Arizona Territory... the country of red deserts, rocks, high buttes and mountains—a harsh land but still a land, the Apaches had chosen for their own.
The land made the men, and the Indians were trained from infancy to match their strength, their cunning, their hunting ability against the rigors and pitiless cruelty against the wildest country.
For generations the Apaches raided into Mexico for horses and woman and cattle, but those creatures that they made their own they always treated with care and respect. And so when they found a squalling, black-haired baby boy in a white man’s wagon and their chief Geronimo claimed it for thier own, the baby became an Apache.
At first he was only known as Ish-kay-nay—boy. In the Apache tradition he had a private name, which nobody would ever use, but his public name had to be earned. At ten Ish-kay-nay killed his first bear—singlehanded and with only a bow and arrow. So Ish-kay-nay became Shaz-Dijiji—Black Bear.
And this was only the beginning of a life filled with the danger and excitement of the hunt, not only for food but against enemies who had become increasingly threatening—and of all these enemies, the most satisfying to hunt were the white men who had now begun to ravage Apache country. To this hunt Shaz-Dijiji dedicated himself.
The land made the men, and the Indians were trained from infancy to match their strength, their cunning, their hunting ability against the rigors and pitiless cruelty against the wildest country.
For generations the Apaches raided into Mexico for horses and woman and cattle, but those creatures that they made their own they always treated with care and respect. And so when they found a squalling, black-haired baby boy in a white man’s wagon and their chief Geronimo claimed it for thier own, the baby became an Apache.
At first he was only known as Ish-kay-nay—boy. In the Apache tradition he had a private name, which nobody would ever use, but his public name had to be earned. At ten Ish-kay-nay killed his first bear—singlehanded and with only a bow and arrow. So Ish-kay-nay became Shaz-Dijiji—Black Bear.
And this was only the beginning of a life filled with the danger and excitement of the hunt, not only for food but against enemies who had become increasingly threatening—and of all these enemies, the most satisfying to hunt were the white men who had now begun to ravage Apache country. To this hunt Shaz-Dijiji dedicated himself.
