Washington State Library
Nancy Zussy, State Librarian
The speech given by Chief Seattle in January of 1854 is the subject
of a great deal of historical debate. The most important fact to note
is that there is NO VERBATIM TRANSCRIPT IN EXISTENCE.
All known texts are second-hand.
appeared in the Seattle Sunday Star on Oct. 29, 1887, in a column
by Dr. Henry A. Smith. He makes it very clear that his version is
not an exact copy, but rather the best he could put together from
notes taken at the time. There is an undecided historical argument
on which native dialect the Chief would have used, Duwamish or Suquamish.
Either way all agree the speech was translated into the Chinook Jargon
on the spot, since Chief Seattle never learned to speak English.
[Version 1 begins: Yonder sky has wept tears of compassion
on our fathers for centuries untold, and which, to us, looks eternal,
may change. To-day it is fair, to-morrow it may be overcast with clouds.
My words are like the stars that never set. ...]
by poet William Arrowsmith in the late 1960s. This was an attempt to
put the text into more current speech patterns, rather than Dr. Smith's
more flowery Victorian style. Except for this modernization, it is very
similar to Version 1.
[Version 2 begins: Brothers: That sky above us has pitied
our fathers for many hundreds of years. To us it looks unchanging, but
it may change. Today it is fair. Tomorrow it may be covered with cloud.
is perhaps the most
widely known of all. This version was written by Texas professor Ted
Perry as part of a film script. The makers of the film took a little
literary license, further changing the speech and making it into a letter
to President Franklin Pierce, which has been frequently reprinted. No
such letter was ever written by or for Chief Seattle.
[Version 3 begins: The Great Chief in Washington sends
word that wishes to buy our land. The Great Chief also sends us words
of friendship and goodwill. This is kind of him, since we know he has
little need of our friendship in return. But we will consider your offer.
For we know that if we do not sell, the white man may come with guns and
take our land. How can you buy or sell the sky, the warmth of the land?
The idea is strange to us. ...]
in an exhibit at Expo '74 in Spokane, Washington, and is a shortened
edition of Dr. Perry's script (Version 3).
[Version 4 begins: The President in Washington sends
word that he wishes to buy our land. Buy our land! But how can you buy
or sell the sky? the land? The idea is strange to us. ...] ...
The best description of the saga of Chief Seattle's speech can be found
in an essay by Rudolf Kaiser: "Chief Seattle's Speech(es): American
Origins and European Reception" published in Recovering
the Word: Essays on Native American Literature by the University
of California Press, 1987. Another excellent discussion appears in
David Buerge's article "Seattle's King Arthur: How Chief Seattle continues
to inspire his many admirers to put words in his mouth," appearing
in the July 17, 1991 Seattle Weekly.
- Newsweek, May 4, 1992
- An article challenging the authenticity of the Perry text.
It is also a chastisement for those who fail to check their sources.
- Museum of History and Industry
- A brief historical outline of the conditions under which
Chief Seattle originally spoke, and how the various textual transcriptions
of that text came to be.
- Joseph Campbell
- Joseph Cambell fooled by the Perry Text.
- The Smith Text
- The text most often referred to as 'authentic'.