The Reverend Young listened raptly as the extraordinary man continued:

My people await Pahana, the lost White Brother [whose return to Earth marks the beginning of the Fifth World, according to Hopi legend], as do all our brothers in the land. He will not be like the white men we know now, who are cruel and greedy. We were told of their coming long ago. But still we await Pahana…

The Fourth World shall end soon, and the Fifth World will begin. This the elders everywhere know. The Signs over many years have been fulfilled, and so few are left.

This is the First Sign: we are told of the coming of the white-skinned men, like Pahana, but not living like Pahana men who took the land that was not theirs. And men who struck their enemies with thunder.

This is the Second Sign: our lands will see the coming of spinning wheels filled with voices. In his youth, my father saw this prophecy come true with his eyes—the white men bringing their families in wagons across the prairies.

This is the Third Sign: a strange beast like a buffalo, but with great long horns, will overrun the land in large numbers. These White Feather saw with his eyes—the coming of the white men’s cattle.

This is the Fourth Sign: the land will be crossed by snakes of iron.

This is the Fifth Sign: the land shall be crisscrossed by a giant spider’s web.

This is the Sixth Sign: the land shall be crisscrossed with rivers of stone that make pictures in the sun.

This is the Seventh Sign: you will hear of the sea turning black, and many living things dying because of it.

This is the Eighth Sign: you will hear of many youth, who wear their hair long like my people, come and join the tribal nations to learn their ways and wisdom.

This is the Ninth and Last Sign: you will hear of a dwelling place in the heavens, above the earth, that shall fall with a great crash. It will appear as a blue star. Very soon after this, the ceremonies of my people will cease.

These are the Signs that great destruction is coming. The world shall rock to and fro. The white man will battle against other people in other lands—with those who possessed the first light of wisdom. There will be many columns of smoke and fire such as White Feather has seen the white man make in the deserts not far from here. Only those which come will cause disease and a great dying.

Many of my people, understanding the prophecies, shall be safe. Those who stay and live in the places of my people also shall be safe. Then there will much to rebuild. And soon—very soon afterward—Pahana will return. He shall bring with him the dawn of the Fifth World. He shall plant the seeds of his wisdom in their hearts. Even now the seeds are being planted. These shall smooth the way to the emergence into the Fifth World.

The Reverend Young and White Feather the elder never saw each other again after they parted ways that day, but the extraordinary experience and the prophecies that emerged from it have become a part of the modern Hopi legends. And according to most interpreters, the signs White Feather prophesized are imagery of the following:

The First Sign: “thunder” is a reference to guns.

The Second Sign: an obvious reference to the arrival of settlers in covered wagons.

The Third Sign: “strange beast like a buffalo but with great long horns” is a reference to the proliferation of longhorn cattle in the newly settled Southwest and West.

The Fourth Sign: “snakes of iron” is a reference to railroad tracks.

The Fifth Sign: “a giant spider’s web” is a reference to power lines.

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