Chapter 10: Death of the President of the United States

Winter passes and spring comes.

Spring is undoubtedly a wonderful season. For the Indians, the spring of 1841 was especially so.

In the tent, Shi Ya was teaching Ma Shao. He used a branch to draw a pattern on the sand on the ground, explaining: "This is a pattern used to treat plague. After we draw it, let the patient lie in the middle, and he will be blessed by the great spirit..."

"Yeah." Ma Shao felt very overwhelmed, but he still had to study hard in order to cope with future homework examinations.

Fortunately, the patterns were not complicated, otherwise he would probably have to drop out of school. In his opinion, these things were too stupid.

Persuade Stone Crow to give up these weird things? Even if he hadn't tried it, he knew it was impossible.

In fact, if he showed the slightest doubt about matters of ghosts and gods, the stone crow would immediately criticize him seriously.

If you want to change a person's beliefs, it's not enough to just talk about it. Ma Shao understands this.

After all, his current identity is just a little kid. Although he has been respected by some elders, he does not have enough authority to change the spiritual beliefs of an adult.

So he never tried to convince Stone Crow about anything regarding faith. What he was thinking about now was how to subtly change the thinking patterns of the children in the tribe, which should be more feasible.

Class is in progress.

Shi Ya performed a dance demonstration on the spot and asked Ma Shao to dance along with him.

"Stone Crow." At this time, the old chief came in from outside, looked at Ma Shao with a smile on his face, and said, "You dance well. I believe you will become an outstanding shaman."

"What's the matter, Chief?" The Stone Crow stopped dancing.

"Harrison is dead," the old chief repeated in a broken voice, "Harrison."

"Harrison?" Ma Shao recognized it and thought that the chief was saying this English name.

"Yes." The old chief was amazed, "Hey, little whistle, your pronunciation is so accurate?"

Ma Shao was ashamed, his English level was obviously shitty and his pronunciation was not standard, this was entirely because the chief's pronunciation was even more unstandard.

"Which Harrison?" asked the Stonecrow.

The old chief: "Who else could it be? Of course it's the President of the United States, the executioner. The prophet's prophecy has come true. The Great Spirit has punished this bastard."

Shi Ya suddenly realized: "It's him. He should have died long ago."

The chief went on to say, "We should perform a ceremony tonight to communicate with the great spirit and let the soul of this bastard suffer a more severe punishment! In addition... we should also pay tribute to the deceased Black Panther Crossing. Although he was a Shawnee, he should be respected by everyone. He is a hero."

"Yes, I will prepare for the ceremony right away." Stone Crow nodded, then took the horse whistle and prepared for tonight's activities.

After listening to the conversation between the two, Ma Shao understood what happened. US President Harrison died of pneumonia.

If any other American president had died, Indians might not have paid much attention, and Ma Shao probably wouldn't have had any impression, but this one was very special.

To the Indians, Harrison was basically a synonym for the devil, because he was famous for plundering and killing Indians.

Years earlier, Harrison was an army general who fought at the Battle of Tippecanoe against Shawnee leader Tecumseh, known to the chief as "The Black Panther Passing."

Tecumseh was a well-known leader who believed that all Indians should unite to fight against the whites. His ideas had a considerable impact and were even noticed by the British who wanted to stir up trouble in the United States, and he received help from the British.

Unfortunately, Tecumseh lost the battle.

Harrison won the Battle of Tippecanoe and then massacred the local Indians. He also dismembered Tecumseh's body and made the skin into sharpening belts.

This made Harrison a national hero of the Americans and an important bargaining chip for him to run for the White House in the future.

At the same time, this also brought him a curse, the famous "Curse of Tecumseh". Tecumseh's brother cursed that a president of the United States would die every twenty years.

This curse really came true.

In fact, for the next hundred years or so, a sitting president of the United States did die every twenty years or so, until President Reagan stopped.

The first fulfillment of the Tecoma curse was President Harrison, the Indian massacrer who was already 68 years old when he became president, setting a record for the age of being elected at that time.

Just over the past month, he has gone on to set another record - the shortest-serving U.S. president.

In order to fully demonstrate his charm at the inauguration ceremony, President Harrison, despite his advanced age, gave a fluent speech in the cold wind. He eventually contracted pneumonia and died of the disease a month later, creating a beautiful story.

Harrison served as President of the United States for only one month, and he did so while on his sickbed, so naturally he did nothing. However, these deeds made him famous and were later included in the book "A History of Human Folly."

As a Chinese living in the 21st century, Ma Shao is quite familiar with this American president and even knows his full name: William Henry Harrison.

"Chief, when did Harrison die?" Ma Shao found the chief and asked.

"Five days ago." The old chief said casually, "Why are you asking this?"

"Nothing, I just think we should know his exact information so that we can curse him better." Ma Shao made up a reason.

"Indeed." The old chief thought about it and felt that it made sense. "Little Whistle, you are indeed suitable to be a shaman."

In fact, Ma Shao wanted to know the exact date.

The Indians were isolated from information and knew very little about the affairs of the white people. The only news they could get in a timely manner was probably the big news like Harrison's death from illness. Therefore, although he knew the year in the AD calendar before, he had never found out a more precise date.

He knew the date of Harrison's death because he had another achievement - he died on Qingming Festival.

Of course, Americans don't celebrate Qingming Festival. To be more precise, when this guy died, China across the Pacific Ocean was celebrating Qingming Festival.

Once Harrison's death date was determined, Ma Shao could naturally determine the exact date of the present.

Five days ago... Well, by that calculation, today should be April 9, 1841.

Ma Shao couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, thinking that it was not easy at all, after several months, he finally knew the exact date.

On the one hand, the clan was isolated from news, and on the other hand, he was too young and could only rely on his clan members, without any chance to contact the outside world.

Whenever he thought of this, Ma Shao couldn't help but feel a desire for growth in his heart, hoping that he could grow up quickly.

The accidental death of the President of the United States is undoubtedly a major event, and I wonder how many undercurrents it will stir up.

But for the Sleeping Bear Clan, this incident did not have any substantial impact, at least not for the time being, and people's lives were very peaceful.

Time passes by quietly.

Ma Shao spent about three years in his desire to grow.