[4]Poor in mind,i. e., despondent, miserable, unhappy.
[4]Poor in mind,i. e., despondent, miserable, unhappy.
The fourth night something touched him. He was half awake when he felt it. Something said, “What are you doing here?” He was lying on his side, his head toward the east and his feet toward the west. Something tapped him on the shoulder, and he looked up and saw a great big animal, big black eyes and a whitish body,Pah´, big elk. When he looked at it, the animal said, “Get up and sit down;” and the elk too sat down. The elk said, “I have heard of you and of your condition, and I am here to tell you that we all know your trouble. Right here where you are, under you, is the home of theNahu´rac(animals). I know that it is impossible to help you, but I shall let them know—they already know—thatyou are here. I can only help you so far as to take you to the places where these animals are. If this animal home cannot help you, I will take you to another place; if that fails, I will take you to another place; if that fails, to another. Then you will see that I have done my part. If it is impossible for the animals to do it, we have still one above that we look to.” As soon as he had said this, he vanished like a wind; disappeared all at once.
While the boy sat there, thinking about what the animal had said to him, he fell asleep with his mind full of these things. In his sleep something talked to him. It said, “I know that you feel badly, and that your mind is poor. I have passed you many times, and I have heard you crying. I belong here, but I am one of the servants. I have informed my leaders, those who command me, about you, and that you are so poor in your mind, and they have said to me, ‘If you take pity on him, do as you please, because you are our servant.’”
At this time he woke up, and saw sitting by him a little bird.[5]He talked to it. He said, “Oh, mybrother, I feel pleased that you understand my poor mind. Now take pity on me and help me.” The bird said to him, “You must not talk in this way to me. I am only a servant. To-morrow night I will come this way, and will show you what to do. To-morrow night I will come this way, and whatever you see me do, you do the same thing.” Then he disappeared. The man then felt a little easier in his mind, and more as if there were some hope for him.
[5]This is a small bird, blue above, white below, with red legs. It is swift-flying, and sometimes dives down into the water. It is the messenger bird of theNahu´rac. See also story of theBoy who was Sacrificed.
[5]This is a small bird, blue above, white below, with red legs. It is swift-flying, and sometimes dives down into the water. It is the messenger bird of theNahu´rac. See also story of theBoy who was Sacrificed.
The next night the bird came, and was flying about near him after dark, waiting for the time. When the time came, the bird flew close to him, and said, “Come. Let us go to the edge of the cut bank.” When they had come to the edge of the bank above the water in the river, the bird said, “Now, my friend, you are poor. What I do, you do. When I dive down off this bank, you follow me.” The man replied to him, “Yes, I am poor. Whatever you tell me to do, I will do.” So when the bird dived down off the cut bank, the man threw off everything, and cared nothing for what he did except to follow the bird. He leaped down after it, and as he sprang, it seemed to him that he felt like a bird, and could sail this way and that. He did not feel as if he were falling, and were going to be hurt,but as if he were flying, and could control his movements. Just as he reached the water in his fall, it seemed to him that he was standing in the entrance way of a lodge, and could look through into it and see the fire burning in the middle.
While he was standing there, the bird flew in ahead of him, and he heard it say, “Here he is.” He stepped toward the entrance, and just as he came to it theNahu´racall made their different noises, for they are not used to the smell of human beings. The bears growled, and the panthers and wild cats and wolves and rattlesnakes and other animals all made their sounds. As he went in, there was a bear standing on one side, and a great snake on the other, and it was very difficult for the man to go in. He hesitated a little to enter that narrow passage, but something behind him seemed to push him ahead, although the bear stood ready to seize him, and the snake was rattling and standing up as if about to strike. If he had not had the courage to pass them he would have been lost, but he looked neither to the right nor to the left, but walked straight ahead past them. As soon as he had passed them, they both sank back and were quiet. Then all theNahu´racmade another kind of a noise, as ifwelcoming him. The bear began to lie down; and the snake stretched itself out again. As he went in he just stood there and looked around. He saw there all kinds of animals. The head doctor was a white beaver, very large, there was another a garfish, another an otter, and the fourth was a sandhill crane.
The man sat down, and he looked very pitiful. Then for a while everything was silent. Then the servant said to the four head doctors, “I have brought this man here. I have taken pity on him, and I want you to take pity on him.” Then it was more silent than ever. The man looked about him, and saw all the animals, and saw them roll their eyes around at him.
Presently the servant got up, and stood right in the midst. The head doctors sat at the back of the lodge opposite the door on the other side of the fire. The bird said, “My rulers, you know me. I am your servant, and I am always obedient to your commands. No matter what you tell me to do, I do it. No matter how long the journeys you send me on, I go. Many nights I have lost sleep because of carrying out your commands. I have seen this man many times, and I am weary of his crying as I fly back andforth. Now, I want you to take pity on this man, because I pity him. Look on this poor-minded man and pity him.”
Then the bird went to the young man, and took from him his pipe, which was filled, and carried it round and stood before the beaver, the head doctor, and held out the pipe to him to take. The white beaver did not stretch out his hand for it, and the bird stood there for a long time. At last the bird began to cry, and the tears began to run down its face, and it cried hard; and at last the white beaver stretched out his hand, and then drew it back again, and hesitated; and the bird kept on crying, and at length the head doctor reached out his hand and took the pipe. Just as soon as he took the pipe, all the animals made a kind of a hissing sound, as much as to say,Loo´ah—Good. They were pleased. Then the white beaver, holding the pipe, said, “I cannot help but reach out for this pipe, for I take pity on my servant. But it is impossible for me to promise that I will do this thing, but I will do what I can. I will leave it to this otherNahu´racto say what shall be done;” and he passed the pipe to the otherNahu´racwho sat next to him. This animal reached for the pipe, and took it. He made a speech, andsaid, “My friends, I am poor, I am poor. I have not such power as that;” and he passed the pipe to another; and he said, “I have not the power;” and he passed it to another; and so it went around the circle. The pipe had passed around, and none of theNahu´rachad the power. None of them seemed to understand how to help the man. Then the white beaver said, “My friend, you see that no one of us have the power to help you. There is another lodge ofNahu´racatPa´howa. You must go there and ask them.” Then theNahu´racmade medicine, and the young man went to sleep, and when he awoke at daylight, he found himself on the point where he had lain down to sleep the night before.
He was discouraged and wept all day long. At night the elk came to him and said, “Go to sleep; I will take you over toPa´howa.” The man slept and the elk took him on its back and carried him while asleep, and the next morning he found himself on that point ofPa´howa.
That night the messenger bird came to him and said, “Now, my friend, follow me, and what you see me do, that do yourself. When I dive down intoPa´howa, you follow me.” The bird dived down into the spring, and the young man jumped afterhim, and again found himself standing at the door of a lodge, and the same things took place as before. Here the same animals were the head doctors. The chief head doctor talked to the boy and said, “My friend, I am sorry you have come to me in the condition you are in. My friend, this is something impossible. If it were anything else it might be possible for us to cure your trouble. Nothing like it was ever known before.”
When he had said this he turned to theNahu´racand said, “Now you shall be the leaders. If there are any of you who understand things like this; if any of you can take the lead in things like this, why do it. It is beyond my power. Say what shall be done, any of you. My mind would be big if any of you could take pity on this poor man.”
Another one of theNahu´racstood up and spoke, “My brother [to the white beaver], and my brother [to the young man], do not feel hard at me. This is beyond my power. I cannot do anything to help him.” So it went around the circle, every one saying that it was impossible. After it had gone round, the head doctor again stood up and said, “Now, my friend, you can see that it is impossible to cure you of this trouble, but there is anotherlodge of theNahu´racon the west side of the Loup River. You go there.” Then they put him to sleep, and when he awoke next morning, he was on top of the ground nearPa´howa.
That night the elk took him while he was asleep to the place on the Loup. The next night he was sitting on the ground there, and the bird came to him, and he followed the bird down over the bank and into theNahu´raclodge. Here the head doctors were the same animals, and they made speeches as had been done at the other places, and, as before, it was left to the assembly, and all agreed that it was beyond their power. Then the white beaver directed him to go to an island in the Platte, near the Lone Tree, where there was another lodge of theNahu´rac. The elk took him to this island. Under the center of this island was the lodge. The messenger bird was with him and went into the lodge and asked theNahu´racto help him. The white beaver made a speech, and said, “My friend, I have heard the condition that you are in. Of all these lodges that you have visited, that lodge atPa-huk´is the head. I want you to go back there, and tell the leaders there that they are the rulers, and that whatever they shall do will be right, and willbe agreed to by the other lodges. They must help you if they can. If they cannot do it, no one can.”
When the elk took him back toPa-huk´, the bird again conducted him into the lodge. He had left his pipe here. When he entered the lodge all the animals made a hissing sound—No´a—they were glad to see him again. The man stood in the middle of the lodge and spoke. He said, “Now you animals all, you are the leaders. You see how poor my mind is. I am tired of the long journeys you have sent me on. I want you to take pity on me.”
The white beaver stood up and took the pipe and said, “Oh, my brother, I have done this to try these other lodges ofNahu´rac, to see if any of them were equal to me. That was the reason that I sent you around to all these other lodges, to see if any of them would be willing to undertake to rid you of your burden. But I see that they all still acknowledge that I am the leader. Now I have here an animal that I think will undertake to help you and to rid you of your trouble.” Saying this he stepped out to the right, and walked past some of theNahu´racuntil he came to a certain animal—a ground dog—and held out the pipe to it. There were twelve of these animals, all alike—small, with round faces andblack whiskers—sitting on their haunches. He held out the pipe to the head one of these twelve. When the white beaver reached out the pipe to this animal he did not take it. He hesitated a long time, and held his head down. He did not want to take the pipe. He looked around the lodge, and at the man, and drew in his breath. At last he reached out his paws and took the pipe, and as he did so, all theNahu´racmade a noise, the biggest kind of a noise. They were glad.
Then the head ground dog got up and said, “Now, doctors, I have accepted this pipe on account of our servant, who is so faithful, and who many a night has lost sleep on account of our commands. I have accepted it for his sake. It is impossible to do this thing. If it had been earlier, I could perhaps have done it. Even now I will try, and if I fail now, we can do nothing for him.”
After they had smoked, they told the man to go and sit down opposite the entrance to the lodge, between the head doctors and the fire. These twelve animals stood up and walked back and forth on the opposite side of the fire from him, facing him. After a while they told him to stand up. The head ground dog now asked the otherNahu´racto help him, bysinging, and they all sang; and the ground dogs danced, keeping time to the singing, and moved their hands up and down, and made their jaws go as if eating, but did not open their mouths.
After a while they told him to lie down with his head toward the doctors and his feet toward the entrance. After he had lain down, they began to move and went round the lodge toward him, and the head ground dog jumped over the man’s belly, and as he jumped over him he was seen to have a big piece of flesh in his mouth, and was eating it. Another ground dog followed him, and another, and each one ran until he came to the man, and as each one jumped over him, it had a piece of flesh in its mouth, eating it. So they kept going until they had eaten all the swelling. The young man was unconscious all this time, for he afterward said he knew nothing of what had happened.
The head ground dog spoke to the animals, and said, “Now,Nahu´rac, you have seen what I can do. This is the power that I have. That is the reason I am afraid to be out on the prairie, because when I get hungry I would kill men and would eat them. My appetite would overpower me, and I do not want to do these things, I want to be friendly. This is thereason that I do not travel around on top of the ground. I stay hid all the time.”
The man was still unconscious, and the head ground dog said, “Now,Nahu´rac, I do not understand how to restore this man. I leave that to you.” Then the ground dogs went back to their places and sat down. Then the head doctor, the beaver, spoke to the bears. He said, “Now this man belongs to you. Let me see what you can do.” The head bear got up and said, “Very well, I will come. I will let you see what I can do.” Then the bears stood up and began to sing. The head bear would jump on top of the man, and act as if he were going to tear him to pieces, and the others would take hold of him, and shake him around, and at last his blood began to flow and the man began to breathe, but he was still unconscious. After a while he moved and came to life, and felt himself just as he had been many months before. He found that his trouble was gone and that he was cured.
The head bear still stood by him and spoke to theNahu´rac. He said, “Now,Nahu´rac, this is what I can do. I do not care how dangerously wounded I may be, I know how to cure myself. If they leave any breath at all in me, I know how tocure myself.” Then the bears went to their place and sat down.
The man got up and spoke to theNahu´rac, thanking them for what they had done for him. He stayed there several nights, watching the doings of theNahu´rac. They taught him all their ways, all the animal secrets. The head doctor said to him, “Now, I am going to send you back to your home, but I will ask a favor of you, in return for what I have done for you.”
The man answered him, “It will be so, whatever you say.”
The doctor said, “Through you let my animals that move in the river be fed. Now you can see who we are. I move in the water. I have no breath, but I exist. We every one of us shall die exceptTi-ra´-wa. He made us, just as he made you. He made you to live in the air. We live where there is no air. You see the difference. I know where is that great water that surrounds us [the ocean]. I know that the heaven [sky] is the house ofTi-ra´-wa, and we live inside of it. You must imitate us. Do as we do. You must place your dependence on us, but still, if anything comes up that is very difficult, you must put your dependence onTi-ra´-wa.Ask help from the ruler. He made us. He made every thing. There are different ways to different creatures. What you do I do not do, and what I do you do not do. We are different. When you imitate us you must always blow a smoke to each one of these four chief doctors, once to each; but toTi-ra´-wayou must blow four smokes. And always blow four to the night, to the east, because something may tell you in your sleep a thing which will happen. This smoke represents the air filled with the smoke of hazy days. That smoke is pleasant toTi-ra´-wa. He made it himself. Now go home, and after you have been there for a time, go and pay a visit to the doctor who put you in this condition.”
The young man went home to his village, and got there in the night. He had long been mourned as dead, and his father was now poor in mind on account of him. He went into his father’s lodge, and touched him, and said, “Wake up, I am here.”
His father could not believe it. He had thought him dead a long time. He said, “Is it you, or is it a ghost?”
The young man answered, “It is I, just the same as ever. Get up, and go and tell my uncles and all my relations that I am here. I want you to give mesomething; a blue bead, and some Indian tobacco, and some buffalo meat, and a pipe.”
The father went about and told his relations that his son had come back, and they were very glad, and came into the lodge, bringing the presents, and gave them to the boy. He took them, and went down to the river, and threw them in, and they were carried down to theNahu´raclodge atPa-huk´.
A few days after this the boy got on his horse, and rode away to visit the doctor who had brought his trouble on him. When he reached the village, the people said to the doctor, “A man is coming to visit you,” and the doctor was troubled, for he knew what he had done to the boy. But he thought that he knew so much that no one could get the better of him. When the boy came to the lodge, he got off his horse, went in and was welcomed. After they had eaten, the boy said to him, “When you visited me we smoked your tobacco; to-day we will smoke mine.”
They did so, for the doctor thought that no one could overcome him. They smoked until daylight, and while they were smoking, the boy kept moving his jaws as if eating, but did not open his mouth. At daylight the boy said he must be going. Hewent, and when he got down to the river, he blew strongly upon the ice, and immediately the water in the river was full of blood. It was the blood of the doctor. It seems that the ground dogs had taught the young man how to do their things.
When the people found the doctor he was dead in his lodge, and he was all hollow. All his blood and the inside of him had gone into the river, and had gone down to feed the animals. So the boy kept his promise to theNahu´racand had revenge on the doctor.
The boy was the greatest doctor in the Kit-ke-hahk´-i band, and was the first who taught them all the doctors’ ceremonies that they have. He taught them all the wonderful things that the doctors can do, and many other things.
Refer to caption
OLD-FASHIONED KNIFE.
THERE was once a young boy, who, when he was playing with his fellows, used often to imitate the ways of a bear, and to pretend that he was one. The boys did not know much about bears. They only knew that there were such animals.
Now, it had happened that before this boy was born his mother had been left alone at home, for his father had gone on the warpath toward the enemy, and this was about five or six months before the babe would be born. As the man was going on the warpath, he came upon a little bear cub, very small, whose mother had gone away; and he caught it. He did not want to kill it because it was so young and helpless. It seemed to him like a little child. It looked up to him, and cried after him, because it knew no better; and he hated to kill it or to leave itthere. After he had thought about this for a while, he put a string around its neck and tied some medicine smoking stuff, Indian tobacco, to it, and said, “Pi-rau´—child, you are aNahu´rac;Ti-ra´-wamade you, and takes care of you. He will look after you, but I put these things about your neck to show that I have good feelings toward you. I hope that when my child is born, theNahu´racwill take care of him, and see that he grows up a good man, and I hope thatTi-ra´-wawill take care of you and of mine.” He looked at the little bear for quite a long time, and talked to it, and then he went on his way.
When he returned to the village from his warpath, he told his wife about the little bear, and how he had looked at it and talked to it.
When his child was born it had all the ways of a bear. So it is among the Pawnees. A woman, before her child is born, must not look hard at any animal, for the child may be like it. There was a woman in the Kit-ke-hahk´-i band, who caught a rabbit, and, because it was gentle and soft, she took it up in her hands and held it before her face and petted it, and when her child was born it had a split nose, like a rabbit. This man is still alive.
This boy, who was like a bear, as he grew up, had still more the ways of a bear. Often he would go off by himself, and try to pray to the bear, because he felt like a bear. He used to say, in a joking way, to the other young men, that he could make himself a bear.
After he had come to be a man, he started out once on the warpath with a party of about thirty-five others. He was the leader of the party. They went away up on the Running Water, and before they had come to any village, they were discovered by Sioux. The enemy pursued them, and surrounded them, and fought with them. The Pawnees were overpowered, their enemies were so many, and all were killed.
The country where this took place is rocky, and much cedar grows there. Many bears lived there. The battle was fought in the morning; and the Pawnees were all killed in a hollow. Right after the fight, in the afternoon, two bears came traveling along by this place. When they came to the spot where the Pawnees had been killed, they found one of the bodies, and the she bear recognized it as that of the boy who was like a bear. She called to the he bear, and said, “Here is the man that was very good to us. He often sacrificed smokes to us, and everytime he ate he used always to take a piece of food and give it to us, saying, ‘Here is something for you to eat. Eat this.’ Here is the one that always imitated us, and sung about us, and talked about us. Can you do anything for him?” The he bear said, “I fear I cannot do it. I have not the power, but I will try. I can do anything if the sun is shining. I seem to have more power when the sun is shining on me.” That day it was cloudy and cold and snowing. Every now and then the clouds would pass, and the sun come out for a little while, and then the clouds would cover it up again.
The man was all cut up, pretty nearly hacked in small pieces, for he was the bravest of all. The two bears gathered up the pieces of the man, and put them together, and then the he bear lay down and took the man on his breast, and the she bear lay on top of it to warm the body. They worked over it with their medicine, and every now and then the he bear would cry out, and say, “A-ti´-us—Father, help me. I wish the sun was shining.” After a while the dead body grew warm, and then began to breathe a little. It was still all cut up, but it began to have life. Pretty soon the man began to move, and to come to life, and then he became conscious and had life.
When he came to himself and opened his eyes he was in the presence of two bears. The he bear spoke to him, and said, “It is not through me that you are living. It was the she bear who asked for help for you, and had you brought back to life. Now, you are not yet whole and well. You must come away with us, and live with us for a time, until all your wounds are healed.” The bears took him away with them. But the man was very weak, and every now and then, as they were going along, he would faint and fall down; but still they would help him up and support him; and they took him along with them, until they came to a cave in the rocks among the cedars, which was their home. When he entered the cave, he found there their young ones that they had left behind when they started out.
The man was all cut up and gashed. He had also been scalped, and had no hair on his head. He lived with the bears until he was quite healed of his wounds, and also had come to understand all their ways. The two old bears taught him everything that they knew. The he bear said to him, “None of all the beings and animals that roam over the country are as great and as wise as the bears. No animal is equal to us. When we get hungry, we goout and kill something and eat it. I did not make the wisdom that I have. I am an animal, and I look to one above. He made me, and he made me to be great. I am made to live here and to be great, but still there will be an end to my days, just as with all of us thatTi-ra´-wahas created upon this earth. I am going to make you a great man; but you must not deceive yourself. You must not think that I am great, or can do great things of myself. You must always look up above for the giver of all power. You shall be great in war and great in wealth.
“Now you are well, and I shall take you back to your home, and after this I want you to imitate us. This shall be a part of your greatness. I shall look after you. I shall give to you a part of myself. If I am killed, you shall be killed. If I grow old, you shall be old.
“I want you to look at one of the trees thatTi-ra´-wamade in this earth, and place your dependence on it.Ti-ra´-wamade this tree (pointing to a cedar). It never gets old. It is always green and young. Take notice of this tree, and always have it with you; and when you are in the lodge and it thunders and lightens,[6]throw some of it on the fire and let the smoke rise. Hold that fast.”
[6]A cedar is never struck by lightning.
[6]A cedar is never struck by lightning.
The he bear took the skin of a bear, and made a cap for him, to hide his naked skull. His wounds were now all healed, and he was well and strong. The man’s people had nearly forgotten him, it had been so long ago, and they had supposed that the whole party had been killed.
Soon after this the he bear said, “Now we will take that journey.” They started, and went to the village, and waited near it till it was night. Then the bear said to him, “Go into the village, and tell your father that you are here. Then get for me a piece of buffalo meat, and a blue bead, and some Indian tobacco, and some sweet smelling clay.”[7]
[7]A green clay, which they roast, and which then turns dark red, and has a sweet smell.
[7]A green clay, which they roast, and which then turns dark red, and has a sweet smell.
The man went into the village, and his father was very much surprised, and very glad to see him again. He got the presents, and brought them to the bear, and gave them to him, and the bear talked to him.
When they were about to part, the bear came up to him, and put his arms about him, and hugged him, and put his mouth against the man’s mouth, and said, “As the fur that I am in has touched you it will make you great, and this will be a blessing to you.” His paws were around the man’s shoulders, and he drew them down his arms, until they came tohis hands, and he held them, and said, “As my hands have touched your hands, they are made great, not to fear anything. I have rubbed my hands down over you, so that you shall be as tough as I am. Because my mouth has touched your mouth you shall be made wise.” Then he left him, and went away.
So this man was the greatest of all warriors, and was brave. He was like a bear. He originated the bear dance which still exists among the tribe of Pawnees. He came to be an old man, and at last died of old age. I suspect the old bear died at the same time.
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A RATTLE.
ONE time there were living together a man and his wife. They had a young child. The woman died. The man was very sad, and mourned for his wife.
One night he took the child in his arms, and went out from the village to the place where his wife was buried, and stood over the grave, and mourned for his wife. The little child was very helpless, and cried all the time. The man’s heart was sick with grief and loneliness. Late in the night he fell asleep, fainting and worn out with sorrow. After a while he awoke, and when he looked up, there was a form standing by him. The form standing there was the one who had died. She spoke to her husband, and said, “You are very unhappy here. There is a place to go where we would not be unhappy. Where Ihave been nothing bad happens to one. Here, you never know what evil will come to you. You and the child had better come to me.”
The man did not want to die. He said to her, “No; it will be better if you can come back to us. We love you. If you were with us we would be unhappy no longer.”
For a long time they discussed this, to decide which one should go to the other. At length the man by his persuasions overcame her, and the woman agreed to come back. She said to the man, “If I am to come back you must do exactly as I tell you for four nights. For four days the curtain must remain let down before my sleeping place; it must not be raised; no one must look behind it.”
The man did as he had been told, and after four days had passed, the curtain was lifted, and the woman came out from behind it. Then they all saw her, first her relations, and afterward the whole tribe. Her husband and her child were very glad, and they lived happily together.
A long time after this, the man took another wife. The first wife was always pleasant and good-natured, but the new one was bad-tempered, and after some time she grew jealous of the first woman, andquarreled with her. At length, one day the last married became angry with the other, and called her bad names, and finally said to her, “You ought not to be here. You are nothing but a ghost, anyway.”
That night when the man went to bed, he lay down, as was his custom, by the side of his first wife. During the night he awoke, and found that his wife had disappeared. She was seen no more. The next night after this happened, the man and the child both died in sleep. The wife had called them to her. They had gone to that place where there is a living.
This convinced everybody that there is a hereafter.
The Man who Called the Buffalo.
THIS happened in the olden time before we had met the white people. Then the different bands lived in separate villages. The lodges were made of dirt. The Kit-ke-hahk´-i band went off on a winter hunt, roaming over the country, as they used to do, after buffalo. At this time they did not find the buffalo near. They scouted in all directions, but could discover no signs of them. It was a hard time of starvation. The children cried and the women cried; they had nothing at all to eat.
There was a person who looked at the children crying for something to eat, and it touched his heart. They were very poor, and he felt sorry for them. He said to the Head Chief, “Tell the chiefs and other head men to do what I tell them. My heart issick on account of the suffering of the people. It may be that I can help them. Let a new lodge be set up outside the village for us to meet in. I will see if I can do anything to relieve the tribe.” The Chief said that it was well to do this, and he gave orders for it.
While they were preparing to build this lodge they would miss this man in the night. He would disappear like a wind, and go off a long way, and just as daylight came, he would be there again. Sometimes, while sitting in his own lodge during the day, he would reach behind him, and bring out a small piece of buffalo meat, fat and lean, and would give it to some one, saying, “When you have had enough, save what is left, and give it to some one else.” When he would give this small piece of meat to any one, the person would think, “This is not enough to satisfy my hunger;” but after eating until he was full, there was always enough left to give to some other person.
In those days it was the custom for the Head Chief of the tribe, once in a while, to mount his horse, and ride about through the village, talking to the people, and giving them good advice, and telling them that they ought to do what was right by eachother. At this time the Chief spoke to the people, and explained that this man was going to try to benefit the tribe. So the people made him many fine presents, otter skins and eagle feathers, and when they gave him these things each one said, “I give you this. It is for yourself. Try to help us.” He thanked them for these presents, and when they were all gathered together he said, “Now you chiefs and head men of the tribe, and you people, you have done well to give me these things. I shall give them to that person who gives me that power, and who has taken pity on me. I shall let you starve yet four days. Then help will come.”
During these four days, every day and night he disappeared, but would come back the same night. He would say to the people that he had been far off, where it would take a person three or four days to go, but he was always back the same night. When he got back on the fourth night, he told the people that the buffalo were near, that the next morning they would be but a little way off. He went up on the hill near the camp, and sacrificed some eagle feathers, and some blue beads, and some Indian tobacco, and then returned to the camp. Then he said to the people, “When that object comes to thatplace of sacrifice, do not interfere with it; do not turn it back. Let it go by. Just watch and see.”
The next morning at daylight, all the people came out of their lodges to watch this hill, and the place where he had sacrificed. While they were looking they saw a great buffalo bull come up over the hill to the place. He stood there for a short time and looked about, and then he walked on down the hill, and went galloping off past the village. Then this man spoke to the people, and said, “There. That is what I meant. That is the leader of the buffalo; where he went the whole herd will follow.”
He sent his servant to the chiefs to tell them to choose four boys, and let them go to the top of the hill where the bull had come over, and to look beyond it. The boys were sent, and ran to the top of the hill, and when they looked over beyond it they stopped, and then turned, and came back, running. They went to the chiefs’ lodge, and said to the chiefs sitting there, “Beyond that place of sacrifice there is coming a whole herd of buffalo; many, many, crowding and pushing each other.”
Then, as it used to be in the old times, as soon as the young men had told the Chief that the buffalo were coming, the Chief rode about the village, andtold every one to get ready to chase them. He said to them besides, “Do not leave anything on the killing ground. Bring into the camp not only the meat and hides, but the heads and legs and all parts. Bring the best portions in first, and take them over to the new lodge, so that we may have a feast there.” For so the man had directed.
Presently the buffalo came over the hill, and the people were ready, and they made a surround, and killed all that they could, and brought them home. Each man brought in his ribs and his young buffalo, and left them there at that lodge. The other parts they brought into the village, as he had directed. After they had brought in this meat, they went to the lodge, and staid there four days and four nights, and had a great feast, roasting these ribs. The man told them that they would make four surrounds like this, and to get all the meat that they could, “But,” he said, “in surrounding these buffalo you must see that all the meat is saved.Ti-ra´-wadoes not like the people to waste the buffalo, and for that reason I advise you to make good use of all you kill.” During the four nights they feasted this man used to disappear each night.
On the night of the fourth day he said to thepeople, “To-morrow the buffalo will come again, and you will make another surround. Be careful not to kill a yellow calf—a little one—that you will see with the herd, nor its mother.” This was in winter, and yet the calf was the same color as a young calf born in the spring. They made the surround, and let the yellow calf and its mother go.
A good many men in the tribe saw that this man was great, and that he had done great things for the tribe, and they made him many presents, the best horses that they had. He thanked them, but he did not want to accept the presents. The tribe believed that he had done this wonderful thing—had brought them buffalo—and all the people wanted to do just what he told them to.
In the first two surrounds they killed many buffalo, and made much dried meat. All their sacks were full, and the dried meat was piled up out of doors. After the second surround, they feasted as before.
After four days, as they were going out to surround the buffalo the third time, the wind changed, and before the people got near them, the buffalo smelt them, and stampeded. While they were galloping away, the man ran up on to the top of the hill, to the place of sacrifice, carrying a pole, onwhich was tied the skin of a kit fox; and when he saw the buffalo running, and that the people could not catch them, he waved his pole, and called outSka-a-a-a!and the buffalo turned right about, and charged back right through the people, and they killed many of them. He wished to show the people that he had the power over the buffalo.
After the third surround they had a great deal of meat, and he called the chiefs together and said, “Now, my chiefs, are you satisfied?” They said, “Yes, we are satisfied, and we are thankful to you for taking pity on us and helping us. It is through your power that the tribe has been saved from starving to death.” He said, “You are to make one more surround, and that will be the end. I want you to get all you can. Kill as many as possible, for this will be the last of the buffalo this winter. Those presents that you have made to me, and that I did not wish to take, I give them back to you.” Some of the people would not take back the presents, but insisted that he should keep them, and at last he said he would do so.
The fourth surround was made, and the people killed many buffalo, and saved the meat. The night after this last surround, he disappeared and drovethe buffalo back. The next morning he told the people to look about, and tell him if they saw anything. They did so, but they could not see any buffalo.
The next day they moved camp, and went east toward their home. They had so much dried meat that they could not take it all at once, but had to come back and make two trips for it. When they moved below, going east, they had no fresh meat, only dried meat; but sometimes when this man would come in from his journeys, he would bring a piece of meat—a little piece—and he would divide it up among the people, and they would put it into the kettles and boil it, and everybody would eat, but they could not eat it all up. There would always be some left over. This man was so wonderful that he could change even the buffalo chips that you see on the prairie into meat. He would cover them up with his robe, and when he would take it off again, you would see there pounded buffalo meat and tallow (pemmican),tup-o-har´-ash.
The man was not married; he was a young man, and by this time the people thought that he was one of the greatest men in the tribe, and they wanted him to marry. They went to one of the chiefs andtold him that they wanted him to be this man’s father-in-law, for they wanted him to raise children, thinking that they might do something to benefit the tribe. They did not want that race to die out. The old people say that it would have been good if he had had children, but he had none. If he had, perhaps they would have had the same power as their father.
That person called the buffalo twice, and twice saved the tribe from a famine. The second time the suffering was great, and they held a council to ask him to help the tribe. They filled up the pipe and held it out to him, asking him to take pity on the tribe. He took the pipe, and lighted it, and smoked. He did it in the same way as the first time, and they made four surrounds, and got much meat.
When this man died, all the people mourned for him a long time. The Chief would ride around the village and call out, “Now I am poor in mind on account of the death of this man, because he took pity on us and saved the tribe. Now he is gone and there is no one left like him.”
This is a true and sacred story that belongs to the Kit-ke-hahk´-i band. It happened once long ago,and has been handed down from father to son in this band. The Skidi had a man who once called the buffalo, causing them to return when stampeded, as was done in this story.
Note.—Big Knife, a Skidi, who died only recently, said that the man was alive in his time.Kuru´ks-u le-shar(Bear Chief), a Skidi, says that he knew the man. His name was Carrying Mother.