This document provides background and context for John's 2014 Christmas story titled "The Song of the Konekka". It describes how the story retells biblical events from the perspective of an old Alibamu chief using Native American motifs and language. Key elements include God being referred to as "Ookalasa" and important places represented by crossings of the Konekka River. The story aims to tell the biblical narrative as a whole while sharing Alibamu culture and connecting to the author's own experiences.

1. “The Song of the Konekka”
John’s 34th Annual Christmas Poem
(The Back Story)
December 25, 2014
Most everything has a back story even if the author is not consciously aware of it at the time of
its writing. May I suggest that we all are products of many things, not the least of which are, in
the words of Walter Cronkite from the 1960s era TV show, “You Are There,” those things which
“alter and illuminate our lives.” Thank you for reading the “back story” of John’s 2014 Christmas
Story, “The Song of The Konekka.”
Set near Christmas, 2001, John Blue has been struggling with making sense of the events of
9/11earlier that fall and visits his daughter, in Texas. My daughter, Amy was, in fact, in fact a
student at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Ft. Worth and I remember several
visits back and forth. This one, however is completely fictional.
In the story, John Blue, who I assume is the literary or subconscious me, has visited Amy and is
on the return trip. The ticket in Waskom actually happened to Amy in the wee hours of the
morning as she was coming home. The rest of the story provides a platform to do a number of
things.
First, it is a complete “storying” of the Bible from the Beginning to the prophesied Second
Coming of Jesus. This accounts for its length. After all, the Bible is comprised of 61 books,
though this story doesn’t touch on all of them.
Second, it gives the reader an exposure to this valuable American treasure, the Alibamu culture
that is almost lost. Research indicates that there are fewer than 200 native speakers still extant.
Third, the story gives the author an opportunity to tell the Biblical story from the theological
standpoint advocated by Bishop N.T. Wright of the Church of England, whose writings show
both the continuity of the entire Bible and the singularity of its message, that God creates man
for life in the here and now and the hereafter as a continuum. That being the case, what man
does now has a profound impact on the future not only of himself in particular, but of the world in
general.
The story is told from the point of view of an old Alibamu chief who has lived his whole life on
the Alibamu-Coushatta Reservation located near Livingston in East Texas. The Alibamu tribe is
the source from which the State of Alabama takes its name and which lends its name to the
phrase in the story, “here we rest.” Some scholars translate the word, “Alabama” to mean, is a
band of Muscogee Creeks that inhabited Alabama until about the early 19th Century whose
name in their native language meant, “here we rest.” Unlike the majority of the Creeks and
related tribes, notably Choctaws, the Alibamu, who lived in the area of Montgomery, Elmore,
Tallapoosa, and Autauga Counties left the state long before the Indian Removal Act in the 1830s
under Andrew Jackson. Prior to the American War of Independence, England and France
fought the somewhat lesser-known French and Indian War. This war was a part of the larger,
Queen Anne’s War, a European misadventures between these two world powers that also
provided the backdrop for Longfellow’s classic poem, “Evangeline,” in which the French
Canadians of Acadia were forcibly removed by the British to French territory in Louisiana –
hence, “Cajuns.” There are parallels in this story.

2. France had settled principally Southwest Alabama with Mobile as their headquarters. The British
were pushing westward from Georgia. In the ensuing war, both powers enlisted the Native
Americans in their service. The tribes were divided in their loyalty. The Alibamu tribe, wrongly as
it turned out, sided with the French. As the War was going badly for the French and Indians, the
Alibamu yielded to pressure from the Georgian British and moved westward, eventually resting
in East Texas. Thus, the tribe was basically spared the terrible experience of others on the “Trail
of Tears” in the 1830s. The reservation is today shared with a smaller Alabama tribe, the
Coushatta, thus the reservation is federally recognized as the “Alabama-Coushatta”
Reservation. Of note is the fact that one band of the Alibamu headed south to the northern part
of Florida and became known as the “Seminoles.”
In the story, “Taata,” the old Chief, recounts basically the Bible as it might appear in the Native
American culture. The reader will note the continuing motifs of song and water. These two
elements were mainstays of their culture. In Hebrew thought, carried over into the Greek
Testament, the Creator God is seen as “speaking” all things into existence. Here, God, named,
“Ookalasa” “sings” His commands and actions. Since the human beings are created in His
image, they, likewise “sing” their action for the most part.
Let the reader note also that all the while Taata talks, he smokes a pipe. The smoke represents
the Holy Spirit filling the room, a scene found throughout the old Temple when the priests
waived censers. This was of course carried forward into New Testament times and is still done
in some traditions.
The story contains many words taken directly from the Alibamu (sometimes knows as
“Alabama”) language. I have used the Hebrew or Greek textual word and found the closest
Alibamu meaning. This holds true for proper names such as “Chika” (Son) for Jesus and for
inanimate objects; in a few cases, I used Alibamu verbs.
The reader will note that nouns in both the English spoken by Taata and the Alibamu are usually
singular and in present tense. This is typical of Muskogean languages and perhaps many other
North American Native tongues. They had little concept of or use for time or number thus,
different cases and tenses are not typically found. If you have ever watched an old cowboy
western movie, the “Indians” usually spoke in this manner. That’s the reason.
The title, “The Song of The Konekka” is a reference to the song motif of the story. Konekka is
my phonetically-altered spelling of the Muscogee word, “Conecuh,” which means “the Land of
Cane.” I used this spelling to make it easier for the person unfamiliar with Alabama geography to
properly pronounce it .Alabama boasts both a Conecuh County and the Conecuh River. My
hometown, Brantley in South-Central Alabama rests on the Conecuh River which basically
bifurcates the State at that point. In 1929, a tremendous flood carried away the bridge over the
Conecuh at Brantley and until replaced and relocated, the only way across was by boat or ferry.
I had these two modes of transportation in mind from the story’s inception. One title I initially
used for the story was “Ferry Across the Conecuh,” which was also an homage to “Ferry ‘Cross
the Mersey”, the 1965 Gary and the Pacemakers hit which was a favorite of mine because of its
haunting chordal structure.
The automobile referred to as “my Aunt’s middle-aged” Oldsmobile is the Olds 88 that I inherited
from my late Aunt Sue. It was one of my favorite cars until I totaled it on a “dark and stormy
night.” The truck is a representation of my late Father-in-Law’s pick-up truck which is still alive
and well. Using the Oldsmobile also set up a little joke taken from an old TV commercial where

3. the man “always wanted to work on a (sic.)” Oldsmobile.
The car blows a head-gasket. This is both literal and metaphorical for the spiritual state in which
John Blue finds himself at the outset. It is this condition, rightly diagnosed by Taata, which
causes Taata to tell the story allowing for the healing of John Blue’s spirit just as the man on the
reservation, “heals” the car’s problem.
The birds mentioned are native to this region of East Texas, especially the great-tailed grackle,
a large crow-like bird that roosts in the early evening in the trees in parking lots. Locals in Fort
Worth know never to park under those trees no matter how hot it is.
As the story unfolds, “in the soon to be, but not now, distant past” God (Ookalasa) creates all
things with His song. The “Land of Here We Rest” refers severally to literal and spiritual Eden,
Israel, the Earth and New Earth after its renovation. The stiff attempt at timing the event shows
the timelessness of the event, the inability of the language to describe it but also the fleeting
recollection of the event in the mind of man in general as these words are not known to as many
Westerners as in times past.
Death is euphemized as being “strongly visited by Ililla” who is the personification of death and
whose name literally means “death” in Alibamu. It should be noted that in the story, all die. That
is the human condition.
The scene shifts from Eden, to Ur of the Chaldees to Canaan to Egypt and back to Canaan
which becomes Israel and ultimately, the New Earth, as Bishop Wright might say. Many times,
there is a crossing of the Konekka, every time with the aid of Ookalasa. The Konekka ultimately
stands for death as in the “Crossing of the Jordan,” but not death as an end, rather as a
beginning, a transition from one state to a better (for the Faithful) and an ultimate one. This is
only done through Ookalasa. Of note, is the very ending of the story as told by Taata where
Chika vanished from the sight of His friends and in His place, they see the “Pearl of Great
Price,” previously mentioned as a story told by Chika, which is the “Kingdom of Heaven” of
which Jesus is the embodiment. The only way to make the final crossing of the Konekka is by
holding on tightly to the Pearl.
The imagery of the Ten Songs (Ten Commandments) is seen as they are “sung” to the Moses
character. Later in the story, the human beings figuratively lose their way within the
Commandments and make them demi-gods which are at one in the same time as large as giant
logs from which they build a ferry, yet as small as can be worn as headpieces, corresponding to
Jewish phylacteries.
Several times, the great plan of Ookalasa is mentioned when surprising events take place. The
author makes clear that these events take place only within the great plan of Ookalasa that
existed before time.
An intermezzo of Taata re-loading his pipe tells the reader that a new chapter is about to take
place. In the new chapter (New Testament times) Chika is introduced. He is the Christ figure.
Notice the use of water in the early imagery. Readers are introduced to “Spirit-Walkers” who are
angels. I borrowed the name from Johnny Depp’s Tonto’s use of it in the recent movie, “The
Lone Ranger.” Research indicates that “Spirit-Walker” is an Algonquin word. Perhaps, Depp’s
portrayal of the aged Tonto influenced my thoughts on the character of Taata especially in his
speech patterns and occasional use of anachronistic humor – “others – not so much.”

4. Chika is seen as He meets Ookitalàaka, the John the Baptizer character. Chika is ceremonially
“washed” though, in actuality, He needs no washing for He was “clean of Spirit” from since
before time began. For the first time, the motif of the “unlistened to” song is introduced.
Throughout, Ookalasa and Chika sing their perfect song but it is misunderstood by those who
listen and ignored by those who don’t listen. This carries through the theme of God’s election of
those who are foreordained to “hear” the song and thus be saved by it.
Chika and His Friends travel around singing the song and performing miracles. The crowds
grow and then fall off as the message becomes one they refuse to hear. Among the latter are
the leaders “Chief Shaman) who understand not the song but the subversive nature of Chika’s
“upside-down” song and understand that ultimately, it will be the death of them and their position
in the world. They do not grasp it, but that is precisely the point of the song, man must give up
his position and ultimately his very life to sing the song if he hopes to gain the true “Land of
Here We Rest.”
The Passion narrative is retold by Taata as a sacrifice, followed by confusion, followed by
wonderment followed by total joy in the Resurrection. The Friends begin to understand that in
the same manner, they too as well as the Land will be resurrected.
In the last part of the story, Jesus’ ascension is told in a completely different manner from its
source, but, I submit, the end is the same. He disappears from their sign and becomes the
“Pearl of Great Price,” the embodiment of the “Kingdom of God.” Those who grab onto Him are
given to float across the Great Konekka to the Land” – “others, not so much.”
Taata discerns that John Blue has understood and will no longer be a Wasosofka, Lost Coyote,
but rather a Chooskoni-itto, a wood duck. This doesn’t sound like a good thing, but the reader
should remember the closeness of the Native American culture to the animals. The wood duck
is the most beautiful of waterfowl in his coloration. Further, he is not earth-bound but can fly with
“Spirit-Walkers.” Thus the story ends on a positive note as John Blue, through understanding
and accepting the song is “washed” and will be one who is carried across the Rivers to be with
Taata and all his friends – the characters in the story.
This idea is reinforced as the author tells his readers that John Blue’s head gasket is “replaced”
and his spirit is “renewed.”
Taata concludes the story and “sang no more.” Perhaps that means he ceased talking as in the
telling of the narrative or perhaps it means he dies as do the characters in the narrative. The
phrase used to denote such is the same.
The coda, “May you have a great Christmas and may you somewhere, somehow in the future
as in the past, hear the Song of the Konekka in your heart as you say your prayers,“ is taken
from and “Indian Benediction” the author learned in the Boy Scouts. The author was a member
of Troop 43 in Brantley which was associated with the Tukabatchee Area Council. The author
was also tapped out for membership in the “Order of the Arrow,” Alibamu Lodge. Thus the
connection with Native American culture goes back “a long time since.”