain, our own ancestors.
They've just been here a
mite longer though maybe.
There's only one
way to find out.
Pa, what are you doing?
I'm just satisfying an
old man's curiosity.
Well, when your curiosity is satisfied,
Pa, there's work to be done in the mill.
Grandpa, look!
This shows that there was Indians
around here on this very spot.
- Some of their pottery.
- Doesn't prove it's their burial ground.
Here.
Skull!
Grandfather Joseph was right.
This is their Indian burial ground.
- Burial ground?
- Yes, and this proves it.
Erin, we found a skull.
Sheriff Bridges called
me at the switchboard.
Mr. Teskigi died.
You gonna sit up all night?
I'll be along, Liv.
You didn't cause
that old man's death.
I don't know.
He was over 100 years old.
I've been thinking that...
I've been thinking about
that day I chased him away.
Him claiming he was
gonna tear down our barn,
me losing my temper, Pa
trying to find a middle ground.
Maybe if I'd listened to the
old man, he'd be alive today.
Stop blaming yourself.
He was right, Liv. This
is their burial ground.
Pa found a lot more bones
in that hole he started.
If you'd known that then, would
you have torn down the barn?
I don't know.
What's the matter?
Someone's in the barn.
Grandpa!
What the thunder
is going on, Livie?
There's somebody in the
barn. John's out there now.
I'd better go, too.
Oh, no!
Pa, douse the fire!
- Thought you'd finish the job, huh?
- I came back to treat Myrtle.
I found the root in the
woods. I made a fire to boil it.
Goldenseal.
The goat is better now. I will go
and I won't trouble you ever again.
Hold on.
Your grandfather was right
about the burial ground. It's here.
I built this barn with my own
hands when I was a young man.
- If I'd had known...
- This was your sacred ground. We're sorry.
I understand.
Every burial ground begins with
a single grave, a single loved one.
Up on Walton's Mountain, there's an
unspoiled ridge near the Indian Rock.
We can begin a burial
ground there if you like.
Pa, you wanna say something?
We have come here
today for a solemn purpose.
We're here to grant Matthew
Teskigi the right to this plot of land
in the hope it will serve as a fitting
resting place for his grandfather.
Father Sun, Mother Moon,
and your children, the stars,
I ask blessings
on this mountain.
Let it be from this time forward an
honored Cherokee burial grounds.
May its sheltering soil give comfort
to those who come here to rest
before that last great
journey to the unknown.
Hallowed land, earth of my
ancestors, receive my grandfather.
I return him once more
to your lasting embrace.
Who owns the land?
Only the land knows.
We mortals are passersby
and our lives are but a brief moment
in the great span of time and space.
We are born, we live out our lives,
and most of us do the best we can with it.
But the wind is forever, and
the rivers flow forever to the sea,
and all the seasons of the weathers
will come and go after we are gone,
but the earth endures.
The earth is eternal.
- Grandpa?
- Yes, Elizabeth?
When Indians die, do they go
to the same heaven as we do?
Very definitely, yes.
- Grandpa?
- Yes?
If you get there ahead of me, will
you look up Grandfather Joseph?
I certainly will.
Just tell him Myrtle and
me will be along one day.
- I'll do that.
- Thank you.
- Good night, Elizabeth.
- Good night.
English -SDH