The Snakes said, “Let Old-Woman’s-Grandson tell his story first.”
But the boy said, “No, you tell the first story.” The leader, the
chief of the Snakes, who was very large, said that he would tell
a story. This Snake began to tell a story of how a girl had said
she liked a certain Star, and how the next day, the girl found the
porcupine; that the porcupine had climbed the tree and she also had
climbed it; that the tree had stretched and went up to the Star
that the girl liked; that the Star had married this girl; that a
boy had been born to them; that the boy had the image of a star
upon his forehead; that the boy’s father was a Star; that the
woman had requested her husband to get sinews for her; that this
woman had given the sinews to an old woman that she might make a
sinew string; that the Star had forgotten to get the two sinews
under the shoulders of the buffalo, and for that reason the string
had proved too short to reach the ground; that the Star had missed
his wife and child; that he had hunted and had found a hole in the
ground; that the Star had picked up a stone and had sent it down
on the string to kill the woman, telling it to save the child;
that the child had stayed around its mother until she had decayed;
that the child had gone to the old woman’s lodge and gone into her
field; that the old woman had made bow and arrows and a shinny ball
and stick, had placed them in the field, so that she might find out
whether the child was a boy or a girl; that the boy had come and
picked up the bow and arrows and had gone to shoot at the squash in
the field; that the old woman had caught the boy and had taken him
home and made him her grandson, when he became known through the
country as “Old-Woman’s-Grandson;” that through the boy’s powers he
had scattered the blackbirds through the earth; that the mountain
lions were also scattered through the earth; that the bears were
scattered through the earth; that even the water-serpent had been
killed and sent back to the lake; that the serpent had been the
boy’s grandfather; that the boy had killed the old woman’s husband,
who was really his grandfather; that the boy had visited the four
wonderful men; that the four wonderful men had found a fœtus in a
buffalo cow; that they had tried to put it next to him to scare
him; that the boy had climbed the tree and they had placed the
fœtus at the forks of the tree, so that he could not climb down;
that the boy had offered his grandmother to the four wonderful men
to get the men to take away the fœtus and let him down the tree;
that the boy had taken the wonderful bow and arrows from the four
wonderful men; that these men had married the old woman; that
afterwards the boy was given a flute by his grandmother, which was
done that he might take revenge upon the four wonderful men; that
he had killed the four wonderful men, so they would be no longer
on the earth; that now Old-Woman’s-Grandson had come to the people
who were sitting in a den trying to catch eagles; that he now sat
before them, sitting on a rock; that he was given a long gut to
eat, but that he had found out that it was a Snake; that he had
thrown it in the fire and burned it. “This,” said the leader, “ends
our story. Old-Woman’s-Grandson will now please tell us a story.”
The boy then began to tell about himself, just as the Snake had
told it, following it up. “Now,” said the boy, “as the people in
the den were sitting around, listening to Old-Woman’s-Grandson,
there came a strong wind from the southeast, and blew towards
the den.” As the wind blew from the southeast the Snakes on that
side went to sleep. Then he told about the wind coming from the
southwest, and those Snakes in the southwest went to sleep. Then
the wind from the northwest came, and those who were there went
to sleep. Then the wind from the northeast came, and those Snakes
on that side went to sleep. Now the boy waved his hand all around
the circle, and all went to sleep as they were listening to
Old-Woman’s-Grandson.
In the center was the fire. There was a long stick in the form of
a circle around the den, and all the Snakes were upon this, in a
circle all around. The boy now arose, took his flint knife, and
commenced to cut the heads on the stick around the fireplace. When
he came to the last one, it opened its eyes and woke up. It ran
into a hole, and said, “Old-Woman’s-Grandson, watch yourself, for
hereafter I am your enemy.” The Snake disappeared in the ground.
Now the boy went out and went home, and he told the old woman that
he had killed the Snakes. The old woman was then afraid of the boy.
She knew that he was wonderful. After that, the boy watched himself
in all of his journeys, because of the Snake he had failed to kill.
Whenever he wanted to drink he had to go among the rocks, where he
would drink from the pools of water. The boy could not drink water
from the springs, for the Snake was always ready to jump into his
mouth. When the boy wanted to sleep he lay down, placing the arrows
he had as follows: One outside of each knee and one outside of each
shoulder, sticking them in the ground. The bow the boy used for a
pillow. Whenever the Snake approached him sleeping the arrows fell
upon him, so that he woke up.
The boy became very sleepy one time, for he had not slept much
during all this time. He lay down, and placed the arrows as usual,
and went to sleep. The Snake came. One of the arrows fell on the
boy, but failed to wake him. Another fell on him, but he did not
wake. Then another arrow fell, then the last one fell, but the boy
did not wake. The Snake crawled up to the boy, and, as it reached
his stomach, the boy, in his sleep, reached for his knife and made
motions to cut the Snake, but the Snake kept on going. The boy
kept trying to get the Snake, but it went into the boy’s mouth. It
crawled up into the skull and nestled itself there. The boy lay
there as though dead; but the Snake knew that the boy was not dead.
The Snake remained there until the boy dried up and became nothing
but a skeleton.
The father of the boy studied hard as to how to get the Snake
out of the boy’s skull. Although the boy was dead, the skull was
the living part of the boy. The boy’s father then found a plan
for getting the Snake out. A storm came from the north. It rolled
the skull over and turned it up so that the hole in the skull was
upward, and as the rain fell it ran into the skull and filled it
with water. This did not drive the Snake out. The father called on
the Sun to get nearer to the earth, so as to heat the skull so that
the Snake would have to jump out. The Sun moved towards the earth
and heated the skull. Soon the water was boiling. It became too hot
for the Snake, and finally the Snake crawled out of the skull. No
sooner had it got out than the boy stood up and caught the Snake by
the neck. He then took up stones and hit the Snake’s snout, so that
it made its head short. Then the boy sat down upon a rock and began
to rub the Snake’s teeth upon it, and said, “Now you must promise
that you will never bother people again.” The snake promised. The
Snake, as it was turned loose, said, “Once in a great while I shall
bite people, but not often.” The boy reached for the Snake and it
disappeared,—that is why the people get bitten by snakes once in a
great while.
The boy then returned to his grandmother, who was glad to see
him. The boy told his grandmother that she was now free to do as
she pleased, for he was going off; that the country was now free
from wild animals. So the old woman disappeared, and the boy went
southeast to the village of the people.
There the boy told his story, and the people knew that he was the
son of the girl who had climbed up the cottonwood tree. The boy
did many wonderful things for the people, and the people said that
it was through the boy that the people could travel through these
wild countries, for now all the wild animals had been scattered
and were not as fierce as they had been before. The old woman had
disappeared and had made her camp in some other place. The boy died
after he had cleared the country of all the wild animals.
There is an old cottonwood tree on the south side of the Missouri
River, close to the place known as Armstrong, that the people claim
is the tree that stretched upward, taking the girl up to the Star.
Still south of the cottonwood tree is the place where the people
say the stone is that was thrown down by the Star and which killed
the woman. To the west is the lake where the monster fell. At the
southwest of the cottonwood, it is supposed, was the Snake den. The
people say that to-day snakes are very numerous there. South of
this place, among the hills, is where the mountain-lion is supposed
to have been. Close to the cottonwood, in the timber along the
Missouri River, is the place where the bear is supposed to have been.
FOOTNOTES:
[15] Told by Yellow-Bear.
15. THE GIRL WHO MARRIED A STAR.[16]
One night two pretty young maidens were sleeping on top of a summer
arbor. They were ill with monthly sickness. One said, “Kario, I
love that little bright star, and I wish it was my husband.” That
same night, while sleeping, the girl was taken away up in the
heavens, to live with her husband, he giving her instructions what
to do and what not to do. He could not always stay at home, as
he was in the chase. One of the instructions was that the woman
should never dig up an Indian turnip at slough-like places. While
her husband was away, the woman determined she would discover the
mystery connected with her husband’s injunction. When she had dug
the turnip she saw what the mystery was. She saw the people living
on this earth looking like crawling insects.
When she saw this she cried and cried and cried. She went to an
old woman for comfort. The old woman saw that the woman had been
crying; so she questioned her and found out her trouble. The woman
answered that she could easily be relieved of her trouble. So she
advised her to collect all the sinew she could find from the meat
her husband brought.
The girl told her husband she wanted all the sinew there was in all
the game he killed, even the very smallest piece. Her husband did
as she asked, not knowing her intention. When a very large number
had been made the woman took the sinew and went to the old woman,
who began to make what she had promised to make for her. “Come back
in a few days,” she said, “and I will have the thread ready for
you. Remember to come when your husband goes on a long chase.”
The husband started on a chase, and the girl went to the old
Woman’s lodge and told her that her man had gone. The old woman got
her sinew rope and fixed it around the woman’s waist and began to
let her down—down—down. She went with her first child on her back.
The place she started down was where she had dug up the forbidden
root. The twine was lacking about twenty or more feet. The old
woman was an old spider, it was found. Old Spider-Woman did not
have enough cobweb and sinew, so the woman hung on the rope, not
able to touch the earth.
When her husband returned he found his wife missing. He began to
look for her. He thought at once of his order, and so went out
where she usually dug. He found a stick in the grass. He discovered
the rope tied around the stick, and his wife and child hanging away
down near the earth. He picked up a stone and talked to the stone,
saying, “Do not harm the boy, but kill the mother.” Down—down—went
the stone, and struck the young mother on the head; it cut the rope
and her body fell; but the boy was safe. The boy stayed by his
mother’s body and fed himself at her breast for a time. Her body
began to decay.
The boy went off and got into a cornfield, not knowing that it was
corn. When lonesome he returned to his mother. The owner of the
field was an old woman. She saw the footprints in her field. She
wondered what it could be. She made a little ball and a crooked
stick, also a little bow and arrows. She thought if it was a girl
she would take the ball and crooked stick, but if it was a boy he
would take the bow and arrows. When the old woman looked she found
the little fellow had taken the bow and arrows.
The old woman was very joyful. The little fellow had done much
damage to her squash vines with his bow and arrows. She went out
and hid in the field, waiting for the little fellow. The boy came
as usual with his weapons and the old woman sprang out and caught
him, saying, “Oh, atine, atine; you are to come home with me.”
She took the boy home and gave him food, such as fresh corn mush,
succotash, and squash. The boy seemed quite happy. When the woman
went out to work he amused himself with his arrows, shooting little
birds in the field, and on his grandmother’s return he would bring
the birds for her to eat. She was a happy grandmother, proud of her
little grandson. The boy grew larger. When he began to make his own
bows and arrows to his taste he began to bring home larger game,
such as deer and antelope. His grandmother was still happier.
The boy’s grandmother was accustomed to place under a curtain which
was always closed, a big wooden pan of whatever they had to eat,
before she went to her work. The boy, noticing this, made up his
mind to find out what it was. While she was gone, he moved the
curtain and beheld a huge serpent with large yellow eyes. The boy
said within himself: “Ah! here is the one that eats up everything
that grandmother puts here.” He took his bow and arrows and shot
and shot, until he killed it.
The boy’s grandmother came in. The boy spoke up, and said:
“Grandmother, I have killed the bad one that ate up everything you
placed under that curtain.” The old woman appeared glad of it, but
was hurt at heart. She covered the serpent and placed it in a pool.
The serpent said that he could not do anything, because the boy
was gifted with a great mysterious power of his father. The dead
serpent was the husband of this grandmother.
The grandmother, wounded at heart, planned to have the boy killed
in some way. She forbade him to ever go into the timber near by,
because there were all sorts of dangers there. In this timber, she
said, was a bear that wanted to tear him into small strips. When
the old woman had gone he started out to the forbidden place. He
found the bear, captured him and thought he was strong and would
do to haul corn and wood for his grandmother. On her return she
saw the great, big black-bear tied. The boy spoke up, saying,
“I have here a strong animal which will work for us.” The old
woman appeared to be happy, but felt hurt that the boy could have
captured the bear. She was the owner of all animals around, both
good and bad. She turned the bear loose and explained the case to
the boy, saying she could not use the bear in any way.
One day the boy was gone all day and all night. His grandmother now
thought him dead. Roaming around, the boy found a tipi. In the tipi
were four strong-looking men. Around the fire was the meat of a
whole buffalo and an elk. The boy stood on one side looking at the
game. The men were playing with plum dice in a basket. The interest
of these men was very noticeable. One man’s nose got very dirty,
but he would not move to clean it. The boy outside did not like it.
He took his arrow and shot through the hole he was peeping through.
The arrow cleaned the man’s nose. The men rushed out and gave the
boy a hearty welcome, for they had already heard of his wonderful
doings. They took him in and gave him a whole buffalo to eat. He
began to eat, and ate as much as usual. The men began to ask why he
did not eat more. He said he could not, as he had had his fill. The
men ate heartily. They cleared the meat that was before them. The
men asked him to stay all night. They invited him to join them on a
hunting trip.
Next day they started. They killed an elk. They dressed it and
found a fœtus. As courtesy, the hunters took the fœtus and placed
it before the boy to take home with him. The boy was affected.
He asked them to remove the fœtus. He was standing by a tree. He
started up the tree. The men, seeing he was afraid of it, moved
it, little by little, toward him. They were afraid of him and were
trying to do everything to get rid of him. The boy was afraid of
the fœtus. He would not come down while it was in the way. The
men came home. By and by a man was sent out to see if the boy was
there. Coming to the spot he found the boy still there. The boy
asked the man to remove the fœtus. He refused. He went home and
reported all he had seen. In about four days the men came around
and found the boy still there. They found him very thin, and
suffering for food and water. He would not come down while the
fœtus was there. The men made a conditional offer,—if he would
deliver up to them his grandmother they would remove the fœtus. The
boy said he would. They removed the fœtus. The boy started home at
once. He told his grandmother what had happened and what he had
done. Out of love for his life he had given her up to these men.
The grandmother was happy on his return. She said she would grant
his request. About two days after, she and the boy started out
where the men were. They stopped at the entrance of the tipi
until they heard a voice from within asking them to step in. The
boy said, “Nawa, I have done what I agreed to do. Here is my
grandmother.” “Ah ho! Ah hi!” they replied, “you were honest and
have done as you agreed to do. That is the way for noble boys to
do. As this is a bargain for your life we will do all we can for
you to turn our power and skill over to you.” Now they began to
teach the boy the ceremony of catching eagles and of hunting. “It
was our desire to have your grandmother, and as you have been
true to your agreement, we are glad.” All were satisfied. The
grandmother and son then went home.
The next day the boy started out on the prairie for game. He met
a camp of Snakes, mostly deadly Rattlesnakes, and there were all
the other kinds of Snakes. They were glad to have him come. They
invited him in. They gave him the best seat. He knew what danger
there was to meet. So as he sat down he took out a smooth stone
which he used for sharpening his knife, and placed it in his anus.
The room was clean and there was a ridge around the fire for a
pillow. Time and again he noticed a Snake disappear and attack him
where he had defended himself. He knew it. They said: “He must be
hungry. Give him something.” They gave him a spleen. He took it
and looked at it. He replied that he could not eat it raw; so he
poked up the fire and threw the spleen in. It cracked and made the
audience wild. The spleen was the teeth of all these Snakes. The
boy knew the secret and could not be fooled so easily.
The Snakes, resting on the square pillow-like structure, demanded
of the boy that he relate some happenings or stories, to pass the
night pleasantly. He refused to be first. He agreed to take his
turn with them. They began. Each Snake had for his subject the life
of their guest and that of his grandmother. When all were through
with their stories the boy began his story: “Nesaru commanded the
winds to blow; at evening they stop, the trees stop rustling, the
grass keeps on for a while, but they all fall asleep.” This much
of the story put a part of them to sleep. “Nesaru sends hurricanes
of trials and hardships in our lives; the same to all kinds of
trees and to large, deep rivers; they rage and beat against their
banks, the water gets dirty, there comes on the gentle night, soft
breezes, the trees quiet down, the rivers are calmed, the waters
clear up and they are asleep.” This was the end of the boy’s story.
The remainder of them fell asleep.
The boy thought of how he was to have been treated, and he decided
to be avenged. He took from his belt his sharp knife and cut along
a straight line on the square structure, cutting off the head of
every Snake until he came to the last one, which slid away, saying
as he went, “Old-Woman’s-Boy, I will remember all.”
As the boy left he was very particular as to how he should carry
himself. Having gone many miles he thought all danger was over.
He placed his arrows around him, bidding them to awaken him when
danger was near.
While he was sleeping his enemy came. Before the arrow could give
the alarm the Snake entered his body. Grasping his knife he cut
his stomach open. Up went the snake’s head to his breast. He cut
his breast open. Up it went to his throat. He cut his throat open.
Up it went, into his head, and rested there. His father above knew
all of this. He sent a great wind which turned the boy’s head over,
so that his opened œsophagus turned toward the wind. Then came a
hard rain, filling every corner of his head. The Snake’s head would
peep out of the boy’s head, but the boy would say, “Old-Woman’s
Grandson is still alive.” There came a scorching heat, and the
water began to make the Snake peep out its head, but the boy would
say, “Old-Woman’s-Grandson is still alive.” It got too hot for
the Snake. It fled, and the boy sprang to his feet and caught it.
“You will suffer punishment, and you will always be ashamed and
crawl on your body in the dirt, your head down, avoiding all decent
creatures that Nesaru made.” He took the Snake and knocked his head
on a flat rock until it was flat and its eyes were close to its
mouth.
The reason the boy was afraid of the fœtus was that it was the
time of the year when all young animals are as yet unborn, and the
cluster of stars to which the boy’s father belonged is never seen
at this time to come up with the rest. The boy knew that his father
could not be present to help him, and so he did not dare to do
anything to help himself.
FOOTNOTES:
[16] Told by White-Bear.
16. NO-TONGUE AND THE SUN AND THE MOON.[17]
There was a young man in a village who wanted to be great. In olden
times the chief thing among the people was to be a great warrior.
The young men in those times used to go out among the hills, and
then find a place to stand and mourn. They used to stay away from
home four or five days without drinking or eating.
Now this particular young man went out alone, upon a high hill, to
mourn. In the afternoon a little bird came to him, and said: “This
is not the place where you should stand. I will show you where you
must stand.” So the little bird flew and the boy followed. The
bird stopped at a certain place, and the boy stood there. Late in
the evening a man came to the boy. The man was all painted red,
and he said to him: “I am glad to see you. You are going to be my
son, and I am going to take you with me now. All I want from you is
your tongue.” So the young man pulled his tongue out, cut it off
and handed it to the man. As he handed his tongue to the man he
fell down and died. It was now dark, and as the young man fell the
Moon rose and saw this young man fall down, and the Moon said to
himself: “That man who has killed this young man is always trying
to do something that is not right. I know who that man is; it is
the Sun. I know that he has taken this young man’s tongue.” So the
Moon went to the young man and touched his feet, and the young man
waked and sat up.
When No-Tongue saw the strange man he did not know what to do. He
was not the same man who had taken his tongue. This man looked
white, because he was the Moon. The Moon asked No-Tongue why he
had given away his tongue and to whom he had given it. No-Tongue
answered, “How can I talk without a tongue?” The Moon said, “Speak,
and tell me.” So the boy spoke, and he found that he was able
to talk. So he began to tell what the man looked like. The Moon
said he was sure that the man was the Sun. Then the Moon spoke to
No-Tongue, and said: “The Sun was trying to kill you. No-Tongue,
hereafter you shall be my son; but let your other father, the Sun,
come after you first. I must tell you what to say. You will not be
killed by the Sun. The Sun is coming for you to-morrow morning,
and when you go up to our dwelling place (the heavens) he is going
to show you some things that he has. You must now be careful not
to take the new things that he has, but you shall take the old
things. Take the old weapons. The Sun thinks a great deal of
these old weapons.” This is all that the Moon said. The Moon then
disappeared.
In the morning, the Sun came to No-Tongue and took him up into the
sky to his home, and said, “Now, my son, I want you to choose of
these things that I have here.” No-Tongue took the oldest things.
When the Sun saw that No-Tongue took the best things—the oldest
ones—he came out from his lodge crying, because this would give
No-Tongue a long life, and would also make him become great, and
this was what the Sun did not want of No-Tongue. He had thought
that No-Tongue would surely take the new things. But if No-Tongue
had taken the new things, that would have shortened his life and
made it impossible for No-Tongue to become great. Then the Sun
began to think of some way to kill No-Tongue, but he never could
take back the things No-Tongue had taken, having promised them
to him. As they came out from the Sun’s lodge the Sun said: “My
son, look. There is your home. Look all around you. You can see
everything plainly. When you go home, after two days have passed,
you must go on the war-path, and you will conquer old enemies. You
will have all you want. You are to be great. But when you, my son,
go home, give to me a white buffalo robe.” So the Sun went away.
When night came, the Moon came out and spoke to No-Tongue, and
asked what the Sun had said to him. No-Tongue told the Moon all
that the Sun had told him, and the Moon said, “Do not give him the
white buffalo robe, but give that to me, and get a dark-brown robe
for the Sun.” The Moon then began to tell No-Tongue what to do.
He told him to get some white clay and make powder out of it, and
then pour the white powder all over the robe, so that it would look
white. So No-Tongue did as he was told to do.
When the Sun received the white buffalo robe, which really was not
white, he was proud of it; furthermore, he was proud that his son
had obtained it for him. One day he hung the robe out, and the wind
was blowing hard. The wind shook all the white clay out of the
robe, so that the robe turned to a dark-brownish color. Then the
Sun saw that it was not a real white buffalo robe, and did not like
it.
When the Moon and the Sun got together, the Sun said, “I am sorry
for what my son has done to me, and now my dear son is going to
kill him.” The Sun had a son who belonged to another tribe, and
this was the son who was to kill No-Tongue. So the Moon heard all
that the Sun had to say.