there. She told the young man that the priest was to be there that
night and that he was to be the one to give him power. So the young
man stayed. The woman told him to make a fire, so that he could
see what was done. The young man made a fire, and as he took his
seat he heard the Rats running around in the lodge. Finally they
came, one by one, in the form of human beings, and took their
seats around the fireplace. The man who acted as priest stopped,
and said: “My son, you have done a kind act to one of my people
by bringing her children back. She wants to help you, and I have
consented to do this. I am to give you a war-club, and I am to give
you power, so that you can turn yourself into a mouse any time
that you want to, and when you attack the enemy and when they try
to kill you, you shall disappear, so that you will not be afraid
of anybody.” The young man was given all these powers. At last
the priest arose and called the young man up to him. He took hold
of him by the shoulders and drew him to himself. Then the Rat-Man
blew his breath upon the sides of the man’s cheeks, and there were
formed pictures of Mice. The war-club was given to him, and he was
told that he was now powerful and that he could go home. The young
man took the club and a little box of medicine they had given to
him, and started to go out. When he heard noises in the lodge he
turned around, but the people had all disappeared. The woman was
standing outside the lodge, and she told the young man that he was
now her son, and that he should tell his mother that when they
returned home to their lodge, if they should see any mice they
should not kill them, for they were the young man’s relatives. The
young man started for the camp. He traveled for many days, and at
last he reached the camp. He went into the tipi and lay down, and
the next morning the people found out that he had come.
This man became a great warrior. He led many parties out to capture
ponies, and when he went into the enemy’s camp he turned himself
into a Mouse, and when he got to the ponies he would cut the ropes,
then drive the ponies out of the camp, and if he was found out he
again turned into a Mouse, so that the enemy could not find him. In
battles, he was a brave man. He killed many enemies with the club
that had been given him. He became so bold that he had his own way
about everything in the camp. He had some troubles with some of the
men, and killed them. The people grew afraid of him and always let
him have his own way. At last he found his equal in another young
man, who seemed to have the power of a Bear, and he it was who
attacked the Mouse-Man. These two fought until both of them fell
down dead, one killed by the other.
FOOTNOTES:
[24] Told by Snowbird.
24. THE BOY AND THE YOUNG HAWKS.[25]
Outside the village there wandered a small boy with his bow and
arrows, shooting at small birds and gophers. Day by day he went out
looking for game. Once he discovered a hawk’s nest with four eggs
in it. He went out there every day, fearing that some one might
take the eggs away. Finally the eggs hatched and the boy was much
pleased to see the young hawks. He brought insects to the young
ones for them to eat. He did this every day, and the birds grew and
finally began to try to fly. He wanted to take them home, but he
thought he would wait two or three days longer.
When he went out to bring the birds home he saw a man in front of
him; so he ran, for fear the man would take his nest. But the man
reached to the nest first and the boy cried: “Those are my birds.
Do not touch them, for they are mine.” The man answered and told
the boy to come in a hurry, and the boy came. When the boy saw the
man he was frightened, for the man was a stranger. The man said:
“You have pleased me by taking such good care of my sons, and these
birds are your brothers.” Furthermore, the man told the boy that he
had won much favor and that he would be rewarded, but he told the
boy to leave the nest. The boy took some feathers from the young
hawks to put on his arrows. He then went home, half believing that
he was rewarded.
The boy came to be a good hunter. In the meanwhile he went out on
the war-path with some others. When they discovered the enemy, he
it was who fought where the arrows were thickest. Thus he became
known as a brave.
Some years afterwards he was known far and wide, and even his own
people were afraid of him. But finally he turned around and did
that which was wrong among his people. Anyone who made any attempt
to kill the young man would forget it just as he was ready to.
Many a man tried to kill him, but always forgot. He was called
“Make-to-Forget.” But one man was capable of killing him, and he
did so, because he aroused the people so much by doing wrong deeds.
FOOTNOTES:
[25] Told by Strike-Enemy.
25. THE END OF THE ELK POWER.[26]
There were once four strong young brothers. Only the oldest one was
married. He had a wife and child. One day the men went to their
traps to lie in wait for eagles. The woman stayed at home, where
she was busy preparing a hide for clothing. Toward evening the
young men returned home, one by one.
The wife of the eldest brother was missing. They looked all around.
There was no sign of the woman. The baby was found on the ground,
crying, and the tools which the woman had used were there, but the
woman was gone. The men believed that the woman had been taken away
captive, and they grieved for her as lost. The baby was hungry
and cried so piteously that it brought tears to his father’s and
uncles’ eyes. The father tried to comfort him by feeding him deer
brain broth, which would quiet him for only a little time. The
oldest of the unmarried brothers was so filled with pity for the
young one that he cried from eve till morn, trusting that the chief
would hearken to his cry and help him and his brothers. He went out
to cry near a strip of timber where he had seen an old dry skull of
a buck elk. For two nights the young man cried near the skull. On
the second night the Elk heard his cry and before sunrise the young
man heard a voice saying: “I am well pleased with your earnest
manner of pleading for your loss. I will help you. First, I will
say that your brother’s wife is alive, but captured by a Bear who
has already captured three other women. You may think that the Bear
is mightier than I, but that is a mistake, as you will see. Go home
with the assurance that I have given you all power that the chief
gave me. Tell your brothers to go home at once, and in a day or two
come by yourself and I will give you all instructions.”
The brother started home. By the time of his arrival at the village
the news of the woman’s disappearance had spread. It caused great
sadness and wailing. Pretty-Voice (this was the name of the eldest
unmarried brother) stayed one night, then started to where the
Elk had spoken to him. All night Pretty-Voice traveled, and by
daylight he reached the place. “I am glad that you have come, and I
am prepared to carry out my promise,” said the Elk. Sitting down,
Pretty-Voice learned the ceremony of the Elks. “Go at once,” said
the Elk. “Carry out my instructions in full. When the sun has risen
full blow your whistle. No matter where the females are, they will
be attracted and come to you. At the end of this strip of timber
you will see the rough bluff, and at about the middle you will
see a little scattering brush. There is the home of the Bear, and
there you will find the woman.” Pretty-Voice went to the end of
the timber as he had been directed. As instructed, he whistled,
one—two—three times. The women in the Bear’s den heard the whistle
and all rushed outside to listen. At the fourth whistle they could
not restrain themselves. They rushed toward the sound. They saw
a handsome young man standing with his robe wrong side out. Two
mid-tail eagle feathers were on his head and a long whistle was in
his hand.
Pretty-Voice was surprised to see his brother’s wife and three
young women who had been missed for a long time. Pretty-Voice
said, “Nawa, we will lose no time, but prepare yourselves to run.
Understand we are bound for home.” They started at a fast pace.
When they had gone many miles one turned her head and yelled, “He
is coming!” and they began to cry. When the Bear came up too close
Pretty-Voice ordered the party to stop. The Bear stopped and sat
up on his hind legs, heaving heavily. The Bear was first to speak.
He said, “Young man, you will live if you let me have my women.”
“No, I have captured these women and I claim them. I will not let
them go to you. I will defend these women if you are intending
to fight,” said Pretty-Voice. “Very well,” said the Bear, “you
will begin the fight if you have any faith in yourself.” “That I
have,” said Pretty-Voice. Throwing off his robe and other things
he made his attack with his bow and arrow. The Bear sat up, not
minding the arrows. Pretty-Voice had shot all his arrows and the
Bear was still looking at him. “Now,” said the Bear, “I gave you a
chance to live, but you gave no heed to my warning. Now you will
die.” Pretty-Voice threw himself on the ground and sprang on his
feet in the form of a full grown Elk, with antlers like branches
of a cottonwood tree. The Bear made a rush and the Elk threw his
head down and struck the Bear, picking him up from the earth. The
Bear’s claws lacked a little of hitting the Elk’s head. The women
stopped wailing when they saw that Pretty-Voice was their savior.
“My friend,” said the Bear, “you are true to your faith, and I will
admit that you have overcome me and I will say that the women are
yours and I beg to be free; but I know that I am going to die.”
Pretty-Voice pulled up his head with a quick jerk and set the Bear
free. After throwing himself on the ground as before, he sprang up
a man. He picked up his clothing and started on.
When he arrived at the village the news of his capture of the women
spread. There was great rejoicing and the young women were taken
to their homes. Pretty-Voice won great honor. He lived among his
people, being received in their homes with great respect. He was
not yet a warrior, but knew he would have no difficulty in getting
a wife.
As he had received all the powers of an Elk, he thought he
would use them. One night he painted himself according to the
instructions the Elk had given him. Ille, dum summo tumulo terreno
stat, pulchram puellam vidit quam habere volebat. Itaque tibia
magica canebat, et brevi tempore puellam habebat. Hoc faciebat dum
puellas pulcherrimas omnes, quæ eum vicum incolebant, habuisset.
Deinde matrones illicere incepit. This caused bad feeling among the
majority of the men, but a few paid no attention to his doings,
thinking that nothing could be done to stop him. The Indians held
a large council, and in this council they, including his three
brothers, planned and agreed to make an attack and kill him. One
day he prepared to practice his power. He stood on an earth-lodge.
The people began to flock into the lodge he was standing on, with
their robes around them to hide their weapons. Pretty-Voice knew
what was coming and gave no heed to them, trusting in his power.
All at once the men rushed out and began to shoot at him. A few
who favored Pretty-Voice called out that they were foolish, as
Pretty-Voice had caused no one bodily pain. The shooting went on
and on, but Pretty-Voice stood still. Once in a while he shook his
robe and threw off the bullets and arrows. At last the men gave up,
seeing that nothing could harm the young man.
One day the village was attacked by a large party of Sioux. The
inhabitants were being defeated on every side. Pretty-Voice was
tardy in coming to the fight, and the men made remarks about his
not making use of his power to fight. He came in his own time, went
into the enemy’s field, with nothing to defend himself with but
his whistle. The Sioux saw that no arrow or bullet could harm him,
and knew that he was powerful. They began to retreat. They were
thrown back, scalped and stripped of their weapons and ponies. They
attempted a second attack, but were again thrown back. When they
had been driven back the second time they knew that nothing could
be done to destroy the people while Pretty-Voice was living, for
he had made himself famous. They gave up trying to fight, but came
there on a friendly visit.
During their visit, Pretty-Voice saw a pretty Sioux girl whom he
thought he would take for his wife. So he went through his ceremony
and secured the girl. He kept her for his wife. When they had lived
together for a long time, loving each other in their lodge, the
girl began to question Pretty-Voice about his great power. She said
she wanted to know how he could destroy, and she said that if she
could be trusted to perform some duty for him she would be glad to
do so. Pretty-Voice told all that had happened to him, and said
that he could be killed by scraping off a little elk horn and elk
hair and making a little incense for arrows and bullets. “When this
is done,” he said, “the bullets will go through me.” The Sioux girl
began to get ready to desert her husband and to stir up her people
to make another attack and kill Pretty-Voice. When Pretty-Voice had
gone off somewhere she started out toward her country.
On her arrival she told her story and stirred up her people to make
war and kill Pretty-Voice, saying that she knew his secret. She
collected the necessary things and started out at the head of a
war-party. The people of Pretty-Voice were moving for their future
welfare when they heard that Pretty-Voice’s wife was missing.
Pretty-Voice knew what was going to happen. He had told his mother
long before when in trouble with his own tribe, that if anything
should happen to him, even if he should be torn to pieces, she must
collect his flesh and throw him into a stream near some timber and
then she would see him again.
The girl camped near the village and there prepared the arrows and
bullets as she had learned. A fierce battle began. The inhabitants
of the village were defeated, and in a short time Pretty-Voice
appeared. “There he comes! To-day you are lost!” cried the enemy.
Pretty-Voice started after them as usual and drove the enemy a
great distance, but his body looked like a porcupine tail with
arrows. The bullets and arrows had so loaded him that he fell.
The enemy turned around and scalped many of them. They mutilated
the body of Pretty-Voice. The battle ended. The people went out
to bury their dead, and especially Pretty-Voice. His poor mother,
crying for her son, came out with a robe to collect his flesh and
do as she had been told. The men noticed what she was intending
to do. They asked her what she was going to do. She told all that
Pretty-Voice had said, but the men would not hear of his coming
again, as he had done enough mischief. The old mother insisted, but
the men would not let her. As the brothers disapproved of her plan
she gave in, and instead of burying his body they made a big fire
and destroyed the body entirely. A number of days after his body
had been burned to ashes a pure white fog was seen to arise daily
from that place.
FOOTNOTES:
[26] Told by White-Bear.
26. THE ELK RESCUES A WOMAN FROM THE BEAR.[27]
There was a young man who fell in love with a certain girl in a
village. This girl was the daughter of a chief, and she was very
pretty. The young man was poor. He had no ponies, no relatives, but
was often looking for them. The young girl fell in love with the
young man, and so they planned to run away. The young man took some
flint stones, bow and arrows, a knife and some robes, and went to
the girl’s lodge. He took the girl out, and they rode on ponies.
They went off into a wild country by themselves. There they stayed.
They made a tipi. The young man went out every day to kill deer,
so that now they had plenty of meat all the time. The young man
thought a great deal of his wife. The only time he left her was in
the daytime. The young man killed so many deer that the woman made
buckskin dresses for herself, and also buckskin leggings for the
man. The young man killed many elk, and the teeth of the elk were
put upon the buckskin dresses. They made a big new tipi. They had
much dried meat.
One day the young man said: “I will stop hunting. I will now go to
yonder hill, and I will try to catch some eagles.” So the young
man went up on a hill, and he caught many eagles. He took them to
his home. One time while he was in a den, waiting for an eagle to
alight so that he could catch it, somebody came to his camping
place and took away his wife. This being was a Bear. The Bear had
turned into a man and had come to the camp. He had a robe about his
shoulders, bear’s claws about his neck, and he smelled so fine
that the woman could not help but like him. When the man started to
go the woman wanted to follow him. She finally left everything that
she had and followed the man. This man was a Bear, and he led her
into a den where there were a dozen or more women that he had taken
from their husbands. In the evening, the young man got out from his
cave, went to his camp, and found his wife gone, but everything
else was in its place. The eagles that he had killed were there. He
knew by this that if the enemy had taken her they would have taken
the eagles too. So he hunted and hunted and yelled. At last he gave
out. He went along the timber and finally an Elk found him.
The young man told the Elk that he had lost his wife; that he
thought a great deal of her; and that now he was about dead from
hunting her. The Elk told him that he was going to help him to get
his wife back, but that he would have to fight. The Elk taught
the man how to transform himself into an Elk. He also gave him a
whistle, and told him that he whistled when he wanted female Elk
to come to him, and that when he whistled they all rushed to him.
The Elk told the young man to remain in the timber; that he would
go and watch for the Bear; and that when the Bear should be gone,
he would come and let him know, so that the young man might go
and blow the whistle, while the Bear was gone. The Bear left his
den and went out for a long distance. The Elk knew this. It came
and told the young man. The young man went up close to the place
where the den was and blew the whistle. As soon as his wife heard
the whistle she said, “Women, let us go; that is my husband.” Some
of the women were afraid to go, for they were afraid of the Bear;
but the young man kept on whistling, and when the women heard it
again they all rose and walked out of the den. They followed the
young man’s wife, who was now running to where the young man was
standing. The young man saw his wife and was happy. He embraced
her, and said, “Go, I will remain behind, for the Bear will surely
come after you.”
The Elk now came, and said: “The Bear is coming. Watch. Fix your
bow and arrows so that you can shoot the Bear, while I put my
head down and thus make a kind of barrier so that he can not get
through, on account of my horns.” The Bear came, and as he attacked
the Elk the Elk put his head down so that the Bear could not get
through, and as the Elk began to lift its head up it brought its
head and the whole weight of its horns upon the Bear, thus sticking
its horns into the Bear’s body, while the young man shot at the
Bear with his arrows. They killed the Bear. The Elk now turned to
the young man, and said, “I shall now go to my place.” But the
young man said, “No, I shall only take my wife; you take the other
women.” So the Elk took the other women, and they all turned into
Elk. For this reason, when a male elk whistles, all the female elk
run to him.
FOOTNOTES:
[27] Told by Antelope.
27. THE BOY AND THE ELK.[28]
There was a young man in the Arikara village who was very handsome.
He tried to marry, but the girls all seemed to hate him. He went
off to a hilly country where there was a lake. On the west side of
the lake was a skull of an animal. He placed himself by the skull
and began to cry.
On the second night an Elk came to the boy, but soon disappeared.
In a short time the boy heard the clear, beautiful notes of a
flute. The sound of the flute came nearer and nearer the boy, until
it came to where he stood. There stood before him an Elk. The Elk
now spoke to him, and said: “My brother, that is my skull before
you. I know what you are crying for. The women do not like you,
and you wish to be liked by them. I now take pity upon you. Take
the teeth from this skull. Wear the large ones about your neck.
Wear the others in your ears. I give you a flute. Go to the village
of your people. Blow this flute, and you will see the young girls
coming to you.” The young man received the flute and also pulled
the teeth from the skull. He went home and did as he was told to do.
He tried his flute, and the young girls came to him. This he tried
several times, until he was married. Women also came to him. The
men did not like this, so they gathered together and agreed to kill
him. In the evening the men went out and sat around with their
bows and arrows. The man came out from his tipi and walked outside
the camp, blowing his flute. The women started to run to him. The
war-cry was raised and the men closed in on the boy, killing him.
One of the boy’s relatives took the teeth from his neck and ears,
and also the flute. The relatives of the boy were afraid to bury
the boy, so they left him where he was killed. The boy lay there
for several days, but one night he came to the tipi of his mother.
He woke her up and told her that he had returned. His mother did
not believe it. But when she made a fire she saw her son sitting
there. The son then said: “Mother, go to the society of Young-Dogs,
and tell them to give me some tobacco, so that I may smoke.” The
mother went to the tipi and they gave her the tobacco. She gave the
tobacco to her son, who smoked, and said, “This smoke is good.”
The men in the village were afraid. They thought the man would take
revenge and kill some of them. The boy did not go out much, and the
people doubted that he was back and alive. Some of the men went to
the tipi to see if the boy was home and alive. The men saw the boy,
and they became afraid. One day the boy sent for all his nearest
kin, and said: “My relatives, my heart is poor, for these people
killed me. I do not want to live here any more. Will you go with me
where I am going?” All said, “Yes.” So the boy went and caught his
pony. The others did the same. Men, women, and children followed
the boy. He went towards the river and told the people to follow
him and they obeyed. They went into the water, and as they got into
the water they began to disappear. They all turned into some kind
of animal that lived in the water. The young man who had the flute
and elk’s teeth did not go, so he was the only one who lived.
FOOTNOTES:
[28] Told by White-Bear.
28. THE COYOTE, THE GIRL, AND THE MAGIC WINDPIPE.[29]
A long time ago there lived a beautiful girl who had her lodge in
the center of the timber. She loved nobody, but she always had
plenty of buffalo meat, and plenty to eat. She had some wonderful
bundles hung up in her lodge.
One day as she was eating in her lodge the Coyote visited her. He
saw that she had plenty of meat, so he made his home with her.
Every day they had meat. The Coyote was now the girl’s errand man,
and made fires for her and carried water for her. One day the girl
was up early in the morning, and she said: “My uncle (Coyote),
we are out of meat. I want fresh meat. My brothers will be here
to-day, and I want you to stay on the north side of the entrance
and cover your head up with your buffalo robe, and not to watch.”
The girl swept out the lodge, placed some hot coals between the
altar and the fireplace, and put some sweet grass upon the coals.
As the smoke arose from the coals she went to the sacred bundle,
and from it took the windpipe of a buffalo, which was round, and
small at one end and large at the other end. She waved this over
the smoke, then took it and turned it upside down so that dust came
out from it, and as the dust fell out it turned into seven young
men, who were her brothers. On the north side, where the sacred
bundle hung, were several bows and arrows. These bows and arrows
the brothers took down. When the boys took their bows and arrows
the girl put her buffalo robe about her. She went up on to the
lodge. She gave one yell toward the north, moved toward the west,
moved toward the south, and then the buffalo came, from the north
and from the west. She went back into the lodge, and her brothers
began to kill the buffalo. They killed so many buffalo that the
buffalo finally ran off. The brothers went into the lodge and stood
in a row on the north side. The girl took some hot coals and placed
them west of the fireplace, put some medicine and sweet grass upon
them, and each brother, when his turn came, passed his bow and
arrows through the smoke and laid them by the coals. Then they let
the smoke pass through their bows. Then one stepped to the south
of the coals and stopped; he finally disappeared. After that all
disappeared. The girl took the windpipe, passed it over the smoke,
then put her hand on the ground, got the dust together, and put it
back into the windpipe. She passed the windpipe over the smoke,
tied it, and hung it up in its place again. She even took the bows
and arrows, passed them over the smoke and threw them upon the
ground. They became tiny bows and grass arrows. These she hung up
by the bundle again.