{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_36012/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_36012","id":"gutenberg_36012","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/36012","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Archaeology & Anthropology","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Dakota Indians -- Folklore","Indians of North America -- Folklore"],"text":"</pre>\n\n\n\nProduced by K Nordquist, Sam W. and the Online Distributed\nProofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was\nproduced from images generously made available by The\nInternet Archive/American Libraries.)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber's Note\n\nBold text is indicated with equals signs, =like this=.\n\nIllustration captions in {braces} have been added by the transcriber\nfor the convenience of the reader.\n\n\n\n\n              PRAIRIE SMOKE\n        (SECOND EDITION, REVISED)\n\n\n                   BY\n         MELVIN RANDOLPH GILMORE\n         BISMARCK, NORTH DAKOTA\n                  1921\n\n\n  A COLLECTION of LORE of the PRAIRIES\n\n\n             COPYRIGHT 1922\n       By MELVIN RANDOLPH GILMORE\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: {Map to Show Distribution of Tribes}]\n\nMAP TO SHOW THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE NATIVE TRIBES IN WHAT IS NOW THE\nSTATE OF NORTH DAKOTA AND ADJACENT STATES.\n\n\nThe native tribes of North Dakota are of three different linguistic\nstocks or races. These are the Algonkian, Siouan and Caddoan. The\nAlgonkian race is represented in North Dakota by one nation, the\nChippewa or Ojibwa. The Siouan race is represented within our state\nboundaries by three nations, the Dakota (sometimes called Sioux), the\nMandan, and the Hidatsa (who are also called Gros Ventre and\nMinnetari). The Caddoan race is represented by one nation, the\nArikara. Other nations of the Caddoan race are the Pawnees, the\nWichita and the Waco farther south.\n\nThe domain of the Dakota nation comprised southern Minnesota,\nnorthwest Iowa, almost all of South Dakota, part of northwest\nNebraska, eastern Wyoming, and the southern part of North Dakota.\n\nThe Chippewa domain was around the west end of Lake Superior in\nnorthern Wisconsin, northern Minnesota, and part of northeastern North\nDakota.\n\nThe Mandans, Hidatsas and Arikaras were three nations allied together\nfor mutual protection against the encroachments of their common\nenemies who pressed upon them from all sides. The Mandan as an\nindependent nation held domain along both sides of the Missouri River\nin what is now the central part of North Dakota. The Hidatsa were to\nthe east of the Mandan. The Arikara were, some centuries ago, in\nnorthern Nebraska, but migrated gradually up the river. Finally they\nwere so pressed by the incursion of the Dakotas from the east that\nthey joined forces with the Mandans, who allowed them place in their\ncountry in exchange for the added strength which their numbers gave\nagainst the common enemy. The Hidatsas and the Mandans had already,\nbefore this, made alliance, so now the three nations were allied in\nthe region of the upper Missouri River within what is now North\nDakota, extending westward a little into what is now Montana.\n\nThe several domains of the various native tribes or nations within\nNorth Dakota and adjacent states are represented on this map as\nfollows:\n\n    Dakota by horizontal lines,\n\n    Chippewa by vertical lines,\n\n    Mandan-Hidatsa-Arikara alliance by oblique cross hatching,\n\n    Ponka by oblique lines slanting to the left,\n\n    Omaha by oblique lines slanting to the right,\n\n    Pawnee by horizontal and vertical cross-hatching,\n\n    Oto by cross-hatching of lines horizontal, oblique left and right.\n\n\n\n\nDEDICATION\n\n\nTo the Real Pioneers of the Great Plains: to those whose questing\nspirit first sought out the wonders and the beauties of this\nland;--its vast reaches, league upon league, of grassland, verdant in\nspringtime, sere and red and brown in autumn; its inviting valleys and\nits forbidding buttes;--to those whose moccasined feet made the first\nhuman footprints upon the turf of these prairies and upon the sands of\nthese river margins; whose self-reliance made them the first to breast\nthe current of these streams; whose humble footpaths over the land\nhave now become the transcontinental highways of the world's travel\nand trade; to those who first slaked thirst at these cool, clear\nwatersprings, whose hunger was first satisfied by the fruits of this\nland, and who, in eating and in drinking, devoutly gave thanks to our\ntender Mother Earth for her bounties, receiving them gratefully as\nsacred gifts to be prudently used and thankfully enjoyed, and never to\nbe wasted; who knew and loved this land in all its spacious extent,\neast to west and south to north; who reverenced its sacred places, the\nholy watersprings, the grand and silent hills, the mysterious caves,\nthe eery precipices,--all places where their fathers had with prayer\nand fasting sought and obtained the favour of the gods, and where the\ngods had granted revelations and given wisdom to their fathers; to\nthose whose eyes first beheld this land in its virgin beauty, fresh\nand joyous, unscarred and unspoiled, clean and wholesome, animated\nwith exuberance of life of many species of both plant and animal in\nwonderful balance and adjustment, spontaneously replenished; and who\nheld it a form of sacrilege to violate or in any way endanger the\noverthrow of that delicate balance of nature;--to those first\ninhabitants of this land which we now inhabit.\n\nThat something of their appreciation, of their love and reverence for\nthe land and its native life, something of their respect for its\nsacred places and holy associations; that something of their sense of\nits charm, of its beauty and wonder, may come to us; that we may the\nmore worthily occupy and more sympathetically enjoy our tenure of this\nland.\n\nTo these ends and purposes this book is hopefully and earnestly\ndedicated.\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\n\nMany persons are ever seeking outside of themselves and in some\ndistant place or time for interest and cheer. They are always\ndiscontented and complaining. They fancy if they were but in some\nother place or other circumstances they would be happy. But this is a\nvain fancy. Each of us carries with him the germs of happiness or of\nunhappiness. Those of unhappy disposition will be unhappy wherever\nthey may be. Cheer is not in environment, but in the individual. One\nwho is of a cheerful, understanding disposition will find interest and\ncheer wherever he may be.\n\nRobert Louis Stevenson well said \"The world is so full of a number of\nthings I think we should all be as happy as kings.\" When there are so\nmany interesting things in the world, so many in any given place, so\nmany more than one can ever fully know or enjoy in the short span of\nhuman lifetime, how can one ever be overtaken by dullness? If dullness\nseem to enfold us, be sure it is we that are dull; it is because our\nminds are lazy and our eyes unseeing. There is enough of interest\nabout us wherever we may be to engage our attention if we open our\neyes to it. If we have initiative and independence of mind we shall\nfind interest everywhere; but if we depend upon others or neglect\nwhat is about us in desire for what is distant we shall never be\ncontent. One greater than Robert Louis Stevenson said \"The Kingdom of\nHeaven is within you.\"\n\nIt is with the purpose of calling attention to some of the many\nfascinatingly interesting things which we have all about us on the\nprairie plains and in the hills and valleys of our own state, and\nperhaps in our own neighborhood, that this volume is produced. The\nmyths which pertain to the hills, valleys, springs and streams in our\nown state and in our own neighborhood must be of interest to us when\nwe look with our own eyes upon the actual places to which these myths\npertain. And these myths of the country in which we live are at least\nequal in beauty and interest to the myths of the Greeks, and to the\nold Teutonic myths of Thor, Odin, and Freya; or even to our own old\nBritish myths which we have from our Druidic ancestors. And however\nbeautiful and interesting in itself a native tree or flower or other\nplant may be, however engaging to the attention may be a native bird\nor beast, how much more so when we think of what this bird or beast or\nflower or tree has been in the lives of generations of our fellow\ncreatures who have lived here and loved this land and its teeming\nnative life long before we ever saw it.\n\nSo, it is with the purpose of directing the attention of our people to\nthe wealth of lore, of legend and story and myth, and of wonder and\nbeauty which lies all about us here if we but look and listen, that\nthis little volume is presented.\n\nThe title of this book is suggested by one of the popular names of\nthe flower which is the subject of one of the stories of this volume.\nThis flower, the earliest of all to bloom in springtime over all the\nnorthern prairies, has a number of popular names, among which are\nPasque flower, Gosling flower, and Prairie Smoke flower. The latter\nname is suggested by the nebulous appearance presented by a patch of\nthe bluish flowers blooming upon a prairie hillside in early spring,\nwhile all other vegetation is still brown and dead. At such a time,\nwith all their blossoms tremulous in the spring wind, they appear to\nthe view like a pulsing cloud of grayish-blue smoke hovering low over\nthe ground.\n\nBesides the reference to this dearly-loved prevernal flower the term\n\"prairie smoke\" also connotes a number of other engaging conceptions.\nTo one who has lived upon the prairie this term will recall lively\nrecollections of both sight and scent. It will recall to the\nimagination memories of rolling billows of smoke which he has seen\ncovering miles of advancing lines of prairie fire; he will see again\nin memory the tiny blue spirals of smoke showing where some solid\nparticles still smoulder hours after the line of fire has passed on\nleaving behind a vast blackened waste. It will recall to him also the\nrare, intangible blue haze which for days after such a fire lay like a\nveil over all the plain, and through which the sun appeared like a\ngreat red disk hanging in the sky, while the air was redolent with an\nindescribable tang. Again, it brings to mind the wisps of smoke which\nonce curled upward in the quiet summer air from stovepipes projecting\nfrom the roofs of prairie sodhouses, or which on snowy winter mornings\nhung above them like thin white scarfs against a vast background of\nblue overhanging a white world.\n\nIt will bring to mind also other days and other scenes of this same\nprairie country, when there might be seen wreaths of smoke issuing\nfrom the domes of the hemispherical-shaped houses of villages of\nMandans, Pawnees, or Omahas, upon the hills and river terraces, their\nlaboriously tilled cornfields and gardens in the fertile alluvial\nvalleys near by. Or, again, it will recall the scene of an encampment\nof some of these people out upon the prairie on a buffalo hunt in\nquest of their meat supply. The encampment is a circle of conical\ntents, a circle of perhaps a half mile in diameter. Before each tent\nthe evening fire is twinkling in the dusk upon the green of the\nprairie, a circle of friendly lights, each the centre of a family\ngroup, while a few stars begin to twinkle in the blue of the sky\nabove, and the sunset colours glow in the horizon.\n\nSome or all of these sights and scents, and others also, will present\nthemselves according to the experience of the one who comprehends the\ntitle \"Prairie Smoke.\"\n\nSo it is hoped that to each one who reads this little volume it may\nindeed be as a \"wisp of prairie smoke,\" and shall bring a real savour\nof the prairie and at least a slight realisation of what the Prairie\nwas before it was swept by the destructive Fires of Change.\n\n\n\n\nLand and People\n\n\nNATURE AND HEALTH\n\nThe philosophy of health and wholesomeness of the native Americans,\nthe Indians, was to live in accordance with nature and by coming as\nmuch as possible into direct physical contact with the elements in\nnature, such as the sunshine, the rain and snow, the air and earth.\nThey felt the need and desire to be in frequent and immediate contact\nwith \"Mother Earth,\" to receive upon their persons the strong rays of\nthe sun, the restorative efficacy of the winds from the clean sky, and\nto bathe daily in living streams.\n\nThe priest of a certain ritual of the Pawnee nation visited\nWashington. He admired the Washington monument as he viewed it from\nthe capitol. When he went over to visit the monument he measured the\ndimensions of its base by pacing; then he stood up and gazed toward\nits summit, noting its height. Then he went inside; but when he was\nasked whether he would walk up the stairway or go on the lift, he\nsaid: \"I will not go up. White men like to pile up stones, and they\nmay go to the top of them; I will not. I have ascended the mountains\nmade by Tirawa.\" (Tirawa is the Pawnee name of God.)\n\nSome years ago Mr. Louis J. Hill took a party of people of the\nBlackfoot tribe to New York City as his guests. They were interested\nin the sight of the great engineering feats as manifested in the great\nstructures of the city. But they were unwilling to be cooped up in the\nrooms of the hotel, so they made arrangements to be allowed to set up\ntheir tents upon the hotel roof so that they might at least have the\nnatural sunlight and the outdoor air.\n\nIn an ancient Pawnee ritual there is a hymn which begins with the\nwords, \"Now behold; hither comes the ray of our father Sun; it cometh\nover all the land, passeth in the lodge, us to touch and give us\nstrength.\" And in another stanza of this hymn, referring to the\npassing of the sun, it continues, \"Now behold where has passed the ray\nof our father Sun; around the lodge the ray has passed and left its\nblessing there, touching us, each one of us.\"\n\nSo it was ever the aim to live in accord with nature, to commune often\nwith nature. A word of admonition from the wisdom lore of the Menomini\ntribe says, \"Look often at the moon and the stars.\" And the\nWinnebagoes have a wise saying: \"Holy Mother Earth, the trees and all\nnature, are witnesses of your thoughts and deeds.\" Another admonition\nof Winnebago wisdom is: \"Reverence the Unseen Forces that are always\nnear you and are always trying to lead you right.\"\n\n\nSPIRIT OF LIFE\n\nIn the following verses Dr. A. McG. Beede of Fort Yates, North Dakota,\nhas translated a prayer he once heard uttered by an old man of the\nDakota nation who had just come from bathing in the river and was\nstanding upon a hill giving expression to his feeling of adoration:\n\n    Spirit of Life in things above\n    And lovelier in things below,\n    We pray to Thee, All-being-love,\n    Spontaneous in our hearts to grow.\n\n    Our Father Life, we live in Thee\n    And pray for glory which is Thine,\n    And by our living may we be\n    As Thou art in the Life divine.\n\n    The trees and flowers and watersprings\n    Are singing good old songs of mirth,\n    So may we sing while music brings\n    The good old joy o'er all the earth.\n\n    Spirit of Life, sing on, sing on;\n    Sing till our aching hearts find rest\n    And anxious fear is past and gone,\n    And like the rivers we are blest.\n\n    The earth is singing, hark the song;\n    The whispering breezes floating by,\n    The waterstreams gliding along,\n    Reflecting faces in the sky.\n\n    Spirit of Life, we worship Thee,\n    With waterstreams and trees and flowers;\n    So may our new-born spirits be\n    As Thou art, and Thy glory ours.\n\n\nATTITUDE TOWARDS NATIVE LIFE\n\nPeople of European race resident in America, (Americans we call\nourselves) have sentimental regard toward the plants and animals\nnative to Europe, some of which, domesticated by our ancestors, we\nhave brought with us to America. But most of our people have not\ndeveloped such sentiments toward the plants and animals native to\nAmerica. Literary allusions, songs and stories refer to trees,\nflowers, birds and other forms of life pertaining to our old home\nlands in Europe, but not to those of America. People of our race have\nbeen inhabitants of America now for three centuries, and still we have\nnot made ourselves at home here; we have not formed sentimental\nattachment to the land and to its native forms of life.\n\nIt is a pity for a people not to be so attached to the country in\nwhich they live that their sentiments shall be first of all for the\nforms of life that are native to their own country. Otherwise there\nis a disharmony which lessens happiness and is harmful in many ways.\n\nLacking friendly feeling for the plants and animals native to America\nthere has been a tendency to destroy these things in a ruthless\nmanner; and this can hardly be prevented by law unless we can awaken\nsentimental feelings for the native forms of life in America such as\nthat which our ancestors had for forms of life native in Europe.\n\nIndians, the native Americans, have friendly sentiments, and even\nfeelings of reverence for the forms of life native to America.\n\nI once asked an old Omaha what was the feeling of Indians when they\nsaw the white men wantonly killing buffaloes. As soon as he\ncomprehended my question he dropped his head and was silent for a\nmoment, seeming to be overcome by sadness; and then in a tone as\nthough he were ashamed that such a thing could have been done by human\nbeings, he answered: \"It seemed to us a most wicked, awful thing.\"\n\nMost white men can not comprehend the sense of pain experienced by\nIndians at seeing the native forms of life in America ruthlessly and\nwantonly destroyed with no compunction on the part of the destroyers.\nAnd this destruction of the forms of native American life by white\npeople gave to Indians a sense of a fearful void in nature, coupled\nwith a feeling of grief, of horror, of distress and pain. It was not\nfundamentally the thought of the loss of their food supply, but the\ncontemplation of the dislocation of the nice balance of nature, the\ndestruction of world symmetry.\n\nWhite Horse, an old man of the Omaha tribe in Nebraska, said to me in\nAugust, 1913: \"When I was a youth the country was beautiful. Along the\nrivers were belts of timberland, where grew cottonwoods, maples, elms,\noaks, hickory and walnut trees, and many other kinds. Also there were\nvarious vines and shrubs. And under all these grew many good herbs and\nbeautiful flowering plants. On the prairie was the waving green grass\nand many other pleasant plants. In both the woodland and the prairie I\ncould see the trails of many kinds of animals and hear the cheerful\nsongs of birds. When I walked abroad I could see many forms of life,\nbeautiful living creatures of many kinds which the Master of Life had\nplaced here; and these were, after their manner walking, flying,\nleaping, running, feeding, playing all about. Now the face of all the\nland is changed and sad. The living creatures are gone. I see the land\ndesolate, and I suffer unspeakable sadness. Sometimes I wake in the\nnight and I feel as though I should suffocate from the pressure of\nthis awful feeling of loneliness.\"\n\nIndians generally were shrewd and discerning observers of the life and\nhabits of plants and animals. The careful study of plants and animals\nwas a considerable part of the courses of study in their system of\neducation, which included much more than is supposed by persons who\nhave not made themselves acquainted with Indian life. They were well\ninformed in plant and animal ecology, and in knowledge of range of\nspecies. They took cognizance of the habits of animals in the animals'\ndwelling places. An old Indian once told me how a muskrat lays up\nstores of food in his house. He compared the appearance of the\nmusk-rat's stores to that of a grocer's goods on the shelves of his\nstore. Many old Indians have told me what kinds of food are stored by\ndifferent species of animals which lay up stores. They often speak of\nsuch animals as lay up food stores as being civilized animal nations,\nand of those which do not make such provision as being uncivilized.\n\nThey attribute great wisdom to certain species of animals. This\ndisposition results from discerning observation of the animals' works\nand ways. The beaver notably is reputed to be very wise and\nindustrious. Indians often sought to gain the favor and learn the\nwisdom of various animal species by endeavoring to place themselves en\nrapport with the guardian genius of the species.\n\n\nINDIANS' APPRECIATION AND LOVE OF THEIR HOMELAND\n\nIn the rituals of the various tribes may be found numerous expressions\nof the love and reverence which the people had for Holy Mother Earth\nin general and for their own homeland in particular. And in their\nthought of their homeland they did not regard it as a possession which\nthey owned, but they regarded themselves as possessed by their\nhomeland, their country, and that they owed her love and service and\nreverence. The following song is found in an ancient ritual of the\nPawnee nation which is given entire in the Twenty-second Annual Report\nof the Bureau of American Ethnology, Part 2. This song plainly\nreflects the topography and the scenery of the country of the Pawnee\nnation, that part of the Great Plains traversed by the Solomon,\nRepublican, Platte, Loup, and Niobrara rivers.\n\nSONG TO THE TREES AND STREAMS\n\n    I\n\n    Dark against the sky yonder distant line\n    Lies before us. Trees we see, long the line of trees,\n    Bending, swaying in the breeze.\n\n    II\n\n    Bright with flashing light yonder distant line\n    Runs before us, swiftly runs, swift the river runs,\n    Winding, flowing o'er the land.\n\n    III\n\n    Hark! O hark! A sound, yonder distant sound\n    Comes to greet us, singing comes, soft the river's song,\n    Rippling gently 'neath the trees.\n\nIn the foregoing song one can hear the constant murmur of the summer\nsouth wind as it blows in that country for days, and see the broad\nstretch of the great level land, gently undulating in places, with its\neastward-flowing streams bordered by zones of trees, the timbered\nzones along the stream courses being the only forest land in that\ncountry.\n\n\nTHRILLING ESCAPE OF A WAR PARTY OUTNUMBERED AND SURROUNDED BY THEIR\nENEMIES\n\n_A Pawnee Story_\n\nIn the northwest part of Nebraska there is a high butte with\nperpendicular sides like the walls of a great building. Because of\nthe shape of this butte, and because it is composed mostly of a soft\nrock or hard, firm clay, it is called Court-House Rock by the white\npeople. Of course it has other names among the Indian tribes of that\nregion.\n\nThis great butte stands out boldly upon the high plain and can be seen\nfor many miles in all directions overlooking the Platte River. The top\nis almost flat and all sides but one are almost vertical, and are bare\nof vegetation, worn smooth by rain and by wind, impossible to climb.\nBut there is a way on one side by which a strong man can make his way\nto the top.\n\nThis high lonely butte stands on the borderland between the country of\nthe Pawnees and the country of the Dakotas. The Dakotas and the\nPawnees were almost always at war with each other. Many years ago a\nPawnee war party was camped near this butte when they were surprised\nby a war party of Dakotas stronger in numbers than their own party. In\nthe fight which ensued the Pawnees were unable to drive their enemies\noff, but were compelled to take refuge by climbing to the top of the\nbutte. The Dakotas were unable to follow the Pawnees upon the butte,\nfor the Pawnees were able to guard the single narrow path. But neither\ncould the Pawnees escape again upon the open plain for the Dakotas\nsecurely guarded the descent and could easily kill one after another\nall who might attempt to come down that way. So it seemed only a\nquestion of time before all the Pawnees must die of hunger and thirst\nupon the top of the rock, or come down and give themselves up to death\nat the hands of their enemies. The camps of the Dakotas surrounded the\nbutte, laying siege to it to starve the Pawnees out.\n\nThe Pawnees were in a woeful plight. As the sun rose and traveled\nacross the sky they could look away for miles and perhaps see flocks\nof antelopes grazing upon the plain, while their own stomachs were\npinched with hunger; and some miles to the south they could see the\nflashing sunlight gleaming upon the waters of the Platte River, while\nclose at hand, at the foot of the butte, they could see their enemies\neating and drinking, which could but serve to aggravate their own\nhunger and thirst. And at night when the scorching sun had sunk in the\nwest they might look away to the eastward, in which direction their\nhomes lay many days' march distant in the beautiful and fruitful\nvalley of the Loup River; and as they looked the twinkling stars\nappearing one by one near the eastern horizon must have made them\nthink of the evening camp fires of their home people. And at night the\ngrim chill of the rare air of the high butte gripped their bodies in\nits clutch. And all the while they must be very vigilant against their\nenemies to prevent being overtaken. They all suffered severely, but\nthe captain of the company suffered most of all; for added to the\nbodily sufferings which he endured in common with his men, he also\nsuffered extreme mental anguish, for he felt his responsibility on\naccount of his men. Because they had trusted his leadership and had\nput themselves under his orders it seemed that now they must all die a\nhorrible death. For himself he dreaded not death so much as to be the\ncause of the loss of his brave men. To him this was far more bitter\nthan death. In the night-time he would go away from the others and\ncry out in fervent prayer to Tirawa, begging His help, begging that He\nwould show him some way to save his men and bring them off safe.\n\nAnd while he was thus praying, he heard a voice saying, \"Look\ncarefully and see if you can find a place where you shall be able to\nclimb down from this rock and save your men and yourself.\" So he\nprayed earnestly all night, and when daylight came he went along the\nedges of the butte looking carefully to see if there might be a place\nwhere some way might be found by which to go down. At last he found a\njutting point of rock near the cliff edge, and standing above the\nlevel. Below this point the cliff side was smooth and vertical. It\noccurred to him that this point might be made a means of support from\nwhich the men might let themselves down the face of the cliff by a\nrope. When night came again, after he had posted the sentries to guard\nthe place of ascent from the enemy, he returned to the point of rock\nand with his knife he cut away soft weathered rock at its base to make\na secure place of fastening for a rope. Then he gathered secretly all\nthe lariats which the company had. These he tied together and then,\ntying one end securely to the rock which he had prepared, he carefully\npaid out the rope and found to his joy that it reached the ground\nbelow. He made a loop in the rope for his foot and then he let himself\nslowly down to the ground, then he climbed back again. When night came\nagain he posted his sentries so that the enemy might see them at their\nposts on the side of the butte above the path, but when darkness had\nfully come they were all gradually withdrawn. Quietly calling his men\nabout him he explained his plan and told them how they might all save\nthemselves. He sent his men down by the rope, one after another,\nbeginning with the youngest and least important of the company, and so\non up to the men of most importance. Last of all the captain of the\ncompany himself came down. He and all his men crept quietly in the\ndarkness through the Dakota lines and escaped safely. The Dakotas\ndirected their vigilance mainly toward the other side of the butte\nwhere lay the only path, and that a very rugged one, between the base\nand the summit.\n\nThe Pawnees never knew how long the Dakotas kept watch about the rock.\n\n\nA MANDAN MONUMENT IN COMMEMORATION OF AN ACT OF HEROISM\n\nIt is a common instinct among all nations of the human race to\npreserve relics and record memorials of notable persons and events.\nSuch monuments vary with the different means and materials at hand.\nSometimes mounds of earth, sometimes boulders, sometimes cairns of\nstones, sometimes hewn stones, and various other devices have been\nused according to circumstances.\n\nThere exists a monument to the memory of a Mandan hero which has never\nbefore been described and published. The following account is from\ninformation given by several persons of the Mandan, Hidatsa and\nArikara tribes. The location of the monument is near the site of\n\"Fish-hook Village\" on the north side of the Missouri River some\ntwelve or fifteen miles east of Elbowoods, North Dakota.\n\nDuring the middle part of the 19th century the three tribes, Arikara,\nHidatsa and Mandan, lived together in alliance against their common\nenemies. Their chief enemies were the Dakota. So these three tribes\nbuilt their three villages adjoining, making one compound village of\nthree wards. The village lay upon a well-drained terrace of the\nMissouri River, while their farms were laid out in the fertile\nalluvial \"bottom\" along the river both above and below the village. To\nthe north of the village site lies a range of hills.\n\nThe enemy many times made raids upon the village. They would approach\nunder cover of the hills to the north and then steal close upon the\nvillage through the course of a ravine which skirted the northeast and\nnorth sides of the village.\n\nAbout sixty-six years ago such an attack was made by a war party of\nDakota. Of the defenders of the village, two young Mandans, brothers,\nnamed Lefthand and Redleaf, had been dismounted and their retreat cut\noff by the enemy. A brother of these two, Whitecrow by name, saw the\ndanger of Lefthand and Redleaf and rode out to their assistance.\nLefthand was killed and Redleaf was defending the body from a Dakota\nwho was trying to take the scalp. Redleaf shot at the Dakota and\nmissed him, the bullet going over the enemy's head and striking into\nthe ground beyond him, the enemy being crouched low at the time of the\nshot. Whitecrow rode in a circuit beyond these combatants and held off\nthe attacking party of the enemy. He killed the Dakota who was engaged\nin combat with his brother Redleaf. Then Whitecrow picked up Redleaf\nupon the horse with himself and carried him safely back to the\nvillage.\n\nAfter the enemy had been driven away the Mandans went out and marked\nthe course in which Whitecrow had ridden to his brother's rescue, the\nspot where Lefthand had been killed, the spot where Redleaf had made\nhis stand, the spot where the Dakota was killed, and the spot where\nRedleaf's bullet fired at the Dakota, had struck the ground. The\nmethod used for marking these places was by removal of the sod leaving\nholes in the ground. To mark the course of Whitecrow's horse the sod\nwas removed in horse-track shaped sections consecutively from the\npoint of advance from the village round the place of combat and\nreturning to the village. The horse-track marks were made about two\nfeet in diameter. All these marks commemorating the entire action,\nwhich took place about the year 1853 are still plainly evident, being\nrenewed whenever they tend to become obliterated by weathering and by\nadvancing vegetation.\n\n\nTHE LEGEND OF STANDING ROCK\n\nThis story of Standing Rock is a legend of the Arikara who once had\ntheir villages along the Missouri River between the Grand River and\nthe Cannonball River. Afterwards, being harrassed by hostile\nincursions of the Dakotas they abandoned this country to their enemies\nand moved farther up the Missouri River, joining themselves in\nalliance with the Mandans.\n\nOne time there was a young girl in this tribe who was beautiful and\namiable but not given to heedless, chattering, idle amusement. She\nwas thoughtful and earnest and conversant with the ways of all the\nliving creatures, the birds and the small mammals, and the trees and\nshrubs and flowers of the woodlands and of the prairies. She was in\nthe habit of going to walk by herself to visit and commune with all\nthese living creatures. She understood them better than most other\npeople did, and they all were her friends.\n\nWhen she became of marriageable age she had many suitors, for she was\nbeautiful and lovely in disposition. But to the young men who wooed\nher she answered, \"I do not find it in my heart to marry any one. I am\nat home with the bird people, the four-footed people of the woods and\nprairies, with the people of the flower nations and the trees. I love\nto work in the cornfields in summer, and the sacred squash blossoms\nare my dear companions.\"\n\nFinally her grandmother reasoned with her and told her that it was her\nduty to marry and to rear children to maintain the strength of the\ntribe. Because of filial duty she finally said, when her grandmother\ncontinued to urge her to marry a certain young man of estimable worth\nwho desired her for his wife, \"Well grandmother, I will obey you, but\nI tell you that good will not come of it. I am not as others are, and\nMother Nature did not intend me for marriage.\"\n\nSo she was married and went to the house already prepared for her by\nher husband. But three days later she came back to her mother's,\nhouse, appearing sad and downcast. She sat down without speaking.\nFinally her grandmother said, \"What is it, my child? Is he not kind to\nyou?\" The girl answered, \"Oh, no, he is not unkind. He treated me\nwell.\" And with that she sped away into the forest. Her grandmother\nfollowed her after a little while, thinking that out among her beloved\ntrees and plants she might open her heart and tell her what was the\ntrouble. And this she did, explaining all the trouble to her\ngrandmother. And she concluded her talk with her grandmother with\nthese words, saying: \"And so you see, grandmother, it is as I said\nwhen you urged me to marry. I was not intended for marriage. And now\nmy heart is so sad. I should not have married. My spirit is not suited\nto the bounds of ordinary human living, and my husband is not to be\nblamed. He is honorable and kind. But I must go away and be with the\nchildren of nature.\" So her grandmother left her there where she was\nsitting by a clump of choke-cherries, having her sewing kit with her\nand her little dog by her side.\n\nShe did not return home that night, so the next morning young men were\nsent to search for her. At last she was found sitting upon a hill out\nupon the prairie, and she was turned to stone from her feet to her\nwaist. The young men hastened back to the village and reported to the\nofficers who had sent them out.\n\nThen the people were summoned by the herald and they all went out to\nthe place where the young woman was. Now they found she had become\nstone as far up as her breasts.\n\nThen the priests opened the sacred bundle and took the sacred pipe\nwhich they filled and lighted and presented it to her lips so that\nthus she and they in turn smoking from the same pipe might be put in\ncommunion and accord with the spirit. But she refused the pipe, and\nsaid, \"Though I refuse the pipe it is not from disloyalty or because\nof unwillingness to be at one with my people; but I am different by\nnature. And you shall know my good will towards my people and my love\nand remembrance of them always, for whoever in summer time places by\nthis stone a wild flower or a twig of a living tree in winter time or\nany such token of living, wonderful Nature at any time, shall be glad\nin his heart, and shall have his desire to be in communion with the\nheart of Nature.\" And as she said these words she turned completely\ninto stone, and her little dog, sitting at her feet and leaning close\nagainst her was also turned into stone with her. And this stone is\nstill to be seen, and is revered by the people. It is from this stone\nthat the country around Fort Yates, North Dakota, is called Standing\nRock.\n\n\nTHE HOLY HILL PAHUK\n\nEach of the nations and tribes of Indians had certain places within\nits own domain which they regarded as sacred, and to which they\naccordingly paid becoming reverence. These places were sometimes\nwatersprings, sometimes peculiar hills, sometimes caves, sometimes\nrocky precipices, sometimes dark, wooded bluffs. Within the ancient\ndomain of the Pawnee nation in Nebraska and northwest Kansas there is\na cycle of five such sacred places. The chief one of these five mystic\nplaces is called Pahuk by the Pawnee. From its nature it is unique,\nbeing distinctly different from any other hill in all the Pawnee\ncountry. Pahuk stands in a bend of the Platte River where the stream\nflows from the west in a sweep abruptly turning toward the southeast.\nThe head of the hill juts out into the course of the river like a\npromontory or headland, which is the literal meaning of the Pawnee\nword \"pahuk.\" The north face of the bluff from the water's edge to the\nsummit is heavily wooded. Among the timber are many cedar trees, so\nthat in winter, when the deciduous trees are bare, the bluff is dark\nwith the mass of evergreen cedar. The cedar is a sacred tree, so its\npresence adds mystery to the place. The Pawnee sometimes also speak of\nthis hill as Nahura Waruksti, which means Sacred or Mysterious\nAnimals. This allusion to the Sacred or Mysterious Animals has\nreference to the myth which pertains to this place.\n\nAll the other tribes throughout the Great Plains region also knew of\nthe veneration in which this hill is held by the Pawnee, so they, too,\npay it great respect, and many individuals of the other tribes have\npersonally made pilgrimages to this holy place. The people of the\nDakota nation call it Paha Wakan, \"the Holy Hill.\"\n\nThe Pawnee speak of the animal world collectively as Nahurak. It was\nbelieved that the interrelations of all living beings, plants, animals\nand human beings, are essentially harmonious, and that all species\ntake a wholesome interest in each other's welfare. It was believed\nalso that under certain conditions ability was given to different\norders of living creatures to communicate with men for man's good.\n\nThe before-mentioned five sacred places of the Pawnee country were\nNahurak lodges. Within these mystic secret places the animals,\nNahurak, held council. According to one version the names of the five\nNahurak lodges are Pahuk, Nakiskat, Tsuraspako, Kitsawitsak, and\nPahua. Pahuk is a bluff on the south side of the Platte River, a few\nmiles west of the city of Fremont, Nebraska; Nakiskat, (Black trees)\nis an island in the Platte River near Central City, Nebraska, dark\nwith cedar trees; Tsuraspako (Girl Hill) is a hill on the south side\nof the Platte River opposite Grand Island, Nebraska. It is called Girl\nHill because it was customary when a buffalo surround was made in its\nvicinity for the young girls to stay upon this hill during the\nsurround. The hill is said to be in the form of an earth-lodge, even\nto the extended vestibule. Kitsawitsak, which white people call\nWakonda Springs, is not far from the Solomon River near Beloit,\nKansas. The name Kitsawitsak means \"Water on the bank.\" Pahua is said\nto be a spring near the Republican River in Nebraska. Of these five\nplaces Pahuk was chief, and the Nahurak councils of the other lodges\nacknowledged the superior authority of the council at Pahuk.\n\nThere are many stories of the wonderful powers resident in these\nsacred places. One of these tells of the restoration to life of a boy\nwho had been killed. The story is that a certain man of the Skidi\ntribe of the Pawnee nation desired to gain the favour of Tirawa\n(Pawnee name of God). He thought that if he sacrificed something which\nhe valued most highly that Tirawa might grant him some wonderful gift.\nThere were so many things in the world which he did not understand,\nand which he wished very much to know. He hoped that Tirawa might\ngrant him revelations, that he might know and understand many things\nwhich were hidden from the people. He strongly desired knowledge, and\nhe thought that if he sacrificed his young son, who was dear to him,\nand the pride of his heart, that Tirawa might take pity on him and\ngrant him his desire. He felt very sad to think of killing his son,\nand he meditated a long time upon the matter. Finally he was convinced\nin his own mind that Tirawa would be pleased with his sacrifice, and\nthat then the good gifts he desired would be given to him, and that\nmany things now dark to his understanding would be made clear, and\nthat he should have ability given him to do many things which were now\nbeyond his power.\n\nOne day this man took his boy with him and walked out from the village\nas though on some errand. They walked to the Platte River. After they\nhad gone a long distance from the village, as they were walking by the\nriverside, no other persons being near, the man drew out his knife and\nstabbed the boy so that he was quickly dead. The man then dropped the\nbody of the dead boy over the bank. After a time he returned to the\nvillage, and went into his own lodge and sat down. After a while he\nasked his wife \"Where is the boy?\" She said \"Why, he went out with\nyou.\" The man said \"I was out of the village, but the boy was not with\nme.\"\n\nHe went out and inquired of his neighbors, and then all through the\nvillage, but of course the boy could not be found. Then for some days\na general search was made for the boy, but no trace of him was found.\nAfter this the family mourned for the lost boy. It was now time for\nthe summer buffalo hunt, so in a few days the people set out for the\nbuffalo grounds, and the father and mother of the boy also went.\n\nAfter the boy's body was dropped into the river it was carried away\ndown-stream by the current, sometimes being rolled along in shallow\nwater at the edge of sandbars and again it would be turned over and\nover in the whirlpool of some deep hole in the channel, for the Platte\nRiver is a peculiar stream, having a swift current but a wide course\nwith deep holes and many sandbars.\n\nAfter a time the body floated down nearly to Pahuk. Two buzzards were\nsitting on the edge of a bluff, gazing over the water. So, sitting\nthere, one of the buzzards stretched out his neck and looked up the\nriver. He thought he saw something in the water floating down-stream.\nHe stretched his neck again and looked, and turned to the other\nbuzzard and said \"I see a body.\" Then they both looked towards the\nobject in the water, stretching out their necks and gazing intently.\nThey saw that the object was the body of the boy. The first one said\n\"What shall we do about this?\" The second one said \"Let us carry the\nbody down to Pahuk, to the hill where Nahurak Waruksti is.\" So they\nboth flew down to the floating body and got under it and lifted it\nupon their backs and carried it to the top of the bluff called Pahuk,\nover the secret cave of the Nahurak Waruksti, and there they placed it\nupon the ground. Then the two buzzards stood quietly gazing upon the\nbody of the boy where they had laid it down upon the ground.\n\nThis cave far under the hill was the council lodge of the animals.\nThere sat the councilmen of all kinds of animals and birds, great and\nsmall, which were native to that country. There were the buffalo, the\nbeaver, elk, deer, antelope, otter, muskrat, wolf, bear, fox, wildcat,\nbadger, bean mice, and many other kinds of animals. And there were the\nswan, the loon, goose, duck, wild turkey, prairie chicken, quail,\nheron, bittern, crane, plover, kildeer, meadowlark, blackbird, owls,\nhawks, swallows, crow, chickadee, woodpeckers, grackle, purple martin,\nand many other kinds of birds. There were also snakes, turtles, toads\nand frogs. These were the Nahurak people, the Nahurak Waruksti, the\nSacred Animals. And the kingfisher was a messenger and errand man for\nthe Nahurak council.\n\nNow it happened when the buzzards brought the body of the young man\nand laid it down on the top of Pahuk, the kingfisher, who was flying\nabout over the river on business for the Nahurak, was flying by. He\nstopped and looked at the body. He already knew all that had happened,\nand he was moved with compassion for the boy. So he flew down at once\nto the water at the foot of Pahuk and dived in at the entrance of the\nNahurak lodge. He spoke to the assembly of the Nahurak and told them\nall that had happened and said in conclusion, \"And the poor boy is up\nthere on the hill. I hope you will have pity on him and will do what\nyou can for him. I wish you would bring him to life again.\" When the\nkingfisher, the messenger, had finished speaking the Nahurak held\nserious council on the matter to decide what they should do. But after\nthey had meditated long on the question, and each had spoken, they\nstill could not decide the matter. The kingfisher urged the matter,\nasking for a favourable decision, saying, \"Come, do take pity on him\nand restore him to life.\" But they could not come to a decision. At\nlast the chief of the council said, \"No, messenger, we are unable to\ndecide now. You must go to the other Nahurak lodges and find out what\nthey have to say about it.\" The kingfisher said \"I go,\" and flew\nswiftly out from the lodge and up the river to Nakiskat, the Nahurak\nlodge near Lone Tree. There he brought the matter before the council\nand pleaded for the boy as he had done at Pahuk, and told them that he\nwas sent from Pahuk to ask the council at Nakiskat for their decision.\nSo the Nahurak here at Nakiskat talked over the matter, but at last\nthey said to the kingfisher \"We are unable to decide. We leave it to\nthe council at Pahuk.\"\n\nThen the kingfisher flew to the lodge at Tsuraspako, then to\nKitsawitsak, and at last to Pahua, and at each place the Nahurak\ncouncil considered the matter carefully and talked about it, but at\neach place the same answer was given. They all said \"It is too much\nfor us. We cannot decide what should be done. It is for the council at\nPahuk to decide.\"\n\nAfter the messenger had visited all these lodges and had laid the\nmatter before all of them, receiving from each the same answer, he\nflew as swiftly as he could back to the lodge at Pahuk and reported\nwhat the other lodges had said. They all recognized the council at\nPahuk as the head council, and deferred the matter to them for\ndecision. But it had already been once considered by this council, so\nthe matter was now brought before the supreme council of Pahuk. This\nwas a council of four chiefs of the Pahuk council who sat as judges to\ngive final consideration and decision. These judges now reconsidered\nthe matter, and finally, when they had talked it over, they said to\nthe kingfisher, \"Now, messenger, we will not decide this question, but\nwill leave it to you. You shall make the decision.\"\n\nThe kingfisher very quickly gave his decision. He said \"It is my\ndesire that this poor boy be restored to life. I hope you will all\nhave pity on him and do what you can for him.\"\n\nThen all the Nahurak arose and went out from the council lodge and\nwent up to the top of Pahuk where the body of the boy lay. They formed\nin order and stood around the boy and prayed to the Higher Powers, and\nat last the boy drew breath, then after a time he breathed again, then\nhis breath began to be regular. Finally he opened his eyes and sat up\nand looked around in a confused manner. When he saw all the animals\nstanding around him he was puzzled and bewildered. He said to himself,\n\"Why, my father killed me by the riverside, but here I am in the midst\nof this multitude of animals. What does it mean?\"\n\nThen the head chief of the Nahurak council spoke to him kindly and\nreassured him. He was asked to rise and go with the animals into the\ncouncil lodge. When all had gone in and were seated the four judges\nconferred together, then the chief of the four stood up and said, \"My\npeople, we have restored this boy to life, but he is poor and forlorn\nand needy. Let us do something for him. Let us teach him all we know,\nand impart to him our mysterious powers.\" The Nahurak were all\npleased at this proposal and manifested their approval.\n\nThen the Nahurak showed hospitality and kind attention to the poor boy\nas their guest. He was shown a place to bathe and rest. When he had\nrested, food was brought to him. So he was entertained and treated\nkindly for the full season, and he was instructed by all the animals\nin turn and they taught him their secret arts of healing and imparted\nto him all their wonderful powers. So he remained with them at Pahuk\ntill autumn.\n\nAutumn is a beautiful season at Pahuk, and in all the region of the\nPlatte, the Loup, the Republican, and the Solomon rivers in Nebraska\nand Kansas embraced by the cycle of the five Nahurak lodges. At that\nseason in that country the sun casts a mellow golden light from the\nsky, while the land is emblazed with the brilliance of the sunflowers\nand goldenrod. And then the air is quiet and restful.\n\nSo one day at this season the Nahurak said to the boy, \"It is now the\ntime when the swallows, the blackbirds, the meadowlarks, and other\nkinds of birds will be gathering into flocks to fly away to the\nsouth-land for the winter. The beavers are cutting trees and saplings\nto store the branches under water for their winter food supply of\nbark; they are also gathering into their houses certain kinds of roots\nfor food. The muskrats are repairing their houses and are storing in\nthem the tubers of the water-lilies and of the arrow-leaf and of other\nkinds of plants for their winter supply. In the edge of the timber,\nwhere the ground beans grow, the bean mice are making their\nstore-houses and filling them with ground beans and artichokes. And\nyour people have returned from the buffalo hunt with a good supply of\ndried meat and hides. They are now busy at home gathering and storing\ntheir crops of corn, of beans, and of squashes and pumpkins. We have\nthis past summer instructed you in our arts of healing and other\nlearning, and have imparted to you our mysterious powers, and have\ntaught you about our ways of living. You are now competent to use for\nthe good of your people the remedies and perform the mysteries which\nwere given to us by Tirawa, and which we have now given to you. So you\nmay now return to the village of your people. Go to the chiefs of the\nvillage and tell them what the Nahurak have done for you, and say to\nthem that the people are to bring together gifts of dried buffalo meat\nand dried corn and dried choke-cherries, and other kinds of food; of\nrobes and leggings and moccasins embroidered with porcupine quills;\nand of tobacco for incense. All these things the people are to send by\nyou as gifts to the Nahurak at Pahuk in recognition of the favour\nwhich the Nahurak showed to you.\"\n\nSo the boy parted from his animal friends at Pahuk, and promised to\nreturn and visit them, and to bring them presents to show his\nthankfulness and the thankfulness of his people for what the animals\nhad done for him. He traveled on up the Platte River and reached the\nvillage of his people in the night. He went to his father's house. He\nfound his father and mother asleep and the fire had burned low. There\nwas only a little light from the coals. He went to his mother's bed\nand touched her shoulder and spoke to her to waken her. He said \"It is\nI. I have come back.\" When his mother saw him and heard his voice she\nwas surprised, but she was glad-hearted to see her boy again. So she\nwakened the boy's father and told him the boy had come back. When the\nfather saw the boy he thought it must be his ghost, and he was afraid.\nBut the boy did not mention anything that had happened nor say where\nhe had been. He said only \"I have come back again.\"\n\nThe next day some of the people saw him, and they were surprised. They\ntold their neighbors, and soon it was rumored all over the village\nthat the boy had returned. They came where he was and stood around and\nlooked at him and asked him questions, but he told them nothing. But\nhe went to the chiefs of the village and made his report to them.\nAfterwards he gave account to the people, saying, \"I have been away\nall summer with friends, with people who have been very good to me.\nNow I should like to take them a present of dried meat and other good\nthings, so that we can have a feast. I beg you to help me, my\nfriends.\" So they brought together a quantity of the articles\nrequired, and they chose some young men to go with him to help carry\nthe gifts to the people who had befriended him.\n\nSo the boy and his companions went on the way towards the Nahurak\nlodge at Pahuk. When they came near to the place the boy dismissed the\nyoung men who had accompanied him, and they went back to the village.\nNow the boy went on alone and met the kingfisher, the messenger of the\nNahurak, and sent word by him that he had come to visit the Nahurak,\nand had brought presents from his people. So the boy was invited into\nthe lodge and all the Nahurak made sounds of gladness at seeing him\nagain. The boy brought in the presents which had been sent by his\npeople and they had a feast. After the feast they held a doctors'\nceremony. They reviewed all the things that the Nahurak had taught him\nduring the summer that he had spent with them. Then the boy was made a\ndoctor, and he was now able to do many wonderful things.\n\nAfter this the time came for the young man to return again to the\nvillage of his people. The animals were thankful and gave praise to\nTirawa for the gifts which the young man had brought to them. And the\nyoung man was thankful to the animals and he praised Tirawa for what\nthe animals had done for him. Then he returned to the village of his\npeople. He never told the people what his father had done to him.\n\nThe young man lived a long and useful life among his people and\nattained much honour. He did many wonderful things for his people and\nhealed them of their diseases and injuries. In time he gathered about\nhim a group of other young men, who, like himself, were of serious and\nthoughtful mind, and who had desire toward the welfare of the people.\nThese young men became his disciples, and to them he taught the\nmysteries which had been imparted to him by the animals of the lodge\nat Pahuk. These wise men in turn taught other worthy inquirers, and\nthese again others; and so these mysteries and learning and the\nhealing arts have come down from that long-ago time to the present\namong the Pawnee people.\n\n\nTHE LODGE OF THE BLACK-TAIL DEER WHICH TALKED WITH ITS CAPTOR\n\nNorth Dakota has a number of places to which attach interesting\nlegends and myths. One such place is a butte not far from Schmitt on\nthe south side of the Missouri River on the road between Mandan and\nCannon Ball. It is west of Eagle-beak Butte.\n\nThe story of this butte is a Mandan myth. A long time ago the Mandans\nlived in a village which was on a level place just north of the Bad\nWater Creek, which white people call Little Heart River. At the west\nof this place there is a range of high hills. The Mandans lived at the\nBad Water Village in the time long before white men had come across\nthe great water, so there were no horses in the country. The people\nhad no animals except dogs to help them carry their burdens. And of\ncourse they had never heard of the thunder-irons (guns) which strike\nand kill the deer and other game at long distance. So it was hard work\nto obtain their supplies of meat and to carry the same home to their\nhouses.\n\nA man who lived in the Bad Water village had dug a deer pit in a place\namong the hills west of the village and cunningly covered it over to\nappear not different from the ground about it. By this means he hoped\nto capture a deer whose flesh would be food for his family, and whose\nskin would be useful for making clothing; whose sinew would be used\nfor thread, some of its bones to be used for making awls and needles,\nothers for other useful implements and tools. Its horns would be used\nto make garden rakes for working the ground of his family's garden.\n\nOne morning in autumn there had been a snowfall during the preceding\nnight, the first snowfall of the season. The man went out early in the\nmorning into the hills to look at his trap to see if it might have\ncaught something during the night. As he approached the place he saw\nthat the cover was broken through, and when he came near and looked in\nhe was rejoiced to see that he had captured a fine large black-tail\ndeer.\n\nNow when he came to the edge of the pit and looked down at his prize\nthe deer looked up at him and spoke to him, saying, \"O, man, do not\nkill me, but let me go free from the pit. If you release me you will\ndo well.\" The man was surprised to hear the deer speak to him like a\nman, and he was disappointed to think of losing his prize. But he\nthought to himself, \"This is something mysterious, I must give heed; I\nmust not defy the Mysterious Power, but listen to the message; for it\nmust be that some Mysterious Power wishes to impart something to me\nthrough this animal as its messenger.\" So as he thus hesitated in\ndoubt the deer again made its plea and requested to be set free. But\nthe man spoke of his duty to his family, who looked to him for food\nand for clothing. Again the deer spoke and said, \"Indeed you do well\nto think of your family, and your endeavor to provide for them as well\nas you can is prompted both by your love and duty. But I say to you\nthat you would do well if you allow me to go. If you do so, I promise\nyou that you will have success in hunting; you shall find game\nabundant for the needs of yourself and family. And when war comes upon\nyour people you shall be victorious over the enemy. So shall you be\nremembered among your people for bravery.\"\n\nThe man gave heed to what the deer said to him, and he dared not\ndisobey the message which had come to him in this mysterious way. So\nnow he began to dig down the side of the pit so that the deer could\ncome out. When he had finished he said to the deer, \"Now you may go.\"\nThen the deer came up the incline from the pit and ran down across the\nBad Water Creek away toward the Eagle Beak Hill. As he ran the new\nfallen snow flew behind him from his hoofs in a white cloud, and he\nsang a song:\n\n    \"I was glad when I saw the first snow,\n    But I almost lost the sight of day.\"\n\nThe man watched the deer as it ran and observed that when it\napproached a conical butte west of Eagle-beak Butte that the butte\nopened with a loud roaring sound and the deer entered and he saw it no\nmore, and then the butte closed again as before.\n\nThe man went home pondering these things in his mind. As time passed\nevents came true as they had been promised to him in the message\nspoken to him by the deer. He became renowned among his people for his\nskill and success in the chase, for his generosity to the old people\nand to the sick and poor, and he attained many honors for his deeds of\nvalour in warfare against the enemies of his people.\n\nEver since that time the Mandans have called the butte into which the\ndeer disappeared after its release from the pit, The Lodge of the\nBlack-tail Deer.\n\n\nTHE WONDERFUL BASKET\n\n_A Mandan Story_\n\nIndians of all tribes held the thought of the brotherhood of all\nliving nature, of the trees and flowers and grasses, of the fishes in\nthe waters, of the living things which creep or walk or run on the\nland and of the birds which fly above the earth, and of human beings.\nAnd they believed that human beings often gained wisdom and useful\ninformation through dreams and visions in which the guardian spirits\nof any of these other living creatures talked to them, revealing to\nchosen, attentive and worthy persons, secrets of nature which were\nhidden from the careless and unworthy.\n\nAmong most tribes the cedar tree is considered to possess a property\nof mystery and sacredness. For this reason twigs of cedar were often\nburned as incense in a sacred fire for the purpose of driving away\nevil influences. And if a person reclined under the shelter of cedar\ntrees the healing power and strength of their spirit would come to him\nand his own spirit would thus gain composure and strength to meet\nlife's troubles.\n\nOnce in the old times a woman was resting under a cedar tree. She was\nweary from her work, and as the gentle wind sighed among the thick\ngreen branches above her she dropped to sleep. While she slept the\ncedar tree spoke to her in a soft murmuring voice, and the woman gave\nheed to the words of the cedar tree.\n\nAnd this is what the cedar tree said to the woman: \"Sister, if you\nwill dig down into the earth you will find there my slender, strong,\npliant roots. Take up some of these and weave them into a basket. You\nshall find thereafter that some good shall come of it. It shall bring\ngood to you and to all women.\"\n\nSo the woman did as she was told by the cedar tree. She took up the\nslender roots and wove of them a basket. The basket was light but\nstrong, and so pliant that it could be rolled into a small bundle when\nempty, though it was large enough to hold many things when it was\nopened out.\n\nOne day the woman took the basket with her and walked far out upon the\nprairie where tipsin grew in abundance. She dug a quantity of the\nsweet and wholesome roots to take home for food for herself and her\nfamily. The tipsin roots grow so deep in the tough prairie sod that it\nis hard work to dig them, so when she had filled her basket she was\nvery tired. She sat down to rest and sighed for very weariness, and\nthe tears came to her eyes. She said, \"Alas! now I must carry home\nthis heavy load although I am already weary and faint.\"\n\nThen the basket whispered to her \"Do not cry. Wipe away your tears;\nbathe your hot cheeks with water at the brook; be glad, for I am your\nfriend.\"\n\nThen the woman wiped away her tears and went and bathed her cheeks and\nbrushed her hair. When she returned the basket seemed to smile. It\nsaid to her \"You were troubled for nothing. You forget what the cedar\ntree said to you in your dreams. You were told that good would come to\nyou if you made a basket as you were instructed. Now you need not\ncarry your load; but sing and be glad and walk on to the village. I\nshall come with you, carrying your load.\"\n\nSo the woman went on her way home, singing from happiness, while the\nbasket kept by her side carrying the load of tipsin roots.\n\nAs she came near the village the women knew by her happy singing voice\nthat some good thing had happened to her. Then as they looked up they\nsaw her coming, and with her was coming the wonderful basket carrying\nthe load.\n\nThen all her neighbors begged her to teach them how to make a\nwonderful basket. So she taught them as she had been taught by the\nholy cedar tree how to make a wonderful basket out of its tiny roots.\n\nAnd so, from that time, whenever a woman went out to gather June\nberries or wild cherries, or raspberries, or wild plums or pembinas or\ntipsin, or wild rice; or to their cultivated fields to gather corn or\nbeans, she was not obliged to carry the load home. When she was ready\nshe started towards the village singing, and the basket came with her\ncheerfully carrying the burden.\n\nOne day, long after this, a woman had found the winter store-house of\nthe hintunka people, which they make under-ground, and into which they\ngarner their store of food for the winter time. The hard-working\nhintunka people put away in their store-houses quantities of wild\nground beans, various kinds of seeds and roots and tubers to provide\nthemselves food for the cold time when the ground is frozen and the\nearth is covered with snow.\n\nIt happened that the woman who found this store-house of the hintunka\npeople was one who was not considerate of the rights of other people.\nShe thought only that here was a quantity of food which was desirable\nand easy to obtain. So she filled her basket with the wild ground\nbeans which are so delicious when cooked with bits of meat. She cared\nnot that it had cost the hintunka people many weary hours of hard work\nto dig these beans and bring them together in this place, nor did she\ncare that without them the hintunka people, their old people and their\nlittle ones, all would be left destitute of food and must perish from\nfamine.\n\nWhile she was filling her basket a poor little hintunka woman cried\npitifully and said, \"This is our food. We have worked hard for it. You\nought not to rob us of it. Without it we shall die miserably of\nhunger.\" But the woman took the beans and heeded not the pitiful\ncrying of the hintunka woman. She had filled her basket, and was\nmaking ready to go home but there was no song in her heart.\n\nThen, while the filled basket sat there waiting a coyote standing near\nby, laughed. At this the basket was vexed, and said, \"You are rude.\nWhy do you laugh at me?\" But the coyote only laughed all the more.\nThis annoyed the basket greatly, and made it feel very uneasy and\ndistressed, for it knew something must be wrong. And it said to the\ncoyote, \"Do tell me why you laugh. What is it which is strange?\"\n\nThen the coyote replied, \"I laugh because you are so foolish. For a\nlong time you have been carrying burdens to the village while the\nwomen go their way singing.\"\n\nBut the basket said, \"I am not foolish, I have the good spirit of the\ncedar tree. I am willing to carry burdens to help the women. I am glad\nwhen I hear their joyful singing.\" The coyote said, \"But what do you\nget for it, friend? You work like a slave. You receive nothing for it.\nNo one offers you a mouthful of food. When you rest for a time from\nyour labor you are not covered with a robe made beautiful with\nquill-work. When you have carried burdens for a woman she merely hangs\nyou upon a peg on the wall till the next time she wishes you to carry\nsomething for her.\"\n\nAs the basket considered the things which the coyote said it began to\nbe discontented. It felt that it had been treated unfairly; that it\nhad no pay nor thanks for all it had done, and so the basket was\nsulky, and refused to carry the load to the village, and the woman at\nlast had to take up the burden and carry it upon her back; and she\nfelt aggrieved and bitter because the basket would not carry it for\nher. She did not consider that all the service she had ever had from\nthe basket was from kindness and good will and not from obligation.\n\nAnd ever since that time the women have had to carry burdens upon\ntheir backs, for the baskets no longer carried burdens for them.\n\n\nCAUSE OF THE BREAKING UP OF THE ICE IN THE MISSOURI RIVER IN\nSPRINGTIME\n\n_A Myth of the Dakota Nation_\n\nIt is said that in the long ago there was a mysterious being within\nthe stream of the Missouri River. It was seldom seen by human beings,\nand was most dreadful to see. It is said that sometimes it was seen\nwithin the water in the middle of the stream, causing a redness\nshining like the redness of fire as it passed up the stream against\nthe current with a terrific roaring sound.\n\nAnd they say that if this dreadful being was seen by anyone in the\ndaytime anyone who thus saw it soon after became crazy and continued\nrestless and writhing as though in pain until he was relieved by\ndeath. And it is said that one time not a very great many years ago\nthis frightful being was seen by a man, and he told how it appeared.\nHe said that it was of strange form and covered all over with hair\nlike a buffalo, but red in color; that it had only one eye in the\nmiddle of its forehead, and above that a single horn. Its backbone\nstood out notched and jagged like an enormous saw. As soon as the man\nbeheld the awful sight everything became dark to him, he said. He was\njust able to reach home, but he lost his reason and soon after that he\ndied.\n\nIt is said this mysterious \"Miniwashitu\" (water monster) still lives\nin the Missouri River, and that in springtime, as it moves up-stream\nagainst the current it breaks up the ice of the river. This water\nmonster was held in awe and dread by the people.\n\n\nTHE WATER-SPRING OF THE HOLY MAN\n\n_A Myth of the Dakota Nation_\n\nLong ago there was a village of people of the Dakota Nation, which was\nsituated on the east side of the great river which they call the\nMuddy-Water River, but which white people call the Missouri River. The\nwhite people named it so from the Missouri nation of Indians on the\nlower course of this great river.\n\nThis village we have just mentioned was on the east side of the river\nnearly opposite to the mouth of the Cannonball River. The people were\nhappy in this village, for it was a pleasant place. There was plenty\nof wood for their fires, and there was an abundance of buffalo\nberries, wild plums, choke-cherries, June berries, wild grapes, wild\nraspberries and other fruit growing in the woods. Upon the high\nprairie there was much tipsin, whose roots are so good when cooked\nwith meat or with dried green corn. Moreover, in the timber were many\nboxelder trees, whose sap was made into sugar in early spring time.\nNot far away were some lakes where there were many wild ducks and\ngeese and other water fowl. The flesh of these fowl, and also their\neggs were good food. Upon the prairie were herds of buffalo and\nantelope and elk, and in the timber along the river were many deer.\n\nAnd below the hills, on the level ground of the river valley there was\nfertile soil where they planted their fields of corn and beans and\nsquashes. They also cultivated the great sunflowers whose seeds are so\ngood for food.\n\nAnd the people loved this place, for besides all the good things to\neat, and other comforts which it gave them, it was also pleasant to\nlook upon. There was the mysterious river coming down from the distant\nmountains away in the west and flowing on towards the lands of other\nnations of people in the south, and whose channel could be seen\nwinding its gleaming way among the dark trees on its shores. Upon the\nprairie hills in early spring the courageous little pasque flowers\nappeared like a gray-blue cloud let down upon the hill-tops where they\nnodded their cheery greetings to the people who passed them. A little\nlater in the little vales were masses of deep blue violets. Still\nlater the prairie was bright with the colour and the air was sweet\nwith the breath of the wild rose of the prairie. The cheery\nmeadowlark, which the people call the bird of promise, flitted here\nand there and called his greetings and promised good things to his\nfriends, the Dakota people.\n\nAnd through the procession of the seasons there were spread out before\ntheir eyes on all sides scenes of beauty, changing with the change of\nseasons and changing every day, indeed the beauties of colour and\nlight and shade were changing at every stage of the day from the rosy\ndawn till the blue shades of evening came.\n\nYes, it was a delightful land and the people rejoiced in it. But a\nstrange thing happened which caused the people to move away to a far\ndistant place. And this is the way it happened:\n\nThere was living in this village an old man, a wise man, a man who was\nheld in great respect by the people, for he was a holy man, to whom\nthe Unseen Powers granted knowledge not given to all the people. And\nthese revelations came to the holy man in visions.\n\nThis holy man was now too old and feeble to till the soil and raise\ncrops of food plants, or to go on the chase for game, or to gather any\nof the wild food plants. But because they held him in honor the young\nmen were glad to provide for him, and the women cooked for him of the\nbest they had.\n\nBut one time he had a vision which made him very sad, so that he could\nonly cry and weep and could not speak of his vision for sadness of\nheart. And the people besought him to tell them his vision, for, they\nsaid, \"if it is a vision of evil to come, we may as well know the\nworst. We ought to be prepared for it.\" For a long time the old man\ncould not bring himself to tell them the evil foreboding which had\ncome to him. But at last, when they continued strongly urging him to\ntell them what it was, he said: \"Well, my children, I will tell you\nthe vision, for it may be that I shall not live long. This vision has\ncome to me from the Mysterious and Awful Powers, and it is full of\nevil portent for our people.\" But now he was again so overcome by\nsadness that he was unable to tell it.\n\nAgain, after some days the people begged him to tell the vision, and\nthey pressed him so urgently that finally he said: \"This is what I saw\nin my vision, which has come to me repeatedly. I saw a great incursion\nof human beings of strange appearance. They are coming from the\ndirection of the rising sun and are moving toward this land in\nmultitudes so great that they cannot be counted. They move everywhere\nover the face of the land like the restless fluctuations of heated air\nwhich are sometimes seen incessantly wavering over the heated prairie\non a summer day. They are moving on resistlessly toward us and nothing\ncan stop them, and they will take our land from us. They are a\nterrible people and of a monstrous appearance. The skin of this\npeople is not of a wholesome color like the skin of our people who are\nborn of our holy mother earth. Their skin is hideous and ghastly, and\nthe men have hairy faces like the face of a wolf. They are not kind\nlike our people; they are savages, cruel and unfeeling. They have no\nreverence for our holy places, nor for our holy mother earth. And they\nkill and destroy all things and make the land desolate. They have no\near for the voices of the trees and the flowers, and no pity for the\nbirds and the beasts of the field. And they deface and spoil the\nbeauty of the land and befoul the water courses.\n\n\"And they have many dreadful customs. When a person dies the body is\nnot honorably laid upon a funeral scaffold on the prairie or in the\nbranches of a tree in the forest as we do, but they dig a hole in the\nground and put the body down into the hole and then fill the hole up\nagain, throwing the dirt down upon the body. And they have strange and\npowerful weapons, so that when they come our people will not be able\nto withstand them. It is this dreadful vision which has overcome me\nwith sadness.\"\n\nThen the people were amazed and angry. They tried to have him change\nhis vision, but he could not. Again the same vision came to him. The\nleading men now counseled and gave the order that the people should\ngive him no more food for some days. They said, \"Perhaps he will have\na different vision.\" So he was left alone in his tent for four days.\nAnd on the fourth day when they came to his tent they found him dead.\nThey had not intended to cause his death, but they hoped that if they\nlet him become very hungry he would change his vision.\n\nNow when they found him dead they were shocked and astonished and very\nangry. They said, \"Now the evil which he foretold will come, for he\ndied without changing his vision.\" And they said \"We will not bury him\nhonorably upon a scaffold according to our custom, but we will bury\nhim in a hole in the ground, as he said his 'wandering people' bury\ntheir dead.\" So they dug a hole and into this they put the body of the\nold man and put the earth back again upon the body.\n\nAt evening some women were gazing out across the river in the\ntwilight, and they saw a man come up out of the river and advance\ntoward the village. When he came nearer they saw it was the holy man\nwho had died and whose body had been buried in a hole in the ground.\nWhen he died he had changed from this life to the life of those who\ndwell in \"The Land of Evening Mirage.\" From the place where they\nburied him he had gone out under the ground and had come up out of the\nwater of the river. Now when he came up out from the water he was\nchanged back again to the life on earth. From this it was evident to\nall the people that he was indeed a very holy man, and that his vision\nwas true and must come to pass. They gave him a good dwelling and\nprovided for all his needs, and the women cooked for him the best food\nthey had, and every one did homage to him and paid him reverence.\n\nAfter a time he knew that the end of his life was approaching, and as\nhe was about to die he called the leading men about him and said, \"The\nvision which I had will truly come to pass in future time. Now I am\nabout to die. When I am dead let me be buried in the ground again at\nthe place where I was buried before. You will see that some good thing\nwill come of it for our people at this place. And it shall be good for\nall people at this place forever.\" When he said something good would\ncome they thought he meant that the people should be saved from the\ncruel and savage, strange, pale-skinned people of his vision, but that\nwas not what he meant.\n\nWhen the holy man was dead they would have preferred to give him\nhonorable scaffold burial as was customary, but they did as he had\ndirected and buried him in the ground where he had been buried before.\nBut this time, they dug out a roomy place, and made walls and a roof\nwith timbers, and in this place they put the body of the holy man\nafter dressing him in the best of garments decorated with porcupine\nquill embroidery, and wrapped in a fine buffalo robe painted with\nbeautiful designs. And they placed with him his pipe and tobacco and\nfood and valuable presents of all kinds. Then they covered it all over\nwith earth again and set the sod as it was before.\n\nAt evening they watched the place in the river where he had reappeared\nthe other time after his burial. They thought he might return again\nout of the water of the river, but he did not come. And they listened\nabove the little house they had made for him under the ground, but\nthey heard not the slightest sound of breathing or any movement. Then\nthey made a sacred fire by the grave from twigs of the cedar tree, for\nthis tree is holy and sacred to the Good Powers and the breath of its\nfire will bring persons of good intention into communion with those\nUnseen Powers. But the holy man did not appear by the sacred fire and\nhe was never seen again by any of the people.\n\nNow the people became so burdened with sadness that they could not\nendure to remain at this place, so they moved far away, where they\nfound another good country. In this new place they stayed until all\nthe people who were grown at the time they left the village of the\nholy man's grave, had become old and had died. And none had ever been\nback there. Then, when all those who were but boys and girls when they\nleft the former village had now become old men and women, their tribe\nbegan to suffer harrassment from an enemy people of another tribe.\nTheir enemies were too strong for them, so they had to think of moving\nto another place. And so it came into their minds to return to the\nplace by the Muddy-Water River, where they had lived at the time when\nthose of their people who were now old had been merry, happy children.\n\nSo they came back, and before they had reached the place the old men\nsaid, \"Let us go on ahead and see the grave of the holy man.\" And when\nthe old men came to the place where the holy man had been buried they\nfound that a spring of good water issued from the place where the holy\nman's grave had been. And that is why we call this spring \"The Holy\nMan's Waterspring.\"\n\nAnd it is said that now a bright star is often seen shining over this\nspring for a while and that it then goes down and disappears into the\nwater of the spring. And it is said that sometimes when the moon is\nfull and bright the holy man may be seen walking near the spring.\nWhen one approaches to speak to him he disappears into the spring. Not\nall persons can see these things, but only those whose hearts are kind\nand gentle, and whose minds are in accord with Nature, and who have\nreverence for holy things and for the beauties and mysteries in\nNature.\n\n\nTHE SACRED SYMBOL OF THE CIRCLE\n\nTo the Dakotas the form of the circle is a sacred symbol because Great\nSpirit caused everything in nature except stone to be round. Stone is\nthe implement of destruction. The sun, the earth and the moon are\nround like a shield, and the sky is round like a bowl inverted over\nthe earth. All breathing creatures are round like a human body. All\nthings growing out of the ground are round, as the trunk of a tree or\nthe stem of an herb. The edge of the world is a circle, hence the\ncircle is a symbol of the world and of the winds which travel to us\nfrom all points on the edge of the world. The sun and the moon which\nmark the day and the night travel in a circle above the sky; for this\nreason the circle is a symbol of these divisions of time, and of the\nyear, and so is the symbol for all time.\n\nRaindrops are round, and so are the drops of dew hanging like strings\nof beads upon the grass blades. Pellets of hail and of sleet are\nround. Every snowflake has a centre from which lines radiate as from\nthe centre of a circle. The rainbow, which beautifies the sky after\nshowers, is round.\n\nBecause Great Spirit has caused almost all things to be round it is\nfor us a sacred symbol; it reminds us of the work of Great Spirit in\nthe universe. And for this reason Dakotas make their tipis round; and\nin laying a camp the tipis are set in a circular line; and in all\nceremonies they sit in a circle.\n\nThe circle is a symbol of the tipi and of shelter and comfort. In\ndecorative figures the undivided circle is a symbol of the world and\nof time. If the circle be filled with red it is a symbol of the sun;\nif filled with blue it is a symbol of the sky. If the circle be\ndivided into four parts it is a symbol of the four winds.\n\nThe mouthpiece of a pipe should always be passed about the circle and\noffered to the four directions before it is formally smoked.\n\n\nTHE SACRED NUMBER FOUR\n\nIt appears that Great Spirit caused everything in the world to be in\nfours; for this reason mankind's activities of all kinds should be\ngoverned by the number four out of respect to this sacred number and\nin agreement with it.\n\nWe see that there are four directions: the north, the east, the south,\nand the west; four divisions of time: the day, the night, the moon,\nand the year; there are four seasons: the spring, the summer, the\nautumn, and the winter; there are four parts to everything that grows\nfrom the ground: the roots, the stems, the leaves, and the fruits;\nfour kinds of things that breathe: those that crawl, those that fly,\nthose that walk on four legs, and those that walk on two legs; four\nthings above the world: the sun, the moon, the sky, and the stars;\nfour kinds of gods: the great, the associates of the great, the gods\nbelow them, and the spirit kind; four periods of human life: infancy,\nyouth, adulthood, and old age; mankind has four fingers on each hand,\nfour toes on each foot, and the thumbs and big toes of each taken\ntogether make four.\n\nAll these tokens of the works of Great Spirit should cause mankind to\norder his ceremonies and all activities so far as possible by this\nsacred number.\n\n\nTHE PRISTINE PRAIRIE\n\nTo obtain even an approximate appreciation of the conditions of life\nas they presented themselves to the people of the nations which\nformerly occupied the region drained by the Missouri River and its\ntributaries we must bring ourselves to see it as it was in its natural\ncondition, void of all the countless changes and accessories which we\nhave erected here by our European culture and custom.\n\nImagine, then, a country of open prairie stretching away and away\nbeyond the range of vision over hill, valley, and plain, the skyline\nunbroken by trees, except a fringe along the course of the streams.\nThe aspect of this landscape in summer was that of a boundless sea of\nshining green, billowing under the prevailing south wind, darkened\nhere and there by the swiftly marching shadows of clouds sailing high\nand white in the brilliant blue sky. Toward the end of summer the sun\nappears to have shed some of its lustre upon the plain below, for it\nnow shines with a paler light, while the ever restless, rustling,\nwhispering sea of grass waves in rolling billows of golden green,\nseeming to be forever flowing on before the south wind into the\nmysterious North, changing again into yellow and warm brown as autumn\ncomes on.\n\nThen it may happen some day that the whole aspect is suddenly changed.\nFire has escaped in the sea of dry grass. To the windward the horizon\nis one long line of smoke, which, as it comes nearer, rolls up in\nblack masses shot through with darting tongues of angry red flames\nleaping a hundred feet skyward, while the sound of the conflagration\nis like that of a rushing storm. Frightened animals are fleeing before\nit in terror for their lives and birds are flying from the threatened\ndestruction.\n\nThis scene passes, and now the whole visible earth is one vast stretch\nof coal black, and the whole sky is a thick blue haze in which the sun\nseems to hang like a great red ball, while an unbroken silence\npervades the land.\n\nThen winter comes with days of leaden sky and blackened earth,\nsucceeded by clear days when the snow-covered earth appears like a\nvast white bowl encrusted with frost-diamonds and inclosed by an\nover-arching dome of most brilliant blue.\n\nAgain the season changes; warm airs blow from the south; soft showers\nfall; the sound of the first thunder wakens all Nature; the blackened\nearth appears once more, soon showing color from the pale green spears\nof tender young grass, and in a short time the form of Mother Earth is\nonce more clothed in a mantle of shining green.\n\nAnd now as the biting winds of winter yield to the balmy breezes from\nthe south all the vernal flora is quickened into life and beauty. The\nmodest blue violets appear in such profuse abundance that they seem\nlike shreds of the sky wafted by the spring breezes over the land and\ndrifted into every swale and ravine. On the upland the purple flowers\nof the buffalo pea show themselves; in sandy places of the Middle\nGreat Plains the dainty lavender blue bonnets of the early wind-flower\nare trembling in the breeze. In the Northern Great Plains the snow is\nscarcely gone before the pasque flowers, first gladsome harbingers of\nthe lovely hosts to follow, troop forth over the bleak hillsides,\n\"very brave little flowers,\" the Cree Indians say, \"which come while\nit is still so cold that they must come wearing their fur coats.\" This\nis in allusion to the furry appearance of the pasque flower.\n\nAnd as the floral life manifests itself all the native faunal life is\nalso awakened to renewed activity. The migratory birds are seen and\nheard flying northward by relays in hundreds of thousands. The course\nof the Missouri River marks upon the earth the chart by which they\ndirect their northward flight toward their summer homing places. The\nArkansas River, the Kansas, the Platte, the Niobrara and the White\nRiver are relay stations of their journey, and the countless V-shaped\nflocks coming northward in long lines wheel, circling down until\ntracts many acres in extent are whitened by the great numbers of snow\ngeese, while the Canada geese in equal numbers darken other tracts;\nducks in great numbers are swimming on all the ponds and quiet\nstreams, and regiments and brigades of tall gray cranes are\ncontinually marching and counter-marching on land or sailing like\nfleets of monoplanes far up in the clear blue, whence float down to\nearth the vibrant notes of their bugle calls as they travel on into\nthe North. On the higher prairies at sunrise as the long rays of the\nred morning sun slant brightly across the land the booming, drum-like\nsound of hundreds of prairie chickens is heard at their assemblies,\nfor at this season they dance the mating dance at the sunrise hour.\nSoon the meadowlarks, \"the birds of promise,\" appear, singing their\nsongs of promise of good things for their friends, the human beings;\nand they set about the duties of housekeeping, building their lowly\nnests at the grass roots, and all about are scenes of brightness and\nsounds of gladness.\n\nIt was in such a country as this, then, that the people of the several\ndifferent native nations who were here before us lived and took joy of\nthe good gifts of Mother Earth and from their own activities, and in\nall the beauty of this good land. And they loved this land for all its\ngood gifts and for its beauty, and for these and for its mystery and\ngrandeur they paid reverence.\n\n\n[Illustration: {Map to Show Aboriginal Agriculture}]\n\nABORIGINAL AMERICAN AGRICULTURE\n\n_See Map. Vertical lines indicate region under agriculture by natural\nrainfall. Horizontal lines indicate region farmed under irrigation.\nBoth regions were settled in permanent villages._\n\nMost people of this country, of the now dominant European race, seldom\ngive a thought to the aboriginal economic conditions which prevailed\nhere before this country was Europeanised. They seldom think of the\nprecolumbian utilisation of the natural resources of this continent by\nthe people of the native American race. They do not consider the\nmyriad possible uses of plants and plant products by the people of the\nnative tribes. Most persons of our European race in arrogant\nself-satisfaction have not been accustomed to think of those of the\nAmerican race as agriculturists at all, much less have we given\nthought to the contributions made by that race to the world's\nagriculture. But according to the United States crop report of 1916\nthe value of the crops in this country alone, of plants which were\nfirst brought under cultivation by Indians, is $3,000,000,000.\n\nNo doubt the beginnings of agriculture, with our own European race and\nwith every race, was simply the gathering and storing of supplies of\nwild plant products, and proceeded by the stages of intentional\ndissemination and cultivation, selection and improvement of stock into\nmyriad varieties.\n\nWhen European explorers first visited the Atlantic shores of America\nthey found the native tribes to be agriculturists, living in villages\nof permanent houses, and with their cultivated fields stretching about\nthe villages. And as the explorers advanced into the interior of the\ncontinent they found similar conditions to prevail as far as to and\nincluding the Missouri River valley. So it was found that in all the\nregion from the Gulf of Mexico to the St. Lawrence River, the Great\nLakes and the region of the upper Missouri river all the various\nIndian nations were settled agriculturists. On the High Plains and in\nthe western mountains the tribes could not cultivate the soil because\nof the unfavorable conditions.\n\nThe crops cultivated by the tribes in the region above defined\nconsisted of corn, beans, squashes and pumpkins in many varieties,\ngourds, sunflower, and tobacco. According to the testimony of some of\nthe early explorers it appears that in the southeastern part of the\ncontinent they also cultivated sweet potatoes and peanuts. It may be\nsaid that the sunflower is native to the western plains and was there\nbrought under cultivation and improved to what we have as the\ncultivated sunflower and was distributed throughout the region from\nthe Great Plains to the Atlantic coast. The other crops above named\nwere introduced from the south many centuries ago from Mexico. Their\nwild ancestors grow there, which would indicate that there they were\nfirst brought into domestication by cultivation and improvement of the\nwild stock. All evidence from every source seems to point to the\nplateau of southeast Mexico as the place of origin of corn. It seems\nto have been originally a large, coarse wild grass with seeds which\nwere at least large enough to furnish an article of food when gathered\nin quantity. The botanical evidence would indicate that it was a\nbranched stalk and that all the branches and the terminal alike bore\nloose panicles of seeds, not in compact ears as we now know the corn\near. But ages of cultivation and selection by obscure and forgotten\ntribes of primitive farmers have produced a plant which bears its\nstaminate flowers generally on the terminal and its pistillate flowers\non side branches modified into what we know as the corn ear. Not only\nhad the above-described modification taken place in the process of\nlong ages of cultivation and selection, but the five great types of\ncorn had been formed and developed into innumerable varieties of each\ntype prior to the advent of white men on this continent. The five\ntypes to which I have referred are dent corn, flour corn, flint corn,\nsweet corn, and pop corn. Dent corn was obtained first by white men\nfrom the Indians of Virginia in the beginning of the seventeenth\ncentury at the first settlement of that colony by the English. The New\nEngland tribes had flint corn, flour corn, and sweet corn, and pop\ncorn, but not dent corn. The tribes of the upper Missouri River had\nflint corn, flour corn and sweet corn.\n\nThe Arikara and Mandan on the upper Missouri were the great\nagricultural tribes of this region. Omaha legend credits the Arikara\nwith first having corn and with having distributed to other tribes.\nAnd the common pictograph to represent the Arikara among all the\nsurrounding tribes was a conventionalised ear of corn. In the sign\nlanguage also the surrounding tribes designated the Arikara by a\nmotion of the hands depicting the act of shelling corn, or by the\nmotions of eating an ear of corn. Washington Matthews says: \"There are\nsome reasons for believing that the Arikara represent an older race of\nfarmers than the Mandan; for their religious ceremonies connected with\nthe planting are the more numerous, and they honor the corn with a\nspecies of worship.\" And it is the work of these northern tribes in\npast centuries in acclimating corn to the short northern summer with\nits cool nights which has made it possible for the states of North\nDakota, Montana and Minnesota now to be corn-producing states; for\nacclimation is a long and gradual process and was accomplished during\na northward migration from Mexico which occupied many centuries of\ntime.\n\nIn the arid region of what is now New Mexico and Arizona the work of\nagriculture was carried on by means of irrigation ages before the\ncoming of white men, and the old irrigation ditches made by the\nprimitive Indian farmers of that region may still be traced--irrigation\nworks made without other power than human muscles and without the use\nof iron; the shovels used being made of bone.\n\nThe world is indebted to the aboriginal American agriculturists not\nonly for all types of corn which we now have, but also for all kinds\nof beans, for pumpkins and squashes, cultivated sunflowers, sweet\npotatoes, peanuts, and many other crops among our present day staples.\n\nA great handicap to the primitive American farmer was the lack of iron\ntools; for they had no iron before the coming of white men. Another\nhandicap was the absence of horses. The horse was not native to the\nwestern hemisphere, and was first introduced by the Spaniards.\nPreviously the only beast of burden in North America was the dog. So\nthe cultivation of the ground was entirely handwork; and the tool most\nin use was a hoe made from the shoulderblade of the buffalo or of the\nelk. One may imagine the immense labor which was required to develop\nand extend the above-named crops over the continent, acclimated and\nready to our hand when we arrived in the New World.\n\n\nTHE EARTH-LODGE\n\nAs an example of the modifying power of geographic influence exercised\nupon the arts, we may consider the style of architecture or\ndomiciliary structure prevailing in the Plains region. In each\ngeographic province, which also constitutes a culture area, the style\nof housing is different according to natural resources and climatic\nconditions. In the Plains area the permanent dwelling was the\nearth-covered structure; while the temporary dwelling was the skin\ntent.\n\nThe earth-covered house seems to be an evolution from the thatched\nhouse of the southern plains, exemplified in the dwellings of the\nWichitas. Farther north the exigencies of the climate suggested the\naddition of an earth covering.\n\nAll the nations and tribes of the Missouri, of whatever racial stock,\nemployed the same style of dwelling. In order to effect the\nconstruction of an earth-covered house, a circle of the desired\ndiameter was stripped off from the surface soil. Four tall, strong\nforked posts were set in the center about 8 or 10 feet apart in a\nquadrangle. Beams were laid on these forks. Outside of the center\nposts a circle of shorter posts was set and beams laid in their forks.\nRafters were laid from the lower to the upper beams. A wall of timbers\nwas leaned up against the circle of lower beams, the base of the\nleaning timbers resting upon the ground. An opening was left at the\neast, and here was made a vestibule 6 to 14 feet long.\n\nTimbers were laid upon the rafters, willow poles were laid upon the\ntimbers, and a thatch of dry grass upon these poles. A covering of\nearth was now built up about the walls and over the roof to a total\nthickness of about 2 feet, making, when complete, a dome-shaped\nstructure.\n\nAll structural timbers and poles were fastened by tying with ropes of\nraw hide or of basswood or elm fiber.\n\nAn opening of several feet in diameter was left at the top of the dome\nfor a skylight, ventilator, and smoke-escape. The fireplace was at the\ncenter of the earth floor; the sleeping compartments were ranged about\nnext to the wall. The altar was at the west side, opposite the\ndoorway.\n\nThe diameter of the house varied, according to the needs of the family\nwhich occupied it, from 30 to 50 or 60 feet; the height from 15 to 20\nfeet. This was a family domicile and not a community or tenement\nhouse. Such family dwellings were clustered in villages. The evidences\nof many such village sites may be seen throughout all the region of\nthe Missouri River drainage basin. Their fields of agricultural crops\nwere cultivated in alluvial valleys usually near the villages,\nalthough sometimes, when suitable land was not nearby, their fields\nmight be at some distance.\n\nThe earth-covered house probably originated with the tribes of Caddoan\nstock, that is, the Pawnee and Arikara, and was adopted by the tribes\nof other stocks upon their migration into the Missouri River region.\n\nThe Pawnee had very elaborate ceremonies and traditions connected with\nthe earth-lodge. The earlier star cult is recognized in the\nsignification attached to the four central posts. Each stood for a\nstar--the Morning Star, and the Evening Star, symbols of the male and\nfemale cosmic forces, and the North and South stars.\n\nIn the rituals of the Pawnee the earth-lodge is made typical of man's\nabode on the earth; the floor is the plain, the wall the horizon, the\ndome the arching sky, the central opening the zenith, the\ndwelling-place of Tirawa, the invisible power which gives life to all\ncreatures.\n\nIn the poetic thought of the Pawnee the earth was regarded as Mother\nand was so called because from the earth's bounty mankind is fed. To\ntheir imagination the form of the earth-lodge suggests the figure of\nspeech by which these human dwellings symbolised the breasts of Mother\nEarth; for here man is nourished and nurtured, he is fed and sheltered\nand blessed with tenderness of life. Here he knows love and warmth and\ngentleness.\n\nHerewith is given a metrical translation of an ancient Pawnee\nritualistic hymn. This hymn is extracted from the ritual of a\nceremonial of great age in the Pawnee nation, and there were similar\nceremonials among all the tribes and nations of the Plains area. The\nfull ritual from which this is taken is published in the Twenty-second\nAnnual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, part 2.\n\nHaving given the description of the structure of the earth-lodge, the\nallusions in the following hymn will be readily understood:\n\nHYMN TO THE SUN\n\n    I\n\n    Now behold: hither comes the ray of our father Sun; it cometh\n        over all the land, passeth in the lodge, us to touch, and\n        give us strength.\n\n    II\n\n    Now behold: where alights the ray of our father Sun; it touches\n        lightly on the rim, the place above the fire, whence the\n        smoke ascends on high.\n\n    III\n\n    Now behold: softly creeps the ray of our father Sun; now o'er the\n        rim it creeps to us, climbs down within the lodge; climbing\n        down, it comes to us.\n\n    IV\n\n    Now behold: nearer comes the ray of our father Sun; it reaches now\n        the floor and moves within the open space, walking there, the\n        lodge about.\n\n    V\n\n    Now behold where has passed the ray of our father Sun; around the\n        lodge the ray has passed and left its blessing there, touching\n        us, each one of us.\n\n    VI\n\n    Now behold: softly climbs the ray of our father Sun; it upward\n        climbs, and o'er the rim it passes from the place whence the\n        smoke ascends on high.\n\n    VII\n\n    Now behold on the hills the ray of our father Sun; it lingers\n        there as loath to go, while all the plain is dark. Now has\n        gone the ray from us.\n\n    VIII\n\n    Now behold: lost to us the ray of our father Sun; beyond our sight\n        the ray has gone, returning to the place whence it came to\n        bring us strength.\n\n\nDESCRIPTION OF THE TIPI\n\nThe temporary dwelling used for traveling was a conical tent made from\nbuffalo skins erected on a frame of poles. It commonly had about\ntwenty poles averaging twenty-five feet in length. The poles were set\nin a circle about fifteen feet in diameter, held together above by a\nhide rope wound round the whole set of poles about four feet from the\nupper ends. Three poles were first tied together, then the others were\nlaid in the forks of these, then the rope was passed round all of them\nand tied. The cover was from fifteen to eighteen buffalo hides cut and\nfitted so that when sewn together with sinew thread, they formed a\nsingle large sheet nearly semi-circular in shape. This was lifted into\nplace by a special pole at the back of the structure, then the ends\nwere brought around to the front and fastened by means of eight or ten\nsmall wooden pins at intervals from the door to the crossing of the\npoles. The bottom was kept in place by pegs about two feet apart\naround the circle. The door was usually a piece of skin stretched over\nan elliptical frame.\n\nAt the top an opening was left for ventilation and outlet for the\nsmoke of the fire. The draft was regulated by two flaps or wings\nsupported each on a movable pole slanted alongside the tipi with its\nbase on the ground and its top fastened to the apex of the smoke-flap.\nThis held the draft open to the side away from the wind and was moved\naccording to the changes of the wind so as always to be open to the\nlee side.\n\nThe beds were at the sides and the back of the tipi. Decorated\ncurtains above the beds kept off any drops of rain which might come\nthrough the smoke-hole in rainy weather. The ground was the floor, the\npart near the beds sometimes cut off from the open space by a hedge of\ninterwoven twigs.\n\nIn warm weather the bottom of the tipi was raised to allow the breeze\nto pass through. In cold weather the bottom was banked with grass to\nkeep out the wind.\n\nThe camp was arranged in a circle, each band of the tribe having its\nown proper segment of the circle, which was relatively the same\nthrough immemorial generations, and each family in each band had its\nproper place in the segment, so that one coming into camp after\nnightfall, although he might not have been in camp before, could thus\nunfailingly find his way to his own family.\n\nOn account of its exact adaptability to prairie life, the tipi was\ntaken as the model of the army tent which bears the name of General\nSibley, and is used now by our army.\n\n\nAN OMAHA GHOST STORY\n\nIn the springtime a little child had died and was buried on the hill\nsoutheast of the village. The hill was green with the prairie grass\nand spangled with the beautiful wild flowers of the prairie. On the\nnorth and east the forest ascends the slope from the Missouri River\nvalley to the crest of the hill, partly encircling the burial place\nwith a rampart of green trees in which were numbers of happy birds,\nbusy with their nest-building and tuneful with their joyful songs.\n\nNot long after the death of this little child the people went upon the\nannual summer buffalo hunt to the Sand Hill region many miles away to\nthe west from the village. As the people drew away from the familiar\nhome scenes of the village the mother was strongly affected by a\nfeeling of sadness and grief for her little one which she had to leave\nalone in its lone and narrow bed upon the hill. When the people made\ncamp and the evening meal was prepared this mother was so burdened\nwith grief for her child that she could not eat and went away to\ngrieve alone. When she left the camp she was so drawn by yearning for\nher little one that she walked on and on all night toward the home\nvillage. In the morning, weak and weary, she was back in the deserted\nvillage. All was still. Not a person and not a dog was there. She went\ninto her own house. Then she went through the village to other houses.\nAt some deserted fireplace she happened to find some coals; so she was\nable to kindle a fire and cook a bit of food. She sat in her house and\nwailed for her baby. After a time she heard sounds. She listened and\nthere seemed to be whispers and murmurs all about her. And so it\ncontinued day after day. At first she saw nothing, but heard the\nmurmurs and whispers, and gradually she could almost understand what\nthe whispers said, especially when she fasted. She made out enough to\nknow that it was the spirits of the departed, who, in the absence of\nthe living, returned to occupy the houses during the absence of the\npeople.\n\nAfter a time she became able to understand more of what the ghosts\nsaid, and finally she could talk with them in their own manner. Their\nspeech was not like the speech of living people; there was no voice,\nbut slight whispering sounds, as one sometimes hears among the grass\non the prairie when all is still, or among the leaves of growing corn,\nor the light rustling of the cottonwood leaves on a quiet evening.\n\nAt first the woman saw nothing, though she could hear the whispering\nspeech like the breathing of those who sleep. Later she could see, as\nit seemed, feet moving about on the floor, but nothing above the feet.\nAs she looked she could see nothing between herself and the opposite\nwalls of the house. Then, after a time, she seemed to see not only the\nmoccasins but the leggings above them as far as the knees, but she\nnever saw any more. And thus it was with her during all the time she\ndwelt there alone with the spirits until her people returned to the\nvillage.\n\nThis time it happened the people did not return for a year. When the\nwoman had disappeared from the camp on their first night out the\npeople supposed she had gone out somewhere to be alone to weep and\npray, but when she did not return they sought for her, and not being\nable to find any trace of her they supposed some accident had befallen\nher and that she was dead. They were much surprised to find her at\nhome when they returned to the village at the end of a year. But when\nthey spoke to her they found that she was mute; she moved her lips,\nbut no sound came. After some days she recovered speech and again took\nup her accustomed life with her people.\n\nDuring the year in which she lived alone in the deserted village she\nhad planted and harvested a crop and had lived by that and by what\nfood may have been left in the storage places and from the wild\nproducts which she gathered.\n\n\nAN OMAHA HERO SONG\n\nAll American tribes had many different classes of songs. One class of\nsongs was in praise of tribal heroes. There were also songs of\nchivalry, celebrating brave and generous deeds. To this class belongs\nthe one given herewith. It must be said in explanation that all Indian\nsongs are very brief. They comprise only a line or two and the meaning\nof the song is known by the story which is its foundation. To\nunderstand this particular song it must be explained that a common\nmilitary custom among the tribes was to award certain honors for\ncertain exploits, just as we see in our own armies the awarding of the\nVictoria Cross, the Distinguished Service Medal, the Military Medal,\nthe Croix de Guerre, etc. In the Omaha tribe the highest military\nhonor was awarded for getting near enough to the enemy to touch an\nenemy body, either with a lance, a bow, or any object in the hand.\n\nThere was an old warrior of this tribe, named Yellow-wood Bow, who had\nfought well and won many honors in his time. But he was now old and no\nlonger able to fight for his people. But one day when an attack had\nbeen made on his people by the enemy and the young men were fighting\nvalorously, the old man went out walking feebly toward the field of\nconflict to see the battle, for he was unable to sit quietly in the\nvillage while the fighting was going on. It happened that as he\napproached the battlefield two young men were just about to count\ntheir honors by striking with a lance the body of a slain enemy when\none saw the old warrior, Yellow-wood Bow approaching. He held back and\nspoke to his comrade in the words \"Hold! Yellow-wood Bow is coming!\"\nSo the young men gave over the opportunity of counting the honor for\nthemselves in order that the highly respected old warrior might have\nthis one more chance to gain an honor, one more honor to his long list\nof honors. And the generosity of these two young men is praised in the\nsong:\n\n    \"Hold! Yellow-wood Bow is coming!\"\n\nIn singing this song not only do the people award praise and glory to\nbravery and courage, but the virtue of renunciation shown by the young\nmen also receives its measure of praise. The song has the purpose to\ninculcate emulation of bravery and also of generosity and\nunselfishness of spirit.\n\n\n\n\nStories of Plant People\n\n\nSACRED TREES\n\nA people living under natural conditions in communion with nature,\nwill carefully note the appearance of natural objects in their\nenvironment. They become acquainted with the various aspects of the\nlandscape and of the living things, plants and animals in their\nchanges through the seasons, in storm and calm, in activity and in\nrepose. Becoming thus intimately acquainted with the life about them\nthe people will come to regard some of the more notable forms with a\nfeeling akin to that which they have towards persons, and hence they\ncome to have place in folk stories, in reasoned discourse and in\nceremonies of religion.\n\nCommonly throughout the region of the Missouri River was to be seen\nthe cottonwood, the willows of several species, and the cedar or\njuniper. The appearance and habits of these trees impressed themselves\npowerfully upon the mind and imagination of the Indian folk.\n\nThe cedar or juniper was wonderful because it was ever green; unlike\nother trees it appeared indifferent to frost and to heat, but alike in\nwinter and summer retained its leaves. Also it appeared to be\nwithdrawn, solitary and silent, standing dark and still, like an\nIndian standing upon a hill with his robe drawn over his head in\nprayer and meditation. Thus it gave the suggestion, and had the\nappearance of being in communion with the High Powers.\n\nLeaves and twigs of cedar were burned as incense in ceremonial rituals\nin order that evil influences might be driven away.\n\nWillows were always found growing along watercourses, as though they\nhad some duty or function in the world in connection with water, the\nelement so immediately and constantly needful to man and to all other\nliving things. Water was not only imperatively necessary for vivifying\nand reanimating all living things, but was an active agent in\nprocesses of change and transmutation. In cases of disease the evil\ninfluences which plagued the body might be driven out and thus health\nmight be restored through the use of water transformed into vapor by\nmeans of heat. So the vapor bath was used. Also if a man contemplated\nthe undertaking of any serious project, any dangerous mission, or any\nsolemn enterprise, it was important first to prepare himself by\npurification, by means of the vapor bath, from all evil influences.\nThe framework of the vapor bath lodge was made of willow poles, bent\nand tied with their bark.\n\nThe willow was also mystically connected with that greatest change of\nall, the departure of the spirit from the body, the change which we\ncall death. Willow twigs had certain uses in funeral rites.\n\nThe cottonwood was found growing over a widely extended range, under\ndiverse climatic conditions, appearing always self-reliant, showing\nprodigious fecundity, and having wonderful means of propagation. It\nprovided its seed, produced in enormous number, with a device by which\nthey traveled on the wind to far places and so became widely\ndisseminated in all directions, traveling up-stream or down-stream,\nand even across the plains and prairies to other streams where the new\ngeneration might establish itself. But besides this admirable\nprovision to insure the perpetuation of its kind it had also another\nmeans of propagation; though by this means it could move only\ndown-stream. This method of propagation is by the making of cuttings\nor planting slips from its own twigs. It is well known that the\ngardener may make artificial cuttings of many kinds of trees and\nplants, and so increase his stock. But the cottonwood, alone among\ntrees, performs this operation itself. At the beginning of autumn the\ncottonwood trees form layers of cork cells which gradually wedge off\npart of its twigs from the parent branch, thus covering and healing\nthe wound of separation and also covering and healing the base of the\nseparated twig so that it falls off alive and protected from loss of\nsap.\n\nFalling thus to the ground just about the time that autumn rains are\nabout to begin, they are ready to be carried away by the rising waters\nof the streams and may be thus planted in a mud or sand bank further\ndown stream, ready to take root and grow in the springtime.\n\nIn the springtime the opening of the cottonwood buds and pushing out\nof the young leaves, even when chilly nights follow the bright breezy\ndays and the rapid growth of these lustrous leaves, brightly dancing\nin the spring winds, their brilliant sheen and active movement\nreflecting the splendour of the sun like the dancing, glinting ripples\nof a lake, suggest the joy and eagerness and energy of movement of all\nreturning life.\n\nThe foliage of the cottonwood is peculiar and remarkable so that it\nmay be said the air is never so still that there is not motion of\ncottonwood leaves. Even in still and sultry summer afternoons, and at\nnight when all else was still, ever they could hear the rustling of\ncottonwood leaves by the passage of little vagrant currents of air.\nSecret messages seemed ever to be passing in soft whispers among the\ncottonwood leaves. And the winds themselves are the bearers of the\nmessages and commands of the Higher Powers, so there was constant\nreminder of the mystic character of this tree.\n\nThe cottonwood was, among trees, the symbol of fidelity, one of the\nfour great virtues inculcated by the ethical code of the people of the\nDakota nation.\n\nSo from all these considerations, it might be expected that this tree\nshould have an important place in the rituals of the people for many\ngenerations associated with it. And so it had.\n\nThe Sacred Pole of the Omaha nation was made of the cottonwood. The\nSacred Pole was an object of the greatest veneration to the people of\nthat nation, similarly as the Ark of the Covenant was sacred to the\nHebrew nation.\n\nThe Sacred Tree, the central object of the Sun Dance, the most\nmomentous religious ritual of the Dakota nation, was a cottonwood. The\ntree which should be chosen to be felled and brought into camp and set\nup in the lodge erected for the performance of this ritual, must be a\ngrowing cottonwood tree, the base of whose trunk is not less than two\nspans in circumference. The tree must be straight and forked at a\ndistance from the ground of about four times the measure of the\noutstretched arms from hand to hand.\n\nTwigs and bark of cottonwood were burned as incense to ward against\nthe scheming of Anog Ite, the spiteful malevolent being who foments\nscandals, strife and infidelity.\n\nSuch then, were some of the relations in the philosophic thought, the\nreligious conceptions and the sentiments of the people of the Dakota\nnation in regard to these three species of trees.\n\n\nTHE SONG OF THE PASQUE FLOWER\n\nThe pasque flower (=Pulsatilla patens=), has a very extensive range\nupon the northern prairies, reaching from about latitude 43 degrees\nnorth to the Great Slave Lake above 60 degrees north latitude. It is\nthe earliest flower to put forth its blossoms in the springtime, often\nappearing before all the snow is gone. Its bluish purple flowers\ngladden the bare brown hillsides with great profusion of bloom, in\nearnest of returning life. For this reason it has a strong hold upon\nthe affections of all the native tribes throughout all its extended\nrange. The plant is closely related to the anemone, which is sometimes\ncalled the wind flower.\n\nThe people of the Dakota nation have a number of pretty little folk\nstories concerning the pasque flower. One story is that in the long\nago, whenever any of the people happened to pass by where these\nflowers were blooming they tried to show the friendliness which they\nfelt for human beings by nodding their heads in the chilly spring\nwind, showing their smiling faces and saying, \"Good morning! Good\nmorning!\" But the people passed them unheeding. They became abashed at\nthis indifference, so nowadays still feeling friendly towards the\npeople in spite of such rebuffs, they bashfully turn their heads to\none side as they nod and call their kindly greetings in their sweet\nlow voice.\n\nThere is another pretty conceit connected with the pasque flower.\nIndians generally are keenly observant of all things in nature, and\nreverent towards them. They feel reverence for all living creatures,\nwhether plant or animal. They have songs and stories about most of the\nspecies of plants and animals with which they are acquainted, the\nspecific song being the expression of the life or soul of the species\nto which it pertains. The song of the pasque flower, translated out of\nthe Dakota language into English runs something like this:\n\n    \"I wish to encourage the children of other flower nations\n    Which are now appearing over all the land;\n    So while they waken from sleep and rise from the bosom\n    Of Mother Earth, I stand here old and gray-headed.\"\n\n[Illustration: Map of Geographical Distribution of Pasque Flower]\n\nThe saying: \"I wish to encourage the children of other flower\nnations,\" refers to the very early prevernal blossoming of this plant\nand its consequent ripening while the other flower species (nations)\nare just peeping through the ground. The entire plant is hairy, and\nwhen mature its seed head is plumose and white, similar to the\nclematis head, suggesting the head of a very old man with long white\nhair. This explains the allusion in \"I stand here old and\ngray-headed.\"\n\nWhen in springtime an old man of the Dakota nation first finds one of\nthese flowers it reminds him of his childhood, when he wandered over\nthe hills at play as free from sorrow and care as the birds and the\nflowers. He sits down near the flower, upon the lap of Mother Earth,\ntakes out his pipe and fills it with tobacco. Then he reverently holds\nthe pipe towards the earth, then towards the sky, then towards the\nnorth, the east, the south and the west. After this act of silent\ninvocation and thanksgiving, he smokes. Tobacco was sacred and was\nused ceremonially as an incense. The pipe was therefore a sort of\ncenser, and was accordingly treated with respect and reverence. In\nsmoking, Indians did not seize the pipestem in the teeth. Such an act\nwould be sacrilegious. The mouthpiece of the pipestem was gently\npresented to the lips and the breath drawn through. By this\ninspiration the smoker united the mystery of the tobacco, the mystery\nof fire and the mystery of the breath of life.\n\nWhile the old man sits by the flower and smokes he meditates upon all\nthe changing scenes of his lifetime; his joys and sorrows, his\nyouthful hopes, his accomplishments, his disappointments, and upon the\nguidance of the Unseen Powers accorded to him thus far upon the\njourney of life, and he is encouraged to believe that he will be\nguided to the end of life's journey \"beyond the fourth hill\" of life;\nas he has been guided over the hill of childhood, the hill of youth,\nand the hill of manhood's prime, that he will also be guided over the\nlast hill, the hill of old age.\n\nAfter finishing his pipe he empties the ashes reverently upon the\nground near the pasque flower which he has been contemplating. Then he\nrises and plucks the flower prayerfully and carries it carefully home\nto show to his grandchildren, singing as he goes, the song of the\npasque flower, which he learned as a child and which he now teaches to\nhis grandchildren, commending to them the example of the flower in its\ncourage and endurance and its faithfulness.\n\nTHE SONG OF THE PASQUE FLOWER\n\n  By Rev. Ignatius Forster, O. S. B.\n  Mount Marty, Yankton, South Dakota.\n  February 1, 1921.\n\n    Lovely Pasque Flower,\n    Herald of Spring,\n    Proclaiming the hour,\n    Gladly to sing.\n\n    Gently thou greetest\n    The wintry sun;\n    Boldly thou peepest\n    If snow is gone.\n\n    Callest thy playmates\n    Who still do sleep:\n    \"Arise, lo, spring waits!\n    No longer weep.\"\n\n    Slowly they waken,\n    Lowly they sigh:\n    \"Wasn't that beckon\n    Pasque Flower's cry?\"\n\n    They rise in raiments\n    Of colors bright;\n    Pasque Flower's garments\n    Are hoary white.\n\n    Noble thy preaching,\n    Pasque flower brave;\n    \"Work,\" is thy teaching,\n    \"Unto the grave.\"\n\n    Lovely Pasque Flower,\n    Herald of Spring\n    Proclaiming the hour\n    To work and sing.\n\nFather Forster was moved to write this delightful little song upon\nreading one evening, (February 1, 1921), the foregoing prose account\nof the Dakota (Sioux) Song of the Pasque Flower or Hoksi-Cekpa Wahca.\n\n\nTHE PRAIRIE ROSE\n\nThe prairie was gray and drab, no beautiful flowers brightened it, it\nhad only dull greenish-gray herbs and grasses, and Mother Earth's\nheart was sad because her robe was lacking in beauty and brightness.\nThen the Holy Earth, our mother, sighed and said, \"Ah, my robe is not\nbeautiful, it is sombre and dull. I wish it might be bright and\nbeautiful with flowers and splendid with color. I have many beautiful,\nsweet and dainty flowers in my heart. I wish to have them upon my\nrobe. I wish to have upon my robe flowers blue like the clear sky in\nfair weather. I wish also to have flowers white like the pure snow of\nwinter and like the high white cloudlets of a quiet summer day. I wish\nalso to have brilliant yellow flowers like the splendor of the sun at\nnoon of a summer day. And I wish to have delicate pink flowers like\nthe color of the dawn light of a joyous day in springtime. I would\nalso have flowers red like the clouds at evening when the sun is going\ndown below the western edge of the world. All these beautiful flowers\nare in my heart, but I am sad when I look upon my old dull, gray and\nbrown robe.\"\n\nThen a sweet little pink flower said, \"Do not grieve mother, I will go\nup upon your robe and beautify it.\" So the little pink flower came up\nfrom the heart of Mother Earth to be upon the sad prairie of her\nmother's robe.\n\nNow when the Wind Demon saw the pink flower there he said, \"Indeed she\nis pretty, but I will not have her trespassing in my playground.\" So\nthe Wind Demon rushed at her shouting and roaring and blew out her\nlife, but her spirit returned to the heart of Mother Earth.\n\nAnd when the other flowers ventured, one after another to come out\nupon the prairie which was Mother Earth's robe, the Wind Demon\ndestroyed them also and their spirits returned to the heart of Holy\nMother Earth.\n\nAt last Prairie Rose offered to go and brighten the appearance of\nMother Earth's robe, the prairie. Mother Earth said fondly, \"Yes,\ndear, sweet child, I will let you go. You are so lovely and your\nbreath is so sweet, it may be that the Wind Demon will be charmed by\nyou, and that he will let you remain on his ground.\" And Prairie Rose\nsaid, \"Yes, dear mother, I will go, for I desire that my mother's robe\nshall be beautiful. But if the Wind Demon should blow out my life my\nspirit shall return home to the heart of my mother.\"\n\nSo Prairie Rose made the toilsome journey up through the dark ground\nand came out upon the sad gray prairie. And as she was going Mother\nEarth said in her heart, \"Oh, I hope the Wind Demon will allow her to\nlive for I wish my robe to be beautiful!\"\n\nNow when the Wind Demon saw Prairie Rose he rushed at her shouting and\nsaid, \"Indeed, though she is pretty I shall not allow her to be upon\nmy ground. I will blow out her life.\" So he came on roaring and\ndrawing his breath in strong gusts. Just then he caught the fragrance\nof the breath of Prairie Rose. \"Ah,\" he said, \"how sweet her breath\nis! Why, I do not have it in my heart to blow out the life of such a\nbeautiful little maiden whose breath is so sweet! I love her. She\nshall stay here with me. And I must make my voice gentle and sing a\nmelodious song, for I wish not to frighten her with my awful noise.\"\n\nSo he became quiet and breathed gentle breezes which passed over the\nprairie grasses whispering and humming little songs of gladness.\n\nThen the other flowers also came up through the dark ground and out\nupon the dull, gray prairie and made it bright and joyous with their\npresence. And the wind came to love all the flowers and the grasses.\n\nAnd so the robe of our Mother Earth became beautiful because of the\nloveliness and the sweet breath of the Prairie Rose.\n\nSometimes the Wind forgets his gentle songs and becomes loud and\nboisterous, but he does not harm a person whose robe is ornamented\nwith the color of Prairie Rose.\n\n\nTHE SONG OF THE WILD ROSE\n\nThe following is a translation into English out of the Dakota language\nby Dr. A. McG. Beede, of an old Dakota song. The people of the Dakota\nnation, and other tribes also, think of the various plant and animal\nspecies as having each their own songs. With these people music, song,\nis an expression of the soul and not a mere artistic or artful\nexercise.\n\nWhere the word \"Mother\" appears in the following song it refers to\n\"Mother Earth,\" a living, conscious, holy being in Indian thought. The\nearth was truly venerated and loved by these people, who considered\nthemselves not as owners or potential owners of any part of the land,\nbut as being owned by the land which gave them birth and which\nsupplied their physical needs from her bounty and satisfied their love\nof the beautiful by the beauty of her face in the landscape.\n\nThe trilled musical syllables at the close of the last two stanzas\nexpress the spontaneous joy which comes to a person who has\n\"life-appreciation of Holy Earth.\"\n\nThe first stanza is an introduction by the narrator; not a part of the\n\"Song of the Wild Rose.\" The remaining stanzas are the song itself, of\nthe Wild Rose.\n\n    I will tell you of something I know,\n    And you can't half imagine how good;\n    It's the song of wild roses that grow\n    In the land the Dakota-folk love.\n\n    From the heart of the Mother we come,\n    The kind Mother of Life and of All;\n    And if ever you think she is dumb,\n    You should know that flowers are her songs.\n\n    And all creatures that live are her songs,\n    And all creatures that die are her songs,\n    And the winds blowing by are her songs,\n    And she wants you to sing all her songs.\n\n    Like the purple in Daydawn we come,\n    And our hearts are so brimful of joy\n    That whene'er we're not singing we hum\n    Ti-li-li-li-i, ta-la-la-loo, ta-la-la-loo!\n\n    When a maiden is ready to wed\n    Pin wild roses all over her dress,\n    And a rose in the hair of her head;\n    Put new moccasins onto her feet.\n\n    Then the heart of the Mother will give\n    Her the songs of her own heart to sing;\n    And she'll sing all the moons she may live,\n    Ti-li-li-li-i, ta-la-la-loo, ta-la-la-loo!\n\n\nUSE OF THE GROUND BEAN BY INDIANS\n\nThere is a native wild bean found growing over an area of wide\ndistribution in North America. The botanical name of this bean is\n=Falcata comosa=. In the Dakota language it is called maka ta omnicha,\nwhich means \"bean of the earth;\" in the Pawnee language it is called\nati-kuraru, which means \"earth bean.\" The plant grows in dense masses\nover shrubbery and other vegetation in some places, especially along\nbanks and at the edge of timber.\n\nIt forms two kinds of branches, bearing two forms of flower, producing\ntwo forms of fruits. Leafy branches climb up over the shrubbery, but\nunder these, in the shade, prostrate on the earth, starting out from\nthe base of the main stem, are leafless, colorless branches, forming a\nnetwork on the surface of the ground. The tiny inconspicuous blossoms\nborne on these prostrate branches are self-pollinated and push into\nthe leaf mold and soft soil, and there each produces a single large\nbean closely clothed by a thin filmy pod or husk. These beans which\nare formed in the earth are about the size of Lima beans. Upon the\nupper, leafy branches are borne showy, purplish flowers appearing like\nsmall bean blossoms. From these blossoms are produced small bean pods\nabout a half inch to an inch in length. These pods contain each from\nthree to four or five small, hard, mottled beans about an eighth of an\ninch long.\n\nThe large beans produced in the ground are desirable for food. They\nare of good flavor when cooked. The small beans of the upper branches\nare also good for food, but they are so small and difficult to harvest\nthat not much use is made of them by the people. The large beans\nformed in the earth would also be hard to gather but for the help of\ncertain little animals called voles, or wood mice, or bean mice. The\nvoles dig the large beans and store them in considerable quantities in\nstorage places which they hollow out in the ground and which they\ncover over with sticks and leaves and earth. In these places the\nlittle animals put away sometimes a peck or a half bushel of beans.\n\nThrough all the extensive range of =Falcata comosa=, the ground-bean,\nit was sought by the people of the various Indian tribes to add to\ntheir food supply. The people said they did not take away all the\nbeans from the voles as it would be wicked to loot the animals' food\nstores and leave the animals to starve after they had worked to gather\nthem. But they would take a part of the store, in a manner making\nthemselves beggars to the little animals. The Omahas have a saying\nthat \"The bean mouse is a very industrious fellow, he even helps human\nbeings.\"\n\nBut in all accounts I have had from the people of the Dakota nation\nthe women have always said that they never took away any beans from\nthe voles without making some payment in kind. They said it would be\nwicked and unjust to take the beans from the animals and give nothing\nin return. So they said they always put back some corn, some suet, or\nsome other food material in exchange for the beans they took out. In\nthat way they said both they and the little animals obtained a variety\nin their food supply. They said they thought it very wrong to deprive\nthe animals of their store without such payment, but that it was fair\nif they gave a fair exchange.\n\nThe people of the Dakota nation speak of the wood-mice or voles by the\ndesignation of \"Hintunka people.\" In the Dakota theory of the universe\nthey personify the maternal power and spirit by the name Hunka. Hunka\nis the mystic All-Mother in nature, the mother of all living beings,\nplant or animal, which of course includes mankind. For they do not\nthink of mankind as being apart from nature and the community of life\nin the world.\n\nThe Dakotas have a moral story which is told as follows:\n\nA certain woman went and plundered the store-house of some Hintunka\npeople. She robbed them of their entire food supply without even\ngiving them anything at all in return. The next night this woman who\nhad robbed the Hintunka people of all their food supply heard a woman\ndown in the woods crying and saying \"Oh, what will my poor children\ndo?\" It was the voice of one of the Hintunka women crying over her\nhungry children.\n\nThe same night the woman who had done the wrong had a dream. In her\ndreams Hunka appeared to her and said \"You should not have taken the\nfood from the Hintunka people. Take back the food to them, or else\nyour own children shall cry for food.\"\n\nThe next morning the woman told her husband what Hunka had said to\nher. Her husband said \"You would better do as Hunka tells you to do.\"\nBut the woman was hard-hearted and perverse and would not restore to\nthe Hintunka people the food of which she had robbed them, neither\nwould she give them anything in exchange.\n\nA short time after this a great prairie fire came, driven by a strong\nwind, and swept over the place where this unjust woman and her family\nwere camping. The fire burned up her tipi and everything it contained,\nand they barely escaped with their lives. They had no food nor shelter\nand they had to wander on the prairie destitute.\n\nThe bean-mouse and its works are regarded with respect, admiration and\nreverence by the people of the various Indian tribes which benefit by\nits labor. They feel very resentful towards any seeming tendency to\nmeddle unwarrantedly with its winter store-houses. Upon hearing of the\ndesire of a white man to make a photograph of such a store-house an\nold man of the Teton-Dakota on the Standing Rock Reservation expressed\nbitter resentment and declared himself ready to fight to prevent such\na thing from being done. He said \"We have enough misfortune already,\ncounting the war and the epidemic of influenza, without inviting\nfurther disaster by such sacrilege.\"\n\nIn the month of November, after the bean mice have harvested their\nbeans and laid them up in their store-houses for the winter, the\npeople often go out alone and sit near some such store-house in silent\nmeditation on the ways of Providence. At that time of the year the\nmissionaries and priests are often pained and puzzled because of the\nabsence of some of their church members from Sunday service or from\nmass on Sunday morning. They do not know, and likely would not\nappreciate or understand the feeling which has caused these people to\ngo out at such a time, not to the church but out to the quiet place\nunder the open heaven where they sit upon the lap of Mother Earth to\nreverently and thankfully meditate upon the mysteries of nature and\nthe wonderful provisions of God in nature.\n\nAt such times they like to bring in to their homes or to their\nchurches some object connected with the bean mouse and his marvelous\nways and work. If they find some beans which the bean mouse has\nspilled in transportation to his store-house, or a tree-leaf which\nthey suppose he has used as his sled for carrying his beans from field\nto store-house, they will bring in such objects and lay them up\nreverently in the home or in the church with devout regard for\nprayerful meditation. Indians say that the bean mouse uses a leaf of\nthe boxelder tree, or sometimes another kind of leaf of suitable\nshape, as a sled for gathering his stores.\n\nAt one time an old blind man of the Teton-Dakota on the Standing Rock\nReservation on the upper Missouri River went out to the vicinity of a\nvole's store-house to meditate and pray. A man saw him and quietly\napproached within hearing distance. As the old man was blind he did\nnot perceive the approach of the observer. Thinking himself alone in\nthe presence of the powers of nature, this devout old man, gave\nexpression to his religious feeling in the following prayer:\n\n\"Thou who art holy, pity me and help me I pray. Thou art small, but\nthou art sufficiently large for thy place in the world. And thou art\nsufficiently strong also for thy work, for Holy Wakantanka constantly\nstrengthens thee. Thou art wise, for the wisdom of holiness is with\nThee constantly.\n\n\"May I be wise in all my heart continually, for if an attitude of holy\nwisdom leads me on, then this shadow-troubled life shall come into\nconstant light.\"\n\n\nTIPSIN: AN IMPORTANT NATIVE FOOD PLANT\n\nOver all the dry prairies of the Great Plains region there grows a\nplant (=Psoralea esculenta=), which was an important item of the food\nsupplies of all the tribes of the region. It is a species which\nbelongs botanically to the Bean Family. The part used for food is the\nlarge root, which is stored with proteid and starchy matter. The root\nis about the size of a hen's egg. The stem of the plant is bushy and\nbranched; the leaves are trifoliate. The leaves and stems of the plant\nare hairy, giving it a grayish-green appearance. The flowers are set\nin close racemes at the ends of the branches, and are bluish in color\nand of bean blossom shape.\n\nIn the journals of the early travellers mention of this plant is\noften found under the name of \"pomme blanche\" or \"pomme de prairie,\"\nthe name by which the French traders and trappers called it, for they\nlearned to live upon the native products of the land. English speaking\npeople coming later, and depending not so much on native products, did\nnot supply names for them, not considering them of enough importance.\nThe name which I have given it for a common English name is an\napproximation to, and an adaptation of the name of this plant in the\nDakota language.\n\nTipsin roots are gathered in June or early July. They were used fresh\nwhen gathered, and they were also gathered in quantity and peeled and\ndried for future use. The women gathered them by the use of digging\nsticks. They had their children with them to look for the plants while\nthey dug them. Because of the branching habit of the plant the mother\nwould say to her children, \"See, they point to each other. Now here is\none, notice the directions in which its arms point and you will find\nothers.\" So the children would start, each in the direction of one of\nthe branches, and of course, if they followed in any direction and\nkept close watch they would find another. The idea of the plants\npointing to each other kept the children's attention fixed.\n\n\nHOW THE PEOPLE OBTAINED THE PRECIOUS GIFT OF CORN\n\nAll the tribes which cultivated corn had legends accounting for its\nacquisition. Many of these are very interesting and beautiful. In the\nSacred Legends of the Omaha, of which account is given in \"The Omaha\nTribe,\" Twenty-seventh Annual Report of the Bureau of American\nEthnology, by Alice Fletcher and Francis La Flesche, occurs the\nfollowing legend of the finding of corn:\n\n\"Then a man in wandering about found some kernels, blue, and red, and\nwhite. He thought he had secured something of great value, so he\nconcealed them in a mound. One day he thought he would go to see if\nthey were safe. When he came to the mound he found it covered with\nstalks having ears bearing kernels of these colours. He took an ear of\neach kind and gave the rest to the people to experiment with. They\ntried it for food, found it good, and ever since have called it their\nlife. As soon as the people found the corn good, they thought to make\nmounds like that in which the kernels had been hid. So they took the\nshoulder blade of an elk and built mounds like the first and buried\nthe corn in them. So the corn grew and the people had abundant food.\"\n\nWhile the legend does not designate what tribe it was which first\nobtained corn, it is probably to be identified with the following\nfuller account which is also told in the Omaha Sacred Legends, and\nwhich recites that they first learned of corn and obtained seed of it\nfrom the Arikara. The story tells how the Arikara first obtained corn\nby divine favour, and then how they gave it to other tribes, among\nthese fortunate ones being the Omaha. It should be remembered that at\nthe time the Omaha came to where they now reside and have resided for\nsome centuries, the Arikara were in the region of what is now northern\nNebraska, so they were then neighbors of the Omaha. No doubt the\ndeclaration of the legend that the Omahas did first obtain corn from\nthe Arikara is based on fact, in that corn culture among the Omaha had\nbeen borrowed from the Arikara, who later migrated farther north along\nthe upper Missouri River.\n\nThe story runs thus:\n\n\"The Arikara were the first to obtain the maize. A young man went out\nhunting. He came to a high hill, and, looking down upon a valley, he\nsaw a buffalo bull standing in the middle of a bottom land lying\nbetween two rivers at their confluence. As the young man searched the\nsurroundings to find how he might approach the buffalo he was\nimpressed with the beauty of the landscape. The banks of the two\nrivers were low and well timbered. He observed that the buffalo stood\nfacing north; he saw also that he could not approach from any side\nwithin bowshot. He thought that the only way to get a chance to shoot\nthe buffalo would be to wait until the animal moved close to the banks\nof one of the rivers, or to the hills where there were ravines and\nshrubs. So the young man waited. The sun went down and the buffalo had\nnot moved; the young man went home disappointed. He lay awake nearly\nall night brooding over his disappointment, for food had become scarce\nand the buffalo would have afforded a good supply. Before dawn the\nyoung man arose and hastened to the place where he had discovered the\nbuffalo to see whether the animal might be somewhere near, if it had\nmoved. Just as he reached the summit of the hill, where he was the day\nbefore, the sun arose, and he saw that the buffalo was in the same\nspot. But he noticed that it was now facing toward the east. Again the\nyoung man waited for the animal to move, but again the sun went down\nwhile the buffalo remained standing in the same spot. The hunter went\nhome and passed another restless night. He started out again before\ndawn and came to the top of the hill just as the sun arose, and saw\nthe buffalo in the same place still, but it had now turned to face the\nsouth. The young man waited and watched all day, but when darkness\ncame he once more had to go away disappointed. He passed another\nsleepless night. His desire to secure game was mixed with curiosity to\nknow why the buffalo should so persistently remain in that one spot\nwithout eating or drinking or lying down to rest. He rose upon the\nfourth morning before dawn, his mind occupied with this curiosity, and\nmade haste to reach the hill to see if the buffalo still stood in the\nsame place. Morning light had come when he arrived at the hill, and he\nsaw that the buffalo was standing in exactly the same place, but had\nturned around to face the west. He was determined now to know what the\nanimal would do, so he settled down to watch as he had throughout the\nthree previous days. He now began to think that the animal was acting\nin this manner under the influence of some unseen power for some\nmysterious purpose, and that he, as well as the buffalo, was\ncontrolled by the same influence. Darkness again came upon him and the\nanimal was still standing in the same position. The young man returned\nhome, but he was kept awake all night by his thoughts and wondering\nwhat would come of this strange experience. He rose before dawn and\nhastened again to the mysterious scene. As he reached the summit of\nthe hill dawn spread across all the land. Eagerly he looked. The\nbuffalo was gone! But just where the buffalo had been standing there\nappeared something like a small bush. The young man now approached the\nspot with a feeling of curiosity and of awe, but also something of\ndisappointment. As soon as he came near he saw that what had appeared\nfrom a distance like a small bush was a strange unknown plant. He\nlooked upon the ground and saw the tracks of the buffalo; he observed\nthat they turned from the north to the east, and to the south, and to\nthe west; and in the centre there was but one buffalo track, and out\nof it had sprung this strange plant. He examined the ground all around\nthe plant to find where the buffalo had left the place, but there were\nno other footprints except those he had already seen near the plant.\nHe made haste to reach his home village. There he notified the chiefs\nand elders of his people concerning the strange experience which he\nhad had. Led by the young man they proceeded to the place of the\nbuffalo and examined the ground with care, and found that what he had\ntold them was true. They found the tracks of the buffalo where he had\nstood and where he had turned, but could find no trace of his coming\nto the place nor of his going from it. Now while all these men\nbelieved that this plant had been given to the people in this\nmysterious manner by Wakanda for their use, still they were not sure\nwhat that use might be nor in what manner it should be used. The\npeople knew of other plants that were useful for food, and the season\nfor their ripening, and, believing that the fruit of this strange\nplant would ripen in its proper time, they arranged to guard and\nprotect it carefully, awaiting with patience the time of its ripening\nand further revelation of its purpose.\n\n\"After a time a spike of flowers appeared at the top of the plant, but\nfrom their knowledge of other plants they knew that the blossom was\nbut the flower and not the fruit. But while they watched this blossom,\nexpecting it to develop into fruit, as they expected it would, a new\ngrowth appeared from the joints of the plant. They now gave special\nattention to the new growth. It grew larger, and finally something\nappeared at the top which looked like hair. This, in the course of\ntime, turned from pale green to dark brown, and after much discussion\nthe people concluded that this growth at the side of the plant was its\nfruit, and that it had ripened. Until this time no one had dared to\napproach within touch of the plant. Although they were anxious to know\nthe uses to which the plant could be put, or for which it was\nintended, no one dared to touch it. While the people were assembled\naround the plant uncertain and undetermined how to approach the\nexamination of it to learn its possible use, a youth stepped forward\nand spoke:\n\n\"'Every one knows how my life from childhood has been worse than\nuseless, that my life among you has been more evil than good.\nTherefore since no one would regret, should any evil befall me, let me\nbe the first to touch this plant and taste of its fruit, so that you\nmay not suffer any harm and that you may learn if the plant possesses\nqualities which may be for our good.' When the people gave their\nassent the youth stepped forward and placed his hands over the top of\nthe plant and brought them down by the sides of the plant to the roots\nin the manner of giving thanks and blessing. He then grasped the\nfruit, and, turning to the people, said, 'It is solid; it is ripe.'\nVery gently then he parted the husks at the top, and again turning to\nthe people, he said, 'The fruit is red.' Then he took a few of the\ngrains, showed them to the people, then ate them, and replaced the\nhusks. The youth suffered no ill effects, and the people were\nconvinced that this plant was given them for food. In the autumn, when\nthe prairie grass had turned brown, the stalks and leaves of this\nplant turned brown also. The fruit was plucked and put away with\ncarefulness. The next spring the kernels were divided among the\npeople, four to each family. The people removed to the place where the\nstrange plant had appeared, and there they built their huts along the\nbanks of the two rivers. When the hills began to be green from the new\nprairie grass, the people planted the kernels of this strange plant,\nhaving first built mounds like the one out of which the first plant\ngrew. To the great joy of the people the kernels sprouted and grew\ninto strong healthy plants. Through the summer they grew and\ndeveloped, and the fruit ripened as did that of the original plant.\nThe fruit was gathered and some was eaten, and was found to be good.\nIn gathering the fruit the people discovered that there were various\ncolours--some ears were white and others were blue, some were red,\nothers were yellow.\n\n\"The next season the people gathered a rich harvest of this new plant.\nIn the autumn these people, the Arikara, sent invitations to a number\nof different tribes to come and visit them. Six tribes came; one of\nthese was the Omaha. The Arikara were very generous in the\ndistribution of the fruit of this new plant among their guests, and in\nthis manner a knowledge of the plant came to the Omaha.\"\n\n\nA GROUP OF PAWNEE HYMNS TO CORN\n\nThe Pawnee had migrated from the distant southwest into the Plains\nregion, finally arriving at the region drained by the Republican, the\nPlatte, and the Niobrara rivers. Corn was native in Mexico, and had\nbeen introduced into the Plains by gradual adaptation in cultivation\nalong the line of migration of the Pawnee nation. These hymns express\nsomething of the high value which the people placed upon corn as an\nitem of their daily sustenance. They also reflect something of the\nscenery of the Plains landscape. These hymns are from an ancient\nPawnee ritual which is given entire in the Twenty-second Annual Report\nof the Bureau of American Ethnology, Part 2.\n\nMOTHER CORN\n\n    I\n\n    Mother with the life-giving power now comes,\n    Stepping out of far-distant days she comes,\n    Days wherein to our fathers gave she food;\n    As to them, so now unto us she gives,\n    Thus she will to our children faithful be.\n    Mother with the life-giving power now comes!\n\n    II\n\n    Mother with the life-giving power is here.\n    Stepping out of far distant days she comes.\n    Now she forward moves, leading as we walk\n    Toward the future, where blessings she will give,\n    Gifts for which we have prayed granting to us.\n    Mother with the life-giving power is here!\n\nLEADERSHIP OF MOTHER CORN\n\n    I\n\n    The Mother leads and we follow on,\n    Her devious pathway before us lies.\n    She leads us as were our fathers led\n    Down through the ages.\n\n    II\n\n    The Mother leads and we follow on,\n    Her pathway straight, where a stage each day\n    We forward walk, as our fathers walked\n    Down through the ages.\n\nThe two preceding hymns reflect the fact that corn was introduced by\nthe Pawnee from their more ancient homeland in the faraway southwest\nin remotely past time into the region of their later residence in the\nplains. They also reflect the importance which corn had in the\neveryday life of this people.\n\nThe following hymn to Mother Corn as Guide is expressive of the sense\nof vastness and awesomeness of the great extent of the Plains, and\nsomething of its grimness.\n\nGUIDANCE OF MOTHER CORN\n\n    I\n\n    Looking o'er the prairie, naught our eyes discern there,\n    Wide the land stretches out before us;\n    Then we cry aloud to Mother Corn: \"Doth thy pathway lie here?\"\n\n    II\n\n    Heeding now our crying, while our eyes she opens,\n    Mother Corn moveth out before us\n    On the lonely prairie, where we see straight the pathway lies there!\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe following hymn of thanks for the corn shows something of the\nreligious feeling of the Pawnee and their gratitude to Providence for\nthe gift of corn.\n\nA HYMN OF THANKS TO MOTHER CORN\n\n    I\n\n    See! The Mother Corn comes hither, making all hearts glad!\n    Making all hearts glad!\n    Give her thanks, she brings a blessing; now, behold! she is here!\n\n    II\n\n    Yonder Mother Corn is coming, coming unto us!\n    Coming unto us!\n    Peace and plenty she is bringing; now, behold! she is here!\n\n\nTHE FORGOTTEN EAR OF CORN\n\nA woman of the Arikara tribe was harvesting her crop of corn, making\nready to store it away in a safe place where she might be able to get\nit for use during the long cold winter. She went along gathering the\nears and placing them in convenient heaps so that she could gather\nthem up to carry to the storage place she had prepared. When she had\nfinished her work she started to go, but she heard a voice like the\nvoice of a little child, crying and calling pitifully: \"Oh, do not\nleave me! Do not go away without me.\"\n\nThe woman was astonished at what she supposed was the voice of a lost\nchild. She said to herself: \"What is this? Can it be some child has\nwandered and has been lost in my cornfield? I must go and look for\nit.\"\n\nSo she laid down her burden of gathered corn, and went back into the\nfield to make search. But she found no child anywhere in the field.\n\nThen she started once more to take up her burden and leave the field.\nBut again she heard the plaintive little voice crying: \"Oh, do not\nleave me! Do not go away without me.\"\n\nThen she went back into the field and searched again for a long time.\nAfter diligent search she found one little ear of corn which had been\ncovered by stalks and leaves. It was the little ear of corn which had\nbeen crying, fearing to be left to die in the field. So all Indian\nwomen are very careful in gathering their crops so that nothing shall\nbe lost or wasted of the good gifts of the Great Mystery, for they are\naccounted sacred and holy, and it would be wicked to treat them with\nneglect or indifference.\n\n\nHOW THE USEFULNESS OF WILD RICE WAS DISCOVERED\n\n_A Chippewa Myth_\n\nWenibozho and his grandmother, Nokomis, lived together in a lodge by\nthemselves. When he approached manhood his grandmother exhorted him to\nexert himself, to learn to endure hardship, loneliness, cold and\nhunger and thirst, for such experience is the proper training for a\nyoung man. A young man needs such training so that when overtaken by\nmisfortune he shall be brave and resourceful; so that he may be able\nto take care of himself and of any who may be dependent upon him.\n\nSo, one day Wenibozho told his grandmother he was going away into the\nwilderness where he had never been before, so that he could be cast\nupon his own resources to try his strength and courage and wit.\n\nHe was gone many days and nights, wandering through the forest and\nbeside streams and lakes. He subsisted upon such fruits, seeds, roots\nand tubers as he was able to find, and upon the flesh of animals he\nwas able to shoot with his bow and arrow which he had brought with\nhim. One day he came to a lake in which was growing a great quantity\nof beautiful, feathery wild rice, swaying over the water in the gentle\nbreeze. From the bark of a birch tree he fashioned a canoe in which he\nrowed out upon the lake and gathered a quantity of the wild rice. He\ndid not know the wild rice was useful for food, for he had never seen\nit before, but he admired its beauty. He took the wild rice which he\nhad gathered to his grandmother. He told her of the beautiful plant\nwhich he had found in the lake and that he had brought to her some of\nthe seed of the plant. This seed they sowed in another lake near the\nplace where he lived with his grandmother, for he hoped to have the\nbeautiful plant growing where he might often enjoy its beauty.\n\nAgain he went away into the forest so that he might become accustomed\nto endure hardships and also that he might learn wisdom from the\nliving creatures, not only from the moving creatures, but also from\nthose other living creatures, the plants of all kinds. While walking\nhe thought he heard a voice saying, \"Sometimes they eat us.\" He\nstopped and listened and again he heard the words \"Sometimes they eat\nus.\" This time he perceived that the words came from some bushes near\nwhich he was passing. Finally he spoke, saying, \"To whom are you\ntalking?\" He was told that he was the one to whom the bush was\nspeaking, so he dug up the plant and found that it had a long root. He\ntasted the root and it was pleasant to the taste, so he dug more, and\nate a great many, so many that he was made ill. He was too ill to\ntravel, so he lay there three days. Finally he was able to rise and\nmove on, but he was hungry and weak. As he passed along other plants\nspoke to him, but he was now afraid to eat of them. Then, as he was\nwalking along a stream he saw some bunches of grass growing up out of\nthe water which beckoned to him and said, \"Sometimes they eat us.\" He\nwas so hungry, and the graceful grass was so tempting, that he was\nconstrained to gather some seeds of it and eat. The taste was\npleasing, and its effect upon his hunger was so gratifying that he\nsaid, \"O, you are indeed good! What are you called?\" The Grass\nreplied, \"We are called manomin,\" which is the name which the Chippewa\npeople call this plant. Wenibozho waded out into the water and\ngathered the grains by handfuls and ate it, and so continued till his\nhunger was fully satisfied. From eating the manomin he suffered no ill\neffects whatever, but was strengthened wonderfully. Finally he\nremembered the grain which he had discovered on his former journey and\nwhich he and his grandmother, Nokomis, had sown in the lake near their\nhome. When he returned and found it growing and compared it with this\ngrain which he had now found to be so good, he perceived that it was\nthe same sort. So he found that this beautiful grass which he had\ngrowing in the lake near home was really manomin, as pleasant to the\ntaste and as satisfying to hunger as it was beautiful to the eyes.\nEver since that time the Chippewas have known how to value the good\ngift of manomin.\n\n\nA STORY OF THE SUNFLOWER\n\n_A Story from the Dakota Nation_\n\nOnce on a time, long ago, a company of men were going upon a war\nexpedition. And now as they were within the country of the enemy they\nwere proceeding very cautiously. One morning very early they heard\nwhat seemed to be the sound of someone singing in a tremulous voice,\ncoming from the direction toward which they were marching. They\nstopped and stood still to listen.\n\nAs they stood thus listening it seemed to them that the singer,\nwhoever he might be, must be a clown, for he was singing a clown song.\nThere was not light enough to see the singer. But they waited silently\nand anxiously peering ahead in the direction from which came the sound\nof the singing. At the first glimmer of the dawn light they were able\nto make out the appearance of a man walking with an awkward shuffling\ngait. His robe was ragged and his leggings drooped down slouchingly in\nwrinkles about his ankles as he walked. He had great circles about his\neyes painted a bright yellow and he was singing a clown song in a\nhusky wheezy voice.\n\nSo they stood in wonder regarding the clown who was coming toward\nthem. He was coming toward the sun rising and as the daylight grew\nbrighter they were astonished to see the man suddenly changed to a\nsunflower.\n\nAnd ever since that time, it is said, the sunflower is inclined to\nface toward the sun.\n\n\nDAKOTA FOLKLORE OF THE SPIDERWORT\n\nThe spiderwort (=Tradescantia bracteata=) and (=Tradescantia\noccidentalis=) is a beautiful native prairie flower which is known\nunder numerous popular names. It is called spiderwort, spider lily,\nink flower, king's crown, and various other names. It has been\nproposed to add to the list another name, \"flower-of-romance.\" This\nname is proposed from the circumstance of a bit of pleasing sentiment\nconnected with this flower in the folklore of the Dakota nation of\nIndians.\n\nIt is a charmingly beautiful and delicate flower, deep blue in color,\nwith a tender-bodied plant of graceful lines. There is no more\nappealingly beautiful flower on the western prairies than this one\nwhen it is sparkling with dewdrops in the first beams of the rising\nsun. There is about it a suggestion of purity, freshness and\ndaintiness.\n\nWhen a young man of the Dakota nation is in love, and walking alone on\nthe prairie finds this flower blooming, he stops and sings to it a\nsong in which he personifies it with the qualities of his sweetheart's\npersonality as they are called to his mind by the appearance of the\nflower before him, its characteristics figuratively suggesting the\ncharacteristics of her whose image he carries romantically in his mind\nand heart. In his mind the beauties of the flower and the charms of\nthe girl are mutually transmuted and flow together into one image.\n\nThe words of his song, translated from the Dakota language into the\nEnglish, are something like this:\n\n    \"Tiny, gladsome flower,\n    So winsome and modest,\n    Thou art dainty and sweet,\n    For love of thee I'd die.\"\n\n\n\n\nStories of the Four-Footed People\n\n\nTHE FAITHFUL DOG\n\nThe dog was the companion and servant of the people over all parts of\nNorth America, and previous to the introduction of the horse into the\nwestern hemisphere by the Spaniards, the dog was the only domestic\nanimal which the Indians had. After horses were introduced by the\nSpaniards, they soon came into use by the Indians, and in a\ncomparatively short time they were widely spread over the continent.\n\nBut in former days the dog was the only beast of burden which the\nIndians had. They served as watchers at night, as companions and\nhelpers in the chase, and as bearers of burdens in transportation\nservice.\n\nOnce on a time a hunting party of men of the Dakota nation were in the\nbuffalo grazing country in the time of the winter hunt. Scouts were\nsent out each day to look for a herd and to bring back report to the\nofficers. One day one of the scouts discovered a herd near a certain\nlake. He came into camp in the evening, as soon as he could after he\nfound the herd. At once he went according to the law and rendered his\nreport to the proper officers. After reporting he went to his lodge\nand had his evening meal and then lay down to rest from the weariness\nof the day's scouting.\n\nThe officers held council and made the plans for the next day's\nactivities of the hunting field. Then they sent the herald around the\ncamp to announce the orders for the next day.\n\nAt the earliest light next morning every one in camp was up and making\npreparations for the day's work. It was yet early in the day when the\nhunters reached the lake where the scout had discovered the buffalo\nherd the previous day. Here they found the buffaloes still feeding. At\nthe command of the officers the hunters and their dogs were deployed\nto surround the herd for the slaughter, for the meat supply of the\npeople had become low, and at this opportunity they must replenish\ntheir provision.\n\nThe herd was feeding upon a strip of land which was surrounded on\nthree sides by a lake. The plan was to advance upon the herd from the\nbase of this strip of land and force them out into the lake where the\nhuge animals would be at a disadvantage upon the slippery ice.\n\nThe men and dogs charged upon the herd and soon the great mass of\nshaggy beasts were forced out upon the treacherous ice where they were\nstruggling in great confusion. Many were killed before the herd\nfinally reached the shore of the lake and scrambled up the steep bank\nand fled away over the plain.\n\nThe sun was already past the middle of the sky and the hunters were\nbusy with the work of skinning the carcasses and dressing the beef,\nmaking ready to carry back to camp their prize of meat, hides, and\nother useful products, when suddenly they saw and felt a great change\nin the sky and in the air. The threatening signs were evident of the\nswift approach of a blizzard, the dreadful and terrific winter storm\nof fierce, roaring wind and driving snow and frightful cold which\nfrequently sweeps over the northern plains.\n\nThe hunters made haste to reach camp which had been made in the\nshelter of the woods not far away. Here a certain number had been\ndetailed by the officers to make camp and to gather firewood, while\nthe others had been taking care of the meat. Now as the fearful storm\nthreatened, they gathered in the camp bringing in what they could\ncarry of the meat supply. Soon the hunters were refreshing themselves\nwith freshly broiled steaks which were much relished by the hungry\nmen, who had eaten nothing since the early morning just before they\nhad broken camp. The dogs too were given their share.\n\nThe storm was now upon them in its fury; and all about was a\nsmothering, dizzying swirl of whiteness as impenetrable as the\nblackness of night. The gale of wind roared unceasingly; the myriad\nmillions of tiny snow particles ground upon each other in the swirl of\nthe storm, each infinitesimal impact adding to the aggregate of\nreverberation of sound, while the skin tents hummed like enormous\ndrums.\n\nFrom time to time those who were already in camp shouted to guide the\nlater comers who gave answering shouts and came one after another\nstaggering into camp exhausted by the buffeting of the storm. At last\nonly one was missing. The herd scout, who had found and reported the\nherd the day before; he and his faithful dog had not yet come in. The\nfury of the storm throughout the night and the next day prevented the\npossibility of going to look for the missing man.\n\nToward morning following the second night of the storm its fury\nabated. As is usual, at the end of a blizzard, it was followed by an\nextraordinary calm. The drifted plain lay as still and white as\nmarble. The stars glistened coldly like ice crystals in the sky. The\nair was so clear that the least sound made by any moving creature was\nmagnified in the stillness.\n\nThe hunting camp awoke. Suddenly the game call of the great gray wolf\nwas heard. And soon the hunters saw a great number of these gaunt gray\ncreatures out upon the ice of the lake and on the plain, digging out\nthe white mounds which were the snowdrifts about the carcasses of the\nbuffaloes which the hunters had been obliged to leave when the storm\ncame upon them.\n\nAnd now among the wolf cries another sound was heard,--the defiant\nbarking of a dog! It was the scout's dog. The men hurried toward the\nslaughter field to kill or drive away the wolves. Some wolves were\ndragging away a buffalo carcass, and from among the snarling howling\npack about this carcass the hunters could distinctly hear the hoarse\nbarking of their missing friend's dog, and occasionally they could\nhear a strangely muffled shout of a man sounding as though it came\nfrom under the ice.\n\nThe hunters finally reached the place to which the carcass had been\ndragged by the wolves. As the men came near the wolves ran away and\nthe men saw the dog standing by the carcass for a moment before he\nfell dead as they reached the place. The men with their knives cut\nopen the abdominal cavity of the carcass and found the missing scout\ninside wrapped in his robe in a bed of grass and buffalo hair.\n\nWhen the storm had come upon him at his work he had seen that he could\nnot reach the camp so he had opened two of the carcasses and removed\nthe internal organs. In one he had made a bed for his dog, and in the\nother for himself for protection from the fury of the storm. The dog\nhad kept an opening to his shelter, but the man had closed the\nentrance of his own after he was in, and the hide had frozen solid,\nmaking him a prisoner. When the wolves came the dog was able to free\nhimself and tried to defend his imprisoned master, regardless of his\nown safety. He had been mortally wounded before the hunters could save\nhim.\n\nAs soon as the scout was released he inquired for the dog, his friend\nand defender. When he saw that his loyal friend was dead, having given\nup his life in defense of his master, the scout was deeply moved with\ngrief. He knelt down and stroked the head of the dead dog, and said,\n\"Ah, my friend; you were courageous and faithful unto death. And you\ndied like a brave warrior. You shall have the funeral of a dead\nwarrior.\"\n\nSo with all due ceremony the scout carried the body of the dog to the\ntop of a hill overlooking the lake where he had given up his life in\ndoing his duty. There the scout laid the body. Over it he built up a\ntomb of boulders which he gathered from the hills. Then he laid upon\nit offerings of red paint and of food according to the funeral custom\nof his people, and they sang the farewell song for the dead.\n\nEver since that time this hill has been known to the Dakotas as the\nGrave of the Dog.\n\n\nHOW COYOTE CHIEF WAS PUNISHED\n\n_A Mandan Story_\n\nCoyote Chief was out hunting one day, and he came upon a buffalo bull\ngrazing. \"Brother,\" he said, \"you have nothing to do just now. Let us\nrun a race to see which of us is the swifter.\" \"All right,\" said the\nbuffalo, \"let us run.\"\n\n\"I shall first go and prepare a place for the race,\" Coyote Chief\nsaid, \"then I shall come back for you.\"\n\nSo Coyote Chief found a high steep bank and placed on the very edge of\nit a small heap of stones. Then he returned to the buffalo and said,\n\"Everything is now ready. Let us race over to yonder heap of stones\nwhich I have set up for a goal. When we are almost to the goal let us\nshut our eyes and run as hard as we can.\" And so they ran toward the\nheap of stones and the buffalo ran over the bank and was killed by\nfalling, just as Coyote Chief had planned.\n\nBut Coyote Chief had nothing with which to skin the buffalo and cut\nup and prepare the meat. So he walked along a little way and came to a\nsmall clump of timber. As he approached the timber he called out,\n\"Brothers, give me a knife.\" And they gave him a knife. Then he went\non to another clump of timber. Here he called out, \"Brothers, give me\nan earthen pot.\" And they gave him an earthen pot. He went on again to\nanother clump of timber, where he called out, \"Brothers, give me a\nhorn spoon.\" And they gave him a horn spoon.\n\nThen Coyote Chief went back to the place where the buffalo had fallen,\nand there he built a hunter's lodge of leafy branches of trees. Then\nhe skinned the buffalo and pegged out the skin upon the ground and\nscraped it. Next he cut up the meat, and some of it he cut into strips\nand hung it up to dry.\n\nCoyote Chief had Fox for a servant, to run errands and to work about\nthe house. And he treated Fox badly and did not give him enough to\neat. Fox was hungry, as usual, and tried to help himself to some of\nthe buffalo meat, but Coyote Chief saw him and was angry. He seized a\nbrand from the fire and thrust it into Fox's face, burning him\nthereby. Fox was hurt so badly that he decided to run away, but he\nwished first to be revenged upon Coyote Chief. So he went around to\nall the other animals and told them how badly he had been used by\nCoyote Chief. The animals were sorry for him and seemed willing to\nhelp him to punish Coyote Chief. So they held a meeting and talked\nover the matter to decide upon the best way to do this. The decision\nof the council was that they should all go over to his house that\nnight and eat up all his meat while he was asleep.\n\nCoyote Chief had worked hard all day to take care of his meat, and had\nnot taken time to eat much. Being tired after his day's work he went\nto bed early. But he was anxious lest some one might come and take his\nmeat while he slept, so before going to sleep he said, \"Now my\nmembers, you must watch for me while I sleep. My eyes, if anyone peeps\nin you must stare hard at him. My ears, if you hear a sound, you must\nwiggle. My arms, if anyone comes in you must thrash around. My legs,\nif any one comes near, you must kick.\" Then he went to sleep.\n\nThat night all the animals gathered at Coyote Chief's house, but they\nwere afraid to touch anything till they were sure he was sound asleep.\nSo they sent Magpie first to peep in at the door. Magpie went and\npeeped in and saw Coyote Chief's eyes staring hard at him, and he went\nback and said, \"He is not asleep, for his eyes stared at me.\"\n\nAfter a time Crow was sent to find if Coyote Chief was not asleep.\nCrow flew up and perched by the smoke-hole. When he looked in Coyote\nChief's ears began to wiggle. Crow went back and told the animals that\nCoyote Chief could not be asleep, for as soon as he looked in Coyote\nChief's ears began to wiggle.\n\nA little later Jack Rabbit was sent to look. Jack Rabbit pushed in a\nlittle at the door, and Coyote Chief's arms began to move up and down.\nSo Jack Rabbit went back and reported that Coyote Chief must still be\nawake.\n\nThe animals again waited, and then sent Fox. Fox went inside, and\nthen Coyote Chief's legs began to kick, so he ran out and told the\nothers that Coyote Chief was still awake.\n\nNow, after waiting quite a long time, the animals sent Mouse. Mouse\nwent in and saw that Coyote Chief seemed to be sound asleep. He went\nup and ran over his legs and there was no motion; then he ran over his\nchest and still Coyote Chief was not disturbed. At last he ran over\nhis face, and Coyote Chief did not stir. So Mouse went and told the\nothers that Coyote Chief was surely asleep. Then they came in and ate\nup all the meat except a few scraps which dropped while they were\neating. When they had finished eating they went away without having\nwakened Coyote Chief.\n\nThe next morning when Coyote Chief awoke, he was very hungry because\nhe had eaten little the day before, and had worked hard; but he found\nhis meat was all gone, and he said to himself, \"Oh, why did I not eat\nthe meat yesterday instead of waiting!\" Then, because he was so\nhungry, he searched about on the ground and found some scraps of meat\nand some small bits of fat. All these he gathered up on a robe. He put\nfresh wood upon the fire, and then sat down by the fireplace with the\nrobe over his knees to eat the little he had. But just then a spark\nshot out from the fire and lighted on his hand, which hurt him so that\nhe jumped up suddenly, spilling into the fire all the shreds of meat\nand fat which he had so carefully gathered.\n\nSo Coyote Chief got none of his meat, and was punished for the bad way\nhe had treated Fox.\n\n\nTHE SKUNK AND THE BEAR\n\n_A Mandan Story_\n\nOne day a skunk was going somewhere, travelling quietly along a trail,\nthinking of his own affairs. He did not know it, but a bear was coming\nalong the same trail towards him. Neither the bear nor the skunk knew\nthat the other was on the trail until suddenly they met. They both\nstopped. Then the skunk said to the bear, \"You are on my road. Turn\nout and let me pass!\" The bear replied, \"Not so. It is you who are on\nmy road. Get out of my way!\" But the skunk said, \"You, yourself must\nturn aside.\" The bear then said, \"Unless you do as I tell you I shall\neat you at once. I tell you that you are on my road and must stand\naside. I wonder how skunk meat would taste if I should eat some.\"\n\nThe skunk said, \"I wonder how bear flesh would taste if I should eat\nsome.\" Then suddenly the skunk threw up his brush and sprinkled the\nbear full in the face with his dreadful scent. The bear tumbled out of\nthe path, howling in misery, and clawing at his nose and eyes. He\ncould not see, and was almost suffocated.\n\nAs for the skunk, he passed on his way as if nothing had happened.\n\n\nTHE SONG OF THE OLD WOLF\n\nThere is a story told among the people of the Dakota nation that once\non a time an old man went out, to be alone upon a high hill above the\nMissouri River to give himself to meditation and prayer. He chose this\nsituation because of the grandeur and majesty of the view, of the\ngreat sweep of the prairie plains and hills, one hill beyond another\naway and away to the far horizon. Below flowed the wonderful and\nmysterious river, whose waters came down from the mighty mountains at\nthe west and rolled on and on past the villages of many different\nnations, finally reaching the great salt water.\n\nAs the old man thus sat meditating and considering all the\nmanifestations of life and power and mystery of earth and sky, he\nespied out upon the prairie a group of wolves trotting toward the\nriver. When they reached the river they plunged in and swam across to\nthe other side; all but one old one who was now too enfeebled by age\nto dare try his strength against the swift and powerful current of the\nriver.\n\nThis old wolf sat down upon the bank of the river and watched his\ncompanions as they swam across and trotted away out of sight on the\nother side. When they had disappeared from sight he raised his muzzle\ntowards the sky and mournfully sang in a man's voice the following\nsong:\n\n    All o'er the earth I've roamed,\n    I've journeyed far and wide;\n    My spirit haste and go,\n    I'm nothing, nothing now,\n    I'm nothing, nothing now.\n\n    Missouri River, flow,\n    Thou sacred water flow;\n    My spirit haste and go,\n    I'm nothing, nothing now,\n    I'm nothing, nothing now.\n\nAfter the old wolf had sung this song he wearily made his way to the\ntop of a hill and lay down in the warm sunshine, in the shelter of a\nrock and there waited until his spirit went away.\n\nAnd so now, when old men of the Dakota nation feel the infirmities of\nage creeping upon them, and as though they had been left behind in\nlife's march, when they feel the depression of loneliness, will often\ngo out alone to the summit of some high hill overlooking the Missouri\nRiver, and sitting there in solitude will muse upon their activities\nand noteworthy deeds in the past, of their companions of former days\nnow long gone from them, and contrast all this with their present\ninactivity and loneliness. Then they will sadly and quaveringly sing\nthis \"Song of the Old Wolf.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nNote.--The English translation and rendering into verse is the work of\nDr. A. McG. Beede, of Fort Yates, North Dakota. The original song in\nthe Dakota language is as follows:\n\n    Maka takomni\n    Tehan omawani;\n    Minagi yayayo,\n    Wana matakuni,\n    Mni-shoshe yayo\n    Mni wakan yayo;\n    Minagi yayayo,\n    Wana matakuni,\n    Wana matakuni,\n      O he-he-he!\n\n\n\n\nStories of the People of the Air\n\n\nFOLK SAYINGS ABOUT THE MEADOWLARK\n\nThe cheerful animation and lively manner of the meadowlark have made\nit a favourite with all people who are acquainted with it, both whites\nand Indians. And both whites and Indians attach words of their several\nlanguages to the notes of the bird. Among sayings in the English\nlanguage attributed to the notes of the meadowlark are some\nexpressions of banter and raillery. Farmers say that early in\nspringtime the meadowlark perches jauntily upon the top of a\nfence-post and calls mockingly to them \"You sowed your wheat too soon!\nYou sowed your wheat too soon!\" Another taunting expression fitted to\nthe meadowlark's notes is addressed to girls and young women; it is\n\"You think you're pretty, don't you?\"\n\nThese locutions in English are in accord with the tone of many sayings\nascribed to the notes of the meadowlark by the Hidatsa tribe of North\nDakota, and with their name of the bird, =wia-akumakihishe=, which\nmeans \"scolding or shrewish woman,\" for they say that the meadowlark\nsays such taunting, tormenting and aggravating things. One of these\ntaunting expressions is \"=Kitho karishtiditore=,\" which is a most\nexasperating saying. =Kitho= means \"that insignificant one,\" and\n=karishtiditore= means \"good-for-nothing fellow.\"\n\nThe Omahas also put words of their language to the notes of the\nmeadowlark. One of these is =Snite thingthi tegaze=, which means\n\"winter will not come back.\" A little mixed-blood girl in the Omaha\ntribe was named Marguerite. Now the Omaha language does not contain\nthe sound of the letter \"r,\" so in trying to pronounce the foreign\nname of Marguerite they make it =Magathiche=. One day a friend of this\nlittle girl's father was at their house, and he was playfully teasing\nher because he was very fond of her. He said, of course speaking in\nthe Omaha language, \"Listen! do you hear that bird telling about you?\nHe says: '=Magathiche hthitugthe!='\" The word =hthitugthe= in the\nOmaha language means \"of a bad disposition,\" so her old friend was\nteasing her by putting words to the bird notes which meant \"Marguerite\nis of a bad disposition,\" or \"Marguerite is naughty!\"\n\nOne of the sayings which the Pawnees fit to the notes of the\nmeadowlark in their language is \"=Kichikakikuridu!=\" which means \"I am\nnot afraid!\"\n\nThe meadowlark is a great favourite with the people of the Dakota\nnation. An old man of that nation was asked if his people ever used\nthe meadowlark for food. He said they did not. When it was said that\nwhite men sometimes eat them, he said he knew that. Then, when asked\nwhy Dakotas would not eat the meadowlark, he said, \"We think too much\nof them. They are our friends.\" They call the meadowlark \"the bird of\npromise,\" and \"the bird of many gifts,\" for they say it promises good\nthings to its friends, the Dakotas. They apply words of the Dakota\nlanguage to the songs of the bird. They say it calls to the people\nwith promises and with words of encouragement and good cheer, and that\nit gives counsel and advice on all manner of subjects. One of the\nthings which it used to sing out to the people was \"=Koda, pte\nkizhozho=,\" i. e., \"Friends, I whistle for the buffalo,\" that is to\nsay, it would whistle to call the buffalo in order that its friends,\nthe Dakotas, might supply their needs of meat and clothing.\n\nA touch of Dakota humour is shown in one saying attributed to the\nmeadowlark's notes in these later times since the government has\nestablished schools on the reservations to teach the Dakota children\nin the ways of the white men. They say that ofter now the meadowlark\nis to be seen flitting about the school grounds and singing, \"One,\ntwo, three, epedo! One, two, three, epedo!\" The Dakota word =epedo=\nmeans \"You shall say.\"\n\nThe white people speak of the United States government as \"Uncle Sam,\"\nbut the people of the Dakota nation call the government\n\"=Tunkashila=,\" which means \"Grandfather,\" a title of the highest\nrespect. In the summer of 1918, while the United States was at war\nwith Germany, many of the Dakotas said they heard \"the bird of\npromise\" singing \"=Tunkashila ohiyelo!=\" The Dakota word \"ohiyelo\"\nmeans \"will be victorious\" or \"will have the victory;\" so the\nmeadowlark, \"the bird of promise,\" was singing to them \"The United\nStates will have the victory!\"\n\n\nHOW THE MEADOWLARK WON THE RACE\n\nA young man named Piya had a beautiful and lovely young wife and she\nwas carried away by an evil monster who kept her hidden in his\ndwelling. The young man's grandmother was a very wise old woman. She\nhad great knowledge of the birds and beasts and of the trees and other\nplants, and she had mysterious powers and could do many wonderful\nthings. Also she had taught her grandson many things, so that he too\nhad uncommon knowledge and powers.\n\nNow when the monster stole his wife away he came to his grandmother to\nask her to help him recover his wife. Before he came to her his\ngrandmother knew he was in trouble, so when he came he found her\nwaiting for him. She said \"I will prepare you for this quest; but\nfirst bring to me a wolf, a turtle and a meadowlark.\" Then she brought\nhim food; and after he had eaten and rested he set out to find the\nwolf, the turtle and the meadowlark. As he journeyed he found all of\nthem, one after another, and invited them to eat with him. Then he\ntold of his grandmother's wish to have them to aid him in his quest.\nThey each consented to help him provided the old woman would give him\nthe thing most desired. The wolf said he wished to have a better fur\ncoat so that the cold breath of old Waziya, the Old Man Winter, would\nnot chill him. The turtle said, \"Insects bite me, but I will help you\nif I shall be given protection from insects which suck my blood.\" The\nmeadowlark said \"My voice is harsh and I can sing but one note and the\nmagpie laughs at me. I will help you if I may be given a pleasing\nvoice so that I can make the magpie ashamed.\" So the young man Piya,\nthe wizard, together with his three friends, the wolf, the turtle and\nthe meadowlark came back to the tipi of his grandmother.\n\nShe was waiting and expecting him, and said, \"Grandson I knew you\nwould come and bring with you those whom I want.\" She invited them\ninto her tipi and prepared food and set it before them. The next\nmorning Piya told his grandmother that these friends he had brought\nhad promised to help him if they should each be given what he most\ndesired. Then she told them if they would help her grandson she would\ngive each one what he most wished. So they were all agreed. She told\nthe wolf she wished him to give her grandson the cunning by which he\ncould follow a hidden trail and find hidden things; she asked the\nturtle to give him the sense by which he could locate water, so that\nhe should be able to avoid perishing of thirst in a desert land; and\nthe lark was to give him power to hide himself without covering in the\nopen prairie. In return for these gifts the wolf was to have for\nhimself and all his people warm fur clothing so that they could laugh\nat Waziya when he would blow his cold breath upon them. The turtle was\npromised that he should have the hard tough covering which he asked,\nso that insects could not bite him. The meadowlark was given a\npleasing voice so that his songs would make the magpie ashamed.\n\nAfter the agreement was made the Old Woman told them that the quest on\nwhich they had to go would take them into a country where there would\nbe no trees, nor much grass nor open trail, and but little water in\nthe hidden springs.\n\nSo the wizard, Piya, and his companions, the wolf, the turtle and the\nmeadowlark set out upon the quest after the Old Woman had instructed\nthem. The wolf taught him how to find hidden trails; the meadowlark\ntaught him how to be hidden without covering, and the turtle taught\nhim how to find hidden watersprings.\n\nSo the help of these friends, together with the powers he already\npossessed, enabled Piya finally to discover where his wife was hidden\nby the monster, and to rescue her.\n\nSo they all came back to the tipi of the Old Woman. They all rejoiced;\nthe young woman because she had been rescued from the power of the\nmonster; the young man Piya because he had found his wife; and the\nwolf, the turtle and the meadowlark because they were to have the\ngifts which they had most desired. The Old Woman prepared a feast and\nthey feasted until far into the night.\n\nNext morning the Old Woman gave to the wolf, the turtle and the\nmeadowlark each the gift for which he had asked as a reward for\nhelping the young man, and they set out together on the trail to\nreturn to their homes. As they journeyed they talked about the gifts\nwhich they had received. As they talked they fell into argument, each\nclaiming that his gift was the best, and soon they were quarreling\nand were about to fight. But just then a young man came along the\ntrail and he asked them why they were quarreling. They told him. He\nsaid that quarreling was foolish and would decide nothing, but that\nthe only way to determine whose gift was the best was to find out\nwhich would help most in a trial of skill. The wolf proposed a trial\nin hunting, but the meadowlark and the turtle said they could not\nhunt. The turtle proposed a swimming contest, but the wolf and the\nmeadowlark said they could not swim. Then the meadowlark in his turn\nproposed a contest in singing, for he was very proud of his gift, but\nthe wolf and the turtle protested that they could not sing.\n\nThe young man suggested that they run a race. To this they all agreed.\nThe young man told them they must run past a plum thicket, across a\nmarsh and up to the top of a certain hill. There they would find white\nclay and colored clay. The winner of the race would be the one that\nfirst brought back to him some of the white clay. They set out upon\nthe race. The wolf and turtle were running side by side; but the\nmeadowlark fell far behind.\n\nWhen he came near the plum thicket he saw a bundle laid up in the\nforks of a plum bush. He paused and sniffed toward it and the scent of\nit was strange to him, and he became curious about it, and wanted to\nfind out what was in the bundle. He asked the turtle to wait. The\nturtle said he would wait for him at the marsh. The wolf walked all\nround the bush and looked carefully at the bundle. Then he rose up\nagainst the bush and sniffed at the bundle, but still he could not\nmake out what was in it. He could not quite reach the bundle, so he\nleaped to try to pull it down. But as he did so the thorns pricked\nhim. He jumped again and missed the bundle, but was pricked again by\nthe thorns. Now he became angry and determined he would get the\nbundle. After jumping many times and being always pricked by the\nthorns so that he had many wounds on his sides and back he finally\npulled down the bundle. He was so angry that in his vexation he\nenergetically shook it about so that it was shaken open and its\ncontents smeared his wounds. This made his wounds itch so severely\nthat he had to scratch himself, but this made him itch the more. He\nwas in such torment that he scratched madly and tore his fur coat and\nwas bleeding, so he forgot the race.\n\nThe turtle ran on to the marsh and waited there as he had promised.\nAfter he had waited a long time he concluded the wolf had deceived him\nand had gone on to the hill. Then he saw a small white puffball. It\nlooked like a lump of white clay, so the thought came to him that he\ncould deceive the young man with it and get even with the wolf for the\ntrick he supposed the wolf had played upon him. So he took the\npuffball back and showed it to the young man. Neither the meadowlark\nnor the wolf had returned yet, so the young man told the turtle he was\nthe first to return bringing something to show that he had been to the\ntop of the hill.\n\nNow when the meadowlark ran by the plum thicket he saw the wolf\njumping about one of the bushes trying to reach something which was\nthere, so the meadowlark was encouraged to think he might still have\nsome chance in the race. He ran on to the marsh, and there he saw the\nturtle waiting, so he was still more encouraged. He then ran on all\nthe way to the top of the hill. He was so anxious and flustered when\nhe reached there that instead of the white clay which the young man\nhad specified as the token of having been to the goal, he made a\nmistake and picked up a lump of the yellow clay and turned to carry it\nback to the young man. As he was crossing back over the marsh again he\nstumbled and dropped the lump of clay into the black mud. He picked it\nup and hurried on, not stopping to clean off the black mud. When he\ncame near to the young man he saw the turtle sitting there and smiling\nand looking very satisfied. The meadowlark then thought he had lost\nthe race. He was so disappointed and discouraged that he wept. His\ntears washed the black mud off from the lump of clay and made a black\nstripe, while the yellow clay itself was washed down over the whole\nfront of his clothes.\n\nAt last the wolf came back scratching and howling in his misery. Great\npatches of fur were torn from his clothes and his skin was raw and\nsore. The turtle taunted the wolf for his crying. He swaggered about\nand boasted that nothing could make him whimper and cry. The young man\nsaid that the turtle was the first to return, but that he must make\ngood his boast that nothing could make him whimper if he should lose.\nThe turtle declared that he would prove all he said in any way the\nyoung man should require. The young man then placed the puffball upon\nthe turtle's back. The puffball very quickly increased in size and\nweight so that it was all the turtle could bear. It continued to\nincrease in size until the turtle was borne down by it to the ground\nand his legs were bent. Still the puffball continued to grow until the\nturtle's body was pressed flat by it, and his breath was pressed out\nof his body and he lay as if he were dead. Then the puffball became as\nlight as a feather and turned black. The turtle recovered his breath a\nlittle, but he was unable to straighten his legs or to regain the form\nof his body, so he was ashamed and drew in his head under his thick\nskin.\n\nThen the young man laughed loud and long at the plight of the wolf,\nthe turtle and the meadowlark, and told them now who he really was. He\ntold them that he was Iktomi, the Trickster. He told them that because\nthey had foolishly quarreled about the good gifts which the Old Woman\nhad given to them, instead of making good use of them, they had given\nhim the opportunity to play this trick upon them, the marks of which\nwould be upon them, and upon their people forever. He said that\nbecause the wolf had meddled with something which was none of his\naffair he had brought upon himself the torments of the mange, and so\nit would always be with his people whenever they should do as he had\ndone. He said that because the turtle had attempted to win by\ncheating, his legs and the legs of all his people should always be\nshort and bent and their bodies should be flattened, so they could\nnever run in a race. And because he had lied in saying the puffball\nwas white clay, therefore he and his people should never again be able\nto speak, and they should always hide their heads for shame. As for\nthe meadowlark, the young man said he had won the race, but because he\nhad brought back the yellow clay instead of the white, therefore his\nclothes and the clothes of his people should always be yellow in front\nand there should be a black stripe over the yellow.\n\n\nINDIAN FOLKLORE OF THE HORNED LARK\n\nThe name of this little bird in the Dakota language is\n=ishtaniche-tanka= (big eye-tufts) from the tuft of feathers which it\nhas over each eye. It is for the same reason that we call it \"horned\"\nlark.\n\nThe Dakotas say that this little bird foretells the weather. They say\nthat when a hot dry time is coming in the summer the bird sounds a\nsingle sharp little note; but when rain is coming the bird is glad and\ncontinuously sings loudly and joyously, \"=magazhu, magazhu, magazhu!=\"\nIn the Dakota language the word for rain is =magazhu=. Thus the bird\nis singing its joy for the rain which is coming.\n\nThe name of this bird is =hupa-hishe= in the Hidatsa language. In that\nlanguage the word for moccasin is =hupa=, and the word =hishe= means\nwrinkled. This bird is called \"wrinkled moccasin\" because of its\nappearance in its characteristic habit of crouching upon the ground,\nwhere, by its grayish-brown color and its black markings it is made\ninconspicuous and hardly distinguishable, suggesting the appearance of\na ragged, useless old moccasin.\n\nThe Hidatsas have a story of this bird that it was once acting as a\nspy in enemy country. So while it sat in its characteristic attitude\nof inconspicuousness, two of the enemy were coming along, when one\nthought he saw something. He stopped and said to his companion, \"Wait,\nwhat is that over there?\" His companion glanced over and saw what\nappeared to him like nothing but a ragged, rotten old fragment of a\nworn out moccasin, and answered, \"O, that is just an old wrinkled\nmoccasin.\" So the bird escaped his enemies, and it is from that that\nthe people call him \"hupa-hishe.\"\n\n\nHOW IT CAME ABOUT THAT GEESE MIGRATE\n\nThe Teton-Dakota have a story which says that \"Long, long time ago\"\n(lila ehanna) the goose nation did not migrate to the south in the\nautumn, but remained here throughout the winter time. Because of the\nrigor of the winter most of the people of the goose nation perished so\nthat they were always a small and weak nation. At last one goose had a\ndream of the south-land, that it was pleasant even in winter, that the\nwinter there was mild and that there was plenty of food there. So she\nbegan teaching the other geese that they should practice flying more\nand thus make their wings strong so they could fly to the south-land\nbefore winter time. Some people of the goose nation believed the\nvision and began to practice flying to make their wings strong for the\nautumn journey. This caused discussion and dissension in the nation,\nand a law was made which banished the goose which had the vision. So\nthey drove her out from among them. She practiced flying all summer\nand made her wings strong so that in the autumn she was able to fly to\nthe pleasant south-land of which she had dreamed. The Mysterious Power\nwhich had given her the vision guided her on the long journey and she\nlived pleasantly through the winter time. After the first thunder in\nthe springtime she flew back north to her nation. As always before,\nmany of them had died during the cold winter-time from the fury of the\nstorms and the scarcity of food. But she told them how pleasantly she\nhad passed the time in the south-land, and they saw in what good\nhealth she was, so many more of them now believed her vision and her\nteaching. It was in this way that the geese learned to fly away to the\nsouth-land in the autumn to escape the storms and cold of winter in\nthis land.\n\n\nTHE CAPTIVE BIRD: A TRUE STORY OF CHILDHOOD IN THE OMAHA TRIBE OF\nNEBRASKA\n\nIndians in general have a close sympathy with nature and with all\nliving creatures and aspects of nature. And the term living creatures\nincludes plants as well as animals, all are living children of Mother\nEarth and have their rights to life according to Indian thought. They\ndo not think of humankind as being above and separate from all other\ncreatures, but as fellow creatures in a world of life.\n\nThe following incident, which took place about fifty years ago on the\nprairies of Nebraska among a group of children of the Omaha tribe,\nwill serve to show the attitude quite commonly held by Indians toward\nother forms of life. It might be well, also to mention in this\nconnection that Indian children were taught by their parents to be not\nwasteful and destructive of wild flowers, that they should not\nwantonly pluck them, for, they were told, if they did so they would\nthus destroy the flower babies and the flower nations would then be\nexterminated. Indians feel a fearful dread of the consequences of\ninterfering with the nice balance and adjustment of nature.\n\nIt was a bright, warm summer afternoon in northern Nebraska. The wild\ngrass, waving in the summer breeze, was like a shimmering emerald sea,\nflecked with varied colour of the many different tribes of wild\nflowers. Overhead was a brilliantly blue sky with here and there\nslow-sailing white clouds whose soft shadows came and passed, silent\nand entrancing, over the greenth of the prairie. And in all this scene\nthe living creatures were moving, intent upon affairs of their own;\nthe crickets and grasshoppers, and the small mammals among the grass,\nthe butterfly flitting from flower to flower, the antelope grazing in\ngroups, and now and then a hawk might be seen circling high overhead.\n\nAcross the prairie came a caravan of people with their camp equipage.\nA band of Omahas was on the summer buffalo hunt. The men were widely\ndeployed in front and over a wide extent on both sides far in advance\nof the moving column. They were on the lookout for signs of the herd.\nWhen a herd should be sighted, the scouts who had found them would at\nonce report to the officers. When the camp was made the officers would\nconfer and make plans for the surround and kill.\n\nThe boys were employed in looking after the herd of extra horses; some\nof the women were with the train of pack animals looking after the\nbaggage and camp equipment, others were scattered over the prairie\nalong the line of march, carrying digging sticks and bags to gather\ntipsin roots for food.\n\nGroups of small children, too small to have any particular tasks\nassigned to them were playing along the way, observing the ways of\nbeast and bird and of insects, and admiring the brilliant wild\nflowers. One such group found a fledgling meadowlark, not yet able to\nfly. They captured it and brought it along with them when the band\nwent into camp for the night. As the families sat about their tents\nwaiting the preparation of the evening meal, the children showed their\nfather the captive bird and told him how they caught it. He listened\nto their account and then told them something of the life and habits\nof the bird, its nesting and home life, of its love of life and\nfreedom, and of its place in the world under the wise plans of the\nMaster of Life. He brought the children to see the unhappiness and the\nterror which they had unwittingly brought upon the captive and the\nanxiety the mother bird would feel over its loss.\n\nThen he said to them, \"Now children, take the little bird back to the\nplace where you found it and set it down in the grass, and say 'O\nMaster of Life, here is thy little bird which we have set free again.\nWe are sorry that we took it away from its home and its people. We did\nnot think of the sorrow we should cause. We wish to restore it and\nhave it happy again with its people. May we be forgiven for our\nthoughtlessness and we will not do such wrong again.'\"\n\nThe children carried out their father's instructions and placed the\nlittle bird again as near as they could to the place where they had\ncaptured it and recited the prayer to the Master of Life which their\nfather had admonished them to say. As they returned to the camp the\nquiet of the summer evening lay over all the land, the after-glow of\nthe sunset was in the western sky, the white tents stood in a great\ncircle upon the prairie, now dusky-green in the twilight which lay\nupon the land, a twinkling camp-fire before each tent. The children\nwere thoughtful. They had had a glimpse of the unity of the universe.\nThey never forgot the lesson. Years passed, great changes came. The\nwhite people were coming into the land. Old activities and industries\nof the Indians were destroyed by the changes. The children of that\nlittle group went away from their people to attend the white men's\nschools, to learn the white men's ways and adapt themselves to those\nways. But this did not cause them to forget altogether the wisdom and\ngrace of their parental teaching. Long afterward they told this little\nstory to the writer, who now gives it to you, reader, and wishes that\nyou, also may know that there be those in all lands and among all\npeoples who \"do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God.\"\n\n\nTHE CHICKADEE\n\nThe chickadee is a very popular bird among all the Indian tribes where\nit is known. They all have many stories and sayings about it. They say\nof it that, though small, it is a very wise bird. It is like the wise\nmen, the doctors and teachers among the people, who are learned in\nmysteries and the wonderful things of nature, who keep a calendar of\nthe cycle of the days, months and seasons through the year by cutting\nmarks upon a piece of wood which they have prepared for that purpose.\n\nThis wise little bird is said also to keep account of the months. It\nis said that \"in the beginning\" the task of keeping account of the\nmonths was assigned to the chickadee. But instead of making notches in\na piece of wood as the wise men do this wise bird's method is to make\nnotches in its tongue; thus in September its tongue is single-pointed,\nin October it has two points, in November three, and so on until\nFebruary, when it is said that its tongue has six points. Then in\nMarch its tongue is again single-pointed and the count is begun again.\nSo, it is said, the chickadee has been keeping the count of the months\nsince the long ago, in the dim past, when the task was assigned to it\nin the time of beginnings, in the time when evil powers and monsters\nstruggled mightily to overcome the good, and to destroy mankind by\nsending fierce storms and heavy snowfalls and shuddering cold winds\nupon the face of the earth. It was thus the evil powers sought to\ndiscourage and to overcome mankind.\n\nAnd so it is said that at one time the evil powers supposed that by\nstress of a long siege of cold and storms they had reduced mankind to\nfamine. At this time they chose to send the chickadee as a messenger\nto find out the conditions and to bring back word to them.\n\nNow when the chickadee came on his mission and appeared at the\ndwellings of men he was invited to enter. He was courteously given a\nplace by the fireside to rest and warm himself. Then food was brought\nto him. After he had eaten and refreshed himself he was anointed with\nfat, which was a symbol of plenty; then he was painted with red paint,\nwhich was for a symbol of the power and mystery of life. After these\nceremonies and marks of respect his hosts quietly composed themselves\nto give attention to whatever their visitor should have to say as to\nthe purpose of his visit. When he had stated his mission his hosts\nheld counsel and formulated a reply for the messenger to take back to\nthose who had sent him. He was bidden to say to them that mankind was\nstill living and hopeful, and they ever would be; that they could not\nbe daunted by discouragement, nor defeated by storms and stress, nor\nvanquished by hunger, nor overcome by any hardships; and that there\nnever would be a time when there should not be men upon the earth. So\nthis is the message which the chickadee brought to the evil powers\nwhich had sought to overcome mankind.\n\n\nTHE SONG OF THE WREN\n\n_A Pawnee Story_\n\nThe incident of this story occurred in the long ago in the country of\nthe Pawnee nation, in the broad expanse of the Platte River country in\nwhat is now the State of Nebraska. The event was in the distant past\nbefore the Pawnees had ever seen a white man, or any of his works or\nstrange devices. The people of the Pawnee nation lived in villages of\nhouses built in the manner that the houses of Pawnees had been built\nfor generations. Near their villages lay their fields of corn and\nother crops which they cultivated to supply themselves with food.\n\nIt was a beautiful morning in early summer. The sky was clear and\nbright, the dawn-light was showing in the eastern sky. All the\nlandscape lay as though still sleeping. There was no movement\nanywhere. A thoughtful priest had risen and had walked out upon the\nprairie away from the village so that he might view and meditate upon\nthe beauty and mystery of the firmament of the heavens and of the\nplane of earth, and of the living creatures thereon, both animal\ncreatures and plant creatures, for in his mind both were equally\nwonderful and equally interesting, as showing the power and the wisdom\nof the Great Mystery. So he walked and pondered upon all the beauty\nand mystery which lay about him, while the face of Mother Earth was\nstill moist with the dew of sleep. In a moment the first rays of the\nsun shone across the land touching into sparkling brilliance the\nmyriads of dewdrops, while a gentle movement ran through all the\ngrasses and the wild flowers as they swayed to the rippling of the\ngentle morning breeze which pulsed over the prairie at the first touch\nof the morning gleam.\n\nWhere a moment before all had been so still and so silent now there\nwas movement and sound. Birds of many kinds raised their tuneful\nvoices, showing their joy in life and in the beauty of the morning.\nThe priest, whose mind and heart were open to all this beauty and\nmelody, stood still and listened. In a moment, among all the other\nbird-songs, he heard one which was clearer and more remarkable than\nany of the others. This song was a most joyous cheerful sound, like\nhappy laughter. As he approached he found that the joyous, laughing\nsong came from a very tiny brown bird, no larger than his thumb. It\nwas a wren, so small, so insignificant in comparison to the size and\nbrilliant plumage of many of the other birds, yet it appeared to be\nthe most whole hearted in joy and praise and delight in life, as the\nsweet stream of music welled from its little throat.\n\nThe priest looked at the tiny bird, and wisely considered. He said to\nhimself: \"The Great Mystery has shown me here a wise teaching for my\npeople. This bird is small and weak, but it has its proper place in\nthe world of life and it rejoices in it and gives thanks with\ngladness. Everyone can be happy, for happiness is not from without,\nbut from within, in properly fitting and fulfilling each his own\nplace. The humblest can have a song of thanks in his own heart.\"\n\nSo he made a song and a story to be sung in a great religious ritual\nof his people, which was to them like our Bible and prayer-book are to\nus. And the song and story which that thoughtful priest put into the\nritual, was the story of the wren. And ever since that time so long\nago, the song has been sung by the Pawnees and has been handed down\nfrom generation to generation until this time.\n\n\nTHE WAR EAGLE AND THE JACK-RABBIT\n\n_A Mandan Story_\n\nOne time a party of men went into a lonely place among the hills far\naway from the village, to enter their eagle pits for the purpose of\ncatching eagles to obtain their plumes. One of the men had made his\npit far out at some distance from any of the others. Another day, as\nhe was coming away from his eagle pit, returning to the village, he\nstopped and sat down upon the top of a high hill from which he could\nenjoy a grand view of the landscape. Thus he sat looking about over\nthe quiet hills and valleys, beyond the bright gleam which showed the\ncourse of the river winding in and out among the green trees along its\nborders, far away to the dim sky line. Far away on one side he saw a\nnumber of elks feeding; on the other side he saw a band of graceful\nantelopes. A doe and her fawn were browsing upon some bushes down near\nthe river.\n\nAloft he saw the white clouds sailing in the bright blue sky; below he\nsaw their shadows moving over the earth, now up a hillside and over\nits crest and then swiftly across a little valley and up the next\nhillside. While he sat enjoying the beauty of the scene he observed a\nwar eagle chasing a jack-rabbit. The jack-rabbit continually dodged\nand circled, trying to escape as the eagle swooped toward him. The\neagle had several times swooped and just missed striking the rabbit.\n\nGradually the chase came near to the place where the man was seated.\nThe eagle was closely pursuing the rabbit and made a tremendous swoop\ntowards him. But the rabbit escaped by leaping into the man's robe as\nhe sat with it loosely draped about his shoulders and knees.\n\nThen the eagle said \"Put that rabbit away from you! He is my prey. I\nintend to eat him.\"\n\nBut now the rabbit appealed to the man and said, \"I have thrown myself\nupon your kindness. Do not turn me away. I beg of you. If you save me\nyou shall hereafter have success in your undertakings and you shall\nbecome a great man.\"\n\nThen the eagle spoke again, saying, \"His words are not true. Turn him\naway. He can do nothing for you. I, myself will make you great if you\nwill do as I request. It is I who speak the truth. My feet are not\nheld to the earth and I can also fly in the air far above the earth. I\nam successful in all the things I attempt.\"\n\nOnce more the jack-rabbit made his plea. \"Believe him not, and do not\nturn me away! Even though I must remain upon the ground, and cannot\nfly like the eagle, still I have knowledge proper to my conditions of\nlife, and I know how to do many things suitably and successfully.\"\n\nThe man made his decision in favor of the jack-rabbit and saved him\nfrom the eagle. And the jack-rabbit kept his promise to the man, for\nhe gave him of his own powers and made him successful in his\nundertakings and helped him with good and wise counsel in times of\ntrouble and doubt and perplexity. So the man gained great renown and\nhonor and influence among his people.\n\n\n\n\nINDEX\n\n\n                                                                  Page\n\n    Dedication                                                       5\n\n    Introduction                                                     7\n\n\n    LAND AND PEOPLE\n\n    Nature and Health                                                9\n\n    Spirit of Life                                                  10\n\n    Attitude Towards Native Life                                    10\n\n    Indians' Appreciation and Love of Their Homeland                12\n\n    Song to the Trees and Streams                                   12\n\n    Thrilling Escape of a Besieged War Party                        12\n\n    A Mandan Monument                                               14\n\n    The Legend of Standing Rock                                     15\n\n    The Holy Hill Pahuk                                             17\n\n    The Lodge of the Black-tail Deer which Talked with\n        Its Captor                                                  23\n\n    The Wonderful Basket                                            24\n\n    Cause of the Breaking up of Ice in the Missouri River           26\n\n    The Waterspring of the Holy Man                                 27\n\n    The Sacred Symbol of the Circle                                 31\n\n    The Sacred Number Four                                          31\n\n    The Pristine Prairie                                            32\n\n    Aboriginal American Agriculture                                 35\n\n    Description of an Earth-lodge                                   37\n\n    Hymn to the Sun                                                 38\n\n    Description of a Tipi                                           39\n\n    An Omaha Ghost Story                                            40\n\n    An Omaha Hero Song                                              41\n\n\n    STORIES OF THE PLANT PEOPLE\n\n    Sacred Trees                                                    43\n\n    The Song of the Pasque Flower                                   46\n\n    The Prairie Rose                                                48\n\n    The Song of the Wild Rose                                       49\n\n    Use of the Ground Bean                                          50\n\n    Tipsin: An Important Native Food Plant                          52\n\n    How the People Obtained the Precious Gift of Corn               53\n\n    A Group of Pawnee Hymns to Corn                                 56\n\n    The Forgotten Ear of Corn                                       58\n\n    How the Usefulness of Wild Rice Was Discovered                  58\n\n    A Story of the Sunflower                                        59\n\n    Dakota Folklore of the Spiderwort                               60\n\n\n    STORIES OF THE FOUR-FOOTED PEOPLE\n\n    The Faithful Dog                                                61\n\n    How Coyote Chief Was Punished                                   63\n\n    The Skunk and the Bear                                          65\n\n    The Song of the Old Wolf                                        65\n\n\n    STORIES OF THE PEOPLE OF THE AIR\n\n    Folk Sayings About the Meadowlark                               67\n\n    How the Meadowlark Won the Race                                 68\n\n    Folklore of the Horned Lark                                     72\n\n    How It Came About that Geese Migrate                            72\n\n    The Captive Bird                                                73\n\n    The Chickadee                                                   74\n\n    The Song of the Wren                                            75\n\n    The War Eagle and the Jack-rabbit                               76\n\n\n    MAPS\n\n    Map to Show Distribution of Tribes                               4\n\n    Map to Show Aboriginal Agriculture                              34\n\n    Map of Geographical Distribution of Pasque Flower               46\n\n\n[Decoration]\n\n_Bismarck Tribune Print_\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber's Note\n\nOmitted periods and mismatched quotation marks have been repaired. All\nother punctuation usage is as in the original. Hyphenation has been\nmade consistent. Inconsistent capitalisation, e.g. Hintunka and\nhintunka, is preserved as printed. Archaic and variable spelling is\npreserved as printed.\n\nThe Dedication on page 6 includes the phrase, \"... and who held it a\nform of sacrilege to violate or in any way endanger the overthrow of\nthat delicate balance of nature; ...\" The word 'endanger' does not\nseem appropriate in the context, and may be an error for 'engender.'\nHowever, as it is impossible to be sure, it is preserved as printed.\n\nThe following typographic errors have been repaired:\n\n    Page 11--considerble amended to considerable--\"The careful\n    study of plants and animals was a considerable part ...\"\n\n    Page 40--semed amended to seemed--\"Then, after a time, she\n    seemed to see not only the moccasins ...\"\n\n    Page 40--leggins amended to leggings--\"... but the leggings\n    above them as far as the knees, ...\"\n\n    Page 41--one amended to on--\"... he was unable to sit quietly\n    in the village while the fighting was going on.\"\n\n    Page 45--an amended to in--\"... with great profusion of\n    bloom, in earnest of returning life.\"\n\n    Page 75--mesenger amended to messenger--\"... and formulated a\n    reply for the messenger to take back ...\"\n\n    Page 79--Thrillnig amended to Thrilling--\"Thrilling Escape of\n    a Besieged War Party ...\"\n\n\n\n\n\n<pre id=\"pg-footer\">","title":"Prairie Smoke, a Collection of Lore of the Prairies","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":38983}