{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_45520/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_45520","id":"gutenberg_45520","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/45520","summary":null,"tags":["Category: American Literature","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Short Stories","Indians of North America -- Juvenile literature"],"text":"Produced by David Widger from page images generously\nprovided by the Internet Archive\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSTORIES ABOUT INDIANS\n\nBy Anonymous\n\nMerriam & Merrill\n\n1854.\n\n[Illustration: 0001]\n\n[Illustration: 0003]\n\n[Illustration: 0004]\n\n\n\n\nSTORIES ABOUT INDIANS\n\n\n\n\nINDIAN VILLAGE.\n\n[Illustration: 9005]\n\nHE Indians were formerly lords of the soil we now occupy, and obtained a\nsubsistance  principally by hunting and fishing.\n\nThey generally lived in villages, containing from fifty to five hundred\nfamilies. Their houses, called _wigwams_, were usually constructed of\npoles, one end being driven into the ground, and the other bent over so\nas to meet another fastened in like manner; both being joined together\nat the top, and covered with the bark of trees. Small holes were left\nopen for windows, which were closed in bad weather with a piece of bark.\nThey made their fire in the centre of the wigwam, leaving a small hole\nfor a chimney in the top of the roof.\n\n[Illustration: 0006]\n\nThey had no chairs, but sat upon skins, or mats, spread upon the ground,\nwhich also served them for beds. Their clothes were principally made of\nthe skins of animals, which in winter were sewed together with the fur\nside turned inwards.\n\nThe Indians were very fond of trinkets and ornaments, and often\ndecorated their heads with feathers, while fine polished shells were\nsuspended from their ears.\n\n\n\n[Illustration: 9007]\n\nHE following anecdote is related of a Pawnee brave, or warrior, (son of\nRed Knife.)\n\nAt the age of twenty-one, the heroic deeds of this brave had acquired\nfor him in his nation the rank of the bravest of the braves.\n\nThe savage practice of torturing and burning to death their prisoners\nexisted in this nation. An unfortunate female of the Paduca nation,\ntaken in war, was destined to this horrid death.\n\nJust when the funeral pile was to be kindled this young warrior, having\nunnoticed prepared two fleet horses, with the necessary provisions,\nsprang from his seat, liberated the victim, seized her in his arms,\nplaced her on one of the horses, mounted the other himself, and made the\nutmost speed toward the nation and friends of the captive! The\nmultitude, dumb and nerveless, made no effort to rescue their victim\nfrom her deliverer. They viewed it as the immediate act of the Great\nSpirit, submitted to it without a murmur, and quietly retired to their\nvillage.\n\n\n\n\nINDIAN GRATITUDE.\n\n[Illustration: 9009]\n\nS an Indian was straying through a village on the Kennebec, he passed a\ngentleman standing at his store door, and begged a piece of tobacco. The\nperson stepped back, and selected a generous piece, for which he\nreceived a gruff \u201ctank you,\u201d and thought no more of the affair. Three or\nfour months afterwards, he was surprised at an Indian\u2019s coming into the\nstore and presenting him with a beautiful miniature birch canoe, painted\nand furnished with paddles to correspond. On asking the meaning of it,\nhe was told, \u201cIndian not forget; you give me tobacco; me make this for\nyou.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: 0010]\n\nThis man\u2019s gratitude for a trifling favor had led him to bestow more\nlabor on his present than would have purchased him many pounds of his\nfavorite weed.\n\n\n\n\nINDIAN OBSERVATION.\n\n[Illustration: 9011]\n\nN his return home to his hut one day, an Indian discovered that his\nvenison  which had been hung up to dry, had been stolen After going some\ndistance, he met some persons, of whom he inquired if they had seen a\n_little, old, white_ man, with a short gun, and accompanied by a small\ndog with a bobtail. They replied in the affirmative; and upon the\nIndian\u2019s assuring them that the man thus described had stolen his\nvenison, they desired to be informed how he was able to give such a\nminute description of a person whom he had not seen. The Indian answered\nthus:\n\n\u201cThe thief I know is a little man, by his having made a pile of stones\nin order to reach the venison from the height I hung it standing on the\nground; that he is an old man, I know by his short steps, which I have\ntraced over the dead leaves in the woods; that he is a white man, I know\nby his turning out his toes when he walks, which an Indian never does;\nhis gun I know to be short by the mark which the muzzle made by rubbing\nthe bark of the tree on which it leaned; that his dog is small, I know\nby his tracks; and that he has a bob-tail I discovered by the mark of it\nin the dust where he was sitting at the time his master was taking down\nthe meat.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nINDIAN STRATAGEM.\n\n[Illustration:9013]\n\nN one of the frequent wars among the different tribes of Indians, a\nPequot was pursued by a Narraganset Indian. The Pequot skulked be-a rock,\nand raising his hat on his gun, held it up just above the rock, so that\nthe hat alone was visible on the other side.\n\nThe Narraganset, who was at some distance, perceiving the hat, and\nsupposing of course that the head of the Pequot was in it, crept softly\nup within a few feet and fired. But directly he had the mortification to\nfind that he had thrown away his powder. The Pequot\u2019s gun was still\nloaded, and he discharged it to effect upon the poor Narraganset.\n\n[Illustration: 0014]\n\n\n\n\nRED JACKET.\n\n[Ill 9015]\n\nT happened, during the Revolutionary war, that a treaty was held with\nthe Indians, at which Lafayette was present. The object was to unite the\nvarious tribes in amity with America. The majority of the chiefs were\nfriendly, but there was much opposition made to it, more especially by a\nyoung warrior, who declared that when an alliance was entered into with\nAmerica, he should consider the sun of his country as set forever. In\nhis travels through the Indian country, when lately in America, it\nhappened at a large assemblage of chiefs that Lafayette referred to the\ntreaty in question, and turning to Red Jacket, said, \u201cPray, tell me, if\nyou can, what has become of that daring youth, who so decidedly opposed\nall our propositions for peace and amity?\n\n[Illustration: 0016]\n\n\u201cDoes he still live--and what is his condition?\u201d\n\n\u201cI myself am the man,\u201d replied Red Jacket, \u201cthe decided enemy of the\nAmericans as long as the hope of opposing them with success remained,\nbut now their true and faithful ally until death.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nINDIAN SHREWDNESS\n\n[Illustration: 9017]\n\nHEN General Lincoln went to make peace with the Creek Indians, one of\nthe chiefs asked him to sit down on a log. He was then desired to move,\nand in a few minutes to move still further. The request was repeated\nuntil the general got to the end of the log. The Indian still said,\n\u201cMove further,\u201d to which the general replied, \u201cI can move no further.\u201d\n\n\u201cJust so it is with us,\u201d said the chief; \u201cyou have moved us back to the\nwater, and then ask us to move further.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: 0018]\n\n\n\n\nAN INDIAN\u2019S JOKE.\n\n[Illustration: 9019]\n\nURING the time of Indian troubles, a friendly Indian  visited Governor\nJenks, of Rhode Island,  when the governor took occasion to request him\nto let him  know if any strange Indian should come to his wigwam. This\nthe Indian promised to do, and the governor agreed to give him a mug of\nflip if he should give such information. Some time after, the Indian\ncame again, and said, \u201cWell, Mr. Gubernor, strange Indian come to my\nhouse last night.\u201d\n\n\u201cAh,\u201d said the governor, \u201cwhat did he say?\u201d\n\n\u201cHe no speak,\u201d replied the Indian.\n\n\u201cWhat, not speak at all?\u201d inquired the governor. \u201cNo, he no speak at\nall.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat looks suspicious,\u201d said his excellency, and inquired if he was\nthere still. Being told that he was, the governor ordered the promised\nmug of flip. When this was disposed of, and the Indian was about to\ndepart, he mildly said, \u201cMr. Gubernor, my squaw have child last night.\u201d\n The governor, finding the strange Indian was a new-born papoose, was\nglad to find there was no cause for alarm.\n\n[Illustration: 0020]\n\n\n\n\nINDIAN CHARACTER.\n\n[Illustration: 9021]\n\nHE following striking display of Indian character occurred some years\nsince in a town in Maine. An Indian of the Kennebec tribe, remarkable\nfor his good conduct, received a grant of land from the state, and fixed\nhimself in a township, where a number of families settled. Though not\nill treated, yet the common prejudice against the Indians prevented any\nsympathy with him. This was shown at the death of his only child, when\nnone of the people came near him. Shortly afterwards he went to some of\nthe inhabitants, and said to them, \u201cWhen white man\u2019s child die, Indian\nman be sorry-he help bury him: when my child die, no one speak to me--I\nmake his grave alone--I can\u2019t live here.\u201d\n\nHe gave up his farm, dug up the body of his child, and carried it with\nhim two hundred miles through the forest, to join the Canada Indians.\nWhat energy and depth of feeling does this specimen of Indian character\nexhibit!\n\n[Illustration: 0022]\n\n\n\n\nINDIAN INTEGRITY\n\n[Illustration: 9023]\n\nSpanish traveller met an Indian in the desert; they were both on\nhorseback. The Spaniard, fearing that his horse, which was none of the\nbest, would not hold out till the end of his journey, asked the Indian,\nwhose horse was young, strong, and Spirited, to exchange with him. This\nthe Indian refused. The Spaniard therefore began a quarrel with him.\nFrom words they proceeded to blows. The aggressor being well armed,\nproved too powerful for the native. He seized his horse, mounted him,\nand pursued his journey.\n\n[Illustration: 9024]\n\nE was closely followed to the nearest town by the Indian, who\nimmediately complained to a judge. The Spaniard was obliged to appear,\nand bring the horse with him. He treated the Indian as an impostor,\naffirming that the horse was his property, that he had always had him in\nhis possession, and that he had raised him from a colt.\n\nThere being no proof to the contrary, the judge was about dismissing the\nparties, when the Indian cried out,--\u201cThe horse is mine, and I\u2019ll prove\nit!\u201d He immediately took off his mantle, and with it instantly covered\nthe head of the animal; then addressing the judge,--\u201cSince this man,\u201d\n said he, \u201caffirms that he has raised the horse from a colt, command him\nto tell of which eye he is blind.\u201d The Spaniard, who would not seem to\nhesitate, instantly answered, \u201cOf the right eye.\u201d\n\n\u201cHe is neither blind of the right eye,\u201d replied the Indian, \u201cnor of the\nleft.\u201d The judge decreed him the horse, and the Spaniard to be punished\nas a robber.\n\n\n\n\nINDIAN POLITENESS.\n\n[Illustration: 9025]\n\nHE politeness of these people in conversation is indeed carried to\nexcess; since it does not permit them to contradict or deny the truth of\nwhat is asserted in their presence. By this means they indeed avoid\ndisputes; but then it becomes difficult to know their minds, or what\nimpression you make upon them. When any of them come into our towns, our\npeople are apt to crowd around them, gaze upon them, and incommode them\nwhen they desire to be private; this they esteem great rudeness, and the\neffect of the want of instruction in the rules of civility and good\nmanners. \u201cWe have,\u201d say they, \u201cas much curiosity as you, and when you\ncome info our towns, we wish for opportunities of looking at you; but\nfor this purpose we hide ourselves behind bushes where you are to pass,\nand never intrude ourselves into your company.\u201d","title":"Stories about Indians","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":1947}