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He spoke of a country far away where the people ate potatoes. Now the potatoes were rotting in the ground. There was nothing else to eat and the people were sick and starving. Whole villages of people were leaving their homes and walking the land in search of food. They were eating the leaves from the trees and the grass from the ground in a desperate attempt to stay alive. They were dying as they walked. The mouths of the dead were stained green. Moshi said the Memphis Committee had brought the story to the tribal leaders from Washington, DC, where a big meeting had been held to see what could be done to help these Irish people. ‘We too are being asked to help them,’ said Moshi. Moshi waited to see what people would say to this, but no one spoke. ‘We are being asked to help them,’ repeated Moshi. Still there was silence, and then a man called Mishima Abi spoke. He was a respected warrior and had taken enemy lives in battle. He spoke forcefully. ‘These people are Nahullo, Europeans,’ he said. ‘The Nahullo have come to our land and taken it from us. They have caused our people to die. It is because of them that the bones of our people lie scattered along the trail of the Long March. The Nahullo only take, they do not give. Why should we help them?’ Some people murmured in agreement. Mishima Abi lifted his hands in appeal. ‘Why should we help the Nahullo? Why? Why?’ Tension filled the circle. The war words had been effective. The silence stretched out. Then Great-Grandmother cleared her throat to speak. Immediately everyone turned to hear what Talihoyo would say. She had the attention of the whole council. Even the children crept forward from the shadows. Her words would carry weight. She was our oldest elder. ‘Long ago,’ she began, ‘when the world was young, the ground split open and the Choctaw people walked out of the earth into the living land…’ I thought my great-grandmother had gotten off the point, but I didn’t care. I loved her stories. I slid down to the floor beside my sisters. ‘. . . the ground closed behind the people,’ continued Talihoyo, ‘and they called the mount where the earth had opened Nanih Waiyha and said they would live only around her, their mother. They believed that if they left her, they would be lost forever.


What do you think she will say? Describe the atmosphere created by the author.


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