girl was through with the performance she told the Coyote to come
out. She went out with the Coyote and they skinned the buffalo.
They brought the meat into the lodge, and left the hides outside.
Every day the girl and the Coyote jerked the meat. The Coyote laid
the bones around the fireplace and roasted them. When the Coyote
ate the roast meat that was cooked he would think of his hungry
children far away. At last he decided to steal the windpipe that
contained the young men and to take it far away into his country,
so that he could call the buffalo and have the young men to kill
them. He said to himself: “If I find the enemy’s camp I will attack
them. I will turn that windpipe upside down and those brothers
will come out, and they will fight for me. The people will think
that I am a wonderful man.” One day the Coyote asked the girl if
her seven brothers in the windpipe were the only ones there. She
said, “No, for, if I am attacked, I turn that windpipe upside down
and there will be many young men, and my seven brothers will lead
them out and they will fight for me.” The Coyote said to himself,
“That is good; I will steal it.” So the Coyote made up his mind to
steal the windpipe that night. The girl knew what the Coyote was
planning all the time, but she allowed him to steal it. The Coyote
went up to the windpipe, took it down and went out of the lodge,
to the north. He traveled far. He thought, “I am now far away from
the girl; I will lie down by the side of this log and sleep.” The
girl knew just where the Coyote had lain down, and so she had her
brothers bring the Coyote back and place him at the ridge just
before the entrance of the lodge, on the north side. In the morning
the girl got up, went to the Coyote and waked him. When the Coyote
awoke he found himself in the lodge. He said: “My niece, I thought
the enemy were coming, so I took this thing down, so that I could
put the brothers outside so that they could fight for us. I must
have gone to sleep here. Put it back.” Again the Coyote thought,
“Well, I will stay, and I will yet steal this windpipe.” So one
night he took the windpipe down again and went off. He went until
he came to a place where there were some ashes where timber had
been burned. He lay down to rest. The girl told her brothers to
bring him back and place him outside of the lodge, where there was
a pile of ashes. She went out in the morning, waked him, and the
Coyote, when he awoke, found himself by the lodge. “My niece,” he
said, “I took this thing down, for there was a war-party coming
to attack us. I went to meet the war-party and they ran away, and
I came back and lay down here, for I was tired.” The third time
he tried to steal the windpipe, but again he failed. The fourth
time, the girl let the Coyote carry the thing off. So the Coyote
went off, and the girl did not have him brought back. He became
hungry, and as he saw a village he thought to himself, “If I do
this wonderful thing to these people they will find out that I am
wonderful and they will take me from one lodge to another to feed
me.” So the Coyote went up on the hill. He commenced to howl at the
people in the village to come and kick with him. He thought that
if he could get them to kick with him he would turn the windpipe
upside down and the young men would run. The young men in the
village said: “That fellow is howling for us to come and kick with
him. Let us go up and kick with him.” So several young men went up
on the hill where the Coyote was. The Coyote took the windpipe and
turned it upside down, but instead of dust and the boys coming out,
a swarm of bumblebees came out, and they commenced to sting the
Coyote all over. The boys continued to kick him. The Coyote began
to beg them not to kick. The young men ran into the timber and the
bees left the Coyote and went up into a hollow tree. There they
stayed. The Coyote went off as a coyote. The bees stayed in the
timber, as bees.
FOOTNOTES:
[29] Told by Antelope.
29. THE BUFFALO-WIFE AND THE JAVELIN GAME.[30]
A long time ago there was a village upon the Missouri River. In
this village was a young man who was well-to-do. He was handsome,
but did not care for women. He seemed to be successful in all
his undertakings. In hunting he killed many deer and antelope.
He dug holes upon high hills and covered them with willows and
placed carcasses of rabbits or some fresh meat on them. Magpies
would come there and eat of the meat, then eagles would light
there, so that he dragged them in. People got to calling him
“Man-Who-Kills-Game-Easily.”
One day he went hunting, and as he climbed up on a high hill he
saw somebody coming. The boy lay down upon the hill and went to
sleep. When he awoke the sun had gone down, and it was night. He
lay down again and went to sleep. He saw a buffalo cow sitting upon
a prairie and two bulls were standing back of her, and each bull
was saying, “I will ring her.” The boy thought that he was standing
by looking on. When the bulls ran to where the buffalo cow was
sitting they turned into sticks and the boy also saw that the cow
had turned to a ring. The boy, in his dream, picked up each stick
and examined it, so that he knew just how they were made. He also
thought he picked up the ring and examined it. The next morning he
woke up. He looked where he had seen a person the day before and he
saw something there. This time it was not a person, but a buffalo
cow. The cow came and stopped on a prairie. She sat down. The boy
went down from the hill, for the cow was by it. The boy could see
no other cow. Bovi appropinquavit quacum, cum benigna videretur,
concubuit. When he stood back the cow disappeared. The boy looked
into the grass and there was the ring he had dreamed of. He picked
up the ring and went home. He wore it upon his wrist. Every night
he dreamed about the sticks, so he went out one day and cut ash
timber and made the sticks. Every morning the young man used to
go outside the village and call out, “I have sticks here to play
with!” The young men of the village came out and played the game.
Some of them would rather play the game than eat. This particular
man was skillful in playing the game. He seemed to be the only
one who could catch the ring. He won many things, such as eagle
feathers, wampum, beads and many other things. The game became very
popular. Men came from their homes and played all day with the
sticks.
One day the boy took his bow and arrows and went hunting for game.
The game generally was plentiful, but on this hunt the boy failed
to find any game. He kept on going south until he came to a valley
where there was a large stream of water. There in the valley he saw
a person. He approached and saw that the person was an old woman.
The young man spoke to the old woman, and she said: “My grandson,
I am weak. Take pity on me. Carry me across the river, that I may
go out to the village.” The young man told her to walk and that he
would hold her while she crossed the river. But the old woman said:
“No, my grandson; put me upon your back, take me across, and set
me upon that nice grass on the other side.” The young man gave in,
and he put the old woman upon his back and waded the river. After
the boy had crossed the river he said, “Well, you had better get
off.” The old woman said, “My grandson, take me a little further.”
So the boy went on. When the boy stopped to put the old woman down
she laughed, and said: “No, my grandson; you cannot put me down; I
am your wife now.” The boy became furious and tried to throw the
old woman off, but she was fast to his back. The boy stuck her with
his knife and tried hard to get her off, but the old woman stuck on
and laughed at the boy. The old woman said: “Grandson, you might as
well go home, for I am to stay with you always. Let the young men
see you carry an old woman. You are so proud that you do not look
at the women.” The young man made up his mind to go home. So he
went home with the old woman upon his back.
People looked at the young man coming into camp with an old woman
upon his back. Children crowded about him and followed the boy
through the village. He went into his lodge and told his friends
what had happened to him. The people placed the young man in the
lodge and medicine-men were sent for. All the medicine-men failed
to get the old woman off the young man’s back. While the people
crowded around, a poor boy came and stood with the people. He spoke
out and said, “I can take the old woman from that young man’s
back.” Then he disappeared. The people heard the poor boy speak,
and the people told the relatives what the poor boy said. The poor
boy was living in a shelter with his grandmother. The boy spoke
to his grandmother, and said: “Grandmother, the people are coming
after me to take the woman off from the boy. I can take her off.”
The old woman felt sorry for her grandson, not knowing that the
boy had powers to take the old woman off. The relatives of the boy
came and brought with them the medicine-men’s pipe. The men stood
before the boy, holding the pipe before him. The boy reached and
took it. The people thanked the boy for taking it. The boy then
took his bow and four arrows of different colors. He put his old
robe on, holding his bow and arrows in his left hand. He went into
the lodge of the young man with the old woman upon his back.
No sooner had the boy entered the lodge than the old woman on the
man’s back became scared. She did not talk much. The boy walked up
and said: “Woman, you did wrong. You were sent for a purpose, and
instead of doing what you were told, you turned into a woman and
became fast upon the young man. You came from the Buffalo with a
message and now you are an old woman stuck upon the back of this
young man. I shall take you off. These arrows are from my father,
Lightning. These flint points will be the ones that will take you
off.” The boy then ran around the lodge. Taking the black arrow, he
shot at the woman under the shoulder. The arrow struck the woman
and split her in two, taking off a part of the boy’s flesh. The
boy ran around again. This time he took the red arrow and shot the
woman under the chin, taking her entirely off from the boy. The
boy then ran around again, taking a white arrow. He placed the
arrow upon the back of the boy. Again he ran, and this time the
boy took the yellow arrow and placed it upon the sore place of the
boy’s back. He ran again, and took the arrow off. He also took the
other two arrows, and said: “People, take the old woman outside
and place her upon a big fire!” The boy went out and went to his
grandmother’s. They made a big fire, placed the old woman upon it,
and burned her.
The people took some gifts to the poor boy. The next morning an
old woman went out of the lodge and heard a woman crying at the
entrance. It was near where the woman was burned. A voice was also
heard to say: “Your father threw you away. He burned you. You must
not cry.” The young man heard it, and began to think. He would say
to himself: “I have never been with any woman. I do not understand
this talk.” The next night the child was again heard crying, and
towards morning the young man again heard the talk. The young man
now felt for the ring he had, and it was gone. The next night the
boy thought of the woman’s voice and lay awake. He did not hear her
any more, so he went to sleep. In his dream he saw himself playing
with the stick, and every time he hooked the ring he thought he was
with a woman.
Some one went out of the lodge, and there, where the ashes were,
was a new white tipi, and inside was a woman with a child upon her
lap, talking to it. In the evening, the people went out to see the
tipi, but there was no tipi. The young man was now well. He made
up his mind to go out and see the tipi. When the child began to
cry, the young man went out to see the tipi, and as he went out a
woman with a new buffalo robe passed by him, leading a child. The
young man went into the lodge and gathered up many eagle feathers
and made a bundle of them. This he put upon his back, and went out
of the lodge, following the woman and the child. The woman had
made the young man follow her. By daylight the young man could see
footprints of the woman and the child. He now saw the woman and the
child walking up the hill. The young man ran to catch up with them,
but as he got to the top of the hill he saw the woman and child
walking, but this time they were Buffalo. The young man ran after
them. Once in a while the young calf would run back, hop around the
man, then return to his mother. When the calf would catch up with
his mother he would say: “Mother, let us go slow. Father is tired.”
The Buffalo cow would say: “No, my son, you must not run to that
man; he put us into the fire.” In the night, the man saw a tipi
near a river. He went to it. The calf came out and said, “Father,
my mother said you were to lie down outside.” The young man lay
down outside and went to sleep. When he awoke the next morning
the tipi was gone. So he got up and followed the Buffalo. Every
time the cow came to a stream of water she would rush in and lay a
covering of dust over it, so that the water was hidden. The dust
layer would be about two inches deep, so that the man could walk
over it. The calf came to the man and said, “Father, do you want
to drink?” The man said, “I am dying, for my throat is dry.” The
calf told the man that he would stick his foot through the crust of
dust, so that he could drink when he came to the little hole; that
when he was through he must cover up the hole. The man found the
hole and drank. He also washed his face and head. He first thought:
“What a little hole. Can I get enough to drink?” But he was soon
filled, and thought it wonderful that a little hole like that
should hold so much water. The man felt refreshed and ran on after
the Buffalo. In the night the man again saw the tipi, and he knew
that it was the Buffalo tipi. He went to it, and the calf came out,
and said, “Father, my mother says you are to come into the tipi and
lie down by the entrance.” So the man went into the tipi and lay
down by the entrance. When he woke up, the tipi was gone. He went
on west and saw the Buffalo cow going with the calf. The calf went
back and met the man, and said, “My father, are you hungry?” The
man said, “Yes, I am starving.” The calf said: “Watch me. I will
drop something and you are to pick it up and eat it. When you have
eaten enough put it away and eat it when you are hungry.” The calf
ran, and all at once he stopped. His tail went up and he dropped
a chip. The man picked up the chip when he came to it, and to his
surprise it was pemmican. It was not a very large piece. It seemed
to have more fat in it than meat. As the man took a bite he thought
the piece was too small to satisfy his hunger, but as he ate, it
seemed to grow larger. It was made from a whole buffalo. That
evening the man went into the tipi. He was told by the boy Buffalo
that his mother had said his father was to sit by her. So the man
walked up where the woman sat and sat down by her. In the night
they slept together. The boy was very happy. Next morning the boy
got up and played with his father. When the woman got up she shook
her robe and wrapped herself in it, and there she stood, a Buffalo.
The tipi disappeared. The boy was a Buffalo calf. The three now
walked on, and the woman spoke to the man, and said, “On yonder
hill sits this boy’s grandfather, who is waiting for us.”
When they arrived at the hill he saw the Buffalo bull sitting
upon the hill. When the Buffalo bull saw them coming he stood up,
stretched, and said: “So you people have come at last. I have been
waiting here for you.” The man then took two eagle feathers and
tied them upon the horns of the Buffalo bull. He shook his head
and jumped around to see the feathers wave. “Go,” said the Buffalo
bull. “This is what we want. You will see two bulls sitting on
yonder hill. Give them presents and they will be glad to get them.”
So they went on, and when they got to the hill they saw the two
bulls. The young man went up to the bulls and put his feathers
upon their shaggy heads. They also ran and jumped about, shaking
their heads. “Go,” they said. “On yonder hill sit three bulls who
are waiting for you. Make them glad by giving them presents.” So
they went on again. They came to the hill and the three bulls sat
there. The young man put feathers upon their shaggy heads. They
also jumped around and were thankful. “Go,” they said. “On yonder
hill sit four Buffalo bulls, who are chiefs of the Buffalo camp.”
The young man took his feathers and put them upon the heads of the
Buffalo. The Buffalo jumped around and shook their shaggy heads,
each looking at the other’s feathers, until they finally locked
horns.
The man, the Buffalo cow, and the boy were told to go and enter
the village of the Buffalo. They went and entered and drove off
Buffalo, but as the man did not have enough feathers to go around,
the Buffalo became mad. Some said, “We can not kill him, for he
has not enough.” But others said, “We must kill him, for he burned
our messenger.” Some said, “We can not kill him, for the messenger
did wrong by turning to an old woman and sticking onto the young
man.” The Buffalo were angry. They told the woman to tell the man
to sit upon the hill until it was decided what should be done with
him. The young man went upon the hill, took from his buffalo belt
a flint stone knife and stuck it in the ground. As he did so he
called upon the gods in the ground to form stone around where he
sat. The young man seemed to know what was coming.
The calf soon came and told the man that the Buffalo intended to
kill him, for the people had burned his mother. The calf told him
that there were Buffalo who took his part, but as they were few
in number they could do nothing; that the woman had done wrong by
turning into an old woman and causing him trouble, but this story
was of no avail, for the Buffalo were determined to kill the young
man. The man took his seat upon the hill as he was requested. The
calf said: “Father, I am to run a race with three other calves. I
have a friend here who says that he will help me.” The man looked
at Yellow-Calf standing by his son. He knew Yellow-Calf was a
wonderful calf, that was liked and loved by all of the Buffalo.
So the man knew that the calf was safe. The calves went far away,
and ran. The two calves beat the others. The Buffalo were furious,
hooking the ground here and there. Again the Buffalo gathered in
council and it was decided that the man should hunt his wife. There
were four other Buffalo cows placed with the boy’s mother, who
looked like them all. The boy placed a burr upon his mother’s head,
so that his father would know her. The man passing the Buffalo knew
the woman cow and picked her out.
The Buffalo bulls decided to kill the man by rushing upon him where
he sat and stamping him to death. If not, then they were to hook
him. The boy went to his father and told him what was to happen.
He took a downy feather and placed it in his father’s hair. The
Buffalo came and stamped about the man, around whose head waved the
downy feather. Four times the Buffalo rushed upon the man, but
when they scattered he was always found sitting upon the hill. The
Buffalo became furious. They ran to hook him, but every time the
Buffalo hooked the ground their horns were knocked off. The ground
around the boy had spread and formed flint rocks, for the boy had
stuck his flint stone into the ground and formed flint rock. Four
times the Buffalo attacked the man, but they could not reach him.
At last they gave up, and returned to their places in the herd.
The Buffalo now again sat in council. They decided to send the man,
Buffalo cow, and calf to the Indian village for presents, such as
eagle feathers, and native tobacco. The Buffalo said to the man:
“Your people are hungry. You must go home and we will follow you.
When the presents have been brought to us, then we will send to
your people a bunch of buffalo so that they may kill and have meat
to eat.” The man was glad, and started on his homeward journey; but
a Buffalo bull got in his way. It had also been decided to turn
the man into a Buffalo, and the bull was the one to turn him into
a Buffalo. The bull attacked the man, but the man stood his ground
and met the Buffalo, so that the man was run over by the Buffalo.
The next thing he knew he was locking horns with the other Buffalo
and to his surprise he found that he was now a Buffalo.
After the man had become a Buffalo he and his wife and the son
started for their country, the main herd of Buffalo following.
After several nights’ travel the man told the Buffalo that he and
his wife and child would start for their country at once. The
Buffalo were glad. The three, as Buffalo, started on ahead, the
rest following slowly. They traveled very fast, until at last they
came in sight of the village. The Buffalo rested in a hollow and
the next morning turned themselves into human beings and walked on
into the village. The man found his lodge. People flocked into the
lodge to see them, for they were fine-looking beings. Their robes
were all new. The man told the people to keep their distance, for
they (the people) smelled very badly. The man told of his errand
and the people began to come in with eagle feathers and native
tobacco. The man took all the things, and with his wife and son
went out. People watched them, and as the three went over a hill
they became Buffalo again. The three ran until the Buffalo came up,
and the man gave many presents. Those who received presents were
willing to go with the first bunch to be slaughtered by the people.
So the three ran back to the village, and got there in the night. A
big fire was made in the Buffalo man’s lodge, chiefs were sent for,
and the man told them to be ready to go out the next morning; that
the people would find a bunch of Buffalo on the other side of the
hills. The people went out and found the Buffalo. They surrounded
them and killed all of them. Again the young man told them to go
out and kill Buffalo. Four times they killed. The whole drove came
to the village.
The leader of the Buffalo now sat upon a high hill, with a
Buffalo skull in front of him. The Buffalo man was sent for,
and the Buffalo leader said: “I am satisfied. The people are
happy. This day I give you sticks to play with. The two sticks
are people. The ring is a kind of people—the Buffalo. When you
play, the sticks which you ring are the enemy, whom you conquer.
The ring is the Buffalo. The people will become very jealous of
their hunting-ground. You will be at war with other people in the
country.” These sticks were placed in the priests’ lodge, so that
when a bundle ceremony was given the sticks were placed before
the people. The sticks were people. Two sets of people who became
jealous of the Buffalo then fought. The ones who caught the ring
were conquerors. The man went home and lived a long life. The
Buffalo calf started the Buffalo ceremony among the people.
FOOTNOTES:
[30] Told by Hawk.
30. THE ORIGIN OF THE WOLF DANCE.[31]
When the Arikara lived on the Missouri River, there was a handsome
young man in the village, whose father was a chief. The young man
had never been on the war-path. He never played with other young
men, but stayed around close to his lodge. Many young girls in the
village went to him to be married to him, but he would not have
them. There was one place that he went and that was upon a high
hill, west of the village. He had a certain way of going to that
hill.
Now, there were seven beautiful girls in the tribe, each of whom
had tried to marry the young man and had been refused. The seven
girls got together and planned to put the young man into a hole,
which was about ten feet in depth, and larger at the bottom. They
spread some weeds over the hole, and when the time came for the
young man to come that way they hid. The young man came, stepped
over the hole and fell in.