THE STORY OF AGGRETTA AND RED ARROW
On my return I passed the Little Horn, swung to the west, and traveled
up the Big Horn to the canyon, where I found some mixed Indians who were
busy catching and drying white fish. There were River Crows, Shoshones,
and a few Mountain Crows camped along the river in their summer homes or
wickyups.
After I had dismounted, taken off my packs, and turned my horses loose
to eat the bountiful bunch grass with which the ground was carpeted, I
went up the river to where some rocks projected into the water and soon
caught a dozen fine trout, and began getting my supper. Just as all was
ready, I saw the old Sheep Eater squaw sitting on the ground not far
away. I went over to her and, taking her by the arm, led her to my camp
fire and helped her to a portion of my broiled trout, potatoes, and
coffee. She kept her eyes on me for a while as she ate, then said in
sign talk, "I know you now."
I answered, "Yes?"
When she had finished eating, she drank her coffee and setting the tin
cup down, said with a sigh, "Heap good." Then, after giving me a long
and earnest look, "Me heap know you, yes, long time ago; heap talk about
mountains and Sheep Eaters, yes."
This was my chance, and I was not slow to take it. "Yes," I said, "and I
should like to know more of your people," and as she made no reply I
went on, "about the young people, about how they get married."
Still without looking at me, she answered: "Me all time know about young
Chief Red Arrow, Papoose, and the beautiful young squaw, Aggretta; face
all time like sun, all time beautiful eyes like stars, Aggretta bring
springtime and flowers, heap. Yes I tell pale face about Red Eagle
Papoose and Aggretta."
By this time many braves were standing around the camp-fire listening to
the old Sheep Eater, who rarely talked of her people. She settled
herself more comfortably, pulled her blanket around her shoulders, and
began her tale in a dull, listless way, but as scene after scene came
before her mind, she forgot her audience and herself and lived again
those days of her girlhood. As I watched the flush come to her cheeks
and the light kindle in her eyes, I lost sight of the withered old relic
of a tribe now passed away, and saw only the beautiful girl of the past
taking part in the scenes she so vividly described.
This is the story she told: "Red Eagle papoose no name yet. He never do
anything to get name. Papoose boy must do something good, save some
life, do some great act before he can be great man. Aggretta get name
because she so beautiful. Papoose go see Aggretta, stay long time, give
her beautiful eagle feathers and beads, but Aggretta no make beautiful
eyes at him. Come summer time, Aggretta go to mountain top to pray to
sun. Come dark night, storm, Aggretta get lost among clouds. The great
storm swept all over mountains and snow fell on ground, on mountain top.
"When Red Eagle papoose find out Aggretta lost on mountain, his heart on
ground. He get dried sheep and roots and great bow and arrows, flint
arrows, and go to Aggretta."
Fascinated, I listened, oblivious to everything but her story, which I
shall have to put into my own words: "Swift as the mountain ram he
climbs the rugged rocks and takes the trail to the great shrine wheel.
Soon he finds her moccasin tracks, and with all the fleetness of an
Indian runner he climbs the rocky trail, here and there stooping to find
a footmark, the breaking of a piece of moss, or the displacing of a
small stone. The bent grass in places showed the direction in which
Aggretta had gone. With bow and arrow he glided on and up. Soon he came
to the snow line, where the trail became more precipitous and the snow
deeper. He stopped and wildly blew his cedar horn, but no answer came.
The storm had abated and the sun's warm rays were making the snow soft.
All impressions and trails were obliterated. The reflection of the sun
on the snow was blinding. After a careful survey, he struggled on up the
trail, whose serpentine twists wound in and out through trees and
canyons and dazzling snow until he was almost blinded.
"Entering a narrow canyon filled with fir and spruce trees, he stopped
in this haven to rest his tired eyes. When his vision had cleared, his
heart gave a bound; he thought he could see a moccasin track ahead in
the trail. He was off like a deer, and in a moment he was scraping the
soft snow away to find--the tracks of a terrible grizzly. Now he knew
there was trouble ahead, for he felt sure the bear would follow
Aggretta's trail. His suspicions proved correct, and mile after mile he
followed the trail, until he came to the camping ground where the Sheep
Eaters met twice a year to worship. Just as he reached an elevated spot
he heard the scream of his Aggretta, and starting in the direction from
which it came, he saw the grizzly coming straight for him. He brought
his long bow to his face and placed the great jagged arrow against the
sinew. Dropping on his back, with both feet against the bow and both
hands on the sinew, he bent the bow until the arrow was just at full
length and the flint touched the bow; then, letting the bear have the
shaft full in the breast, he jumped like a cat to one side, and the bear
passed. One terrible roar told that the grizzly had been hit in a vital
place.
"The bear turned and started after the young brave, who was bounding
along toward the scrub fir tree where Aggretta was perched. On came the
bear, with the blood streaming from his mouth, steadily gaining on the
brave, until it seemed certain he would catch him before the tree was
reached. Aggretta, watching the race, gave a cry of warning, and the
brave turned suddenly and bounded away down the hill. The bear,
infuriated with pain, rushed after him. When the distance between them
was short, the brave leaped aside with the agility of a coyote, while
the weight of the great monster carried it down the mountain side.
Before the bear could make the turn, the brave was beside his Aggretta
in the tree. But no sooner had he cleared the ground than the monster
was underneath the tree, tearing at the lower limbs, while the shaft
remained buried in his vitals.
"The brave took another arrow from his quiver and with deliberate aim he
drove the arrow with its obsidian shaft into one of the bear's eyes,
cutting it entirely out. The great brute rolled over and with his paws
tore the arrow from his eye, but the inward bleeding was fast filling
his powerful lungs.
"The two lovers sat together trembling like forest leaves, as the
grizzly rolled over the snow with his life blood oozing away. The young
brave drew another shaft and was about to send it home, when Aggretta
said, 'Wait, he will not live long now, and you may need your arrows.
We are far from our people and there are many wild beasts between us and
our lodge.'
"He replaced the arrow in his quiver, saying, 'Aggretta speaks wisely,
like her father, Black Raven.'
"At last the lovers came slowly down from the tree. Cautiously the brave
crept forward and made sure the bear was dead. Then he grasped the
shaft, and exerting all his strength pulled it from the breast of the
dead brute, whose lungs it had penetrated. Holding the bloody arrow in
his hand, the young brave told Aggretta this was his first great bear.
"'Yes,' said Aggretta, 'now you have won a name, and Aggretta the
daughter of chief Black Raven, will name you the Red Arrow.'
"After taking the claws of the bear to make a necklace for himself, they
started down the trail in their homeward journey. Young and fleet of
foot, they went, at a swift pace down the mountain, hand in hand. After
covering many miles, Red Arrow called a halt at a mountain spring,
where he took from his buckskin shirt some dried sheep, and they ate
heartily while they talked of the great rejoicing there would be in the
Sheep Eaters' lodges when they returned.
"After lunch they started on down the trail, Aggretta keeping pace with
Red Arrow. Once the stillness was broken by the faint blast of a red
cedar horn; but it was not until they had stopped to rest in a great
park, where the snow had melted away, that they heard a blast that
echoed and reechoed through the wild hills and canyons and the farthest
glen. Red Arrow recognized the blast as coming from his father's horn,
and took from his belt a horn made from the mountain ram's horn. Filling
his powerful lungs, he placed it carefully to his lips, and blew one
long quivering blast which burst through the air like a rocket,
penetrating the canyons and the forests, echoing far down through the
valleys where the Sheep Eaters had built their lodges among the crags.
"As they rested under a great tree with the sunlight filtering through
its branches, making lacy patterns on the moss at their feet, and the
magpies and squirrels scolding and chattering in the nearby trees,
Aggretta told of her wanderings on the mountains, and her escape from
the bear, the despair she felt of ever being rescued, and her joy when
she saw him, Red Arrow, coming. Red Arrow's heart was too full for
utterance, and when she had finished, he sat looking into her beautiful
brown eyes, while his heart throbbed almost aloud. At last he said, 'Red
Arrow look heap on Aggretta?'
"Casting her eyes around like a frightened fawn, she moved closer to her
lord of the forest.
"'Aggretta much good, and great father say me have Aggretta,' he
continued.
"She nestled still closer and he slipped his arm around the trembling
maiden and drew her to him. His pleading eyes looked straight into hers,
and through into her very soul, as he said, 'You give me much good
name, now do you give me Aggretta?'
"Softly her arm stole round his neck, the black head went down on his
shoulder while tears of joy slipped down her cheeks. Words could not add
to the rapture of these two hearts drawn together by the wonderful love
known only to the children of nature, and they sat in silence until the
cedar horn was heard again. This was the signal to move on. Down through
the beautiful ferns and wild flowers the lovers sped, leaving behind the
mountains and the snow. Hand in hand they pressed forward down the
winding trail, beaten deep into the earth by the buffalo, the elk, the
deer, the sheep. The goldenrod nodded in the breeze. Little squirrels
went frisking up the nut pines, gathering the rich nuts, and the ruffed
grouse safely hidden among the brown leaves, quietly viewed the scene.
"Tired and breathless the two Sheep Eaters reached the park a few miles
above the village and were met there by the rescuing party. The great
chief, Red Eagle, folded Aggretta in his arms. Then taking his son, he
embraced them both and blessed them with his richest blessings. The
horns were brought forth, and their notes bursting upon the air apprised
the waiting villagers of the finding of Aggretta. When the royal pair
had been escorted from the mountain park to their lodges, the whole
village joined in song and praise for the young chief. Then all the
chiefs assembled, and before them and the young brave, Aggretta
bashfully told the story of how she was driven to the forest by the
storm, lost among the great fir trees, followed by the bear, escaped
into the fir tree, and her rescue by the young papoose when she had
given up all hope. She described his race for life and the courage and
ingenuity with which he outwitted the bear, and of his sending the arrow
to the creature's heart. She told how, when he had pulled the arrow from
the brute's heart all dripping with blood, she had named him Chief Red
Arrow.
"The chiefs, after listening to her story, agreed that the papoose had
won the right to a name; and he was then and there christened Chief Red
Arrow.
"The next day Chief Red Arrow selected a beautiful tepee, made of the
best of lodge poles, cemented together with pine pitch and glue from the
mountain ram's hoofs, and in it he stored his earthly stock of goods. He
carpeted the floor of his new lodge with the skins of the mountain ram,
the cougar, the red deer, the elk, and the bear, while the walls were
hung with robes from the mountain bison, the otter, the beaver, the
mink, and the martin. The villagers watched with interest while he
worked. He drew a rawhide thong across the center of his lodge, facing
the door. On this he hung the prize trophies of the chase, making a
partition for his lodge. In the center he left a door-way, over which he
hung a beautiful spotted elk calf robe for a door. The lodge was located
in an ideal spot, where the green mountain ferns covered the ground and
a spring of clear water sparkled and bubbled close at hand. On either
side stood a large, low, spreading pine, protecting the lodge from the
summer suns and winter storms.
"While Red Arrow was still busy decorating his lodge for his young
bride-to-be, sixteen of the best hunters were sent into the forest and
mountains and directed to bring in the choicest game to be found and the
skin of the great bear that had come so near killing Aggretta.
"All this time Aggretta was nowhere to be seen. It was a custom among
the Sheep Eaters that the prospective bride must seclude herself and
prepare for the coming ceremonies.
"Four days later the lodge was completed and all but three of the
hunters had returned loaded with mountain sheep, elk, and deer. On the
fifth day came the three with the skin of the great bear which had given
Red Arrow his name.
[Illustration: A SUMMER HOUSE OR LOVERS' RETREAT]
"The great skin was placed on the ground. Red Arrow brought Aggretta
out, and before the whole village she repeated the story of her terrible
experience on the mountain and her rescue by Red Arrow. Then the
great Red Eagle, in all his splendor, stepped upon a rock and announced
that his son, Red Arrow, now had a name, won by bravery shown in the
saving of the life of Aggretta, and in ten sleeps the Red Arrow would
bring this beautiful maiden, daughter of the Black Raven, to his lodge,
at which time there would be great rejoicing and feasting among the
Sheep Eaters. When he had concluded three blasts were blown on the cedar
horns and the crowd quietly dispersed to their lodges.
"The next ten days were busy ones in the village. Every Indian had his
share in the preparations for the great event.
"On the morning of the tenth sleep, before even the birds had begun
their morning chants, thirty braves in their gala dress, stole silently
forth from their lodges and assembled in the open space before the
village. When the first faint blush of dawn appeared in the east, a
blast from thirty cedar horns broke the stillness of the beautiful
mountain village. As the last notes died away two processions from
opposite ends of the village started toward the bridal lodge. Aggretta,
in her bridal gown of skins and beads, black hair down to her moccasin
tops, came with the step of a queen from her father's lodge, attended by
twenty-eight lovely maidens, each the choice of her tribe. From the
other end of the village came Red Arrow out of the lodge of Chief Red
Eagle, attended by twenty-eight braves, all splendid in their wedding
garb.
"Never bride pledged her troth amid greater beauty. Overhead a canopy of
blue, with here and there a fleecy cloud daintily edged with pink. Round
about were walls of massive, towering rock, stately evergreens and the
thousand surrounding lodges, and under foot a carpet of grass and ferns
and flowers.
"Just as the sun's rim cleared the horizon, the lovers met at the door
of the lodge and stood side by side on the great bear skin, while the
blowing of horns and the chanting of twenty-eight maidens and
twenty-eight braves made the mountains ring with joy. Then a thousand
voices swelled the chorus of praise to the young aristocrats.
"The great medicine chief came forward and performed the rites of the
tribe. The pair knelt on the bear skin with their faces to the sun,
while he joined them together in marriage. The ceremonies finished, the
brave and his bride entered the lodge he had prepared, while the
villagers went to their tepees, chanting songs of praise to the new made
bride.
"At evening, when the sun had gone to rest and the stately peaks had
changed from pink to lavender, from gold to copper, and from purple to
gray, when the evening star had cleared the horizon and had begun to
wink and beckon to the laggard moon, then again the village awoke to
life, and the royal feast began. Fires were kindled and great flat
stones were heated. Choice cuts of elk, the tenderloin and tongues and
hams of sheep were roasted. Venison steak and ribs were broiled to a
turn. The bridal couple came forth and once more took their place on
the bear skin. The singers and dancers in the center of the great throng
began their weird chants and slow rhythmical steps. The tom-tom burst
forth, the chants became louder, the dance swifter. The maidens took up
the chant, first low and sweet, and as it grew higher and louder, the
young braves added their voices, then the older people joined the
chorus. Torches of cedar, burning like rockets, were thrown into the
air, the tom-toms pealed out their muffled notes, and from a thousand
throats rolled the great wedding song, until the tepees shook, and the
hills and valleys echoed with the sounds of rejoicing. They danced and
chanted and feasted while the stars came out till the sky seemed
crowded, while the camp-fires leaped and blazed. They danced and feasted
and sang, until the camp-fires smouldered and died out, and the night
birds made their last faint twitterings before seeking rest. They sang
and feasted and danced when all else was still save the Grey Bull River,
murmuring as it swept along over its gravelly bed, the far off hoot of
an owl, or the cry of the coyote still lingering for his share of the
wedding feast. When the little stars had gone to rest and the larger
ones were beginning to slip away, then quietly, in groups, the throng
dispersed, wishing the newly married pair good night and happy days, as
they passed.
"When the last one had gone, Red Arrow turned to his bride, and taking
her by the hand, led her into his lodge. Looking into her brown eyes, so
full of love and trust, he said, 'This is our home, and I know we shall
always be happy here, for our people all love us and the great spirit is
well pleased.'
"Then he let the skin fall loosely over the door, and the great day of
the Sheep Eaters had passed. The silent night became more silent, the
owl ceased calling to his mate, the coyote skulked into his lair, the
birds ceased their chirping, the great forest trees seemed in a trance,
not a flower or fern moved, all nature was at rest.
"The Great Red Eagle, chief of the twenty-eight tribes, sent runners to
all his people with the message that in the spring, when the warm sun
should come again, all the tribes were to assemble at the great Sun Dial
to worship and rejoice over the wedding of his son to the beautiful
Aggretta.
"The warm sun came, and a great camp-fire was kept burning for two
nights on Bald Mountain, where it could be seen by the tribes many miles
away, even into Wyoming. Then came the greatest gathering that had ever
assembled in the mountains.
"Day after day came the people, eager to see the young chieftain and his
squaw, who were to rule the people when the great Red Eagle was no
longer able to rule. Songs to the sun began to rise from the great
rock-ribbed mountains, and the royal family, with Red Arrow and the
beautiful Aggretta, took their places on the great stone spokes of the
wheel, facing the east. They began their worship by moving along until
they came to the rim, when the men turned to the right and the squaws to
the left, singing their chants to the sun. The sun chant begins very
low, but as they go around the wheel it becomes louder and louder until
the climax is reached, then a new company takes the wheel, and the first
worshippers retire to their seats, watching and joining in the chants
until the foothills and canyons and plains resound with the music.
"Thus the days and nights were passed until the end of their fourteen
day holiday had come. The chief and his squaw had become acquainted with
the leaders of the twenty-eight tribes, and after the annual worship was
over and the customary gifts had been made to the young chief, Red
Arrow, and his bride, each tribe, headed by the subchief went to their
homes among the mountains."