More or less, yeah. He speaks very stereotypical English--"Heap big snow!"--and the description is somewhat romanticized-racist, the usual Laura-style:
He was a very old Indian. His brown face was carved in deep wrinkles and shriveled on the bones, but he stood tall and straight. His arms were folded under a gray blanket, holding it wrapped around him. His head was shaved to a scalp-lock and an eagle’s feather stood up from it. His eyes were bright and sharp. Behind him the sun was shining on the dusty street and an Indian pony stood there waiting.
This is the reaction from the townspeople:
“What was that about seven big snows?” Almanzo asked. Pa told him. The Indian meant that every seventh winter was a hard winter and that at the end of three times seven years came the hardest winter of all. He had come to tell the white men that this coming winter was a twenty-first winter, that there would be seven months of blizzards.
“You suppose the old geezer knows what he’s talking about?” Royal wanted to know. No one could answer that.
“Just on the chance,” Royal said, “I say we move in to town for the winter."
Ma, of course, wins first prize for Most Racist, but Pa is a product of his time too:
“There’s some good Indians,” Pa always insisted. Now he added, "And they know some things that we don't."
Nothing terribly racist here about the idea that the native might know some things the white folks don't, though. (Yeah, it's a low bar.)
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Date: 2023-03-17 09:54 pm (UTC)He was a very old Indian. His brown face was carved in deep wrinkles and shriveled on the bones, but he stood tall and straight. His arms were folded under a gray blanket, holding it wrapped around him. His head was shaved to a scalp-lock and an eagle’s feather stood up from it. His eyes were bright and sharp. Behind him the sun was shining on the dusty street and an Indian pony stood there waiting.
This is the reaction from the townspeople:
“What was that about seven big snows?” Almanzo asked. Pa told him. The Indian meant that every seventh winter was a hard winter and that at the end of three times seven years came the hardest winter of all. He had come to tell the white men that this coming winter was a twenty-first winter, that there would be seven months of blizzards.
“You suppose the old geezer knows what he’s talking about?” Royal wanted to know. No one could answer that.
“Just on the chance,” Royal said, “I say we move in to town for the winter."
Ma, of course, wins first prize for Most Racist, but Pa is a product of his time too:
“There’s some good Indians,” Pa always insisted. Now he added, "And they know some things that we don't."
Nothing terribly racist here about the idea that the native might know some things the white folks don't, though. (Yeah, it's a low bar.)