From: Laura Bashlor <lauralou@gatecoms.gatecom.com>
Subject: RE Coded message to the moon
Date: Sat, 28 Sep 1996 10:15:48 -0400
Dear LFM Folk, The following message has been forwarded several times, so I am assuming it is not privileged. I have snipped info on several of the forwards, but the original source was not included. Whether true or apocryphal, it is an interesting story. ...Laura (MI) ------- Forwarded Message Follows ------- Subj: a codetalker speaks Date: 96-09-27 13:56:36 EDT A few months before the 1st apollo moonwalk, a NASA team travelled to the painted desert north of Tuba City AZ; the terrain there looks much like the Lunar surface. Along with all the vehicles and equipment came two large figures dressed in spacesuits. From some distance an aged Navajo and his son watched as the spacesuited pair walked about. The two Navajos were noticed and approached by the NASA folks. The son declared that the old one, who spoke in the old tongue only, had asked in that tongue what the spacesuited pair was up to. A NASA spokesperson [back then, alas, called a spokesMAN] explained that they were getting ready to go to the moon. This news greatly excited the old man; his son said he wanted to know if they would carry a message from him to the moon. The NASA folks thought this was a great idea. After the old man had spoken into their tape recorder, his son was asked to translate...but could not...or would not.... similar efforts with other Navajos failed also... until at last a fistful of dollars wangled this translation: "Watch out for these guys, they come to take your land."