{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_22083/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_22083","id":"gutenberg_22083","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/22083","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Folklore","Indians of North America -- Great Plains -- Folklore","Indians of North America -- West (U.S.) -- Folklore","Native America"],"text":"Produced by David Edwards, Sam W. and the Online Distributed\nProofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was\nproduced from scanned images of public domain material\nfrom the Google Print project.)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n                         MYTHS AND LEGENDS\n                        OF THE GREAT PLAINS\n\n                       SELECTED AND EDITED BY\n\n                       KATHARINE BERRY JUDSON\n\n AUTHOR OF \"MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF CALIFORNIA AND THE OLD SOUTHWEST,\"\n\"MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST,\" \"MONTANA,\" \"MYTHS AND\n     LEGENDS OF ALASKA,\" AND \"WHEN THE FORESTS ARE ABLAZE.\"\n\n                            ILLUSTRATED\n\n                           [Illustration]\n\n\n                              CHICAGO\n                        A. C. McCLURG & CO.\n                               1913\n\n\n\n\n_Copyright_\nA. C. McCLURG & CO.\n1913\n\n\nPublished November, 1913\n\n\nW. F. Hall Printing Company\nChicago\n\n\n\n\n_BY THE SAME AUTHOR_\n\n\nMYTHS AND LEGENDS OF CALIFORNIA AND THE OLD SOUTHWEST. _Over fifty\nfull-page illustrations. Small quarto. $1.50 net._\n\nMYTHS AND LEGENDS OF ALASKA. _Beautifully illustrated. Small quarto.\n$1.50 net._\n\nMYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST. Especially of Washington\nand Oregon. _With fifty full-page illustrations. Small quarto. $1.50\nnet._\n\nMONTANA: \"The Land of Shining Mountains.\" _Illustrated. Indexed.\nSquare 8vo. 75 cents net._\n\nWHEN THE FORESTS ARE ABLAZE. _Illustrated. Crown 8vo. $1.35 net._\n\nA. C. McClurg & Co., Publishers\n\n\n\n\n[Notes: BIANKI'S VISION\n\n(Kiowa Drawing)\n\n_The ghost-dance among the Sioux was based on the belief that the dead\nIndians would all come to life and drive out the white intruders. Then\nthe buffaloes, which were disappearing, would come back in the immense\nherds of the olden time._\n\n_The vision of one of the dreamer priests is represented. After\nreaching the spirit world, Bianki found himself on a vast prairie\ncovered with innumerable buffaloes and ponies. He went through the\nherds (dotted lines) until he came to a large Kiowa camp, with its\nornament tepees. He met four young women who had died years before,\nand asked about two of his brothers, also dead. He soon met them\ncoming into camp, with buffalo meat hanging from their saddles._]\n\n[Illustration: _Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution_]\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\n\nFrom the edge of the Darkening Land, where stand the mountains which\nencircle the earth-plain, eastward toward the Sunland, lie the great\nplains of America. Smooth and flat and green they stretch away,\nhundreds of miles, rising from a dead level into a soft rolling of the\nland, then into the long green waves of the prairies where rivers\nflow, where the water ripples as it flows, and trees shade the banks\nof the gleaming water.\n\nHere, amidst the vast sweep of the plains which stretch away to the\nhorizon on every side, boundless, limitless, endless, lived the plains\nIndians. Standing in the midst of this vast green plain on a soft May\nmorning, after the Thunder Gods have passed, when the sun is shining\nin the soft blue above, and the sweet, rain-swept air is blown about\nby the Four Winds which are always near to man, day and\nnight,--standing far out on the plains with no hint of the white man\nor his work--one sees the earth somewhat as the Indian saw it and\nwonders not at his reverence for the Mysterious One who dwelt\noverhead, beyond the blue stone arch, and for the lesser powers which\ncame to him over the four paths guarded by the Four Winds. It was\nWakoda, the Mysterious One, who gave to man the sunshine, the clear\nrippling water, the clear sky from which all storms, all clouds are\nabsent, the sky which is the symbol of peace. Through this sky sweeps\nthe eagle, the \"Mother\" of Indian songs, bearing upon her strong wings\nthe message of peace and calling to her nestlings as she flies. Little\nwonder that to some tribes song was an integral part of their lives,\nand that emotions too deep for words were expressed in song.\n\nOther songs there were, with words, songs of the birds which fly\nthrough that soft, tender blue:\n\n    All around the birds in flocks are flying;\n    Dipping, rising, circling, see them coming.\n    See, many birds are flocking here,\n    All about us now together coming.\n\n    [_Pawnee_]\n\nThe power to fly has always inspired Indians of all tribes and of all\ndegrees of civilization with wonder and reverence. The bird chiefs\nhave their own places in Indian myths. Owl is chief of the night;\nWoodpecker, with his ceaseless tattoo on the trees, is chief of the\ntrees; Duck is chief of the water; but Eagle is chief of the day. It\nis always Eagle who is chief of the birds, even though Wren may outwit\nhim in a tale told by the fire glimmering in the tepee, when the story\ntellers of the tribe tell of the happenings in the days \"way beyond.\"\nIt is Eagle who inspires admiration, and becomes the most sacred bird.\n\n    Round about a tree in ever widening circles an eagle flies, alert,\n        watching o'er his nest;\n    Loudly whistles he, a challenge sending far, o'er the country wide\n        it echoes, there defying foes.\n\n    [_Pawnee_]\n\nIn the breeze that rippled the long grass of the prairie and fluttered\nthe flaps of the graceful tepee, waved also the corn, sent by\nOld-Woman-Who-Never-Dies, the ever returning life of the green thing\ngrowing. In the ravines and on the lower slopes of the grassy waves of\nthe prairie bellowed the buffalo, or grazed in silence, having long\nsince come up from the underground world and become the source of the\nIndian's food, clothing, home, utensils, and comfort. Endless were the\ncharms and enchantments to bring the buffalo herds near his camping\nground. Severe was the punishment meted out to the thoughtless warrior\nwhose unguarded eagerness frightened the herds and sent them away.\n\nOver the plains and prairies, at other times, swept the Thunder Gods,\nwith their huge jointed wings, darkening all the land, and flashing\nfire from angry eyes which struck down man and beast. Terrified were\nthe Indians when the Thunder Gods rolled. Vows made to them must be\nkept, for relentless were they.\n\n\"Oh, grandfather,\" prayed the Indian when the sky was black and the\nlightning flashed, as he filled a pipe with tobacco and offered it\nskyward, \"Oh, grandfather! I am very poor. Somewhere make those who\nwould injure me leave a clear space for me.\" Then he put the sacred\ngreen cedar upon the fire--the cedar which stayed awake those seven\nnights and therefore does not lose its hair every winter--and the\nsmoke from the sacred, burning wood, rolling upward, appeased the\nrolling Thunders.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe authorities used in this compilation are those found in the annual\nreports of the Bureau of American Ethnology and the Publications of\nthe United States Geographical and Geological Survey: contributions to\nNorth American Ethnology. Of the various ethnologists whose work has\nbeen used, those of especial importance are Alice C. Fletcher, whose\nwonderful work among the Omaha and Pawnee Indians is deserving of the\nmost careful study, J. Owen Dorsey, James Mooney, and S. R. Riggs.\n\nNo claim whatever is made for original work. Indeed, original work of\nany kind in a compilation such as this would impair the authenticity\nof the myths, and therefore destroy the value of this work. Nor has\nany effort been made towards \"style.\" The only style worth having in\ntelling an Indian legend is that of the Indian himself.\n\n    K. B. J.\n\n_Seattle, Washington._\n\n\n\n\nTABLE OF CONTENTS\n\n\n                                                                    Page\n  The Creation                             _Osage_                    19\n  How the World was Made                   _Cherokee_                 22\n  The Flood and the Rainbow                _Lenni-Lenapi (Delaware)_  26\n  The First Fire                           _Cherokee_                 28\n  The Ancestors of People                  _Osage_                    31\n  Origin of Strawberries                   _Cherokee_                 32\n  Sacred Legend                            _Omaha_                    34\n  The Legend of the Peace Pipes            _Omaha_                    38\n  A Tradition of the Calumet               _Lenni-Lenapi (Delaware)_  41\n  The Sacred Pole                          _Omaha_                    43\n  Ikto and the Thunders                    _Teton_                    46\n  The Thunder Bird                         _Comanche_                 47\n  The Thunder Bird                         _Assiniboin_               48\n  Song to the Thunder Gods                 _Omaha_                    49\n  Songs of the Buffalo Hunt                _Sioux_                    50\n  Origin of the Buffalo                    _Teton_                    53\n  The Buffalo Being                        _Teton_                    55\n  The Youth and the Underground People     _Omaha_                    57\n  The Buffalo and the Grizzly Bear         _Omaha_                    68\n  My First Buffalo Hunt                    _Omaha_                    71\n  Bird Omens                               _Sioux_                    73\n  The Bird Chief                           _Omaha_                    74\n  Song of the Birds                        _Pawnee_                   75\n  Song of Kawas, the Eagle                 _Pawnee_                   77\n  The Eagle's Revenge                      _Cherokee_                 78\n  The Race between Humming Bird and Crane  _Cherokee_                 80\n  Rabbit and the Turkeys                   _Omaha_                    82\n  Unktomi and the Bad Songs                _Dakota_                   84\n  How the Pheasant Beat Corn               _Cherokee_                 88\n  Why Turkey Gobbles                       _Cherokee_                 89\n  Omaha Beliefs                            _Omaha_                    90\n  Pawnee Beliefs                           _Pawnee_                   92\n  A Song of Hospitality                    _Sioux_                    95\n  A Song of the March                      _Sioux_                    96\n  Song of the Prairie Breeze               _Kiowa_                    97\n  Old-Woman-Who-Never-Dies                 _Mandan_                   98\n  Legend of the Corn                       _Arikara_                 101\n  Tradition of the Finding of Horses       _Ponca_                   105\n  Dakota Beliefs and Customs               _Dakota_                  108\n  Why the Tetons Bury on Scaffolds         _Teton_                   110\n  The Ghost's Resentment                   _Dakota_                  111\n  The Forked Roads                         _Omaha_                   116\n  Tattooed Ghosts                          _Dakota_                  117\n  A Ghost Story                            _Ponca_                   118\n  The Ghost and the Traveler               _Teton_                   119\n  The Man who Shot a Ghost                 _Teton_                   120\n  The Indian Who Wrestled with a Ghost     _Teton_                   122\n  The Wakanda, or Water God                _Yankton_                 126\n  The Spirit Land                          _Arapahoe_                129\n  Waziya, the Weather Spirit               _Teton_                   131\n  Kansas Blizzards                         _Kansa_                   132\n  Ikto and the Snowstorm                   _Teton_                   133\n  The Southern Bride                       _Cherokee_                135\n  The Fallen Star                          _Dakota_                  136\n  Quarrel of Sun and Moon                  _Omaha_                   147\n  Why the Possum Plays Dead                _Cherokee_                148\n  Bog Myth                                 _Dakota_                  150\n  Coyote and Snake                         _Omaha_                   151\n  Why the Wolves Help in War               _Dakota_                  153\n  How Rabbit Escaped from the Wolves       _Cherokee_                155\n  How Rabbit Lost His Fat                  _Omaha_                   157\n  How Flint Visited Rabbit                 _Cherokee_                158\n  How Rabbit Caught the Sun in a Trap      _Omaha_                   161\n  How Rabbit Killed the Giant              _Omaha_                   163\n  How Deer Got His Horns                   _Cherokee_                167\n  Why the Deer has Blunt Teeth             _Cherokee_                169\n  Legend of the Head of Gold               _Dakota_                  171\n  The Milky Way                            _Cherokee_                175\n  Coyote and Gray Fox                      _Ponca_                   176\n  Ictinike and Turtle                      _Omaha_                   178\n  Ictinike and the Creators                _Omaha_                   181\n  How Big Turtle Went on the War Path      _Omaha_                   186\n\n\n\n\nILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\n                                                                    Page\n  Bianki's Vision                                         _Frontispiece_\n  Woman's Costume                                                     32\n  An Elderly Omaha Beau                                               33\n  Tattooing, Showing Conventional Design of the Peace Pipe            42\n  Bull Boat                                                           43\n  German Knights and Indian Warriors                                  56\n  Rivalry over the Buffalo                                            70\n  Capture of a Wandering Buffalo                                      71\n  Five Chiefs of the Ogalla Sioux                                     84\n  Old Horse                                                           85\n  Siouan Tents                                                        96\n  An Arapahoe Bed                                                     97\n  Indian Scaffold Cemetery on the Missouri River                     110\n  An Omaha Village, Showing Earth Lodge and Conical Tepees           111\n  Black Coyote                                                       122\n  Ornamentation on the Reverse of an Arapahoe \"ghost-dance\" Shirt    123\n  \"Killed two Arikara chiefs\"                                        132\n  Many Tongues, or Loud Talker                                       133\n  Petroglyph in Nebraska                                             144\n  Plains Indians Dragging Brush for a Medicine Lodge                 156\n  An Earth Lodge                                                     157\n  Kansa Chief                                                        168\n  Big Goose                                                          169\n  Omaha Assault on a Dakota Village                                  186\n  \"Killed ten men and three women\"                                   187\n\n\n\n\nMYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE GREAT PLAINS\n\n\n\n\nTHE CREATION\n\n_Osage (Wazha zhe group)_\n\n\nWay beyond, once upon a time, some of the Osages lived in the sky.\nThey did not know where they came from, so they went to Sun. They\nsaid, \"From where did we come?\"\n\nHe said, \"You are my children.\"\n\nThen they wandered still further and came to Moon.\n\nMoon said, \"I am your mother; Sun is your father. You must go away\nfrom here. You must go down to the earth and live there.\"\n\nSo they came to the earth but found it covered with water. They could\nnot return up above. They wept, but no answer came to them. They\nfloated about in the air, seeking help from some god; but they found\nnone.\n\nNow all the animals were with them. Elk was the finest and most\nstately. They all trusted Elk. So they called to Elk, \"Help us.\"\n\nThen Elk dropped into the water and began to sink. Then he called to\nthe winds. The winds came from all sides and they blew until the\nwaters went upwards, as in a mist. Now before that the winds had\ntraveled in only two directions; they went from north to south and\nfrom south to north. But when Elk called to them, they came from the\neast, from the north, from the west, and from the south. They met at a\ncentral place; then they carried the waters upwards.\n\nNow at first the people could see only the rocks. So they traveled on\nthe rocky places. But nothing grew there and there was nothing to eat.\nThen the waters continued to vanish. At last the people could see the\nsoft earth. When Elk saw the earth, he was so joyous, he rolled over\nand over on the earth. Then all the loose hairs clung to the soil. So\nthe hairs grew, and from them sprang beans, corn, potatoes, and wild\nturnips, and at last all the grasses and trees.\n\nNow the people wandered over the land. They found human footsteps.\nThey followed them. They joined with them, and traveled with them in\nsearch of food.\n\n\n_(Hoga group)_\n\nThe Hoga came down from above, and found the earth covered with water.\nThey flew in every direction. They sought for gods who would help\nthem and drive the water away. They found not one. Then Elk came. He\nhad a loud voice and he shouted to the four corners of the sky. The\nfour winds came in answer. They blew upon the water and it vanished\nupwards, in a mist. Then the people could see the rocks. Now there was\nonly a little space on the rocks. They knew they must have more room.\nThe people were crowded. So they sent Muskrat down into the water. He\ndid not come back. He was drowned. Then they sent Loon down. He did\nnot come back. He was drowned. Then they sent Beaver down into the\nwater. The water was too deep. Beaver was drowned. Then Crawfish dived\ninto the water. He was gone a long time. When he came up there was a\nlittle mud in his claws. Crawfish was so tired he died. But the people\ntook the mud out of his claws and made the land.\n\n\n\n\nHOW THE WORLD WAS MADE\n\n_Cherokee_\n\n\nThe earth is a great floating island in a sea of water. At each of the\nfour corners there is a cord hanging down from the sky. The sky is of\nsolid rock. When the world grows old and worn out, the cords will\nbreak, and then the earth will sink down into the ocean. Everything\nwill be water again. All the people will be dead. The Indians are much\nafraid of this.\n\nIn the long time ago, when everything was all water, all the animals\nlived up above in Galun'lati, beyond the stone arch that made the sky.\nBut it was very much crowded. All the animals wanted more room. The\nanimals began to wonder what was below the water and at last Beaver's\ngrandchild, little Water Beetle, offered to go and find out. Water\nBeetle darted in every direction over the surface of the water, but it\ncould find no place to rest. There was no land at all. Then Water\nBeetle dived to the bottom of the water and brought up some soft mud.\nThis began to grow and to spread out on every side until it became\nthe island which we call the earth. Afterwards this earth was\nfastened to the sky with four cords, but no one remembers who did\nthis.\n\nAt first the earth was flat and soft and wet. The animals were anxious\nto get down, and they sent out different birds to see if it was yet\ndry, but there was no place to alight; so the birds came back to\nGalun'lati. Then at last it seemed to be time again, so they sent out\nBuzzard; they told him to go and make ready for them. This was the\nGreat Buzzard, the father of all the buzzards we see now. He flew all\nover the earth, low down near the ground, and it was still soft. When\nhe reached the Cherokee country, he was very tired; his wings began to\nflap and strike the ground. Wherever they struck the earth there was a\nvalley; whenever the wings turned upwards again, there was a mountain.\nWhen the animals above saw this, they were afraid that the whole world\nwould be mountains, so they called him back, but the Cherokee country\nremains full of mountains to this day. [This was the original home, in\nNorth Carolina.]\n\nWhen the earth was dry and the animals came down, it was still dark.\nTherefore they got the sun and set it in a track to go every day\nacross the island from east to west, just overhead. It was too hot\nthis way. Red Crawfish had his shell scorched a bright red, so that\nhis meat was spoiled. Therefore the Cherokees do not eat it.\n\nThen the medicine men raised the sun a handsbreadth in the air, but it\nwas still too hot. They raised it another time; and then another time;\nat last they had raised it seven handsbreadths so that it was just\nunder the sky arch. Then it was right and they left it so. That is why\nthe medicine men called the high place \"the seventh height.\" Every day\nthe sun goes along under this arch on the under side; it returns at\nnight on the upper side of the arch to its starting place.\n\nThere is another world under this earth. It is like this one in every\nway. The animals, the plants, and the people are the same, but the\nseasons are different. The streams that come down from the mountains\nare the trails by which we reach this underworld. The springs at their\nhead are the doorways by which we enter it. But in order to enter the\nother world, one must fast and then go to the water, and have one of\nthe underground people for a guide. We know that the seasons in the\nunderground world are different, because the water in the spring is\nalways warmer in winter than the air in this world; and in summer the\nwater is cooler.\n\nWe do not know who made the first plants and animals. But when they\nwere first made, they were told to watch and keep awake for seven\nnights. This is the way young men do now when they fast and pray to\ntheir medicine. They tried to do this. The first night, nearly all the\nanimals stayed awake. The next night several of them dropped asleep.\nThe third night still more went to sleep. At last, on the seventh\nnight, only the owl, the panther, and one or two more were still\nawake. Therefore, to these were given the power to see in the dark, to\ngo about as if it were day, and to kill and eat the birds and animals\nwhich must sleep during the night.\n\nEven some of the trees went to sleep. Only the cedar, the pine, the\nspruce, the holly, and the laurel were awake all seven nights.\nTherefore they are always green. They are also sacred trees. But to\nthe other trees it was said, \"Because you did not stay awake,\ntherefore you shall lose your hair every winter.\"\n\nAfter the plants and the animals, men began to come to the earth. At\nfirst there was only one man and one woman. He hit her with a fish. In\nseven days a little child came down to the earth. So people came to\nthe earth. They came so rapidly that for a time it seemed as though\nthe earth could not hold them all.\n\n\n\n\nTHE FLOOD AND THE RAINBOW\n\n_Delaware (Lenni-Lenapi)_\n\n\nThe Lenni-Lenapi are the First People, so that they know this story is\ntrue.\n\nAfter the Creation of the earth, the Mysterious One covered it with a\nblue roof. Sometimes the roof was very black. Then the Manitou of\nWaters became uneasy. He feared the rain would no longer be able to\npour down upon the earth through this dark roof. Therefore the Manitou\nof Waters prayed to the Mysterious One that the waters from above be\nnot cut off.\n\nAt once the Mysterious One commanded to blow the Spirit of the Wind,\nwho dwells in the Darkening Land. At once thick clouds arose. They\ncovered all the earth, so that the dark roof could no longer be seen.\n\nThen the voice of the Mysterious One was heard amongst the clouds. The\nvoice was deep and heavy, like the sound of falling rivers.\n\nThen the Spirit of Rain, the brother of the Spirit of Waters and the\nSpirit of the Winds, poured down water from above. The waters fell for\na long time. They fell until all the earth was covered. Then the\nbirds took refuge in the branches of the highest trees. The animals\nfollowed the trails to the mountain peaks.\n\nThen the Manitou of Waters feared no longer. Therefore the Mysterious\nOne ordered the rain to cease and the clouds to disappear. Then\nSin-go-wi-chi-na-xa, the rainbow, was seen in the sky.\n\nTherefore the Lenni-Lenapi watch for the rainbow, because it means\nthat the Mysterious One is no longer angry.\n\n\n\n\nTHE FIRST FIRE\n\n_Cherokee_\n\n\nIn the beginning there was no fire and the world was cold. Then the\nThunders, who lived up in Galun'lati, sent their lightning and put\nfire into the bottom of a hollow sycamore tree which grew on an\nisland. The animals knew it was there because they could see the smoke\ncoming out at the top, but they could not get to it on account of the\nwater, so they held a council to decide what to do. This was a long,\nlong time ago.\n\nEvery animal was anxious to go after the fire. Raven offered. He was\nlarge and strong, so he was sent first. He flew high and far across\nthe water, and lighted on the sycamore tree. There he perched,\nwondering what to do next. Then he looked at himself. The heat had\nscorched his feathers black. Raven was so frightened he flew back\nacross the water without any fire.\n\nThen little Wa-hu-hu, the Screech Owl, offered to go. He flew high and\nfar across the water and perched upon a hollow tree. As he sat there\nlooking into the hollow tree, wondering what to do, a blast of hot air\ncame up and hurt his eyes. Screech Owl was frightened. He flew back as\nbest he could, because he could hardly see. That is why his eyes are\nred even to this day.\n\nThen Hooting Owl and the Horned Owl went, but by the time they reached\nthe hollow tree, the fire was blazing so fiercely that the smoke\nnearly blinded them. The ashes carried up by the breeze made white\nrings around their eyes. So they had to come home without fire.\nTherefore they have white rings around their eyes.\n\nNone of the rest of the birds would go to the fire. Then Uk-su-hi, the\nracer snake, said he would go through the water and bring back fire.\nHe swam to the island and crawled through the grass to the tree. Then\nhe went into the tree by a small hole at the bottom. But the heat and\nsmoke were dreadful. The ground at the bottom of the tree was covered\nwith hot ashes. The racer darted back and forth trying to get off the\nashes, and at last managed to escape through the same hole by which he\nhad entered. But his body had been burned black. Therefore he is now\nthe black racer. And that is why the black racer darts around and\ndoubles on his track as if trying to escape.\n\nThen great Blacksnake, \"The Climber,\" offered to go for fire. He was\nmuch larger than the black racer. Blacksnake swam over to the island\nand climbed up the tree on the outside, as the blacksnake always does,\nbut when he put his head down into the hole the smoke choked him so\nthat he fell into the burning stump. Before he could climb out, he,\ntoo, was burned black.\n\nSo the birds, and the animals, and the snakes held another council.\nThe world was still very cold. There was no fire. But all the birds,\nand the snakes, and all the four-footed animals refused to go for\nfire. They were all afraid of the burning sycamore.\n\nThen Water Spider said she would go. This is not the water spider that\nlooks like a mosquito, but the other one--the one with black downy\nhair and red stripes on her body. She could run on top of the water,\nor dive to the bottom.\n\nThe animals said, \"How can you bring back fire?\"\n\nBut Water Spider spun a thread from her body and wove it into a\n_tusti_ bowl which she fastened on her back. Then she swam over to the\nisland and through the grass to the fire. Water Spider put one little\ncoal of fire into her bowl, and then swam back with it.\n\nThat is how fire came to the world. And that is why Water Spider has a\n_tusti_ bowl on her back.\n\n\n\n\nTHE ANCESTORS OF PEOPLE\n\n_Osage_\n\n\nThere are people who come from under the water. They lived in the\nwater weeds that hang down, all green, into the water. They have\nleaves upon their stems. Now the water people lived in shells. The\nshells were their houses and kept the water out.\n\nThere were other animals who lived under the earth. Cougar lived under\nthe earth, and bear, and buffalo. These creatures came up out of the\nground. Then the shell people came up to the earth also; and the sky\npeople came down. So all these three peoples lived together. They are\nthe fathers of the people who live on the earth today.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: WOMAN'S COSTUME\n\n(Omaha)\n\n_Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution_]\n\n\n[Illustration: AN ELDERLY OMAHA BEAU\n\n_Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution_]\n\n\n\n\nORIGIN OF STRAWBERRIES\n\n_Cherokee_\n\n\nWhen the world was new, there was one man and one woman. They were\nhappy; then they quarreled. At last the woman left the man and began\nto walk away toward the Sunland, the Eastland. The man followed. He\nfelt sorry, but the woman walked straight on. She did not look back.\n\nThen Sun, the great Apportioner, was sorry for the man. He said,\n\n\"Are you still angry with your wife?\"\n\nThe man said, \"No.\"\n\nSun said, \"Would you like to have her come back to you?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said the man.\n\nSo Sun made a great patch of huckleberries which he placed in front of\nthe woman's trail. She passed them without paying any attention to\nthem. Then Sun made a clump of blackberry bushes and put those in\nfront of her trail. The woman walked on. Then Sun created beautiful\nservice-berry bushes which stood beside the trail. Still the woman\nwalked on.\n\nSo Sun made other fruits and berries. But the woman did not look at\nthem.\n\nThen Sun created a patch of beautiful ripe strawberries. They were the\nfirst strawberries. When the woman saw those, she stopped to gather a\nfew. As she gathered them, she turned her face toward the west. Then\nshe remembered the man. She turned to the Sunland but could not go on.\nShe could not go any further.\n\nThen the woman picked some of the strawberries and started back on her\ntrail, away from the Sunland. So her husband met her, and they went\nback together.\n\n\n\n\nSACRED LEGEND\n\n_Omaha_\n\n\nIn the beginning the people were in water. They opened their eyes, but\nthey could see nothing. As the people came out of the water, they\nfirst saw the daylight. They had no clothing. Then they took weeds and\ngrasses and from them wove clothing.\n\nThe people lived near a large body of water; it was in a wooded\ncountry where there was game. The men hunted the deer with clubs; they\ndid not know the use of the bow. The people wandered about the shores\nof the great water. They were poor and cold. The people thought, \"What\nshall we do to help ourselves?\" So they began chipping stones. They\nfound a bluish stone that was easily flaked and chipped; so they made\nknives and arrowheads out of it. But they were still poor and cold.\nThey thought, \"What shall we do?\"\n\nThen a man found an elm root that was very dry. He dug a hole in it\nand put a stick in and rubbed it. Then smoke came. He smelled it. Then\nthe people smelled it and came near. Others helped him to rub. At last\na spark came. They blew this into a flame. Thus fire came to warm the\npeople and to cook their food.\n\nAfter this the people built grass houses; they cut the grass with the\nshoulder blade of a deer. Now the people had fire and ate their meat\nroasted. Then they grew tired of roast meat. They thought, \"How shall\nwe cook our meat differently?\"\n\nA man found a piece of clay that stuck well together. Then he brought\nsand to mix with it. Then he molded it as a pot. Then he gathered\ngrass until he had a large heap of it; he put the clay pot into the\nmidst of the grass and set it on fire. This made the clay hard. After\na time he put water into the pot; the water did not leak out. This was\ngood. So he put water into it and then meat into it, and put the pot\nover the fire. Thus the people had boiled meat to eat.\n\nNow their grass coverings would grow fuzzy and drop off. It was hard\nto gather and keep these coverings. The people were not satisfied.\nAgain they thought, \"What can we do to have something different to\nwear?\"\n\nBefore this, they had been throwing away the hides from the game which\nthey killed. But now they took their stone knives to scrape down the\nhides and make them thin. They rubbed the hides with grass and with\ntheir hands to make them soft. Then they used the hides for clothing.\nNow they had clothing and were warm.\n\nNow the women had to break the dry wood to keep up the fires. They had\nno tools. So the men made a stone ax with a groove. Then they put a\nhandle on the grooved stone and fastened it with rawhide. This was\nused. Then they wanted something better to break the wood. So they\nmade wedges of stone.\n\nNow the grass shelter came to pieces easily. Then the people thought,\n\"What shall we do? How can we get something that will not come to\npieces?\" Then they tried putting skins on poles.\n\nFirst they tried deerskins. But they were too small. They tried elk\nskins. But they became hard and stiff in the rain and sun. Then they\ndid not try skins longer. They used bark to cover the poles of their\ntepees.\n\nBut the bark houses were not warm. Then the people took the leg bone\nof the deer and splintered it So they made sharp pieces for awls. Then\nthey took buffalo skins and sinews, and with the awl they fastened the\nskins together. So they made comfortable covers for their tepees.\n\nThen a man wandered around a long time. One day he found some small\npieces of something which were white, and red, and blue. He thought\nthey must be something of great value, so he hid them in a mound of\nearth. Now one day he went to see if they were safe. Behold! When he\ncame to the mound, green stalks were growing out of it. And on the\nstalks were small kernels of white, and red, and blue. Behold! It was\ncorn. Then the man took the corn, and gave it to the people. They\ntried it for food. They found it good, and have ever since called it\ntheir life.\n\nNow when the people found the corn good, they thought to hide it in\nmounds as the first man had done. So they took the shoulder blade of\nan elk and made mounds. Then they hid the corn in it. So the corn grew\nand the people had food.\n\nNow as the people wandered around, they came to a forest where the\nbirch trees grew. There was a great lake there. Then they made canoes\nof birch bark. They traveled in them on the water. Then a man found\ntwo young animals. He carried them home. He fed them so they grew\nbigger. Then he made a harness which he placed upon them and fastened\nit to poles. So these animals became burden bearers. Before that,\nevery burden had to be carried on the back. Now the dogs helped the\npeople.\n\n\n\n\nTHE LEGEND OF THE PEACE PIPES\n\n_Omaha_\n\n\nThe people came across a great water on logs tied together. They\npitched their tents on the shore. Then they thought to make for\nthemselves certain bounds within which they were to live and rules\nwhich should govern them. They cleared a space of grass and weeds so\nthey could see each other's faces. They sat down and there was no\nobstruction between them.\n\nWhile they were holding a council, an owl hooted in the trees near by.\nThe leader said, \"That bird is to take part in our council. He calls\nto us. He offers us his aid.\"\n\nImmediately afterward they heard a woodpecker. He knocked against the\ntrees. The leader said, \"That bird calls to us. He offers us his aid.\nHe will take part in our council.\"\n\nThen the chief appointed a man as servant. He said, \"Go into the woods\nand get an ash sapling.\" The servant came back with a sapling having a\nrough bark.\n\n\"We do not want that,\" said the leader. \"Go again and get a sapling\nwith a smooth bark, bluish in color at the joint where a branch\ncomes.\" So the servant went out, and came back with a sapling of the\nkind described.\n\nWhen the leader took up the sapling, an eagle came and soared about\nthe council which was sitting in the grass. He dropped a downy\nfeather; it fell. It fell in the center of the cleared space. Now this\nwas the white eagle. The chief said, \"This is not what we want,\" so\nthe white eagle passed on.\n\nThen the bald eagle came swooping down, as though attacking its prey.\nIt balanced itself on its wings directly over the cleared space. It\nuttered fierce cries, and dropped one of its downy feathers, which\nstood on the ground as the other eagle's feather had done. The chief\nsaid, \"This is not what we want.\" So the bald eagle passed on.\n\nThen came the spotted eagle, and soared over the council, and dropped\nits feather as the others had done. The chief said, \"This is not what\nwe want,\" and the spotted eagle passed on.\n\nThen the imperial eagle, the eagle with the fantail, came, and soared\nover the people. It dropped a downy feather which stood upright in the\ncenter of the cleared space. The chief said, \"This is what we want.\"\n\nSo the feathers of this eagle were used in making the peace pipes,\ntogether with the feathers of the owl and woodpecker, and with other\nthings. These peace pipes were to be used in forming friendly\nrelations with other tribes.\n\nWhen the peace pipes were made, seven other pipes were made for\nkeeping peace within the tribe. One pipe was to prevent revenge. If\none man should kill another, the chief took this pipe to the relatives\nand offered it to them. If the relatives of the dead man refused to\naccept it, it was offered again. It was offered four times. If it was\nrefused four times, the chief said, \"Well, you must take the\nconsequences. We will do nothing, and you cannot now ask to see the\npipes.\" He meant if they took revenge and any trouble came to them,\nthey could not ask for help or for mercy.\n\nEach band had its own pipe.\n\n\n\n\nA TRADITION OF THE CALUMET\n\n_Lenni-Lenapi_\n\n\nIn the days of the old men, far to the north there lived a nation with\nmany villages. Their warriors were as many as the buffalo herds on the\nplains toward the Darkening Land. Their tepees were many on the shores\nof a beautiful lake and along wide rivers.\n\nThen the Mysterious One, whose voice is in the clouds, told the chiefs\nof a great nation, also of many villages, which hunted through all the\ncountry from the Big Water in the sunrise to the mountains in the\nDarkening Land.\n\nThen the chiefs and the old men held a council. Runners came from many\nvillages to the great council. And the council voice was to go to the\ngreat nation to the south, the nation with many villages, and bring\nback scalps and horses.\n\nSo the chiefs and warriors went out, one by one. Then runners were\nsent to all the villages, ordering the chiefs to dance the scalp\ndance.\n\nSuddenly there came through the sky a great white bird. It came from\nthe forest, and flew into the village of the great chief. It rested\nabove the head of the chief's daughter.\n\nThen the chief's daughter heard a voice in her heart. The voice said,\n\"Call all the chiefs and warriors together. Tell them the Mysterious\nOne is sad because they seek the scalps of the Lenni-Lenapi, the First\nPeople. Tell the warriors they must wash their hands in the blood of a\nyoung fawn. They must go with many presents to the First People. They\nmust carry to the First People Hobowakan, the calumet.\"\n\nThus the First People and the mighty people with many villages on the\nshore of the lake smoked together the pipe of council. So there was\npeace.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: TATTOOING, SHOWING CONVENTIONAL DESIGN OF THE PEACE\nPIPE\n\n_Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution_]\n\n\n[Illustration: BULL BOAT\n\nMade of the hide of the buffalo bulls. The only boat used by the\nplains Indians.\n\n_Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution_]\n\n\n\n\nTHE SACRED POLE\n\n_Omaha_\n\n\nA young man who had been wandering came back to his village. When he\nreached his home he said, \"Father, I have seen a wonderful tree.\" Then\nhe told his father about it. The old man was silent because all was\nnot yet settled between the tribes. The Cheyenne, the Arikara, the\nOmaha, Ponca, and Iowa were having a great council, so as to adopt\nrules concerning the hunting of game, and of peace, and war.\n\nAfter a while, the young man went to visit the tree. When he reached\nhome, he told his father again of it. The old man was silent, for the\nchiefs were still holding their council. At last, when the council was\nover and the rules decided upon, the old man sent for the chiefs. He\nsaid, \"My son has seen a wonderful tree. The Thunder Birds come and go\nupon this tree. They make a trail of fire which leaves four paths on\nthe burnt grass that stretch towards the Four Winds. When the Thunder\nBirds alight upon the tree, it bursts into flame. The fire mounts to\nthe top. The tree stands burning, but no one can see the fire except\nat night.\"\n\nWhen the chiefs heard this tale, they sent runners to see what this\ntree might be. The runners came back and told the same story. In the\nnight they had seen the tree burning as it stood. Then all the people\nheld a council as to what this might mean. The chiefs said, \"We shall\nrun for it. Put on your ornaments and prepare as if for battle.\"\n\nThe warriors painted themselves as if for war. They put on their\nornaments. They set out for the tree, which stood near a lake. They\nran as if it were a race to attack the enemy. All the men ran. A Ponca\nwas the first to reach the tree and he struck it as if it were an\nenemy.\n\nThen they cut the tree down. Four men, walking in a straight line,\ncarried it on their shoulders to the village. The chiefs for four\nnights sang the songs made in honor of the tree. They held a council\nabout the tree. A tent was made for it, and it was set up in the\ncircle of lodges. The chiefs worked upon it; they trimmed it and\ncalled it a human being. They made a basket of twigs and feathers and\ntied it half way up the tree. Then they said, \"It has no hair!\" So\nthey sent out to get a large scalp lock and they put it on top of Pole\nfor hair. Afterwards the chiefs told the criers to tell the people\nthat when Pole was completed they should see it.\n\nThen they painted Pole and set it up before the tent. They leaned it\non a crotched stick. Then they called all the people and all the\npeople came. Men, women, and children came.\n\nWhen they were all together, the chiefs said, \"This is a mystery.\nWhenever we meet with trouble, we shall bring all our prayers to Pole.\nWe shall make offerings to him. We shall ask him for what we need.\nWhen we ask anything, we must make gifts. If anyone desires to become\na chief, he shall make presents to the Keepers of the Pole, and they\nshall give him authority to be a chief.\"\n\nWhen all was finished the people said, \"Let us appoint a time when we\nshall again paint Pole; when we shall act before him the battles we\nhave fought.\" So they fixed the time in the moon when the buffaloes\nbellow.\n\n\n\n\nIKTO AND THE THUNDERS\n\n_Teton_\n\n\nIkto once stood on the bank of a stream across which he could not\nswim. He stood on the bank and thought. Then he sang:\n\n    I stand,\n    Thinking often,\n    Oh, that I might reach the other side.\n\nJust then a long Something passed, swimming against the current. When\nit reached Ikto, it said,\n\n\"I will take you across, but you must not lift your head above the\nwater. Should you notice even a small cloud, warn me at once, as I\nmust go under the water. If you see a small cloud, you must say,\n'Younger brother, your grandfather is coming.'\"\n\nBefore the other bank was reached, Ikto looked up. He saw a small\ncloud and said, \"Younger brother, your grandfather is coming.\"\n\nThere was a sudden commotion. When Ikto became conscious again, the\nThunder Beings were roaring, and the water was dashing high, but the\nmonster had vanished.\n\n\n\n\nTHE THUNDER BIRD\n\n_Comanche_\n\n\nIn the olden times, a hunter once shot at a large bird which was\nflying above him. It fell to the ground. It was so large he was afraid\nto go to it alone, so he went back to the camp for others.\n\nWhen they came back to the place where the bird had been shot, thunder\nwas rolling through the ravine. Flashes of lightning showed the place\nwhere the bird lay. They came nearer. Then the lightning flashed so\nthat they could not see the bird. One flash killed a hunter.\n\nThe other Indians fled back to the camp. They knew it was the Thunder\nBird.\n\nOnce the Thunder Bird, in the days of the grandfathers, came down to\nthe ground and alighted there. You may know that is so, because the\ngrass remains burned off a large space, and the outlines are those of\na large bird with outspread wings.\n\n\n\n\nTHE THUNDER BIRD\n\n_Assiniboin_\n\n\nThe Sioux, or Dakotas, of whom the Assiniboins are a branch, pretend\nthat thunder is an enormous bird, and that the muffled sound of the\ndistant thunder is caused by a countless number of young birds! The\ngreat bird, they say, gives the first sound, and the young ones repeat\nit; this is the cause of the reverberations. The Sioux declare that\nthe young Thunders do all the mischief, like boys who will not listen\nto good advice; but the old Thunder, or big bird, is wise and\nexcellent; he never kills or injures any one!\n\n\n\n\nSONG TO THE THUNDER GODS[A]\n\n_Omaha_\n\n\n    Ye four, come hither and stand, near shall ye stand,[B]\n    In four groups shall ye stand,\n    Here shall ye stand, in this place stand.\n\n    [The thunder rolls]\n\n    Turned by the wind goes the one I send yonder;\n    Yonder he goes who is whirled by the winds;\n    Goes, where the four hills of life and the four winds are standing;\n    There in the midst of the winds do I send him,\n    Into the midst of the winds standing there.\n\n    [The thunder rolls]\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[A] By Alice C. Fletcher.\n\n[B] The \"four\" are the four winds.\n\n\n\n\nSONGS OF THE BUFFALO HUNT\n\n_Sioux_\n\n\n    The whole world is coming,\n    A nation is coming, a nation is coming,\n    The Eagle has brought the message to the tribe.\n    The father says so, the father says so,\n    Over the whole earth they are coming.\n    The buffalo are coming, the buffalo are coming,\n    The Crow has brought the message to the tribe,\n    The father says so, the father says so.[C]\n\nFOOTNOTE:\n\n[C] \"This fine song summarizes the whole hope of the Ghost-dance--the\nreturn of the buffalo and the departed dead, the message being brought\nto the people by the sacred birds, the Eagle and the Crow.\"\n\n\n\n\nSONGS OF THE BUFFALO HUNT[D]\n\n_Sioux_\n\n\n    _He!_ They have come back racing,[E]\n    _He!_ They have come back racing,\n    Why, they say there is to be a buffalo hunt over here,\n    Why, they say there is to be a buffalo hunt over here.\n    Make arrows! Make arrows!\n    Says the father, says the father.\n          Give me my knife,\n          Give me my knife,\n          I shall hang up the meat to dry--_Ye' ye!_\n          I shall hang up the meat to dry--_Ye' ye!_\n          Says grandmother--_Yo' yo!_\n          Says grandmother--_Yo' yo!_\n          When it is dry I shall make pemmican,\n          When it is dry I shall make pemmican,\n          Says grandmother--_Yo' yo!_\n          Says grandmother--_Yo' yo!_[F]\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[D] Songs and comments as given by James Mooney.\n\n[E] \"When going on a buffalo hunt, it was customary among the Sioux to\nsend out a small advance party to locate the herd. On finding it,\nthese men returned at once at full gallop to the main body of hunters,\nbut instead of stopping on reaching them, they dashed past and then\nturned and fell in behind. It is to this custom the first line\nrefers.\"\n\n[F] \"In the old days an Indian camp during the cutting up of the meat\nafter a buffalo hunt was a scene of the most joyous activity....\nPreparations were made for days and weeks ahead. Couriers were sent\nout to collect the neighboring bands at a common rendezvous, medicine\nmen began their prayers and ceremonies to attract the herd, the\nbuffalo songs were sung, and finally when all was ready the\nconfederated bands or sometimes the whole tribe--men, women, children,\nhorses, dogs, and travois--moved out into the buffalo grounds. Here\nthe immense camp of hundreds of tipis was set up, more ceremonies were\nperformed, and the mounted warriors rode out in a body to surround and\nslaughter the herd. The women followed close after them to strip the\nhides from the fresh carcasses, and cut out the choice portion of the\nmeat and tallow and bring it into camp.\"\n\n\n\n\nORIGIN OF THE BUFFALO\n\n_Teton_\n\n\nIn the days of the grandfathers, buffaloes lived under the earth. In\nthe olden times, they say, a man who was journeying came to a hill\nwhere there were many holes in the ground. He entered one of them.\nWhen he had gone inside he found buffalo chips and buffalo tracks on\nall sides. He found also buffalo hairs where the buffaloes had rubbed\nagainst the walls. These were the real buffaloes and they lived under\nthe ground. Afterwards some of them came to the surface of the earth\nand lived there. Then the herds on the earth increased.\n\nThese buffaloes had many lodges and there they raised their children.\nThey did many strange things. Therefore when a man escapes being\nwounded by an enemy, people say he has seen the buffaloes in his\ndreams, and they have helped him.\n\nMen who dream of the buffaloes act like them and dance the\nbuffalo-bull dance. Then the man who acts the buffalo has a real\nbuffalo inside of him, people say, a little hard ball near the\nshoulder blade; and therefore he is very hard to kill. No matter how\noften he is wounded, he does not die.\n\nPeople know that the buffaloes live in earth lodges; so they never\ndance the buffalo dance vainly.\n\n\n\n\nTHE BUFFALO BEING\n\n_Teton_\n\n\nOnce upon a time, a Buffalo Being attacked a party of Indians. He\nkilled one of them, but the others ran away and climbed a tree. The\nBuffalo Being followed them and rushed at the tree. He rushed many\ntimes, knocking off piece after piece of the tree, until very little\nwas left.\n\nThen the frightened Indians lighted some tinder, and threw it far off\ninto the tall grass. The fire scorched the Buffalo Being's eyes, and\ninjured his horns. The hard part of the horn slipped off, leaving only\nthe softer part, so that he could no longer injure any one.\n\nBut the Buffalo Being was still dangerous. At last one of the Indians\nslipped down the tree, with his bow and arrow. He killed the Buffalo\nBeing. Then all the men came down the tree and skinned the animal and\ncut up the flesh. Into the buffalo-skin robe they placed the body of\nthe dead Indian. But suddenly another Buffalo Being appeared. The\nIndians again climbed the tree. But this Being only walked four times\naround the dead Indian. Then he said, \"Arise to your feet.\"\n\nAt once the dead man came to life. The Buffalo Being said to him,\n\"Hereafter you shall be mysterious. The sun, the moons, the four\nwinds, day and night shall be your slaves.\"\n\nThen it was so. The Indian could take the form of a fine plume, which\nwas blown against a tree. It would stick to the tree and wave many\ntimes in the breeze.\n\n\n\n\n[Notes: GERMAN KNIGHTS AND INDIAN WARRIORS\n\n_The German knights are from a sketch in a Ms., dated 1220, in the\nUniversity of Leipzig. The sketch was copied from Rudolph Cronau's\n\"Geschichte der Solinger Klingenindustrie.\" They are Knights of the\n13th century._\n\n_The Indian warriors were drawn by an Apache Indian at Anadarko, in\n1884, though the insignia is really that of the Cheyenne Indians._\n\n_The comparison and contrast are made by the Bureau of Ethnology._]\n\n[Illustration: _Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution_]\n\n\n\n\nTHE YOUTH AND THE UNDERGROUND PEOPLE\n\n_Omaha_\n\n\nThere were some villages which were very populous. The chief's son and\nhis daughter were unmarried. There were two sons. They surrounded the\nherds of buffaloes. They used to kill buffaloes.\n\nOne of the sons of this chief attacked a buffalo when far apart from\nthe rest. He shot it; but the buffalo had gone out of sight into the\nground. The man and his horse, too, went headlong; but the buffalo\nwent down first.\n\nNow the father sent out criers. \"He says that his son reached the\nbuffaloes, but he has not come home. He says that ye who have seen his\nson will please tell it,\" shouted the criers.\n\nOne said he had seen him. \"I saw him very distinctly. He went in\npursuit. Perhaps he went headlong into a sunken place, for when on\nvery level ground he vanished altogether. I did not see him again,\" he\nsaid.\n\nThe father commanded the people to join him in seeking his son. When\nthe man who had seen him said, \"It was just here,\" the people\nscattered far and wide, seeking the chief's son. All the people sought\nhim. Behold, he had gone down the pit some time before. The buffalo\nhad gone down, having kicked off a piece of the soil. The horse, too,\nhad gone down, having kicked off a piece of the soil.\n\nThere was no trail beyond the pit. All the people went directly to it,\nwithout hesitation.\n\nThe pit was very large and extended far downward. The chief spoke of\nremoving the village there, at once. So there they camped. They camped\naround the pit.\n\nThen the chief implored the young men and those who had been his\nfriends. If there was one man who was stout-hearted, one who had a\nfirm heart, the father wished him to enter the pit and go after the\nyoung man. So he implored them.\n\nAt length one rode round and round the village. Then he promised to\nenter the pit and go after the missing son.\n\n\"Tell his father. He must also collect cords,\" he said.\n\nHaving cut buffalo hides in strips, he collected the cords.\n\n\"Make a round piece of skin for me, and tie the long line of cord to\nit,\" he said. So they finished it.\n\n\"Now it matters not to what place I go, I will put the body in the\nskin bucket. I go to take hold of him. When I reach the ground at the\nbottom, I will pull suddenly on the cord. When I pull on it many\ntimes, you will draw it up.\" Thus he said.\n\nAt last he reached the ground inside the pit. It was very dark. When\nhe felt around in the dark, the buffalo was lying alone, being killed\nby the fall. The horse, too, was lying by itself, having been killed\nby the fall. And the man lay apart from them, having been killed by\nthe fall.\n\nPicking up the body of the chief's son, he put it in the hollow skin.\nThen he pulled many times on the cord.\n\nBut when the young man went down, strange to say, he did not ask\nfavors for himself. And they rejoiced because he had put the chief's\nson in the hollow skin. Having brought up the dead man they forgot the\nliving one.\n\nThough he sat waiting for the hollow skin to come down again, he was\nnot drawn up. So he sat wailing.\n\nNow the chief had promised him his daughter to go down into the pit.\n\"If you bring my son back, you shall marry her,\" he had said.\n\nThe young man wandered about in the darkness. At length when walking\nalong the trail, he came suddenly upon an old woman.\n\n\"Venerable woman, though this land is very difficult to reach, I have\ncome hither. I came to the hole in the ground above. One person came\nhither, having fallen into this pit. I came to take him back. They\nhave not drawn me up; and I have no way of going back. Venerable\nwoman, help me.\" So he spoke.\n\n\"There is nothing that I can do to help you,\" she said. \"A person is\nin that place, out of sight. Go there. He is the one who will do it\nfor you.\"\n\nHe went there. When he arrived, he knocked repeatedly on the door.\nThough he stood hearing them speaking, they did not open the door for\nhim.\n\nThe woman said, \"Fie! A person has come. Open the door for him.\"\n\nBehold! The man's child was dead, and therefore he sat without\nspeaking. He sat still, being sad. Then the young man arrived within\nthe lodge, the woman having opened the door for him. Yet her husband\nsat without speaking. The young man was impatient from hunger. The\nhusband questioned him:\n\n\"From what place have you walked?\" he asked.\n\nThe young man told his story. \"I walked up above, but a man headed off\nthe herd, and having fallen, he came here. I came here to take him\nback. They did not take me back; I have no way of going back. Help\nme,\" he said.\n\nThe man said, \"We had a child, but it died. We will treat you just\nlike the child who died.\" He meant he would adopt him. \"All things\nwhich I have are yours,\" said the father.\n\nThe young man did not speak. He wished to go homeward.\n\n\"Whatever you say I will do it for you,\" said the father. \"Even if you\ndesire to go homeward, it shall be so,\" he said.\n\nAt last the young man spoke of going homeward.\n\n\"If you say, 'I will go homeward riding a horse of such a color, O\nfather!' it shall be so,\" said the father.\n\n\"Fie!\" said the woman. \"Heretofore we were deprived of our child. The\nyoung man who has just come home is like him. Give him one thing which\nyou have.\"\n\n\"I make you my child. I will give you something. Whatever I desire I\nalways make with it, when I wish to have anything,\" said the father.\nHe had a piece of iron and when he wished anything he used to point at\nthe iron.\n\n\"O father, I wish to go homeward riding a horse with very white hair.\nI also desire a mule with very white hair, and a good saddle,\" said\nthe young man.\n\n\"Come, go there. Open the door of that stable. When you wish to see\nus again, you shall see us. When you will go homeward, you will say,\n'Come, O father, I desire to go homeward,'\" said the father.\n\nThe young man went homeward. He made the rocks open suddenly by\npointing at them with the iron. He went up, making the ground echo\nunder the horse's feet. When he pushed aside a very large rock which\nwas in his way, he found himself again on the surface of the earth.\nThe horse and mule were very sudden in their movements. They shied at\nevery step. They sniffed the odor of a bad land.\n\nThe young man found his nation that he had left. Behold! they had\nrecently removed and departed. After they waited some time for him to\nappear, they had removed their camp and departed. The horse and mule\nwent along, fearing the sight of the old camping ground. They followed\nthe trail of the departing village.\n\nThen the young man saw two people on a large hill, walking in the\ntrail. They were the head chief and his wife who were walking along,\nmourning for the dead.\n\nThey looked behind and said, \"Yonder comes one on horseback, following\nthe trail made by the departing village.\"\n\nHe drew near. They sat waiting for him to appear. The horse and mule\nfeared the sight of them; they sniffed a bad odor.\n\n\"Why! Of what nation are you?\" asked the chief.\n\n\"It is I,\" said the young man.\n\n\"But which one are you?\" said the chief.\n\n\"Your son went headlong into a pit when they surrounded the herd,\"\nsaid the young man. \"And I went down to get him. You did not bring me\nback. It is I.\"\n\nAs he was very much changed, the old man doubted.\n\n\"Fie! Tell the truth about yourself.\"\n\n\"When they surrounded the herd, your son went headlong as well as the\nbuffalo, and he was killed by falling into a pit. When you commanded\nthem to get him, they drew back through fear. I am he who went to get\nhim when you offered your daughter as a reward,\" said the young man.\n\"I have hardly been able to come again to the surface.\"\n\nThen they recognized him. The two men stood talking together on the\nlarge hill. The chief's son looked back from the camp.\n\n\"Why! The chief and his wife have come as far as the large hill and a\nman on horseback has come, too. He stands talking to them. I will go\nthither. Let me see! I will go to see them.\"\n\nHe went back on horseback and came to his father.\n\n\"With what person do you talk?\" said the son.\n\n\"Why! He who went to get your elder brother has come back!\" said the\nhead chief.\n\nThey shook hands. And the head chief gave his daughter to the young\nman.\n\n\"Let all the men and chiefs assemble. Let all the stout-hearted young\nmen assemble. They can look at my daughter's husband,\" he said.\n\nThey assembled. They came to see the young man and brought the things\nthey intended giving him.\n\n\"He says that he who went to get the man who was killed by falling has\ncome back. The chief says that as he has made the young man his\ndaughter's husband you shall go to see the young man. He says that you\nwill take to him what things you wish to give him. The chief says he\nwill give thanks for them.\" So shouted the crier.\n\nAll the young men and those who were brave and generous went thither.\nThey all gave him clothing and good horses. His wife's father made him\nthe head chief.\n\n\"Make ye a tent for him in the center,\" said the old chief.\n\nThey set up a tent for him in the center. They finished it.\n\n\"The people did not eat. As they sat waiting for you to appear, the\nnation did not eat. You came back when they were just removing camp,\"\nsaid the old chief.\n\n\"Ho!\" said the one who had just reached home. \"Let two old men go as\ncriers.\"\n\nSo the criers shouted: \"The chiefs daughter's husband says that you\nwill rest tomorrow. He says you will not go in any direction\nwhatever.\"\n\nThe next day he commanded those who had come back on horseback to act\nas scouts. And the scouts came back very soon; because by means of the\niron rod which he had asked of his father, he made a great many\nbuffaloes very quickly. He spoke of surrounding them. They shot down\nmany of the buffaloes. He went to take part in surrounding them.\n\nHis wife said, \"I desire to go to see them surround the herd. I must\ngo to see the buffaloes. When they are killed, I will be quite likely\nto come back.\"\n\nWhen they killed the buffaloes she was coming back; the wife stood on\nthe hill. Her husband came to that place.\n\n\"Though I killed the buffaloes, they will cut them up,\" he said. They\nwho surrounded them reached home.\n\nAgain they spoke of a buffalo hunt. \"The chief's daughter's husband\nspeaks indeed of sending them to act as scouts,\" said the criers.\n\nAgain the herd of buffaloes had come to that country. They surrounded\nthem. Again they shot down many of them.\n\nAt last the son of the old head chief was in a bad humor. He was in a\nbad humor because his sister's husband had been made chief.\n\nNow at night, the horse used to say to the young man, \"O father, a man\ndesires very much to kill us. It is so every night.\" And after that at\nnight the young man used to take care of his horse and mule.\n\nOn the next day they surrounded the herd in the land where the deed\nwas done. It was just so again; a great many buffaloes had been\ncoming. At length the son wished the buffaloes to trample his sister's\nhusband to death. When they attacked the buffaloes, he waved his robe.\nTurning around in his course, he waved his robe again. When the\nsister's husband went right in among the buffaloes, they closed in on\nhim and he was not seen at all.\n\nThe people said, \"The buffaloes have trampled to death the chief's\ndaughter's husband.\"\n\nWhen the buffaloes trampled him to death, they scattered and went\nhomeward in every direction, moving in long lines. And the people did\nnot find any trace whatever of what was done. They did not find the\nhorse. Even the man they did not find. When the buffaloes killed him\nby trampling, the horse had gone back to Him Who Made Things.\n\n\n\n\nTHE BUFFALO AND THE GRIZZLY BEAR\n\n_Omaha_\n\n\nGrizzly Bear was going somewhere, following the course of a stream,\nand at last he went straight towards the headland. When he got in\nsight, Buffalo Bull was standing beneath it. Grizzly Bear retraced his\nsteps, going again to the stream, following its course until he got\nbeyond the headland. Then he drew near and peeped. He saw that Buffalo\nBull was very lean, and standing with his head bowed, as if sluggish.\nSo Grizzly Bear crawled up close to him, made a rush, seized him by\nthe hair of his head, and pulled down his head. He turned Buffalo Bull\nround and round, shaking him now and then, saying, \"Speak! Speak! I\nhave been coming to this place a long time, and they say you have\nthreatened to fight me. Speak!\" Then he hit Buffalo Bull on the nose\nwith his open paw.\n\n\"Why!\" said Buffalo Bull, \"I have never threatened to fight you, who\nhave been coming to this country so long.\"\n\n\"Not so! You have threatened to fight me.\" Letting go the buffalo's\nhead, Grizzly Bear went around and seized him by the tail, turning him\nround and round. Then he left, but as he did so, he gave him a hard\nblow with his open paw.\n\n\"Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! you have caused me great pain,\" said Buffalo\nBull. Bobtailed Grizzly Bear departed.\n\nBuffalo Bull thought thus: \"Attack him! You too have been just that\nsort of a person.\"\n\nGrizzly Bear knew what he was thinking, so he said, \"Why! what are you\nsaying?\"\n\n\"I said nothing,\" said Buffalo Bull.\n\nThen Grizzly Bear came back. He seized Buffalo Bull by the tail,\npulling him round and round. Then he seized him by the horns, pulling\nhis head round and round. Then he seized him again by the tail and hit\nhim again with the open paw. Again Grizzly Bear departed. And again\nBuffalo Bull thought as he had done before. Then Grizzly Bear came\nback and treated Buffalo Bull as he had before.\n\nBuffalo Bull stepped backward, throwing his tail into the air.\n\n\"Why! Do not flee,\" said Grizzly Bear.\n\nBuffalo threw himself down, and rolled over and over. Then he\ncontinued backing, pawing the ground.\n\n\"Why! I say, do not flee,\" said Grizzly Bear. When Buffalo Bull\nbacked, making ready to attack him, Grizzly Bear thought he was\nscared.\n\nThen Buffalo Bull ran towards Grizzly, puffing a great deal. When he\nneared him, he rushed on him. He sent Grizzly Bear flying through the\nair.\n\nAs Grizzly Bear came down towards the earth, Buffalo Bull caught him\non his horns and threw him into the air again. When Grizzly Bear fell\nand lay on the ground, Buffalo Bull made at him with his horns to gore\nhim, but just missed him. Grizzly Bear crawled away slowly, with\nBuffalo Bull following him step by step, thrusting at him now and\nthen, though without striking him. When Grizzly Bear came to a cliff,\nhe plunged over headlong, and landed in a thicket at the foot. Buffalo\nBull had run so fast he could not stop at the edge where Grizzly Bear\nwent over, but followed the cliff for some distance. Then he came back\nand stood with his tail partly raised. Grizzly Bear returned to the\nbank and peeped.\n\n\"Oh, Buffalo Bull,\" said Grizzly Bear. \"Let us be friends. We are very\nmuch alike in disposition.\"\n\n\n\n\n[Notes: RIVALRY OVER THE BUFFALO\n\n(Comanche drawing on a buffalo shoulder blade)\n\n_The Indian chase is by arrow; the white man's by the lasso, gun, and\nspear. The rivalry is indicated by half the buffalo being drawn as\nbelonging to one race, half to the other. The white men are supposed\nto be Spaniards. The shoulder blade was found in the Comanche country,\nin Texas._]\n\n[Illustration: _Enlarged from a sketch in Report of the Bureau of\nEthnology_]\n\n\n[Notes: CAPTURE OF A WANDERING BUFFALO\n\n(Indian drawing)\n\n_A buffalo has wandered near an Indian village, and is being captured.\nThe dotted lines indicate footprints. One Indian, having secured the\nbuffalo by his forefeet, tells his companion of his success--indicated\nby the line drawn from his mouth to its feet. Another, having secured\nthe buffalo by the horns, gives a companion a chance to kill it with\nan axe. This he intends to do--indicated by the line from his mouth to\nits head, as well as by his attitude. The Indian in the upper corner\nis told by his squaw to take an arrow and join in the capture. He\nturns his head to inform her that he has an arrow--indicated by\nholding it up, and by the line from his mouth to her._]\n\n[Illustration: _Enlarged from a sketch in Report of the Bureau of\nEthnology_]\n\n\n\n\nMY FIRST BUFFALO HUNT[G]\n\n_Omaha_\n\n\nI went three times on the buffalo hunt. When I was there the first\ntime, I was small; therefore, I did not shoot the buffaloes. But I\nused to take care of the pack horses for those who surrounded the\nherd. When they surrounded the herd at the very first, I spoke of\nshooting at the buffaloes. But my father said, \"Perhaps the horse\nmight throw you suddenly, and then the buffalo might gore you.\" And I\nwas in a bad humor.\n\nMy father went with me to the hill. We sat and looked on them when\nthey attacked the buffaloes. And notwithstanding my father talked to\nme, I continued there without talking to him. At length one man was\ncoming directly toward the tents in pursuit of a buffalo bull. And the\nbuffalo bull was savage. He attacked the man now and then.\n\n\"Come! Go thither,\" said my father. I tied a lariat on a large red\nmare that was very tall. And taking a very light gun which my father\nhad, I went over there. When I arrived the buffalo bull was standing\nmotionless. The man said he was very glad that I had come. The buffalo\nbull was savage. The man shot suddenly at him with a bow and wounded\nhim on the back. And then he attacked us. The horse on which I was\nseated leaped very far four times, and had gone off, throwing me\nsuddenly. When the buffalo bull had come very close, he wheeled around\nand departed. So I failed to shoot at him before he went. I reached\nhome just as my mother was scolding my father about me. When the horse\nreached home with the bridle sticking to it, she knew that I had been\nthrown. My father said nothing at all, but sat laughing. Addressing\nme, he said, \"Did you kill the buffalo bull?\" And I did not speak.\n\nFOOTNOTE:\n\n[G] The author, Frank La Fleche, an Omaha Indian, was about twelve\nyears old when this occurred.\n\n\n\n\nBIRD OMENS\n\n_Sioux_\n\n\nWhen whippoorwills sing together at night, \"_Hohin, hohin,_\" one says\nin reply, \"No.\" If the birds stop talking at once, then the person\nwill die soon. But if the birds continue talking, then the man will\nlive a long time.\n\nThe gray screech owl foretells cold weather. When the night is to be\nvery cold, then the owl cries out; it sounds just as if a person's\nteeth chattered. When the owl cries out, all people wrap themselves in\ntheir thickest robes; and they put plenty of wood on the fires.\n\nThe Ski-bi-bi-la is a small gray bird, with a black head, and spotted\non the breast. It lives in the woods, and it answers a person who\ncalls to it. When this bird says, \"Has it returned?\" people are glad.\nThey know that spring is near. When a boy hears the bird ask this\nquestion, he runs to his mother; she tells him he must answer, \"No; it\nhas not yet returned.\"\n\nWhen the people first hear the cry of the nighthawk in the spring,\nthey begin to talk of hunting buffalo. This is because when the hawk\nreturns, the buffaloes have become fat again and the birds bring the\nnews.\n\n\n\n\nTHE BIRD CHIEF\n\n_Omaha_\n\n\nAll the birds were called together. To them was said, \"Whichever one\nof you can fly farthest into the sky shall be chief.\"\n\nAll the birds flew to a great height. But Wren got under the thick\nfeathers of Eagle and sat there as Eagle flew. When all the birds\nbecame wing-tired, they flew down again; but Eagle flew still higher.\nWhen Eagle had gone as far as he could, Wren flew still higher.\n\nWhen all the birds reached the ground, Eagle alone returned, after a\ngreat while. Behold! Wren only was absent. So they awaited him. At\nlast he returned. Eagle had too highly been thinking of himself, being\nsure of being made chief; and behold! Wren was made chief.\n\n\n\n\nSONG OF THE BIRDS[H]\n\n_Pawnee_\n\n\n    All around the birds in flocks are flying.\n    Dipping, rising, circling, see them coming.\n    See, many birds are flocking here,\n    All about us now together coming.\n\n    Yonder see the birds in flocks, come flying;\n    Dipping, rising, circling, see them gather.\n    Loud is the sound their winging makes.\n    Rushing, come they on the trees alighting.\n\n    From the flock an eagle now comes flying;\n    Dipping, rising, circling, comes she hither.\n    Loud screams the eagle, flying swift,\n    As an eagle flies, her nestlings seeking.\n\n    It is Kawas coming, Kawas flying;\n    Dipping, rising, circling, she advances.\n    See! Nearer she comes, nearer comes.\n    Now, alighted, she her nest is making.\n\n    Yonder people like the birds are flocking;\n    See them circling, this side, that side coming.\n    Loud is the sound their moving makes,\n    As together come they, onward come they.\n\nFOOTNOTE:\n\n[H] Rendition by Alice C. Fletcher.\n\n\n\n\nSONG OF KAWAS, THE EAGLE[I]\n\n_Pawnee_\n\n\n    O'er the prairie flits in ever widening circles the shadow of a\n        bird about me as I walk;\n    Upward turn my eyes, Kawas looks upon me, she turns with flapping\n        wings and far away she flies.\n\n    Round about a tree in ever widening circles an eagle flies, alert\n        watching o'er his nest;\n    Loudly whistles he, a challenge sending far, o'er the country wide\n        it echoes, there defying foes.\n\nFOOTNOTE:\n\n[I] Rendition by Alice C. Fletcher.\n\n\n\n\nTHE EAGLE'S REVENGE\n\n_Cherokee_\n\n\nOnce a hunter in the mountains heard a noise at night like a rushing\nwind. He went outside his tepee, and found an eagle was sitting on the\ndrying pole, feasting at the deer he had shot. So he shot the eagle.\n\nThe next morning the hunter took the deer back to the village. He told\nhow he had shot the deer and then the eagle. Therefore the chief sent\nout men to bring in the eagle, and have an Eagle dance.\n\nThat night when they were dancing, there was a _whoop_ outside. A\nstrange warrior walked into the circle. He was not of that village.\nThey thought he had come from one of the other Cherokee villages.\n\nThis warrior told how he had killed a man. At the end of the story, he\nyelled, \"_Hi!_\" One of the men with rattles, who was leading the\ndance, fell dead. The stranger sang of another deed. At the end he\nyelled, \"_Hi!_\" Another rattler fell dead. The people were frightened.\nBut the stranger sang of another great deed. Then again he yelled,\n\"_Hi!_\" Again a man with the rattles fell dead. So all seven men who\nhad rattles and who were leading the dance fell dead. And the people\nwere too frightened to leave the lodge where they were dancing.\n\nThen the stranger vanished into the darkness. Long after they learned\nthat the stranger was the brother of the eagle that had been killed.\n\n\n\n\nTHE RACE BETWEEN HUMMING BIRD AND CRANE\n\n_Cherokee_\n\n\nHumming Bird and Crane were both in love with a pretty woman. She\nliked Humming Bird, who was handsome. Crane was ugly, but he would not\ngive up the pretty woman. So at last to get rid of him, she told them\nthey must have a race, and that she would marry the winner. Now\nHumming Bird flew like a flash of light; but Crane was heavy and slow.\n\nThe birds started from the woman's house to fly around the world to\nthe beginning. Humming Bird flew off like an arrow. He flew all day\nand when he stopped to roost he was far ahead.\n\nCrane flew heavily, but he flew all night long. He stopped at daylight\nat a creek to rest. Humming Bird waked up, and flew on again, and soon\nhe reached a creek, and behold! there was Crane, spearing tadpoles\nwith his long bill. Humming Bird flew on.\n\nSoon Crane started on and flew all night as before. Humming Bird slept\non his roost.\n\nNext morning Humming Bird flew on and Crane was far, far ahead. The\nfourth day, Crane was spearing tadpoles for dinner when Humming Bird\ncaught up with him. By the seventh day Crane was a whole night's\ntravel ahead. At last he reached the beginning again. He stopped at\nthe creek and preened his feathers, and then in the early morning went\nto the woman's house. Humming Bird was far, far behind.\n\nBut the woman declared she would not marry so ugly a man as Crane.\nTherefore she remained single.\n\n\n\n\nRABBIT AND THE TURKEYS\n\n_Omaha_\n\n\nRabbit was going somewhere. At length he reached a place where there\nwere wild Turkeys.\n\n\"Come,\" said Rabbit. \"I will sing dancing songs for you.\"\n\nTurkeys went to him saying, \"Oho! Rabbit will sing dancing songs for\nus!\"\n\n\"When I sing for you, you larger ones must go around the circle next\nto me. Beware lest you open your eyes. Should one of you open his\neyes, your eyes shall be red,\" said Rabbit.\n\nThen he began to sing,\n\n    Alas for the gazer!\n    Eyes red! Eyes red!\n    Spread out your tails!\n    Spread out your tails!\n\nWhenever a large Turkey came near, Rabbit seized it and put it in his\nbag. While he was putting in a Turkey, another one opened his eyes a\nlittle, and exclaimed, \"Why! He has captured nearly all of us large\nones!\"\n\nOff they all flew with a whirring sound.\n\nRabbit took home those he had in his bag, saying to his grandmother,\n\"Do not look at what is in that bag! I have brought it home on my back\nand I wish you to guard it!\"\n\nThen he went out to cut spits on which to roast the Turkeys. When the\nold woman was alone, she thought, \"What could he have brought home on\nhis back?\" So she untied the bag, and when she looked in out flew all\nthe Turkeys, hitting their wings hard against the grass lodge, and\nflying out the smoke hole. The old woman barely killed one by hitting\nit. At length Rabbit came home.\n\n\"Oh I have inflicted a severe injury on my grandchild,\" she said.\n\n\"Really,\" he answered. \"Grandmother, I told you not to look at it.\"\n\nBut that is why Turkeys have red eyes.\n\n\n\n\n[Notes: FIVE CHIEFS OF THE OGALLA SIOUX\n\n_Rank is shown by pipe and pouch. The first Cankutanka, Big Road;\noften called Good Road--big and broad and well traveled. The bird\nflying through the dusk shows that one may fly rapidly over a good\nroad. Next is Low Dog. The dog figure is \"low,\" as shown by the\nshortness of the legs. In the center is Long Dog, as shown by the long\nlegs on the dog figure. Below, to the left, is Iron Crow, the crow\npainted blue indicating iron. The last is Little Hawk. Each chief has\nthree bands on the cheek, but with variant colors and patterns._]\n\n[Illustration: _From Report of the Bureau of Ethnology_]\n\n\n[Illustration: OLD HORSE\n\nName of an Indian Chief, as shown in Red Cloud's census. Old age is\nrepresented by the wrinkles and projecting lips.\n\n_Enlarged from a sketch in Report of the Bureau of Ethnology_]\n\n\n\n\nUNKTOMI AND THE BAD SONGS\n\n_Dakota_\n\n\nUnktomi was going along; his way lay along by the side of a lake. Out\non the lake there were a great many ducks, geese, and swans swimming.\nWhen Unktomi saw them he went backward out of sight, and picking some\ngrass, bound it up in a bundle. He placed this on his back and so went\nagain along by the side of the lake.\n\n\"Unktomi, what are you carrying?\" asked the ducks and the geese and\nthe swans.\n\n\"These are bad songs I am carrying,\" said Unktomi.\n\nThe ducks said, \"Unktomi, sing for us.\"\n\nUnktomi replied, \"But the songs are very bad.\"\n\nBut the ducks insisted upon it. Then Unktomi said, \"Make a grass\nlodge.\" So they went to work and made a large grass lodge.\n\n\"Now, let all the ducks, geese, and swans gather inside the lodge and\nI will sing for you,\" said Unktomi. So all the ducks and the geese and\nthe swans gathered inside and filled the grass lodge. Then Unktomi\ntook his place at the door of the lodge and said, \"If I sing for\nyou, no one must look, for that is the meaning of the song.\"\n\nThen he began to sing,\n\n    Dance with your eyes shut;\n    If you open your eyes\n    Your eyes shall be red!\n    Your eyes shall be red!\n\nWhen he said and sang this, the geese, ducks, and swans danced with\ntheir eyes shut. Then Unktomi rose up and said,\n\n    I even, even I\n    Follow in my own;\n    I even, even I,\n    Follow in my own.\n\nSo they all gabbled as they danced, and Unktomi, dancing among them,\ncommenced twisting off the necks of the fattest of the geese and ducks\nand swans. But when he tried to twist off the neck of a large swan and\ncould not, he only made him squawk. Then a small duck, called Skiska,\npartly opened his eyes. He saw Unktomi try to break the swan's neck,\nand he made an outcry:\n\n    Look ye, look ye!\n    Unktomi will destroy us all.\n    Look ye, look ye!\n\nAt once they all opened their eyes and attempted to go out. But\nUnktomi threw himself in the doorway and tried to stop them. They\nrushed upon him with their feet and wings, and smote him and knocked\nhim over, walking on his stomach, and leaving him as though dead. Then\nUnktomi came to life, and got up, and looked around.\n\nBut they say that the Wood Duck, which looked first, had his eyes made\nred.\n\nThen Unktomi gathered up the ducks and geese and swans he had killed\nand carried them on his back. He came to a river and traveled along by\nthe side of it till he came to a long, straight place where he stopped\nto boil his kettle. He put all the ducks and geese and swans whose\nnecks he had twisted into the kettle, and set it on the fire to boil,\nand then he lay down to sleep.\n\nAs he lay there, curled up on the bank of the river, he said, \"Mionze\n[familiar spirit], if anyone comes you wake me up.\" So he slept.\n\nNow a mink came paddling along on the river, and coming close to\nUnktomi's boiling place, saw him lying fast asleep. Then he went\nthere. While Unktomi slept, he took out all the boiling meat and ate\nit up, putting the bones back into the kettle. Then Unktomi waked up.\nHe sat up and saw no one.\n\n\"Perhaps my boiling is cooked for me,\" he said.\n\nHe took the kettle off the fire. He poked a stick into it and found\nonly bones. Then he said, \"Indeed, the meat has all fallen off.\" So he\ntook a spoon and dipped it out; nothing was there but bones.\n\nThis is the story of Unktomi and the Bad Songs.\n\n\n\n\nHOW THE PHEASANT BEAT CORN\n\n_Cherokee_\n\n\nOnce Pheasant saw a woman beating corn in a wooden mortar in front of\nher lodge.\n\n\"I can do that, too,\" said Pheasant.\n\n\"I don't believe you,\" said the woman.\n\n\"Yes, I can,\" said Pheasant. So Pheasant went into the woods behind\nthe lodge. He flew to a hollow log and drummed with his wings until\nthe people thought he really was beating corn.\n\nThat is why the Indians have the Pheasant dance, as a part of the\nGreen-corn dance.\n\n\n\n\nWHY THE TURKEY GOBBLES\n\n_Cherokee_\n\n\nIn the old days, Grouse had a good voice and Turkey had none.\nTherefore Turkey asked Grouse to teach him. But Grouse wanted pay, so\nTurkey promised to give him some feathers for a collar. That is how\nthe Grouse got his collar of turkey feathers.\n\nSo the Grouse began to teach Turkey. At last Grouse said, \"Now you\nmust try your voice. You must halloo.\"\n\nTurkey said, \"Yes.\"\n\nGrouse said, \"I'll stand on this hollow log, and when I tap on it, you\nmust halloo as loudly as you can.\"\n\nSo Grouse climbed upon a log, ready to tap on it, but when he did so,\nTurkey became so excited that when he opened his mouth, he only said,\n\"_Gobble, gobble, gobble!_\"\n\nThat is why the Turkey gobbles whenever he hears a noise.\n\n\n\n\nOMAHA BELIEFS\n\n_Omaha_\n\n\nSong was an integral part of Omaha life. Through song, the Omaha\napproached the mysterious Wakoda; through song he voiced his emotions,\nboth individual and social; through song he embodied feelings and\naspirations that eluded expression in words. In one of their\nceremonies, the Wa' wa, \"to sing for somebody,\" songs are one of the\nchief characteristics.\n\nIn this ceremony, the eagle is \"Mother.\" She calls to her nestlings\nand upon her strong wings she bears the message of peace. Peace and\nits symbol, the clear, cloudless sky, are the theme of the principal\nsongs. The curlew, in the early morning, stretches its neck and its\nwing as it sits on the roost, and utters a long note. The sound is\nconsidered an indication that the day will be cloudless.\n\nGreen represents the verdure of the earth; blue is the color of the\nsky; red is the color of the sun, typifying life. The eagle is the\nbird of tireless strength. The owl represents night, and the\nwoodpecker the day and sun. These two birds also stand for life and\ndeath.\n\nWakoda gives to man the sunshine, the clear sky from which all storms,\nall clouds are absent; in the Wa' wa ceremony, they stand for peace.\nIn this connection, black storm clouds with their thunder and\nlightning are emblematic of war.\n\n\n\n\nPAWNEE BELIEFS\n\n_Pawnee_\n\n\nAt the creation of the world, lesser powers were made, because\nTira'wa-tius, the Mighty Power, could not come near to man, or be seen\nor felt by him. These lesser powers dwell in the great circle of the\nsky. One is North Star; another is Brown Eagle. The Winds were the\nfirst of the lesser powers to come near man. Therefore, when man calls\nfor aid, he calls first to the Winds. They stand at the four points,\nand guard the four paths down which the lesser powers come when they\nhelp mankind. The Winds are always near us, by day and by night.\n\nThe Sun is one of these powers. It comes from the mighty power above;\ntherefore it has great strength.\n\nMother Earth is another power. She is very near to man. From her we\nget food; upon her we lie down. We live and walk on her. We could not\nexist without Mother Earth, without Sun, and without the Winds.\n\nWater is another lesser power. Water is necessary to mankind.\n\nFire made by rubbing two sticks together is sacred. It comes direct\nfrom the power granted Toharu, vegetation, in answer to man's prayer\nas he rubs the sticks. When the flame leaps from the glowing wood, it\nis the word of the fire. The power has come near.\n\nBlue is the color of the sky, the dwelling place of Tira' wahut, the\ncircle of powers which watch over man. As a man paints the blue stick\nhe sings.\n\nRed is the color of the sun. Green is the color of Mother Earth.\n\nEagle is the chief of day; Owl is chief of the night; Woodpecker is\nchief of the trees; Duck is chief of the water.\n\nThe ear of corn represents the supernatural power that dwells in the\nearth, which brings forth the food that sustains life; there corn is\nspoken of as _h'Atira_, \"mother breathing forth life.\" The power which\ndwells in the earth, which enables it to give life to all growing\nthings, comes from above. Therefore, in the Hako, the Pawnee ceremony,\nthe ear of corn is painted with blue.\n\nThe wildcat was made to live in the forest. He has much skill and\ningenuity. The wildcat shows us we must think, must use tact, must be\nshrewd when we set out to do anything. The wildcat is one of the\nsacred animals.\n\nTrees grow along the banks of the streams; we can see them at a\ndistance, like a long line, and we can see the river glistening in the\nsunlight in its length. We sing to the river, and when we come nearer\nand see the water and hear it rippling along, then we sing to the\nwater, the water that ripples as it runs.\n\nHills were made by Tira'wa. We ascend hills when we go away alone to\npray. From the top of a hill we can look over the country to see if\nthere are enemies in sight, or if any danger is near us. We can see if\nwe are to meet friends. The hills help man, so we sing to them.\n\n\n\n\nA SONG OF HOSPITALITY[J]\n\n_Sioux_\n\n\n    I am mashing the berries,\n    I am mashing the berries,\n    They say travelers are coming on the march,\n    They say travelers are coming on the march,\n    I stir [the berries] around, I stir them around,\n    I take them up with a spoon of buffalo horn,\n    I take them up with a spoon of buffalo horn,\n    And I carry them, I carry them [to the strangers],\n    And I carry them, I carry them [to the strangers].\n\n      \"Word comes that travelers are approaching ... on the\n      march with their children, dogs, and household\n      property. She stirs them around with a spoon of\n      buffalo horn and goes to offer them to the strangers.\n      The translation is an exact paraphrase of the rhythmic\n      repetition of the original.\"\n\nFOOTNOTE:\n\n[J] James Mooney.\n\n\n\n\nA SONG OF THE MARCH[K]\n\n_Sioux_\n\n\n    Now set up the tipi,\n    Now set up the tipi,\n    Around the bottom,\n    Around the bottom,\n    Drive in the pegs,\n    Drive in the pegs,\n    In the meantime I shall cook,\n    In the meantime I shall cook.\n\n      \"To those who know the Indian life it brings up a\n      vivid picture of a prairie band on the march, halting\n      at noon or in the evening. As soon as the halt is\n      called by some convenient stream, the women jump down\n      and release the horses from ... the travois, in the\n      olden times, and hobble them to prevent them from\n      wandering away. Then, while some of the women set up\n      the tipi poles, draw the canvas over them, and drive\n      in the pegs around the bottom and the wooden pins up\n      the side, other women take axes and buckets and go\n      down to the creek for wood and water. When they\n      return, they find the tipis set up and the blankets\n      spread out on the grass, and in a few minutes fires\n      are built and the meal is in preparation.\"\n\nFOOTNOTE:\n\n[K] James Mooney.\n\n\n\n\n[Notes: SIOUAN TENTS\n\n_B. Tent of Little Cedar, belonging to the order of Sun and Moon\nshamans. The circle represents the sun in which stands a man holding\ndeer rattles._\n\n_C. Those persons who belong to the Inke-sabe sub-gens known as\nKeepers of the Pipes, paint their tents with the pipe decorations._\n\n_D. Used by a member of the order of Grizzly Bear shamans. \"When they\nhave had visions of grizzly bears, they decorate their tents\naccordingly.\" (George Miller.) The bear is represented as emerging\nfrom his den. The dark band represents the ground._\n\n_E. Sketch furnished by Chief Dried Buffalo. The circle at the top\nrepresents a bear's cave. Below there are lightnings, then prints of\nbears' paws. E also represents the grizzly bear vision._]\n\n[Illustration: _Enlarged from plate in report of the Bureau of\nEthnology_]\n\n\n[Illustration: AN ARAPAHOE BED\n\n_Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution_]\n\n\n\n\nSONG OF THE PRAIRIE BREEZE[L]\n\n_Kiowa_\n\n\n    That wind, that wind\n    Shakes my tipi, shakes my tipi,\n    And sings a song for me,\n    And sings a song for me.\n\n      \"To the familiar, this little song brings up pleasant\n      memories of the prairie camp when the wind is\n      whistling through the tipi poles and blowing the flaps\n      about, while inside the fire burns bright and the song\n      and the game go round.\"\n\nFOOTNOTE:\n\n[L] James Mooney.\n\n\n\n\nOLD-WOMAN-WHO-NEVER-DIES\n\n_Mandan_\n\n\nIn the sun lives the Lord of Life. In the moon lives\nOld-Woman-Who-Never-Dies. She has six children, three sons and three\ndaughters. These live in the sky. The eldest son is the Day; another\nis the Sun; another is Night. The eldest daughter is the Morning Star,\ncalled \"The Woman who Wears a Plume\"; another is a star which circles\naround the polar star, and she is called \"The Striped Gourd\"; the\nthird is Evening Star.\n\nEvery spring Old-Woman-Who-Never-Dies sends the wild geese, the swans,\nand the ducks. When she sends the wild geese, the Indians plant their\ncorn and Old-Woman-Who-Never-Dies makes it grow. When eleven wild\ngeese are found together, the Indians know the corn crop will be very\nlarge. The swans mean that the Indians must plant gourds; the ducks,\nthat they must plant beans.\n\nIndians always save dried meat for these wild birds, so when they come\nin the spring they may have a corn feast. They build scaffolds of many\npoles, three or four rows, and one above the others. On this they\nhang the meat. Then the old women in the village, each one with a\nstick, meet around the scaffold. In one end of the stick is an ear of\ncorn. Sitting in a circle, they plant their sticks in the ground in\nfront of them. Then they dance around the scaffolds while the old men\nbeat the drums and rattle the gourds.\n\nAfterwards the old women in the village are allowed to eat the dried\nmeat.\n\nIn the fall they hold another corn feast, after the corn is ripe. This\nis so that Old-Woman-Who-Never-Dies may send the buffalo herds to\nthem. Each woman carries the entire cornstalk, with the ears attached,\njust as it was pulled up by the roots. Then they call on\nOld-Woman-Who-Never-Dies and say,\n\n\"Mother, pity us. Do not send the cold too soon, or we may not have\nenough meat. Mother, do not let the game depart, so that we may have\nenough for winter.\"\n\nIn the fall, when the birds go south to Old-Woman, they take back the\ndried meat hung on the scaffolds, because Old-Woman is very fond of\nit.\n\nOld-Woman-Who-Never-Dies has large patches of corn, kept for her by\nthe great stag and by the white-tailed stag. Blackbirds also help her\nguard her corn patches. The corn patches are large, therefore the Old\nWoman has the help also of the mice and the moles. In the spring the\nbirds go north, back to Old-Man-Who-Never-Dies.\n\nIn the olden time, Old-Woman-Who-Never-Dies lived near the Little\nMissouri. Sometimes the Indians visited her. One day twelve came, and\nshe offered them only a small kettle of corn. They were very hungry\nand the kettle was very small. But as soon as it was empty, it at once\nbecame filled again, so all the Indians had enough to eat.\n\n\n\n\nLEGEND OF THE CORN\n\n_Arikara_\n\n\nThe Arikara were the first to find the maize. A young man went out\nhunting. He came to a high hill. Looking down a valley, he saw a\nbuffalo bull near where two rivers joined. When the young man looked\nto see how he could kill the buffalo, he saw how beautiful the country\nwas. The banks of the two rivers were low, with many trees. The\nbuffalo faced the north; therefore he could not get within bowshot of\nhim. He thought he should wait until the buffalo moved close to the\nbanks of one of the rivers, or to a ravine where there were bushes and\nshrubs. So the young man waited. The sun went down before the buffalo\nmoved.\n\nNearly all night the hunter lay awake. He had little food. He felt\nsorry he could not reach the buffalo. Before the sun rose, he hurried\nto the top of the hill. The buffalo stood just where it had, but it\nfaced the east. Again he waited for it to move. He waited all day.\nWhen the sun went down, the buffalo still stood in the same place.\n\nNearly all night the young man lay awake. He had very little food\nindeed. The next morning he rose early, and came to the top of the\nhill, just as the sun came up. The buffalo was still standing in the\nsame place; but now it faced the south. He waited all day. Then the\nsun went down.\n\nNow the next morning, when he arose early, the buffalo stood in the\nsame place; this time it faced the west. All day the young man waited,\nbut the buffalo did not move.\n\nNow the young man thought, \"Why does not the buffalo move?\" He saw it\ndid not drink, did not eat, did not sleep. He thought some power must\nbe influencing it.\n\nNow the next morning, the young man hurried to the top of the hill.\nThe sun had risen and everything was light. The buffalo was gone. Then\nhe saw where the buffalo had stood there was a strange bush.\n\nHe went to the place; then he saw it was a plant. He looked for the\ntracks of the buffalo. He saw where it had turned to the east and to\nthe south and to the west. In the center there was one track; out of\nit the small plant had grown. There was no track to show where the\nbuffalo had left the place.\n\nThen the hunter hurried to his village. He told the chiefs and the\npeople of the strange buffalo and the plant. So all the chiefs and\nthe people came to the place. They saw the tracks of the buffalo as he\nhad stood, but there were no tracks of his coming or going.\n\nSo all the people knew that Wahkoda had given this strange plant to\nthe people. They knew of other plants they might eat. They knew there\nwas a time when each plant was ripe. So they watched the strange\nplant; they guarded it and protected it.\n\nThen a flower appeared on the plant. Afterwards, at one of the joints,\na new part of the plant pushed out. It had hair. At first the hair was\ngreen; then it was brown. Then the people thought, \"Perhaps this fruit\nis ripe.\" But they did not dare touch it. They met together. They\nlooked at the plant.\n\nThen a young man said, \"My life has not been good. If any evil comes\nto me, it will not matter.\"\n\nSo the people were willing, and the young man put his hand on the\nplant and then on its fruit. He grasped the fruit boldly. He said to\nthe people, \"It is solid. It is ripe.\" Then he pulled apart the husks,\nand said, \"It is red.\"\n\nHe took a few of the grains and showed them to the people. He ate\nsome. He did not die. So the people knew Wahkoda had sent this plant\nto them for food.\n\nNow in the fall, when the prairie grass turned brown, the leaves of\nthis plant turned brown also. Then the fruit was plucked, and put\naway. After the winter was over, the kernels were divided. There were\nfour to each family.\n\nThen the people moved the lodges to the place where the plant had\ngrown. When the hills became green, they planted the seed of the\nstrange plant. But first they built little mounds like the one out of\nwhich it grew. So the fruit grew and ripened. It had many colors; red,\nand yellow, and white, and blue.\n\nThen the next year there were many plants and many ears of corn. So\nthey sent to other tribes. They invited them to visit them and gave\nthem of the new food. Thus the Omahas came to have corn.\n\n\n\n\nTRADITION OF THE FINDING OF HORSES\n\n_Ponca_\n\n\nLong ago, the people followed the Missouri River northward to a place\nwhere they could step over the water. Then they turned, and were going\nacross the land. Then they met the Padouca [Comanche].\n\nAt that time the Ponca had no animals but dogs to help them carry\nburdens. Wherever they went they had to go on foot, but the people\nwere strong and fleet. They could run a great distance and not be\nweary. One day when they were hunting buffalo, they met the Padouca.\nThen they had many battles with them. The Padouca were mounted on\nstrange animals. At first the Ponca thought it was all one animal. The\nPadouca had bows made from elk horn. They were not very long, nor were\nthey very strong. They boiled the horn until it was soft; then they\nscraped it, and bound it together with sinews and glue. Their arrows\nwere tipped with bone. They fought also with a stone battle-ax. The\nhandle was a sapling; a grooved stone ax head, pointed at both ends,\nwas fastened to this with rawhides. So the Padouca were terrible\nfighters. They protected their horses with a covering of thick rawhide\ncut in round pieces, and put together like fish scales. They spread\nglue over the outside and then sand. So when the Comanches fought, the\narrows of their enemies glanced off the horses' armor. Then the\nPadouca made breastplates for themselves like those of the horses.\n\nWhen the Ponca met these terrible warriors, they were afraid. They\nthought man and horse were one. They named it \"Kawa\" because they\nnoticed the odor of the horse. Then they knew by this odor when the\nPadouca were coming. When a man smelled the horses, he would run to\nthe camp and say, \"The wind tells us the Kawa are coming.\" Then the\nPonca would make ready to defend themselves. The Ponca had many\nbattles with the Comanches. They did not know how to use the animals,\nso they killed the horses as well as the men. Neither could they find\nout where the Padouca lived.\n\nOne day the two tribes had a great battle. The people fought all day.\nSometimes the Ponca were driven back, sometimes the Padouca. Then at\nlast a Ponca shot a Padouca so that he fell from his horse. Then the\nbattle ceased. After this, one of the Padouca came toward the Ponca\nand said in plain Ponca,\n\n\"Who are you? What do you call yourselves?\"\n\nThe Ponca replied, \"We call ourselves Ponca. You speak our language,\nare you of our tribe?\"\n\nThe other said, \"No. I speak your language as a gift from a Ponca\nspirit. One day I lay on a Ponca grave after a battle. Then a man rose\nfrom the grave and spoke to me. So I know your language.\"\n\nThen it was agreed to make peace. The tribes visited each other. The\nPonca traded their bows and arrows for horses. They knew where the\nPadouca lived. Then the Padouca taught the Ponca how to ride, and how\nto put burdens on the horses.\n\nWhen the Ponca had learned how to ride, and had horses, they went to\nwar again. They attacked the Padouca in their own village. They\nattacked them so many times and stole so many of their horses that at\nlast the Padouca fled. We do not know where they went. The Ponca\nfollowed the Platte River toward the rising sun; then they came back\nto the Missouri, and they brought their horses with them.\n\n\n\n\nDAKOTA BELIEFS AND CUSTOMS\n\n_Dakota_\n\n\nThe Dakotas have names for the natural divisions of time. Their years\nthey count by winters. A man is so many winters old, or so many\nwinters have passed since such an event. When one goes on a journey,\nhe says he will be back in so many sleeps. They have no division of\ntime into weeks, and their months are literally by moons.\n\nThe Dakotas believe that when the moon is full, a great number of\nsmall mice begin to nibble on one side. They nibble until they eat up\nthe entire moon. So when the new moon begins to grow, it is to them\nreally a new moon; the old one has been eaten up.\n\nThe Dakota mother loves her baby as well as the white woman does hers.\nWhen the spirit takes its flight a wild howl goes up from the tent.\nThe baby form is wrapped in the best buffalo calfskin, or the best red\nblanket, and laid away on a scaffold or on the branch of some tree.\nThere the mother goes with disheveled hair and oldest clothes, the\nbest ones having been given away, and wails out her sorrow in the\ntwilight, wailing often until far into the cold night. The nice\nkettle of hominy is prepared, and carried to the scaffold where the\nspirit hovers for several days. When the kettle has remained there\nlong enough for the _wanagi_, the spirit, to inhale the food, the\nlittle children of the village are invited to eat up the rest.\n\nWhen a hunter dies, the last act of the medicine man is to sing a song\nto conduct the spirit over the _wanagi tacanku_, the spirit's road, as\nthe Milky Way is called. The friends give away their good clothes.\nThey wear ragged clothes, with bare feet, and ashes on their hands.\nBoth within and without the lodge there is a great wailing.\n\"_Micinski, micinski, my son, my son,_\" is the lamentation in Dakota\nland as it was in Israel.\n\nThe dead hunter is wrapped in the most beautifully painted buffalo\nrobe, or in the newest red and blue blanket. Young men are called and\nfeasted, and their duty it is to carry the body away and place it on a\nscaffold, for the dead remain not long in the tepee. In more recent\ntimes they bury it. The custom of burial immediately after death,\nhowever, was not a Dakota custom. The spirit did not bid farewell to\nthe body for several days after death, and so the body was laid on a\nhigh scaffold or in some tree crotch where it would have a good view\nof the surrounding country, and also be safe from wolves.\n\n\n\n\nWHY THE TETONS BURY ON SCAFFOLDS\n\n_Teton_\n\n\nIn the olden days, the people buried some men on a hill. Then they\nremoved their camp to another place. Many winters afterwards, a man\nvisited the hill; but there were no graves there. So he told the\npeople.\n\nThen many men came and dug far down into the hill. By and by a man\nsaid, \"There is a road here.\"\n\nThere they found a road, a tunnel, large enough for men to walk,\nstooping. Other roads there were. They followed the first road and\nthey came to a place where a strange animal had dragged the bodies of\nthose who were buried in the hill.\n\nTherefore the people refused to bury their dead in the ground. They\nbury them on scaffolds where the animals cannot reach them.[M]\n\nFOOTNOTE:\n\n[M] At the present day, the Teton gives three reasons for not burying\nin the ground: animals or persons might walk over the graves; the dead\nmight lie in mud and water after rain or snow; wolves might trouble\nthe bodies.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: INDIAN SCAFFOLD CEMETERY ON THE MISSOURI RIVER\n\n(From Schoolcraft)\n\n_Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution_]\n\n\n[Illustration: AN OMAHA VILLAGE, SHOWING EARTH LODGE AND CONICAL\nTEPEES\n\n_Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution_]\n\n\n\n\nTHE GHOST'S RESENTMENT\n\n_Dakota_\n\n\nLong, long ago, a Dakota died and his parents made a death lodge for\nhim on the bluff. In the lodge they made a grave scaffold, on which\nthey laid the body of their son.\n\nNow in that same village of Dakotas lived a young married man. His\nfather lived with him, and there were two old men who used to visit\nthe father and smoke with him, and talk with him about many things.\n\nOne night the father of the young man said, \"My friends, let us go to\nthe death scaffold and cut off summer robes for ourselves from the\ntent skins.\"\n\nThe young man said, \"No! Do not do so. It was a pity the young man\ndied, and as his parents had nothing else to give up for him they made\nthe death lodge and left it there.\"\n\n\"What use can he get from the tent?\" asked the father. \"We have no\nrobes, so we wish to use part of the tent skins for ourselves.\"\n\n\"Well, then,\" said the young man. \"Go as you have said and we shall\nsee what will happen.\"\n\nThe old men arose without saying a word and went to the lodge on the\nbluff. As soon as they were gone, the young man said, \"Oh, wife, get\nmy piece of white clay. I must scare one of those old men nearly to\ndeath.\"\n\nBut the woman was unwilling, saying, \"Let them alone. They have no\nrobes. Let them cut off robes for themselves.\"\n\nBut as the husband would not stop talking about it, the wife got the\npiece of white clay for him. He whitened his whole body and his face\nand hands. Then he went to the lodge in a course parallel to that\ntaken by the old men. He went very quickly and reached there before\nthey did.\n\nHe climbed the scaffold and lay on it, thrusting his head out through\nthe tent skins just above the doorway.\n\nAt last the old men approached, ascending the hill, and talking\ntogether in a low tone. The young man lay still, listening to them.\nWhen they reached the lodge, they sat down.\n\nThe leader said, \"Fill your pipe, friends. We must smoke this last\ntime with our friend up there.\"\n\n\"Yes, your friend has spoken well. That should be done,\" answered one\nof them.\n\nSo he filled the pipe. He drew a whiff, and when the fire glowed, he\nturned the pipestem toward the seam of the skins above the doorway. He\nlooked up towards the sky, saying, \"Ho, friend, here is the pipe. We\nmust smoke with you this last time. And then we must separate. Here is\nthe pipe.\"\n\nAs he said this, he gazed above the doorway and saw a head looking out\nfrom the tent.\n\n\"Oh! My friends!\" he cried. \"Look at this place behind you.\"\n\nWhen the two looked, they said, \"Really! Friends, it is he!\" And all\nfled.\n\nThen the young man leaped down and pursued them. Two of them fell to\nthe ground in terror, but he did not disturb them, going on in pursuit\nof his father. When the old man was overtaken, he fell to the ground.\nHe was terrified. The young man sat astride of him. He said, \"You have\nbeen very disobedient! Fill the pipe for me!\"\n\nThe old man said, \"Oh! My grandchild! Oh! My grandchild!\" hoping that\nthe ghost would pity him. Then he filled the pipe as he lay stretched\nthere and gave it to his son.\n\nThe young man smoked. When he stopped smoking, the old man said, \"Oh!\nMy grandchild! Oh! My grandchild! Pity me, and let me go. We thought\nwe must smoke with you this last time, so we went to the place where\nyou were. Oh! My grandchild, pity me.\"\n\n\"If that be so, arise and extend your hands to me in entreaty,\" said\nthe young man.\n\nThe old man arose and did so, saying continually, \"Oh! My grandchild!\nOh! My grandchild!\"\n\nIt was as much as the young man could do to keep from laughing. At\nlength he said, \"Well! Begone! Beware lest you come again and go\naround my resting place very often! Do not visit it again!\" Then he\nlet the old man go.\n\nOn returning to the burial lodge, he found the two old men still lying\nwhere they had fallen. When he approached them, they slipped off, with\ntheir heads covered, as they were terrified, and he let them go\nundisturbed. When they had gone, the young man hurried home. He\nreached there first and after washing himself, reclined at full\nlength.\n\nHe said to his wife, \"When they return, be sure not to laugh. Make an\neffort to control yourself. I came very near making them die of\nfright.\"\n\nWhen the old men returned, the young people seemed to be asleep. The\nold men did not lie down; all sat in silence, smoking together until\ndaylight. When the young man arose in the morning, the old men\nappeared very sorrowful.\n\nThen he said, \"Give me one of the robes that you and your friends cut\noff and brought back. I, too, have no robe at all.\"\n\nHis father said, \"Why! We went there, but we did not get anything at\nall. We were attacked. We came very near being killed.\"\n\nTo this the son replied, \"Why! I was unwilling for this to happen, so\nI said, 'Do not go,' but you paid no attention to me, and went. But\nnow you think differently and you weep.\"\n\nWhen it was night, the young man said, \"Go again and make another\nattempt. Bring back a piece for me, as I have no robe at all.\"\n\nThe old men were unwilling to go again, and they lost their patience,\nas he teased them so often.\n\n\n\n\nTHE FORKED ROADS\n\n_Omaha_\n\n\nLong ago, in the days of the grandfathers, a man died and was buried\nby his village. For four nights his ghost had to walk a very dark\ntrail. Then he reached the Milky Way and there was plenty of light.\nFor this reason, people ought to keep the funeral fires lighted for\nfour nights, so the spirit will not walk in the dark trail.\n\nThe spirit walked along the Milky Way. At last he came to a point\nwhere the trail forked. There sat an old man. He was dressed in a\nbuffalo robe, with the hair on the outside. He pointed to each ghost\nthe road he was to take. One was short and led to the land of good\nghosts. The other was very long; along it the ghosts went wailing.\n\nThe spirits of suicides cannot travel either road. They must hover\nover their graves. For them there is no future life.\n\nA murderer is never happy after he dies. Ghosts surround him and keep\nup a constant whistling. He is always hungry, though he eat much food.\nHe is never allowed to go where he pleases, lest high winds arise and\nsweep down upon the others.\n\n\n\n\nTATTOOED GHOSTS\n\n_Dakota_\n\n\nIf a ghost wishes to walk the Ghost Road safely, then during living\nthe person must tattoo himself either in the forehead or on the\nwrists. An old woman sits in the Ghost Road and she examines each\nghost who passes. If she finds the tattoo marks, then the ghost\ntravels on at once to Many Lodges. If the tattoo marks are not there,\nthe old woman pushes the ghost from a cloud and he falls to this world\nagain. Then he wanders all over the world. He is never quiet. He goes\nabout whistling, with no lodge, and people are afraid of him.\n\nWhen these ghosts visit the sick, they are driven away by smoke from\nthe sacred cedar, or else cedar is laid outside the lodge. When a\nperson hears a ghost whistling he goes outside the lodge and makes a\nloud noise. If a ghost calls to a loved one and he answers, then he is\nsure to die soon.\n\nIf a ghost meets a man who is alone, he will catch hold of him and\npull his mouth and eyes until they are crooked. Indeed, a ghost did\nthis to a person who only dreamed about one.\n\n\n\n\nA GHOST STORY\n\n_Ponca_\n\n\nA great many persons went on the warpath. They were Ponca. As they\napproached the foe, they camped for the night. They kindled a fire. It\nwas during the night. After kindling a bright fire, they sat down;\nthey made the fire burn very brightly. Rejoicing greatly, they sat\neating. Very suddenly a person sang.\n\n\"Keep quiet. Push the ashes over that fire. Seize your bow in\nsilence!\" said their leader. All took their bows. And they departed to\nsurround him. They made the circle smaller and smaller, and commenced\nat once to come together. And still he stood singing; he did not stir\nat all. At length they went very near to the tree. And when they drew\nvery near to it, the singer ceased his song. When they had reached the\ntree, bones lay there in a pile. Human bones were piled there at the\nfoot of the tree. When persons die, the Dakotas usually suspend the\nbodies in trees.\n\n\n\n\nTHE GHOST AND THE TRAVELER\n\n_Teton_\n\n\nOnce an Indian alone was just at the edge of a forest. Then the\nThunder Beings raised a great storm. So he remained there for the\nnight. After it was dark, he noticed a light in the woods. When he\nreached the spot, behold! there was a sweat lodge, in which were two\npersons talking.\n\nOne said, \"Friend, someone has come and stands without. Let us invite\nhim to share our food.\"\n\nThen the Indian fled because they were ghosts. But they followed him.\nHe looked back now and then, but he could not see them.\n\nAll at once he heard the cry of a woman. He was glad to have company.\nBut the moment he thought about the woman, she appeared. She said, \"I\nhave come because you have just wished to have company.\"\n\nThis frightened the man. The woman said, \"Do not fear me; else you\nwill never see me again.\"\n\nThey journeyed until daybreak. The man looked at her. She seemed to\nhave no legs, yet she walked without any effort. Then the man thought,\n\"What if she should choke me.\" Immediately the ghost vanished.\n\n\n\n\nTHE MAN WHO SHOT A GHOST\n\n_Teton_\n\n\nIn the olden time, a man was traveling alone, and in a forest he\nkilled several rabbits. After sunset he was in the midst of the\nforest. He had to spend the night there, so he made a fire.\n\nHe thought this: \"Should I meet any danger by and by, I will shoot. I\nam a man who ought not to regard anything.\"\n\nHe cooked a rabbit, so he was no longer hungry. Just then he heard\nmany voices. They were talking about their own affairs. But the man\ncould see no one.\n\nSo he thought: \"It seems now that at last I have encountered ghosts.\"\n\nThen he went and lay under a fallen tree, which was a great distance\nfrom the fire. They came around him and whistled, \"_Hyu! hyu! hyu!_\"\n\n\"He has gone yonder,\" said one of the ghosts. Then they came and stood\naround the man, just as people do when they hunt rabbits. The man lay\nflat beneath the fallen tree, and one ghost came and climbed on the\ntrunk of that tree. Suddenly the ghost gave the cry that a man does\nwhen he hits an enemy, \"_A-he!_\" Then the ghost kicked the man in the\nback.\n\nBefore the ghost could get away, very suddenly the man shot at him and\nwounded him in the legs. So the ghost cried as men do in pain, \"_Au!\nau! au!_\" At last he went off, crying as women do, \"_Yun! yun! yun!\nyun!_\"\n\nThe other ghosts said to him, \"Where did he shoot?\"\n\nThe wounded ghost said, \"He shot me through the head and I have come\napart.\" Then the other ghosts were wailing on the hillside.\n\nThe man decided he would go to the place where the ghosts were\nwailing. So when day came, he went there. He found some graves. Into\none of them a wolf had dug, so that the bones could be seen; and there\nwas a wound in the skull.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: BLACK COYOTE\n\nArapahoe chief, and a leader in the ghost-dance.\n\n_Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution_]\n\n\n[Illustration: ORNAMENTATION ON THE REVERSE OF AN ARAPAHOE\n\"GHOST-DANCE\" SHIRT\n\n_Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution_]\n\n\n\n\nTHE INDIAN WHO WRESTLED WITH A GHOST\n\n_Teton_\n\n\nA young man went alone on the warpath. At length he reached a wood.\nOne day, as he was going along, he heard a voice. He said, \"I shall\nhave company.\" As he was approaching a forest, he heard some one\nhalloo. Behold, it was an owl.\n\nBy and by he drew near another wood, and as night was coming on he lay\ndown to rest. At the edge of the trees he lay down in the open air. At\nmidnight he was aroused by the voice of a woman. She was wailing, \"My\nson! my son!\" Still he remained where he was, and put more wood on the\nfire. He lay with his back to the fire. He tore a hole in his blanket\nlarge enough to peep through.\n\nSoon he heard twigs break under the feet of one approaching, so he\nlooked through his blanket without rising. Behold, a woman of the\nolden days was coming. She wore a skin dress with long fringe. A\nbuffalo robe was fastened around her at the waist. Her necklace was\nof very large beads, and her leggings were covered with beads or\nporcupine work. Her robe was drawn over her head and she was snuffing\nas she came.\n\nThe man lay with his legs stretched out, and she stood by him. She\ntook him by one foot, which she raised very slowly. When she let it\ngo, it fell with a thud as though he were dead. She raised it a second\ntime; then a third time. Still the man did not move. Then the woman\npulled a very rusty knife from the front of her belt, seized his foot\nsuddenly and was about to lift it and cut it, when up sprang the man.\nHe said, \"What are you doing?\" Then he shot at her suddenly. She ran\ninto the forest screaming, \"_Yun! yun! yun! yun! yun! yun!_\" She\nplunged into the forest and was seen no more.\n\nAgain the man covered his head with his blanket but he did not sleep.\nWhen day came, he raised his eyes. Behold, there was a burial\nscaffold, with the blankets all ragged and dangling. He thought, \"Was\nthis the ghost that came to me?\"\n\nAgain he came to a wood where he had to remain for the night. He\nstarted a fire. As he sat there, suddenly he heard someone singing. He\nmade the woods ring. The man shouted to the singer, but no answer was\npaid. The man had a small quantity of _wasna_, which was grease mixed\nwith pounded buffalo meat, and wild cherry; he also had plenty of\ntobacco.\n\nSo when the singer came and asked him for food, the man said, \"I have\nnothing.\" The ghost said, \"Not so; I know you have some _wasna_.\"\n\nThen the man gave some of it to the ghost and filled his pipe. After\nthe meal, when the stranger took the pipe and held it by the stem, the\ntraveler saw that it was nothing but bones. There was no flesh. Then\nthe stranger's robe dropped back from his shoulders. Behold, all his\nribs were visible. There was no flesh on them. The ghost did not open\nhis lips when he smoked. The smoke came pouring out through his ribs.\n\nWhen he had finished smoking, the ghost said, \"Ho! we must wrestle\ntogether. If you can throw me, you shall kill the enemy without\nhindrance and steal some horses.\"\n\nThe young man agreed. But first he threw an armful of brush on the\nfire. He put plenty of brush near the fire.\n\nThen the ghost rushed at the man. He seized him with his bony hands,\nwhich was very painful; but this mattered not. The man tried to push\noff the ghost, whose legs were very powerful. When the ghost was\npulled near the fire, he became weak; but when he pulled the young man\ntoward the darkness, he became strong. As the fire got low, the\nstrength of the ghost increased. Just as the man began to get weary,\nthe day broke. Then the struggle began again. As they drew near the\nfire again, the man made a last effort; with his foot he pushed more\nbrush into the fire. The fire blazed up again suddenly. Then the ghost\nfell, just as if he was coming to pieces.\n\nSo the man won in wrestling. Also he killed his enemy and stole some\nhorses. It came out just as the ghost said. That is why people believe\nwhat ghosts say.\n\n\n\n\nTHE WAKANDA, OR WATER GOD\n\n_Yankton_\n\n\nA man and his wife had only one child, they say, whom they loved very\nmuch. He used to go playing every day, they say; and one day he fell\ninto the water. His father and mother and all his relations wailed\nregularly. His father was very sad, they say. He would not sleep\nwithin the lodge; he lay out of doors, without any pillow at all. When\nhe lay on the ground with his cheek on the palm of his hand, he heard\nhis child crying. He heard him crying down under the ground, they say.\nHaving assembled all his relations, he spoke of digging into the\nground. The relations collected horses to be given as pay; they\ncollected goods and horses. Then came two old men who said they were\nsacred. They spoke of seeking for the child. An old man went to tell\nthe father. He brought the two sacred men to the lodge. The father\nfilled a pipe with tobacco. He gave it to the sacred men, and said,\n\"If you bring my child back, I will give all this to you.\"\n\nSo they painted themselves; one made his body very black, the other\nmade his body very yellow. Both went into the deep water. So they\narrived there, they say. They talked to the wakanda. The child was not\ndead; he was sitting up, alive.\n\nThe men said, \"The father demands his child. We have him; we will go\nhomeward,\" they said.\n\n\"You have him; but if you take him homeward with you, he shall die.\nHad you taken him before he ate anything, he might have lived. Begone\nye, and tell those words to his father.\"\n\nThe two men went. They arrived at the lodge, they say.\n\n\"We have seen your child; the wakanda's wife has him. We saw him\nalive, but he has eaten of the food of the wakandas. Therefore the\nwakanda says that if we bring the child back with us out of the water,\nhe shall die.\"\n\nStill, the father wished to see him.\n\n\"If the wakanda's wife gives you back your child, she desires a very\nwhite dog as pay.\"\n\n\"I promise to give her the white dog,\" said the father.\n\nAgain the two men painted themselves; the one made himself very black,\nthe other made himself very yellow. Again they went beneath the water.\nThey arrived at the place again.\n\n\"The father said we were to take the child back at any cost; he spoke\nof seeing his child.\"\n\nSo the wakanda gave the child back to them; homeward they went with\nhim. When they reached the surface of the water with him, the child\ndied. They gave him back to his father. Then all the people wailed\nwhen they saw the child, their relation.\n\nThey plunged the white-haired dog into the water. When they had buried\nthe child they gave pay to the two men.\n\nAfter a while, the parents lost another child, a girl, in the same\nway, they say. But she did not eat any of the wakanda's food,\ntherefore they took her home alive. But it was another wakanda who\ntook her, and he promised to give her back if they would give him four\nwhite-haired dogs.\n\n\n\n\nTHE SPIRIT LAND\n\n_Arapahoe_\n\n\nThe spirit world is toward the Darkening Land, higher up, and\nseparated from the world of living by a great lake. Now when the\nspirits came back to this world [in the ghost-dance excitement] Crow\nwas their leader. That is because Crow is black; his color is the same\nas that of the Darkening Land. Crow was followed by all the Indians.\nBut when they reached the edge of the shadow land, below them was a\ngreat sea.\n\nFar away, toward the Sunrise Land were their people in the world of\nliving. So Crow took a pebble in his beak. He dropped it into the\nwater, and it became a mountain, towering up to the shadow land. So\nthe Indians came down the mountain side to the edge of the water.\n\nThen Crow took some dust in his bill. He flew out and dropped it into\nthe water, and it became solid land. It stretched between the spirit\nland and the world of living.\n\nThen Crow flew out again, with blades of grass in his beak. He\ndropped these upon the new made land. At once the earth was covered\nwith green grass.\n\nAgain Crow flew out with twigs in his beak, and he dropped these upon\nthe new earth. At once it was covered with a forest of trees.\n\nAgain he flew back to the base of the mountain. Then he called all the\nspirit Indians together. Now he is coming to help the living Indians.\nHe has already passed the sea. He is now on the western edge of the\nworld of living.\n\n\n\n\nWAZIYA, THE WEATHER SPIRIT\n\n_Teton_\n\n\nThe giant called Waziya knows when there is to be a change of weather.\nHe is a giant. When he travels, his footprints are large enough for\nseveral Indians to stand in abreast. His strides are very far apart;\nat one step he can go over a hill.\n\nWhen it is cold, people say, \"Waziya has returned.\" They used to pray\nto him, but when they found he paid no attention to him, they ceased\nto do it.\n\nWhen warm weather is coming, Waziya wraps himself in a thick robe. But\nwhen cold weather is coming, he wears nothing at all. Waziya, the\ngiant god of the north, and Itokaga, the god of the south, are ever\nbattling. Each in turn wins the victory.\n\n\n\n\nKANSAS BLIZZARDS\n\n_Kansa_\n\n\nWhen there is a blizzard, the other Kansa beg the members of the\nTcihaci gens to interpose, as they are the Wind People.\n\nThey say, \"Oh, grandfather, I wish good weather. Please have one of\nyour children decorated.\"\n\nThen the youngest son of one of the Wind People, but one half grown,\nis selected. He is painted all over with red paint. Then he goes out\ninto the storm and rolls over and over the snow, reddening it for some\ndistance. This stops the storm.\n\n\n\n\n[Notes: \"KILLED TWO ARIKARA CHIEFS\"\n\n(Indian drawing)\n\n_The rank of the chiefs is shown by the white weasel skins attacked to\ntheir costumes. The arrow in the thigh of the horseman indicates that\nhe was wounded._]\n\n[Illustration: _Enlarged from a sketch in Report of the Bureau of\nEthnology_]\n\n\n[Notes: MANY TONGUES, OR LOUD TALKER\n\n_Oddly enough, the name is given as that of the vanquished, not of the\nvictor, although the balloon of sound would seemingly indicate\notherwise. The pipe between the two indicates that the victor is\nentitled to celebrate his victory._]\n\n[Illustration: _Enlarged from a sketch in Report of the Bureau of\nEthnology_]\n\n\n\n\nIKTO AND THE SNOWSTORM\n\n_Teton_\n\n\nIkto was the first person in this world. He is more cunning than human\nbeings. He it was who named all the animals and people. But sometimes\nIkto was tricked by the beings he had created.\n\nOne day Ikto was hungry; just then he caught a rabbit. He was about to\nroast him.\n\nSuddenly Rabbit said, \"Oh, Ikto, I will teach you a magic art.\"\n\nIkto said, \"I have created all things.\"\n\n\"But I will show you something new,\" said Rabbit. Therefore Ikto\nconsented. He let go of Rabbit.\n\nRabbit stood in front of Ikto and said, \"Elder brother, if you wish\nsnow to fall at any time, take some hair such as this,\"--and he pulled\nout some of his rabbit fur--\"and blow it in all directions; there will\nbe a blizzard.\"\n\nRabbit made a deep snow in this way, though the leaves were green.\n\nAt once, Ikto began to pull his own fur and say magic words. Rabbit\nmade a long leap and ran away. Ikto pulled his fur and blew it about.\nBut there was no snow. Then he pulled more fur, and blew it about.\nStill there was no snow. It was only rabbit fur that made the snow.\n\n\n\n\nTHE SOUTHERN BRIDE\n\n_Cherokee_\n\n\nNorth went traveling, and after a long time, and after visiting many\ntribes, he fell in love with the daughter of South.\n\nSouth and his wife said, \"No. Ever since you came the weather has been\ncold. If you stay we will all freeze.\"\n\nNorth said he would go back to his own country. So South let his\ndaughter marry him. Then North went back to his own country with\nSouth's daughter. All the people there lived in ice houses.\n\nThe next day, after sunrise, the houses began to leak. The ice began\nto melt. It grew warmer and warmer. Then North's people came to him.\nThey said, \"It is the daughter of the South. If she lives here all the\nlodges will melt. You must send her back to her father.\"\n\nNorth said, \"No.\"\n\nBut every day it grew hotter. The lodges began to melt away. The\npeople said North must send his wife home. Therefore North had to send\nher back to South.\n\n\n\n\nTHE FALLEN STAR\n\n_Dakota_\n\n\nA people had this camp. And there were two women sleeping out of doors\nand looking up at the stars.\n\nOne of them said, \"I wish that that large and bright shining star were\nmy husband.\"\n\nThe other said, \"I wish the star that shines less brightly were my\nhusband.\"\n\nAnd immediately both were immediately carried upward, they say. They\nfound themselves in a beautiful country which was full of beautiful\ntwin flowers. And they found that the star which had shone most\nbrightly was a large man; the other star was only a young man. So the\ntwo stars married the two women and they lived in that beautiful Star\nCountry.\n\nNow in that country was a plant, the Teepsinna, with large, attractive\nstalks. The wife of the large star wanted to dig them. Her husband\nsaid, \"No; no one does so here.\"\n\nThen the camp moved. When the woman had pitched her tepee, and came\ninside to lay the mats, she saw there a beautiful teepsinna. She said\nto herself, \"I will dig this; no one will see me.\" So she took her\ndigging stick and dug the teepsinna; but when she pulled it out of the\nearth, the foundation of the Star Country broke and she fell through\nwith her baby. So the woman died; but the baby was not injured. It lay\nthere stretched out.\n\nAn old man came that way. When he saw that the baby was alive, he took\nit in his blanket and took it to his own lodge. He said to his wife,\n\"Old woman, I saw something today that made my heart feel badly.\"\n\n\"What was it?\" she asked.\n\n\"A woman lay dead; and a little baby boy lay beside her kicking.\"\n\n\"Why did you not bring it home, old man?\" she asked.\n\n\"Here it is,\" he said. Then he took it out of his blanket.\n\nThe wife said, \"Old man, let us adopt this child.\"\n\nThe old man said, \"We will swing it around the tepee.\" He whirled it\nup through the smoke hole. It went whirling around and around and fell\ndown, and came creeping into the tent.\n\nAgain he took up the baby and threw it up through the smoke hole. It\ngot up and came into the tent walking. Again the old man whirled him\nout. In came a boy with some green sticks. He said, \"Grandfather, I\nwish you would make me arrows.\"\n\nAgain the old man whirled him out. No one knows where he went. This\ntime he came back into the tepee a long man, with many green sticks.\nHe said, \"Grandfather, make me arrows of these.\"\n\nSo the old man made him arrows, and he killed a great many buffaloes,\nand they made a large tepee, and built up a high sleeping place in the\nback part of the tepee, and were very rich in dried meat.\n\nThe old man said, \"Old woman, I am glad we are well off; I will\nproclaim it abroad.\" So when morning came, he went to the top of the\ntent, and sat, and said, \"I, I have abundance laid up. I eat the fat\nof the animals.\"\n\nThat is how the meadow lark came to be made, they say. It has a yellow\nbreast and black in the middle, which is the yellow of that morning,\nand they say the black stripe is made by a smooth buffalo horn worn\nfor a necklace.\n\nThe young man said, \"Grandfather, I want to go visiting.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said the old man. \"When one is young is the time to go\nvisiting.\"\n\nThe young man went and came to a people, and lo! they were engaged in\nshooting arrows through a hoop. And there was a young man who was\nsimply looking on. By and by he said, \"My friend, let us go to your\nhouse.\"\n\nSo they came to his lodge. Now this young man also had been raised by\nhis grandmother, and lived with her, they say.\n\n\"Grandmother, I have brought my friend home with me; get him something\nto eat,\" said the grandson.\n\nGrandmother said, \"What shall I do?\"\n\nThen the visiting young man said, \"How is it, grandmother?\"\n\nShe said, \"The people are about to die of thirst. All who go for water\nwill not come back again.\"\n\nFallen Star said, \"My friend, take a kettle; we will go for water.\"\n\n\"With difficulty have I raised my grandchild,\" objected the old woman.\n\n\"You are afraid of trifles,\" said the grandson. So he went with\nStar-born.\n\nThey reached the side of the lake. By the water of the lake stood\ntroughs half full of water.\n\nStar-born called out, \"You who they say have killed every one who has\ncome for water, where have you gone? I have come for water.\"\n\nThen immediately whither they went is not manifest. Behold, there was\na long house which was extended, and it was full of young men and\nwomen. Some of them were dead and some were dying.\n\n\"How did you come here?\" asked Star-born.\n\nThey replied, \"What do you mean? We came for water and something\nswallowed us.\"\n\nSomething kept striking on the head of Star-born.\n\n\"What is this?\" he said.\n\n\"Get away,\" they replied, \"that is the heart.\"\n\nThen he drew out his knife and cut it to pieces. Suddenly something\nmade a great noise. In the great body, these people were swallowed up.\nWhen the heart died, death came to the body. Then Star-born cut a\ngreat hole in the side, and came out, bringing the young men and the\nyoung women. All came to life again.\n\nSo the people were thankful and offered him two wives.\n\nBut he said, \"I am journeying. My friend here will marry them.\"\n\nThen Star-born went on, they say. Again he found a young man standing\nwhere they were shooting through a hoop. He said, \"I will look on with\nmy friend,\" and went and stood beside him.\n\nThen the other said, \"My friend, let us go home,\" so he went with him\nto his tepee.\n\n\"Grandmother, I have brought my friend home with me,\" he said. \"Get\nhim something to eat.\"\n\nGrandmother replied, \"How shall I do as you say?\"\n\n\"How is it?\" said Star-born.\n\n\"This people are perishing for wood,\" she said; \"when any one goes for\nwood, he never comes home again.\"\n\nStar-born said, \"My friend, take the packing strap; we will go for\nwood.\"\n\nThe old woman protested. \"This one, my grandchild, I have raised with\ndifficulty,\" she said. He answered, \"Old woman, what you are afraid of\nare trifles,\" and went with the young man. \"I am going to bring wood,\"\nhe said. \"If any wish to go, come along.\"\n\n\"The young man who came from somewhere says this,\" they said, so they\nfollowed him.\n\nThey had now reached the wood. They found it tied up in bundles. He\nordered them to carry it home, but he stood still and said, \"You who\nkilled every one who came to this wood, where have you gone?\"\n\nThen, suddenly, where he went was not made manifest. And lo! a tepee,\nand in it some young men and young women; some were eating, and some\nwere waiting.\n\nHe said to them, \"How came you here?\"\n\nThey answered, \"What do you mean? We came for wood and something\nbrought us here. Now you also are lost.\"\n\nHe looked behind him, and lo! there was a hole.\n\n\"What is this?\" he asked.\n\n\"Stop!\" they said. \"That is the thing itself.\"\n\nHe drew out an arrow and shot it. Then suddenly it opened out and\nbehold! it was the ear of an owl in which they had been shut up. When\nit was killed, it opened out. Then he said, \"Young men and women, come\nout,\" so they went home.\n\nAgain they offered him two wives. But he said, \"My friend will marry\nthem. I am traveling.\"\n\nAgain he passed on. And he came to a dwelling place of people and\nfound them shooting the hoop. There stood a young man looking on. He\njoined him as his friend. While they stood there together, he said:\n\n\"Friend, let us go to your home.\" So he went with him to his tepee.\n\nThe young man said, \"Grandmother, I have brought my friend home with\nme; get him something to eat.\"\n\nShe said, \"Where shall I get it from, that you say that?\"\n\n\"Grandmother, how is it that you say so?\" asked the stranger.\n\nShe replied, \"Waziya treats this people very badly. When they go out\nto kill buffalo, he takes it all, and now they are starving to death.\"\n\nNow Waziya was a giant who caused very cold weather and blizzards.\n\nThen he said, \"Grandmother, go to him and say, 'My grandchild has come\non a journey and has nothing to eat; so he has sent me to you.'\"\n\nSo the old woman went and standing at a distance, cried, \"Waziya, my\ngrandchild has come on a journey and has nothing to eat; so he has\nsent me to you.\"\n\nHe replied, \"Bad old woman, get you home; what do you mean by coming\nhere?\"\n\nThe old woman came home crying, and saying that Waziya had threatened\nto kill some of her relations.\n\nStar-born said, \"My friend, take your strap; we will go there.\"\n\nThe old woman interfered: \"I have with difficulty raised my\ngrandchild.\"\n\nGrandchild replied to this by saying, \"Grandmother is very much\nafraid.\" So the two went together.\n\nWhen they came to the house of Waziya, they found a great deal of\ndried meat outside. He put as much on his friend as he could carry,\nand sent him home with it; then Star-born entered the tepee of Waziya,\nand said to him, \"Waziya, why did you answer my grandmother as you did\nwhen I sent her to you?\"\n\nWaziya only looked angry.\n\nHanging there was a bow of ice. \"Waziya, why do you keep this?\" he\nsaid.\n\nThe giant replied, \"Hands off; whoever touches that gets a broken\narm.\"\n\nStar-born said, \"I will see if my arm breaks.\" He took the ice bow and\nsnapped it into many pieces, and then started home.\n\nThe next morning all the people went on the chase and killed many\nbuffaloes. But, as he had done before, the Waziya went all over the\nfield, gathered up all the meat, and put it in his blanket.\n\nStar-born was cutting up a fat cow. Waziya came and stood there. He\nsaid, \"Who cuts this up?\"\n\n\"I am,\" answered Star-born.\n\nWaziya said, \"From where have you come that you act so haughtily?\"\n\n\"Whence have you come, Waziya, that you act so proudly?\" he retorted.\n\nWaziya said, \"Fallen Star, whoever points his finger at me dies.\" The\nyoung man thought, \"I will point my finger at him and see if I die.\"\nHe pointed his finger, but it made no difference.\n\nThen Fallen Star said, \"Waziya, whoever points his finger at me, his\nhand loses all use.\" So Waziya thought, \"I will point my finger and\nsee.\" He pointed his finger. His forearm lost all use. Then he\npointed his finger with the other hand. It was destroyed even to the\nelbow.\n\nThen Fallen Star drew out his knife and cut up Waziya's blanket, and\nall the buffalo meat he had gathered there fell out. Fallen Star\ncalled to the people, \"Henceforth kill and carry home.\"\n\nSo the people took the meat and carried it to their tepees.\n\nThe next morning, they say, it was rumored that the blanket of Waziya,\nwhich had been cut to pieces, had been sewed up by his wife. He was\nabout to shake it.\n\nThe giant stood with his face toward the north and shook his blanket.\nThen the wind blew from the north. Snow fell all about the camp so\nthat the people were all snowed in. They were much troubled. They\nsaid, \"We did live in some fashion before; but now this young man has\nacted so we are in great trouble.\"\n\nBut he said, \"Grandmother, find me a fan.\"\n\nThen she made a road under the snow, and went to people and said, \"My\ngrandchild says he wants a fan.\"\n\n\"What does he mean by saying that?\" they asked and gave him one.\n\nNow the snow reached to the top of the lodges, and so Fallen Star\npushed up through the snow, and sat on the ridge of the lodge. While\nthe wind was blowing to the south, he sat and fanned himself and made\nthe wind come from the south. Then the heat became great. The snow\nwent as if boiling water had been poured over it. All over the ground\nthere was a mist. Waziya and his wife and children all died with the\ngreat heat. But the youngest child, the littlest child of Waziya, took\nrefuge in the hole made by the tent pole, where there was a frost, and\nso he lived. So they say that is all that is left of Waziya now, just\nthe littlest child.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: PETROGLYPH IN NEBRASKA\n\n_Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution_]\n\n\n\n\nQUARREL OF THE SUN AND MOON\n\n_Omaha_\n\n\n\"I am out of patience with you,\" said Moon to Sun. \"Although I bring\npeople together, you scatter them. Thus many are lost.\"\n\n\"I have desired many people to grow,\" said Sun, \"and so I have\nscattered them; but you have been putting them in darkness and thus\nhave you been killing many with hunger. Ho! ye people!\" called the\nSun. \"Many of you shall mature. I will look down on you from above. I\nwill direct you, whatever you do.\"\n\nThen Moon said, \"And I, too, will dwell so. I will collect you; when\nit is dark, you shall assemble in full numbers, and sleep. I myself\nwill rule you, whatever you do. And we shall walk in the road, one\nafter the other. I will walk behind him.\"\n\nMoon is just like a woman. She always walks with a kettle on her arm.\n\n\n\n\nWHY THE POSSUM PLAYS DEAD\n\n_Cherokee_\n\n\nRabbit and Possum each wanted a wife, but no one would marry either of\nthem. They talked over the matter and Rabbit said, \"We can't get wives\nhere. Let's go to the next village. I'll say I'm messenger for the\ncouncil and that everybody must marry at once, and then we'll be sure\nto get wives.\"\n\nOff they started for the next town. As Rabbit traveled the faster, he\ngot there first. He waited outside the village until people noticed\nhim and took him into the council lodge. When the chief asked his\nbusiness, Rabbit said he brought an important message: everyone must\nbe married at once. So the chief called a great council of the people\nand told them the message.\n\nEvery animal took a mate at once, and thus Rabbit got a wife.\n\nBut Possum traveled slowly. Therefore he reached the village so late\nthat all the men were married and there was no wife for him. Rabbit\npretended to be sorry. He said, \"Never mind. I'll carry the same\nmessage to the next village.\"\n\nSo Rabbit traveled ahead to the next village. He waited outside until\nthey invited him to the council lodge. There he told the chief he\nbrought an important message: there had been peace so long, there must\nbe war at once. The war must begin in the council lodge.\n\nThe animals all began to fight at once, but Rabbit got away in just\nfour leaps. Then Possum reached the lodge. Now Possum had brought no\nweapons. So all the animals began to fight Possum. They hit him so\nhard that after a while he rolled over in a corner and shut his eyes\nand pretended to be dead. That is why Possum pretends to be dead when\nhe finds the hunters after him.\n\n\n\n\nBOG MYTH\n\n_Dakota_\n\n\nBogs are very mysterious. Strange things, with thick hair, remain at\nthe bottom of a bog. These things have no eyes, but they eat\neverything which comes to them, and from their bodies water flows\nalways. When one of these Beings wishes, he changes his place of\nabode. He lives at a new place. Then the old place where he lived\ndries up; but a fresh spring of water gushes from his new lodge. The\nwater of this spring is warm in winter; but in summer it is as cold as\nice. Before one dares drink of it, he prays to the water, else he may\nbring illness on himself for irreverence.\n\nIn the olden days, one of the Bog Beings was pulled out of a bog and\ncarried to the camp. A special tepee was built for him. But so much\nwater flowed all around that the people were almost drowned. Then\nthose who were not drowned offered him food. He sat motionless, gazing\nat them. But the food vanished before they could see it go; and no one\nsaw the Bog Being eat it.\n\n\n\n\nCOYOTE AND SNAKE\n\n_Omaha_\n\n\nCoyote was going in a straight line across the prairie. While he was\nseeking something, a person said suddenly, \"Stop!\" Coyote thought,\n\"Who can it be?\"\n\nHe looked all around but saw no one. Then he walked on a few steps,\nwhen some one said, \"Walk around me!\" Then Coyote saw it was Snake.\n\n\"Humph!\" said Coyote. \"When I walk here, I do not wish to walk around\nanyone at all. You go to one side. Get out of my way!\"\n\nSnake replied, \"I am here. I have never thought for a moment of giving\nplace to anyone!\"\n\n\"Even if you think so,\" said Coyote, \"I will run over you.\"\n\n\"If you do so, you shall die,\" said Snake.\n\n\"Why should I die? There is nothing that can kill me,\" said Coyote.\n\n\"Come! Step over me. Do it in spite of me,\" said Snake. Then Coyote\nstepped over him. And Snake bit him. But Coyote did not feel it.\n\n\"Where is it? You said that if I stepped over you, I should die.\nWhere have I received my death blow?\" said Coyote.\n\nSnake made no reply and Coyote walked on. After some time he came to a\ncreek. As he was about to drink, he saw himself in the water. He\nseemed very fat.\n\n\"Whew!\" he said. \"I was never so before. I am very fat.\" Saying this,\nhe felt himself all over; but that was all he did. Then he walked on\nuntil he felt sleepy. He said, \"I am very sleepy.\" So he pushed his\nway into the thick grass and fell asleep. Coyote did not wake up.\nSnake had told the truth.\n\n\n\n\nWHY THE WOLVES HELP IN WAR\n\n_Dakota_\n\n\nOnce upon a time an Indian found a wolf den, and began digging into it\nto get the cubs.\n\nWolf Mother appeared, barking. She said, \"Pity my children,\" but he\npaid no attention to her. So she ran for her husband.\n\nWolf Father soon appeared. He barked. Still the man dug into the den.\nThen Wolf Father sang a beautiful song. He sang, \"O man, pity my\nchildren, and I will teach you one of my arts.\" He ended with a howl\nwhich caused a fog. When the Wolf Father howled again, the fog\ndisappeared.\n\nThe man thought, \"These animals have mysterious gifts.\" So he tore up\nhis red blanket into small pieces. He tied a piece around the neck of\neach of the wolf cubs, as a necklace. Then he painted them with red\npaint and put them back into the den.\n\nWolf Father was very grateful. He said, \"When you go to war hereafter,\nI will go with you. I will bring about whatever you wish.\" Then the\nman went away.\n\nAfter a while the man went on the warpath. Just as he came in sight\nof the village of the enemy, a large wolf met him.\n\nWolf said, \"By and by I will sing. Then you shall steal their horses\nwhen they least suspect danger.\"\n\nSo the man stopped on a hill close to the village. And the wolf sang.\nAfter that he howled, making a high wind arise. The horses fled to the\nforest, but many stopped on the hillside. When the wolf howled again,\nthe wind died down and a mist arose. So the man on the warpath took as\nmany horses as he pleased.\n\n\n\n\nHOW RABBIT ESCAPED FROM THE WOLVES\n\n_Cherokee_\n\n\nOnce upon a time, Wolves caught Rabbit. They were going to eat him,\nbut Rabbit said he would show them a new dance. Now the Wolves knew\nthat Rabbit was a good dancer, so they made a ring around him.\n\nRabbit pattered with his feet and began to dance around in a circle,\nsinging,\n\n    On the edge of the field I dance about,\n    _Ha' nia lil! lil! Ha' nia lil! lil!_\n\nThen the Rabbit stopped a minute. He said, \"Now when I sing 'on the\nedge of the field,' I dance that way\"--and he danced over in that\ndirection; \"and when I sing '_lil! lil!_' you must all stamp your feet\nhard.\"\n\nThe Wolves liked that. They liked new dances.\n\nRabbit began singing the same song, dancing nearer to the field, while\nall the Wolves stamped their feet. He sang the song again, dancing\nstill nearer the edge of the field. The fourth time he sang it, while\nthe Wolves were stamping their feet as hard as they could. Rabbit made\none jump off and leaped through the long grass. The Wolves raced after\nhim, but Rabbit ran for a hollow stump and climbed inside. When the\nWolves got there, one of them put his head inside, but Rabbit hit him\non the eye and he pulled his head out. The others were afraid to try,\nso they went away and left Rabbit in the stump.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: PLAINS INDIANS DRAGGING BRUSH FOR A MEDICINE LODGE\n\n_By permission of Sumner W. Matteson, the photographer_]\n\n\n[Illustration: AN EARTH LODGE\n\n_Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution_]\n\n\n\n\nHOW RABBIT LOST HIS FAT\n\n_Omaha_\n\n\nAt first all the four-footed animals were fat. The one who made them\nwished to know if they looked well so fat. So he called all the\nfour-footed animals together. He seized by the head each one who did\nnot look handsome with the fat, and scraped it all off.\n\nAt length someone took Rabbit to him.\n\n\"Fat makes me handsome,\" said Rabbit \"I will be the one.\"\n\n\"Let me see! Come here!\" said the one who made the animals. Then he\nmade Rabbit fat. Then he looked at him. \"Fat makes you ugly beyond\nmeasure.\"\n\nSo he seized Rabbit by the head and scraped off the fat from the base\nof his neck. But he pulled suddenly at the flesh in the space between\nthe shoulders. Therefore, ever since then Rabbit has had a hollow\nspace between his shoulders, and only in that place is there a piece\nof fat.\n\nAt length the person who made the animals saw that Raccoon was the\nonly person who looked well when fat. So he made the whole body of\nRaccoon fat.\n\n\n\n\nHOW FLINT VISITED RABBIT\n\n_Cherokee_\n\n\nLong ago, in the old days, Flint lived up in the mountains, and all\nthe animals hated him because he had helped to kill so many of them.\nAll the arrowheads were made of flint. They used to have councils.\nThey tried to think of some means of killing him. But everybody was\nafraid to go near to his house, until at last Rabbit, who was the\nboldest, offered to try to kill Flint.\n\nSo Rabbit asked the trail to Flint's house. At last he reached the\nhouse.\n\nFlint was standing at the door of his lodge when Rabbit reached there.\nHe said, \"_Siyu!_ Hello! Are you the fellow they call Flint?\"\n\n\"Yes; that's what they call me,\" said Flint.\n\n\"Is this where you live?\"\n\n\"Yes; this is where I live.\"\n\nAll the time Rabbit was looking at the lodge and all about him. He was\ntrying to think how to kill Flint. Rabbit had expected Flint to invite\nhim into his lodge. But Flint only stood in the door.\n\nRabbit said, \"My name is Rabbit. I've heard a good deal about you, so\nI came to see you.\"\n\nFlint said, \"Where is your lodge?\"\n\n\"Down in the broom-grass field near the river,\" said Rabbit.\n\nFlint said, \"I will come and visit you after a while.\"\n\nRabbit said, \"Come now and have supper with me.\"\n\nSo Rabbit coaxed Flint until he said yes, and the two started down the\nmountain side together.\n\nWhen they came near Rabbit's hole, Rabbit said, \"There is my lodge,\nbut in summer I stay outside here, where it is cooler.\"\n\nSo he made a fire and they had their supper on the grass. When supper\nwas over, Flint stretched out on the grass to rest. Rabbit picked up\nsome heavy sticks and his knife, and cut a mallet and wedge.\n\nFlint looked up and said, \"What is that for?\"\n\n\"Oh,\" said Rabbit, \"I like to be doing something and they may come in\nhandy.\"\n\nFlint lay down again and soon he was sound asleep. Rabbit spoke to him\nonce or twice, but he did not answer. Then Rabbit came over to Flint\nand with one blow of the mallet drove the stake through Flint. Then he\nran with all his might for his own hole. But before he reached it,\nthere was a loud explosion, and pieces of flint flew all about. That\nis why we find flint in so many places now. One piece struck Rabbit\nand cut him just as he dived into his hole. He sat listening until\neverything was quiet again. Then he put his head out to look around,\njust as another piece fell. It cut his lip, just as we see it now.\n\n\n\n\nHOW RABBIT CAUGHT THE SUN IN A TRAP\n\n_Omaha_\n\n\nOnce upon a time Rabbit dwelt in a lodge with no one but his\ngrandmother. It was his custom to go hunting very early in the\nmorning. But no matter how early in the morning he went, a person with\na very long foot had been along, leaving a trail. Rabbit wished to\nknow him.\n\n\"Now,\" he thought, \"I will go in advance of that person.\" Having risen\nvery early in the morning, he departed, but again it happened that the\nperson had been along, leaving a trail. Then Rabbit went home.\n\n\"Grandmother,\" he said, \"though I arrange for myself to go first, a\nperson goes ahead of me every time. Grandmother, I will make a snare\nand I will catch him.\"\n\n\"Why should you do it?\" she asked.\n\n\"I hate the person,\" he said.\n\nAgain Rabbit departed. And again had the footprints gone along. So\nRabbit lay waiting for night to come. Then he made a noose of a\nbowstring, setting it where the footprints were commonly seen.\n\nNext morning Rabbit reached the place very early, to see what he had\ncaught in his trap. And it happened that he had caught the Sun.\nRunning very fast, he went homewards to tell about it.\n\n\"Grandmother,\" he said, \"I have caught something or other but it\nscares me. Grandmother, I wished to take away my bowstring, but I was\nscared every time.\"\n\nSo he went there again with a knife. This time he got very near it.\n\n\"You have done wrong. Why have you done it? Come and untie me,\" said\nthe Sun.\n\nThe Rabbit, although he went to untie him, kept going past him a\nlittle on one side. Then he made a rush with his head bent down and\nhis arm stretched out, and cut the bowstring with his knife. And the\nSun rose into the sky. But Rabbit had the hair between his shoulders\nscorched yellow by the heat of the Sun as he stooped and cut the\nbowstring. Then Rabbit arrived at his lodge.\n\n\"I am burnt. Oh, grandmother! the heat has left nothing of me,\" he\nsaid.\n\nGrandmother said, \"Oh, my grandchild! I think the heat has left to me\nnothing of him!\"\n\nFrom that time Rabbit has always had a singed spot upon his back,\nbetween his shoulders.\n\n\n\n\nHOW RABBIT KILLED THE GIANT\n\n_Omaha_\n\n\nWhen Rabbit was going on a journey, he came to a certain village. The\npeople said, \"Halloo! Rabbit has come as a visitor.\"\n\nOn meeting him, they said, \"Whom did you come to see?\"\n\n\"Why, I will go to the lodge of any one,\" said Rabbit.\n\n\"But the people have nothing to eat,\" they said. \"The Giant is the\nonly one who has anything to eat. You ought to go to his lodge.\"\n\nYet, the Rabbit passed on to the end lodge and entered it.\n\n\"Friend, we have nothing to eat,\" said the host.\n\n\"Why, my friend,\" said Rabbit, \"when there is nothing, people eat\nanything they can get.\"\n\nAt length the Giant invited Rabbit to a feast.\n\n\"Oh ho!\" called the man whose lodge Rabbit had entered. \"Friend, you\nare invited. Hasten!\"\n\nNow all the people were afraid of the Giant. No matter what animal\nanyone killed, the Giant kept all of the meat.\n\nRabbit arrived at the lodge of the Giant. As he entered, the host\nsaid, \"Oh! Pass around to that side.\" But Rabbit leaped over and took\na seat. At length food was given him. He ate it very rapidly but left\nsome which he hid in his robe. Then he pushed the bowl aside.\n\n\"Friend,\" he said to the Giant, \"here is the bowl.\" Then he said,\n\"Friend, I must go.\" He sprang past the fireplace at one leap, at the\nsecond leap his feet touched the chest of the Giant's servant, and\nwith another leap he had gone.\n\nWhen Rabbit reached the lodge where he was visiting, he gave his host\nthe food he had not eaten. The man and his wife were glad to eat it,\nsince they had been without food.\n\nNext morning, the crier passed through the village, commanding the\npeople to be stirring.\n\nThey said, \"The Giant is the one for whom they are to kill game.\" So\nthey all went hunting. They scared some animals out of a dense forest\nand shot at them. Rabbit went thither very quickly. He found Giant had\nreached there before him and taken all the game. When Rabbit heard\nshooting in another place, he went thither, but again found the Giant\nwas before him.\n\n\"This is provoking!\" thought Rabbit.\n\nWhen some persons shot at game in another place Rabbit noticed it,\nand went thither immediately, reaching the spot before the Giant.\n\n\"Friend,\" he said to the man who had killed the deer, \"let us cut it\nup.\"\n\nThe man was unwilling. He said, \"No, friend, the Giant will come by\nand by.\"\n\n\"Pshaw, friend,\" said Rabbit. \"When one kills animals, he cuts them up\nand then makes an equal distribution of the pieces,\" said the Rabbit.\n\nStill the man refused, fearing the Giant. So Rabbit rushed forward and\nseized the deer by the feet.\n\nWhen he had only slit the skin, the Giant arrived.\n\n\"You have done wrong. Let it alone,\" Giant said.\n\n\"What have I done wrong?\" asked Rabbit. \"When one kills game, he cuts\nit up and makes an equal distribution of the pieces.\"\n\n\"Let it alone, I say,\" said the Giant.\n\nBut Rabbit continued to insert the knife in the meat.\n\n\"I will blow that _thing_ into the air,\" said the Giant.\n\n\"Blow me into the air! Blow me into the air!\" said Rabbit.\n\nSo the Giant went closer to him, and when he blew at him the Rabbit\nwent up into the air with his fur blown apart. Striding past, the\nGiant seized the deer, put it through his belt, and departed. That was\nhis custom. He took all the deer that were killed, hung them on his\nbelt, and took them to his lodge. He was a very tall person.\n\nAt night Rabbit wandered around, and at last went all around the\nGiant's lodge. He seized an insect and said to it, \"Oh, insect! You\nshall go and bite the Giant right in the side.\"\n\nAt length when it was morning, it was said the Giant was ill. Then he\ndied.\n\nThe people said, \"Make a village for Rabbit!\"\n\nBut Rabbit said, \"I do not wish to be chief. I have left my old woman\nby herself, so I will return to her.\"\n\n\n\n\nHOW THE DEER GOT HIS HORNS\n\n_Cherokee_\n\n\nLong ago, in the beginning, Deer had no horns. His head was smooth\nlike a doe's. Now Deer was a very fast runner, but Rabbit was a famous\njumper. So the animals used to talk about it and wonder which could go\nthe farther in the same time. They talked about it a great deal. They\ndecided to have a race between the two, and they made a pair of large\nantlers to be given to whoever could run the faster. Deer and Rabbit\nwere to start together from one side of a thicket, go through it, and\nthen turn and come back. The one who came out of the thicket first was\nto receive the horns.\n\nOn a certain day all the animals were there. They put the antlers down\non the ground to mark the starting point. Everyone admired the horns.\nBut Rabbit said, \"I don't know this part of the country; I want to\nlook through the bushes where I am to run.\"\n\nSo the Rabbit went into the thicket, and stayed a long time. He was\ngone so long the animals suspected he was playing a trick. They sent a\nmessenger after him. Right in the middle of the thicket he found\nRabbit, gnawing down the bushes and pulling them away to make a clear\nroad for himself.\n\nThe messenger came back quietly and told the animals. When Rabbit came\nback, they accused him of cheating. Rabbit said, \"No,\" but at last\nthey all went into the thicket and found the road he had made.\nTherefore the animals gave the antlers to Deer, saying that he was the\nbetter runner. That is why deer have antlers. And because Rabbit cut\nthe bushes down, he is obliged to keep cutting them down, as he does\nto this day.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: KANSA CHIEF\n\n_Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution_]\n\n\n[Illustration: BIG GOOSE\n\n(Omaha)\n\n_Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution_]\n\n\n\n\nWHY THE DEER HAS BLUNT TEETH\n\n_Cherokee_\n\n\nOne day after the race which they did not run, Rabbit stretched a\nlarge grapevine across the trail, gnawing it nearly in two in the\nmiddle. Then he went back on the trail, took a run, and jumped up at\nthe vine. He did this again and again. At last Deer came along and\nasked him to tell what he was doing.\n\n\"Don't you see?\" said Rabbit. \"I'm so strong I can bite through that\ngrapevine at one jump.\"\n\nDeer said, \"Do it.\" Rabbit ran back, made a long leap, and bit through\nthe vine where he had gnawed it before.\n\nDeer said, \"Well, I can do it if you can.\"\n\nSo Rabbit stretched a larger grapevine across the trail but without\ngnawing it in the center. Deer ran back as he had seen Rabbit do, made\na spring, and struck the grapevine right in the center. It only flew\nback and threw him over.\n\nDeer tried again and again, but he was only bruised and hurt.\n\n\"Let me see your teeth,\" said Rabbit. They were long like a wolf's\nteeth but not very sharp.\n\n\"No wonder you cannot do it,\" said Rabbit. \"Your teeth are too blunt\nto bite anything. Let me sharpen them for you so they are like mine.\nMy teeth are so sharp I can cut through a stick just like a knife.\"\n\nAnd Rabbit showed Deer a black locust twig, of which rabbits gnaw the\nyoung shoots, which he had shaved off as well as a knife could do it.\n\nSo Deer let Rabbit sharpen his teeth. But Rabbit got a hard stone with\nrough edges and ground down the Deer's teeth until they were blunt.\n\n\"Now try it,\" said Rabbit to Deer. So Deer tried it again, but he\ncould not bite at all.\n\n\"Now you've paid for your horns,\" said Rabbit as he sprang through the\nunderbrush. That is why the Deer's teeth are blunt.\n\n\n\n\nLEGEND OF THE HEAD OF GOLD\n\n_Dakota_\n\n\nA man had four children. And they were all young men, but they were\npoor and it seemed as if they would die of laziness. The old man said,\n\"Behold! old woman. I have the greatest pity for my youngest child,\nand I do not wish him to die of poverty. See here; let us seek the\nGreat Mystery, Wakantanka. If we find him, behold! I will give the boy\nto him to train up well for me.\"\n\n\"Yes, old man; you say well. We will do so,\" said the old woman. So at\nonce they went toward the Darkening Land, seeking Wakantanka. They\ncame to a very high hill; and as they came to it, behold! another man\ncame there also.\n\nThe stranger said, \"For what are you seeking?\"\n\n\"Alas, my friend,\" the old man said, \"my child, whom I pity, I wish to\ngive to Wakantanka, the Great Mystery, and so I am seeking him.\"\n\n\"Yes, friend. I am Wakantanka,\" said the man. \"My friend, give him to\nme. I will take him to my home.\"\n\nSo when the father gave up the boy, the Great Mystery took him to a\nhouse that stood up like the clouds. He said, \"Look at this house as\nmuch as you like. Take good care of these horses. But do not look into\nthe little house that stands here.\"\n\nHaving said this, he gave him all the keys. He added, \"Yes, have a\nwatch of this. Lo, I am going on a journey.\" He said this and went\naway.\n\nIt was evening; he came home with a great many men, who sat down,\nfilling the house. When they had been there a good while one of them\nsaid, \"The boy is good; that is enough.\" Saying this, he went out. In\nlike manner, all the men went home.\n\nThen again Wakantanka said, \"Behold, I go on a journey. Stay here and\nkeep watch.\" So again he went away.\n\nWhile the boy was watching, one of the horses said, \"Friend, go into\nthe little house where you are commanded not to look, and inside in\nthe middle of the floor stands something yellow. Dip your head in that\nand make haste--we two are together. When he brings home a great many\nmen, they will eat you, as they will eat me, but I am unwilling--we\ntwo shall share the same,\" he said.\n\nSo the boy went into the little house. In the middle of the floor\nstood a round yellow thing into which he dipped his head. Immediately\nhis head became golden and the house was shining and full of light.\n\nThen he came out and jumped on the horse that had talked to him and\nthey fled.\n\nThey went very fast. Now when they had gone a long way, behold! there\ncame after them the one who called himself Wakantanka. He shouted,\n\"You bad rascals, stop! You shall not live! Where will you go in such\na small country as this?\"\n\nSaying this he came toward them and they were much frightened. Again\nhe shouted, \"You bad rascals, stop! You shall not live.\" And indeed it\nseemed as if they could not live.\n\nThen the horse said, \"Take the egg you have and throw it behind us.\"\nThe boy did so. At once the whole country became a sea. He who\nfollowed was obliged to stop. He said, \"Alas, my horse, have mercy on\nme and take me to the other side. If you do, I will value you very\nhighly.\"\n\n\"Oh, I am not willing to do that,\" the horse replied. But he continued\nto urge. Then he threw himself down from above the water, so that when\nhe came to the middle of it, he went down and both he and the horse\nwere drowned. But the boy passed safely on.\n\nSo he came to the dwellings of people and remained there. But from\nbehind they came to attack and fought with them. But the boy turned\nhis head around, and his head was covered with gold; also the horse he\nsat upon was golden, and those who came against him were thrown off\ntheir horses and only a few remained when the battle was over. Again,\nwhen they returned to the attack, he destroyed them all. So the boy\nwas much thought of by the people.\n\n\n\n\nTHE MILKY WAY\n\n_Cherokee_\n\n\nNow the Indians had a corn mill, in which they pounded the corn into\nmeal. Several mornings when they came to the stone in which the corn\nwas pounded, they saw that some of the meal had been stolen. Therefore\nthey looked at the ground. They found the tracks of a dog.\n\nThe next night, the people watched, and when the dog came from the\nnorth, they saw him begin to eat meal out of the stone bowl. Then they\nsprang out and whipped him.\n\nThe dog ran howling back to the north, dropping the meal from his\nmouth as he ran. Therefore he left behind a white trail where we now\nsee the Milky Way. But the Cherokees called it \"Where-the-dog-ran.\"\n\n\n\n\nCOYOTE AND GRAY FOX\n\n_Ponca_\n\n\nGray fox was very fat. Coyote said, \"Younger brother, what has made\nyou fat?\" \"Elder brother,\" said the Gray Fox, \"I lie down on the trail\nin the way of those who carry crackers, and I pretend to be dead. When\nthey throw me in the wagon, I lie there, kicking the crackers out.\nThen I leap out and start home eating. It is the crackers which make\nme fat. Elder brother, I wish you would do likewise. Elder brother,\nyou have large feet, so I think will knock out a great many crackers.\"\n\nCoyote went to the place and lay down in the trail. When the white man\ncame along, he threw Coyote into the wagon. The white man thought, \"It\nis not the first time he has acted in this way,\" so he tied the feet\nof Coyote. Having put the Coyote in the wagon, the white man went to\nhis house. He threw Coyote out near an old outhouse. Then the white\nman brought a knife, and cut the cords which bound Coyote's feet. He\nacted as if Coyote was dead, so he threw him over his back and started\noff for the house.\n\nBut Coyote managed to get loose and ran homeward. He went back to get\neven with Gray Fox.\n\n\"Oh, younger brother,\" said Coyote, \"you have made me suffer.\"\n\n\"You yourself are to blame,\" said Gray Fox. \"Be silent and listen to\nme. You brought the trouble on yourself as you lay down in the place\nwhere the white man came with his load of goods.\"\n\n\"Oh, younger brother, you tell the truth,\" said Coyote. But Gray Fox\nhad tempted him.\n\n\n\n\nICTINIKE AND THE TURTLE\n\n_Omaha_\n\n\nIctinike was journeying. When he came in sight at a bend of a stream,\nBig Turtle was sitting there in a sheltered place warmed by the sun.\nIctinike drew himself back out of sight, crouching at intervals as he\nretraced his steps, and ran down the hill to where Big Turtle was.\n\n\"Why! How is it that you continue to pay no attention to what is going\non? It has been said that yonder stream is to dry up so that all the\nfour-footed animals that frequent the water have kept close to the\ndeep water,\" said Ictinike.\n\nBig Turtle said, \"Why! I have been coming here regularly, but I have\nnot heard anything at all. I usually come and sit in this place when\nthe sun gets as high as it is at present.\"\n\n\"Hurry!\" said Ictinike, \"for some of the young men died very soon for\nwant of water. The young otters died, so did the young muskrats, the\nyoung beavers, and the young raccoons.\"\n\n\"Come, let us go,\" said Big Turtle. So Ictinike departed with him. As\nhe accompanied him, Ictinike sought for a dry bone. Having found one\nthat would be good as a club, Ictinike said, \"Friend, go on.\n_Mingam._\"\n\nWhen he was alone, Ictinike seized the bone, and before long overtook\nBig Turtle, walking along beside him.\n\n\"Friend,\" said he, \"when a person walks, he stretches his neck often.\"\n\nSo Big Turtle began to stretch his neck very far, and he was walking\nwith his legs bent very much. As he was going thus, Ictinike gave him\na hard blow on the neck, knocking him senseless, and he did not stop\nbeating him until he had killed him.\n\n\"Ha, ha!\" said Ictinike, as he carried Big Turtle away. \"There are\nsome days when I act thus for myself.\"\n\nHe kindled a fire and began to roast Big Turtle. Then he became very\nsleepy, and said, \"Ho! I will sleep, but you, O, Ijaxe, must keep\nawake. Big Turtle, when you are cooked, you must say, '_Puff!_'\"\n\nSo he went to sleep. Now Coyote came along, very cautiously. He seized\nBig Turtle, pulled one of the legs out of the fire, and sat there,\nbiting off the meat. When he had eaten all the meat on all the legs,\nhe pushed the bones back just as they had been before, arranged the\nfire over them, and left after putting everything just as he had found\nit.\n\nAt length Ictinike awoke. He pushed into the ashes to find Big Turtle,\ntook hold of a leg, and pulled it out. Only that leg came out.\n\"Pshaw!\" said he. Then he tried another leg, with a like result, and\nstill another, but only the bones appeared. When he had pulled out the\nfourth leg, he was astonished. All at once he exclaimed, \"Surprising!\nI had already eaten the Turtle, but I had forgotten it.\"\n\n\n\n\nICTINIKE AND THE CREATORS\n\n_Omaha_\n\n\nIctinike married and dwelt in a lodge. One day he said to his wife,\n\"Hand me that tobacco pouch. I must go visit your grandfather,\nBeaver.\" So he departed.\n\nAs he was entering Beaver's lodge, Beaver said, \"Ho, pass around to\none side.\" And they seated Ictinike on a pillow. Beaver's wife said,\n\"We have been without food. How can we give your grandfather anything\nto eat?\" Now Beaver had four young ones.\n\nThe youngest Beaver said, \"Father, let me serve for food.\" So the\nyoungest Beaver served for food. Beaver's wife therefore gave some of\nthe meat to Ictinike, who ate it. But before letting him eat it,\nBeaver said to him, \"Be careful lest you break even a single bone by\nbiting! Do not break a bone!\" Yet Ictinike broke one of the toe bones.\n\nAfter the meal, Beaver gathered the bones, put them in a skin, and\nplunged them beneath the water. In a moment the youngest Beaver came\nup from the water, alive again.\n\nWhen the father said, \"Is all right?\" the son said, \"Father, he broke\none of my toes by biting.\" Therefore, from that time, every beaver has\nhad one little toe (the next to the little one), which has seemingly\nbeen split by biting.\n\nWhen Ictinike was about to go home, he pretended he had forgotten\nabout his tobacco pouch, which he left behind. So Beaver said to one\nof the children, \"Take that to him. Do not go near him, but throw it\nto him when you are at a great distance from him, as he is always very\ntalkative.\"\n\nThen the child took the tobacco pouch and started after Ictinike.\nAfter getting in sight of the latter, Little Beaver was about to throw\nthe pouch, when standing at a great distance; but Ictinike called to\nhim, \"Come closer! come closer!\" When young Beaver took the pouch\ncloser, Ictinike said, \"Tell your father that he is to visit me.\"\n\nWhen young Beaver reached home, he said, \"Oh, father, he said you were\nto visit him.\"\n\nBeaver replied, \"As I feared that very thing, I said to you, 'Throw it\nto him while standing at a great distance from him.'\"\n\nThen Beaver went to visit Ictinike. When he arrived there, Ictinike\nwished to kill one of his own children, as Beaver had done, and was\nmaking him cry by hitting him often. Beaver was unwilling for him to\nact thus, so he said, \"Let him alone! You are hurting him!\" Then\nBeaver went to the stream where he found a young beaver that he took\nback to the lodge, and they ate it.\n\nOn another day, Ictinike said to his wife, \"Hand me that tobacco\npouch. I must go call on your grandfather, Muskrat.\" So he departed.\nAs he was entering Muskrat's lodge, the host said, \"Ho, pass around to\none side.\" And Ictinike was seated on a pillow.\n\nMuskrat's wife said, \"We have been without food. How can we give your\ngrandfather anything to eat?\"\n\nMuskrat said, \"Fetch some water.\"\n\nThe woman brought the water. He told her to put it in the kettle and\nhang the kettle over the fire. When the water was boiling very fast,\nthe husband upset the kettle, and instead of water, out came wild\nrice! So Ictinike ate the wild rice.\n\nWhen Ictinike departed he left his tobacco pouch, as before. Then\nMuskrat called one of his children, and said, \"Take that to him. Do\nnot go near him! Throw it to him when you are a great distance from\nhim, as he is always very talkative.\"\n\nSo the child took the tobacco pouch to return it to Ictinike. When he\nwas about to throw it to him, he said, \"Come closer! Come closer!\"\nWhen the child took the pouch closer, Ictinike said, \"Tell your\nfather he is to visit me.\"\n\nWhen the young Muskrat reached home, he said, \"Oh, father, he said\nthat you were to visit him.\" Muskrat replied, \"As I feared that very\nthing, I said to you, 'Throw it to him while standing at a great\ndistance from him.'\"\n\nThen Muskrat went to see Ictinike. And Ictinike said to his wife,\n\"Fetch water.\" The woman went after water. She filled the kettle and\nhung it over the fire until it boiled. When Ictinike upset the kettle,\nonly water came out. Ictinike wished to do just as Muskrat had done,\nbut he was unable. Then Muskrat had the kettle refilled, and when the\nwater boiled he upset it, and an abundance of wild rice was there,\nwhich he gave to Ictinike. Thereupon Muskrat departed, leaving plenty\nof wild rice.\n\nOn another day, Ictinike said to his wife, \"I am going to see your\ngrandfather, Kingfisher.\" When he arrived there, Kingfisher stepped on\na bough of a large white willow, bending it down so far that it was\nhorizontal; and he dived from it into the water. He came up with a\nfish, which he gave to Ictinike to eat. And as Ictinike was starting\nhome, he left one of his gloves, pretending he had forgotten it. So\nKingfisher directed one of his boys to take the glove and restore it\nto the owner. But he charged the boy not to go near him, as Ictinike\nwas very talkative and might detain him too long. Just as the boy was\nabout to throw the glove, Ictinike called, \"Come closer! Come closer!\"\nSo the boy carried the glove closer. And Ictinike said, \"Tell your\nfather that he is to visit me.\"\n\nThe boy said to his father, when he reached home, \"Oh, father, he said\nyou were to visit him.\" Kingfisher replied, \"As I feared that very\nthing, I said 'Throw it to him while you stand at a great distance\nfrom him.'\"\n\nThen Kingfisher went to see Ictinike. When he arrived there, the host\nclimbed upon a bough of a large white willow, bending it until it was\nhorizontal. Then he leaped from it and plunged into the water. It was\nwith great difficulty that Kingfisher seized him and brought him to\nland. Ictinike had swallowed more of the water than he liked. Then\nKingfisher plunged into the stream, brought up a fish, which he gave\nto Ictinike. But Kingfisher departed without eating any portion of it.\n\n\n\n\n[Notes: OMAHA ASSAULT ON A DAKOTA VILLAGE\n\n(Indian drawing)\n\n_The single tepee represents the Dakota village; the single horseman,\ncovered by a shield, and hanging behind his horse's neck in a\ncharacteristic way, represents the attacking Omahas. Bullets are\nflying, the direction indicated by the head._]\n\n[Illustration: _Enlarged from a sketch in Report of the Bureau of\nEthnology_]\n\n\n[Illustration: \"KILLED TEN MEN AND THREE WOMEN\"\n\nAn Indian drawing with striking similarity to Egyptian drawing.\n\n_Enlarged from a sketch in Report of the Bureau of Ethnology_]\n\n\n\n\nHOW BIG TURTLE WENT ON THE WARPATH\n\n_Omaha_\n\n\nThe people dwelt in a very populous village. Big Turtle joined them.\nAnd people dwelling at another village came regularly to war against\nthem. Having killed one person they went homeward. Big Turtle cooked\nfor the warpath. He caused two persons to go after guests. The\nservants whom he sent after guests were Redbreasted Turtle and Gray\nSquirrel. He made two round bunches of grass and placed them at the\nbottom of the stick to which the kettle was fastened.\n\nNow they were coming. They came in sight.\n\n\"Ho, warriors!\" said Big Turtle. \"Warriors, when men are injured, they\nalways take revenge. I cook this for the warpath. I cook sweet corn\nand a buffalo paunch. You will go after Corn Crusher for me,\" saying\nthis to his servants. \"Call to Comb, Awl, Pestle, Firebrand, and\nBuffalo Bladder also,\" said Big Turtle.\n\nThe two men went to call them. They called to Corn Crusher. \"Corn\nCrusher, be sure to bring your bowl! Corn Crusher, be sure to\nbring your bowl! Corn Crusher, be sure to bring your bowl! Corn\nCrusher, be sure to bring your bowl!\" Four times they called.\n\nThey called to Comb. \"Comb, be sure to bring your bowl!\" So they\ncalled four times.\n\nThey called to Awl. \"Awl, be sure to bring your bowl!\" So they called\nfour times.\n\nThen they called to Pestle. \"Pestle, be sure to bring your bowl!\" So\nthey called four times.\n\nThey called to Firebrand, too. \"Firebrand, be sure to bring your\nbowl!\" So they called four times.\n\nThen they called to Buffalo Bladder. \"Buffalo Bladder, be sure to\nbring your bowl!\" So they called four times to him.\n\nThen the criers reached home, having invited the guests.\n\n\"Oh, war chief,\" they said, \"all heard it.\"\n\nAll those who were called arrived at the lodge of Big Turtle.\n\n\"Ho! Oh, war chiefs! Corn Crusher, Comb, Awl, Pestle, Firebrand, and\nBuffalo Bladder, though those people have been injured they do not\nseem to stir. Let us go on the warpath for them,\" said Big Turtle.\n\"Let us go in four nights.\"\n\nHe commanded Corn Crusher to cook. \"O war chief, Corn Crusher, you\nwill cook. And you, O Comb, will cook on the night after that. And\nyou, O Awl, will cook, and complete the number.\"\n\nThat many war chiefs, four, cooked. They were war chiefs. The rest\nwere servants.\n\nThe people of the village said, \"Why! Of the persons who have been\ncalled, who is cooking for the warpath?\"\n\nAnd one said, \"Why! Big Turtle cooked. Pshaw! Has he gathered all\nthose who cannot move well enough, those who cannot move fast enough?\nPshaw! If the foe find them out, they will destroy them. When a war\nchief has sense, he will carry on war.\"\n\nCorn Crusher cooked. He cooked turnips, and he cooked a buffalo paunch\nwith them, just as Big Turtle had cooked one with sweet corn. Awl\ncooked wild rice. Comb cooked other things.\n\nBig Turtle said, \"Time enough has passed. Let us go at night.\"\n\nSo they departed. Big Turtle made leggings with large flaps. He tied\nshort garters around them. He rubbed earth on his face and he reddened\nit. He wore grass around his head. He put white feathers on top of his\nhead. He took his gourd rattle thus. He rattled it. He sang the song\nof the war chief:\n\n\"Big Turtle is coming back from touching the foe, it is said, you\nsay. He is coming back from touching.\"\n\nHe walked, stepping very lively in the dance. He walked around them.\nAs they went, it was day.\n\nAt length a young Buffalo Bull came. \"Warriors, wait for him,\" said\nBig Turtle.\n\nHe said to Buffalo Bull, \"While I walk on a journey, I am in a great\nhurry. Speak rapidly. Why are you walking?\"\n\n\"Yes, war chief, it is so. As they have told of you while you have\nbeen walking, I thought that I would walk there with you, and I have\nsought you,\" said Buffalo Bull.\n\n\"Do so,\" said Big Turtle. \"I wish to see your movements.\"\n\nBuffalo Bull rolled himself back and forth. He arose suddenly. He\nthrust repeatedly at the ground with his horns. He pierced the ground\nand threw pieces away suddenly. He stood with his tail in the air and\nits tip bent downward. An ash tree stood there. He rushed on it.\nPushing against it, he sent it flying through the air to a great\ndistance.\n\n\"O war chief, I think I will do that, if they speak of vexing me,\" he\nsaid.\n\n\"Look at the persons with whom I am traveling. There are none who are\nfaint-hearted in the least degree. You are not at all like them. You\nhave disappointed me. Come, begone,\" said Big Turtle.\n\nAgain Big Turtle sang the song. \"Big Turtle is coming back from\ntouching the foe, it is said, you say. He is coming back from\ntouching,\" said he.\n\nAgain they departed. \"Warriors, pass on!\" said he.\n\nThere before them lay a stream, which was not small. They crossed it.\nFirebrand was ahead, walking with a great effort. At length, because\nhe was weary, he plunged into the water and was extinguished.\n\n\"O war chief, I am not going beyond here with you,\" he said.\n\n\"Remain here for a while,\" said Big Turtle.\n\nHaving reached the other side, they departed. At length a Puma came.\n\n\"Warriors, wait for him. I suspect what he will say. Stand in a row,\"\nsaid he. \"Speak quickly,\" he said, addressing Puma.\n\n\"Yes, O war chief,\" said Puma. \"It was told of you regularly, saying\nyou walked on a journey. And there I wish to walk, so I have sought\nyou.\"\n\n\"Yes?\" said Big Turtle. \"Let me see your ways.\"\n\nPuma made his hair bristle up all over his body. He bent his tail\nbackward and upward. He went leaping to the bottom of a small hill.\nHaving caught by the throat a fawn, about two years old, he came\nback, making it cry out as he held it in his teeth.\n\n\"I think I will do that, O war chief, if anything threatens to vex\nme,\" he said.\n\n\"Do something else,\" said Big Turtle.\n\n\"No, O war chief; that is all,\" said Puma.\n\n\"You have disappointed me,\" said Big Turtle. \"Look at these persons\nwith whom I am. Where is one who is imperfect? You are very inferior.\nCome, depart. You have disappointed me.\"\n\nThey departed. At length when they reached the foot of a hill, Black\nBear came.\n\n\"O war chief, again one has come,\" said the warriors.\n\n\"I suspect what he will say, warriors. Wait for him. Stand in a row,\"\nsaid Big Turtle. \"Ho,\" he said, addressing Black Bear. \"Come, speak\nquickly. What is your business? When I walk on a journey, I am in a\ngreat hurry,\" said Big Turtle.\n\n\"Yes, O warrior, it is so. It was told of you regularly that you\nwalked on a journey. And as I desired to walk there, I have sought you\ndiligently,\" said Black Bear.\n\n\"Ho! Do something,\" said Big Turtle. \"You may have thought how you\nwould do it. I wish to see your ways.\"\n\nBlack Bear pierced the ground with his claws, and threw lumps of\nearth to a great distance. And there stood an oak tree which had been\nblackened by fire. He attacked it. Having hugged it, he threw it with\nforce to a great distance.\n\n\"O war chief, if anything vexes me, I think I will do that,\" said\nBlack Bear.\n\nBig Turtle said, \"Ho! warrior, you have disappointed me. These persons\nwith whom I am--look at them. There is none who is faint-hearted in\nthe least degree. You have disappointed me. Come, depart. Thus do I\nregularly send off the inferior ones.\"\n\nThey went into a dense undergrowth. At length Buffalo Bladder was torn\nopen, making the sound, \"_Qu'e._\" \"Alas! I am not going beyond with\nyou,\" said he.\n\n\"Ho, warrior. I will come back very soon. Remain here for a while,\"\nsaid Big Turtle.\n\nAgain they departed. As they went, they reached a bad path. Very high\nlogs were lying across it. Redbreasted Turtle failed to step over\nthem.\n\n\"Ho, O war chief,\" he said. \"I am not going beyond here with you.\"\n\n\"Ho, warrior. I will come again very soon. Remain here for a while,\"\nsaid Big Turtle.\n\nAgain they departed. As they went, behold, a Big Wolf came.\n\n\"O war chief, again one has come,\" said they.\n\n\"I suspect what he will say, warriors. Wait for him. Stand in a row,\"\nsaid Big Turtle.\n\n\"Ho,\" he said, addressing Wolf, \"Come, speak quickly, whatever may be\nyour business. When I walk on a journey, I am in a very great hurry.\"\n\n\"Yes, O war chief. It is so. It was told of you regularly, saying that\nyou walked on a journey; and as I desired to walk there, I have sought\nyou,\" said Wolf.\n\n\"Ho! Show me what you can do,\" said Big Turtle. \"You may have been\nthinking about it. I wish to see your ways.\"\n\nWolf decorated himself. He reddened his nose; he reddened all his\nfeet. He tied eagle feathers to his back.\n\n\"Well, do so. Do so. I wish to see your ways,\" said Big Turtle.\n\nWolf turned himself round and round. He went to the attack by the wood\non a small creek. He killed a deer. He brought it back, holding it\nwith his teeth.\n\n\"O war chief, I think I will do that, if anything vexes me,\" said\nWolf.\n\n\"You have disappointed me,\" said Big Turtle. \"See these people with\nwhom I travel. There is none who is faint-hearted in the least\ndegree. Come, depart. Thus do I regularly send off the inferior ones.\n\n\"Warrior Gray Squirrel, go as a scout,\" said Big Turtle. Gray Squirrel\nwent as a scout. At length he was coming back, blowing a horn.\n\n\"Ho, war chief, he is coming back to you,\" they said. Big Turtle went\nthere. \"Ho, warrior. Act very honestly. Tell me just how it is,\" said\nBig Turtle.\n\n\"Yes, O war chief, it is just so. I have been there without their\nfinding me out at all,\" said he.\n\n\"Let us sit at the very boundary of their camp,\" said Big Turtle. He\nspoke of going. \"Warriors, I will look around to see how things are,\nand how many persons there may be there,\" he said.\n\nHe came back. \"Warriors, let us go in that direction. This far is a\ngood place for sitting,\" he said. So they moved forward. Then he said,\n\"O war chief Corn Crusher, go to the end lodge of the village before\nus, and sit on the outside.\"\n\nCorn Crusher did so. A woman came out of the lodge. When she saw him,\nshe said, \"Oh! Heretofore have I desired mush. I have found for myself\nan excellent corn crusher.\" But when she pounded on the corn with it,\nshe hurt her hand. Then she threw it out. \"Bad Corn Crusher!\" she\nsaid.\n\nHe came back to Big Turtle, who was near. \"He whom you call 'Corn\nCrusher' has come back,\" he said, \"having killed one right at the\nlodge.\"\n\nBig Turtle said, \"O war chief Comb, make an attempt. Sit in the door\nof the lodge where Corn Crusher sat.\"\n\nComb did so. He was very handsome. Then a woman came out of the lodge.\nShe found Comb. \"Heretofore I have been without a comb. I have found a\ngood comb for myself,\" she said. Very soon she combed her hair with\nit. Comb pulled out all the hair on one side by the roots.\n\nShe said, \"A very bad comb, but I thought it was good.\" She threw him\naway at the door. Then he went back. He went back with the hair he had\npulled out.\n\n\"He whom you call 'Comb,'\" he said, \"has come back, having snatched\nall the hair from one at the lodge.\"\n\n\"Good!\" said Turtle. \"O war chief, when we reach home, we shall cause\nthe women to dance.\"\n\nThen Big Turtle said, \"O war chief Awl, make an attempt. Go sit in the\ndoor of the lodge where war chief Comb sat.\"\n\nAwl was very handsome. He was very good to look at. He sat in the door\nof the lodge. A woman passing out, found him. \"Oh! I have found a good\nawl for myself,\" she said. \"Heretofore I have had no awl. It makes me\nthankful.\" She went back to the lodge with him. She spoke of sewing\nher moccasins with him. \"I will sew my moccasins with it,\" she said.\nShe sewed them. She pierced her fingers with him. She missed in\npushing him, sending him with force. There was much blood from her\nfingers. She threw him away at the door. \"The awl is indeed bad. I\nhave indeed hurt myself. I have wounded myself badly.\" She threw him\nfar out from the door, sending him homeward.\n\n\"He whom you have called 'Awl,' O war chief,\" he reported, returning\nto Big Turtle. \"I stabbed one right at the lodge; I killed her.\" He\nreturned with his spear very bloody.\n\n\"O war chief,\" said the others to Big Turtle. \"Awl is coming back,\ntelling his own name. He has killed one.\"\n\nBig Turtle said, \"Ho! O war chief. You make me thankful. Since it is\nyou, I will blacken my face. The village shall be joyful. Ho! O\nPestle, make an attempt. You will lie in the door of the lodge where\nAwl lay.\"\n\nNow Pestle was very handsome. Then he arrived there. He lay where he\nwas commanded to lie. A woman went out and found Pestle. \"Oh! I have\nfound a very good pestle for myself. I had no pestle heretofore,\" she\nsaid.\n\nShe took him back to the lodge. She took some corn. She filled the\nmortar and pounded the corn. She beat it fine. She thrust Pestle\nbeyond, right on her knee. She missed the mark in pushing, sending him\nwith force, and so she struck him on her knee.\n\n\"_Oh!_ A very bad pestle,\" she said. She threw him outside, sending\nhim homeward suddenly.\n\n\"You have been used to saying 'Pestle.' He is coming, having stabbed\none right at the lodge. He has killed one,\" said Pestle, returning. He\nreached Big Turtle again. \"O war chief, I have killed one.\"\n\n\"You make me thankful,\" said Big Turtle. \"Ho! warrior Gray Squirrel,\nmake an attempt.\"\n\n\"O war chief, how can I do anything?\" said Gray Squirrel. Now the\nlodges were placed among the trees.\n\n\"You will pass along the trees above the smoke holes of the lodges. If\nthey find you, they will shoot at you. Do your best. Do your best to\nevade the blows or arrows. If one goes aside, rush on him,\" said Big\nTurtle.\n\nAt length a boy found Gray Squirrel. \"This moving one is a gray\nsquirrel,\" he said. They went in a great uproar. They shot at him.\nThey even hit him with sticks. One boy stood aside. Gray Squirrel\nattacked him and bit him. They said, \"Wonderful! Heretofore the gray\nsquirrel has been very easy to approach, but we have failed. He has\nbitten us; we have done nothing to him,\" they said.\n\n\"He whom you used to call 'Gray Squirrel' is coming back, having\nkilled one right among them,\" he called. He told it to Big Turtle.\n\n\"Ho! real warrior, act very honestly,\" said Big Turtle.\n\n\"O war chief, it is just so. I have killed one,\" said he.\n\n\"Ho! warrior, you make me thankful,\" said Big Turtle.\n\n\"Ho! warriors,\" said Big Turtle again. \"I, even I, will make a trial.\nI shall not come back for some time. Beware lest you go homeward.\nBeware lest you leave me and go homeward.\"\n\nHe arrived there. Some ashes had been poured out. They were\nextinguished. At length Big Turtle pushed his way through. He went\nwithin. He sat within, with his eyes sticking out, looking around. A\nwoman approached when it was morning. She stood very close to where\nBig Turtle sat.\n\n\"You will tread on my shield,\" he said. The woman looked around. \"From\nwhat place does he speak?\" she thought; therefore she looked around.\nAgain he said to her, \"You will tread on my shield. Stand further\naway.\" And the woman found him.\n\n\"Oh!\" she said.\n\n\"Stand still. I send you with a message,\" said Big Turtle. \"Go home\nand say, 'Big Turtle says he has come to war. He says he has come\ndesiring the chief's daughter, whose body has been placed on the bough\nof a tree.'\"\n\nThe people came. All the people said, \"Break in his skull suddenly.\"\nHe said, \"How is it possible for you to break in my skull suddenly? If\nyou let your weapons slip off suddenly from me each time, you will\nbreak your legs with the blows.\"\n\nThey said, \"When the water is hot, it will be good to put him in it.\"\n\n\"Fie!\" said Big Turtle. \"When the water is hot and I scatter it with\nkicking, many of you will be scalded to death.\"\n\n\"He tells what is probably true,\" they said.\n\n\"And if it be so, it is good to burn him,\" said the people.\n\n\"For shame! If I scatter the fire by kicking, I will cause all the\nland to blaze. Beware lest many of your children, too, die from the\nfire,\" he said.\n\n\"He tells what is probably true,\" they said.\n\nA child begged for water. \"O mother, some water,\" it said. Big Turtle\nsaid, \"_Oh!_\" He tempted them with reference to water.\n\n\"Cause the child to ask for water,\" said one.\n\n\"What do you mean by that?\" said others.\n\n\"When the child said, 'O mother, some water,' this one, Big Turtle,\nsaid '_Oh!_'\" answered one.\n\n\"Wonderful!\" they said. \"He is fearing the sight of water.\" They took\nhim to the water, holding him by the tail. Notwithstanding Big Turtle\nclung to the ground with his forelegs, they held his tail, and reached\nthe water with him. They threw him forcibly right into the water. He\nwalked the water for a while, crying a little, and pretended he did\nnot know how to swim. He said, \"_Wi! wi! wi!_\"\n\n\"Wonderful! Throw him out into the middle of the stream,\" they said.\nAgain they sent him headlong. He was wandering around. At length he\nsank. They said, \"He is dead,\" and went homeward. \"You should have\ndone that to him at first,\" said the people.\n\nWhen the people went homeward, some boys stood there. Big Turtle\napproached, floating. He came peeping. Some boys stood looking at the\nplace where the deed was done.\n\nBig Turtle said, \"When Big Turtle came in the past to war on you, you\nsaid that you killed him. Look here at me.\"\n\nThe boys went homeward to tell it. \"You said that you killed Big\nTurtle, but as this one behind us showed his body, he laughed at us.\nBig Turtle is he who is alive.\"\n\n\"Ho! We attack him,\" said the people. They attacked him. They arrived\nthere.\n\n\"In what place?\" said they.\n\n\"In this place,\" said the boys.\n\n\"Where is Otter? Where is Grass Snake? Let those two seek him,\" said\nthey.\n\nBig Turtle sat under the mud at the bottom of the water. Only the tip\nof his nose and his eyes were sticking out. Snake and Otter sought him\nbeneath the water. They passed very near to him, and stepped regularly\nover his head. When Otter was about to pass the second time, Big\nTurtle bit him in the stomach.\n\n\"Ho! elder brother, you give me pain,\" said Otter. Big Turtle said,\n\"Why do you seek me?\"\n\n\"I did not seek you. As I desired food, we have met each other,\" said\nOtter.\n\n\"No, you wished to join those who desire to kill me, so you sought\nme,\" said Big Turtle.\n\n\"O elder brother! O elder brother! O elder brother! I pray to you. I\nhave not sought you,\" he said.\n\n\"I will by no means let you go from my mouth,\" said Big Turtle.\n\n\"Ho! elder brother! How long before you will open your mouth and let\nme go?\" said Otter.\n\n\"When the Thunder God has come back, I will let you go.\"\n\n\"Halloo!\" shouted Otter to the people. \"He will let me go when the\nThunder God comes back. Halloo! He bites me between the legs. Halloo!\"\nsaid he.\n\n\"He says that he is bitten,\" said the people. \"He says that he is\nbitten between the legs. Hit tent skins for him.\"\n\nThey made the tent skins resound by hitting them.\n\n\"Ho! elder brother, the Thunder God has come back,\" said Otter.\n\n\"They hit the tent skins,\" said the Big Turtle.\n\nThe people said, \"It is good to fell trees.\" They began felling trees\nhere and there. The trees said, \"_Qwi! qwi!_\" as they fell.\n\n\"Ho! elder brother, the Thunder God has come back,\" said Otter.\n\n\"They are felling trees,\" said Big Turtle.\n\nAt length the Thunder God roared, very far away.\n\n\"Ho! elder brother, he has come back,\" said he. Big Turtle let him go.\nOtter was very thin. He went homeward. He reached home very lean.\n\n\"Let the two birds drink the stream dry,\" said the people. \"Bring the\nPelicans here.\"\n\nWhen they came, the people said, \"Drink the stream dry. A person came\nhere to war and we killed him, but he is alive. He laughs heartily at\nus.\"\n\nThe birds drank the stream dry. There was only a very small quantity\nleft in which Big Turtle sat.\n\nBig Turtle called, \"Ho! warrior Gray Squirrel, be coming hither,\nwherever you may be moving. They have almost killed me.\"\n\nGray Squirrel was coming back, crying loud. He was coming back to\nattack them. He attacked the two birds. He tore open their water\npouches by biting. He bit holes in them. At length all the water\nreturned to its former place. At the creek and the lake it was as\nbefore; they were filled with water.\n\n\"Sew up their pouches for them,\" said the people. So they sewed up the\nwater pouches of the Pelicans. They finished sewing them.\n\n\"Come, drink it dry again. Do your best. Beware lest we fail,\" said\nthe people. They drank the stream dry again. Again very little of the\nwater was left.\n\n\"Ho! warrior Gray Squirrel, wherever you may be moving. They have\nnearly killed me. Be coming hither again,\" said Big Turtle. He came\nback again. He bit and tore the throats in many places. It made their\nthroats very bad. He made them bad to be sewed at all. It was\ndifficult to sew them.\n\n\"Yet we shall fail,\" said the people. \"Gray Squirrel is abominable! I\nthink Gray Squirrel is the only one with Big Turtle. I think he is the\nonly one siding with them. Therefore we have failed to hurt them,\"\nsaid the people.\n\nThey ceased. When it was night, Big Turtle went back. He reached his\ncomrades again.\n\n\"Ho! Warriors, when men get the better of their enemies in a fight,\nthey usually go homeward. I suspect that your sisters are tired of\nwaiting to dance!\"\n\nThey went homeward. He walked around them, rattling his gourd.\n\n\"Warriors, I said that I would do thus, and so it is,\" he said. He\nburnt the grass.\n\nHe burnt the grass so that they might think he was coming home after\nkilling the foe. At length they arrived at the village. They tied\nscalps to a stick. Then those in the village said, \"Yonder come those\nwho went to war!\" The returning warriors raced around and around as\nvictorious warriors do. People said, \"There they are coming home,\nhaving killed the people of the enemy.\"\n\nAn old man shouted: \"Corn Crusher says that he killed one. _Halloo!_\nHe says he killed her right at the lodge. _Halloo!_ Comb says he\nkilled one right at the lodge. _Halloo!_ Awl says he killed one right\nat the lodge. _Halloo!_, Gray Squirrel says that he killed three\nright in the midst of the people. _Halloo!_ It is said they held the\nwar chief, Big Turtle, right among them, in a great uproar. _Halloo!_\nIt is said they failed to injure him. _Halloo!_\"\n\nBig Turtle walked very proudly, carrying his shield. He went homeward\nto enter the lodge. He sat there telling them about himself. As people\nwished to hear it, they continued arriving there.\n\n\"Why did they fail, when they were so near you? If you sat very near\nthem, how is it that you are alive?\" asked the people.\n\n\"I pretended to be afraid of water, so I am alive,\" he said.\n\n\"If so, then those over there have no eyes. How is it that they did\nnot find you when you were alive?\"\n\n\"I sat in the ashes, therefore I am alive. I have come home, having\nkilled people. Why did you doubt me? As you did not take vengeance on\nthe people who used to kill you, I went to war on them myself. I\nkilled them. How can you doubt me? I will tell no more about myself,\"\nsaid Big Turtle. \"I have ceased.\"\n\n\nTHE END\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber's Note\n\nMinor punctuation errors have been corrected without note. Hyphenation\nhas been made consistent, where there was a definite majority of one\nform, again without note. The following amendments have also been made:\n\n  Table of contents--Fallen-Star amended to The Fallen Star, with\n  reference to the main story title.\n\n  Page 80--name of nation (Cherokee) added to title, with reference\n  to table of contents.\n\n  Page 148--omitted word 'an' added--\"Rabbit said he brought an\n  important message.\"\n\n  Page 195--omitted word 'said,' added--\"... has come back,\" he said,\n  \"having killed one ...\"\n\nSome illustrations have been shifted to the beginning or end of tales\nwhere previously they were in the middle. The short advert and\nfrontispiece illustration have been moved to follow the title page.\nSome illustrations had a tissue paper sheet with an italicised note;\nthese have been moved to precede the illustration they refer to where\nnecessary. They are marked as [Notes: ...].","title":"Myths and Legends of the Great Plains","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":35733}