The “Prayer of Chief Seattle” is a speech attributed to Chief Seattle, a Native American leader of the Duwamish tribe in the Pacific Northwest. The speech was originally delivered in the 1850s, but the version that is commonly known today is a translation from a 20th-century book.
The speech is often interpreted as a call for environmental stewardship and respect for the natural world.
Here is an excerpt from the speech:
“The earth is our mother. What befalls the earth befalls all the sons and daughters of the earth. This we know: the earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.”
The full text of the “Prayer of Chief Seattle” can be found in various places online and in print, and it has been interpreted and adapted in various ways to express different themes and values. However, it remains an important piece of Native American literature and a reminder of the interconnectedness of all things in the natural world.
