Painting by Lana Korolievskaia

Indian Chief John Smith from Minnesota was a real person. He lived in three centuries. John was born at 1790's and died at 1920's. His skin dried up and cracked, but a clear mind did not leave John Smith until the very end. He looks incredibly colorful - wrinkled, with a huge nose and feathers in his head. John belonged to Chippewa people. Some information about his life has reached us. He was very respected in those places - everyone invited John Smith to drink tea, sit and talk, and if he needed to cross the river or get somewhere else, then rarely anyone charged him a fare. By the way, when a steam locomotive first went in those places, John Smith was one of the first to ride it, also completely free. John Smith did not like responsibility, and despite the fact that he was repeatedly asked to become a leader, he refused it, preferring to be a kind of consultant, giving wise advice to leaders from time to time, but at the same time remaining free from social and any other pressures. He moved a lot, loved to walk, and often left home for whole weeks, taking with him only a travel bag, a staff and his invariable pipe. Indian John looks at us from the depths of a long bygone era, when people had closer contact with nature, and were wiser than us.