women took part. The young man seldom took part, but his sisters
took part. One night when Rabbit-Boy was lying on his bed the women
came. They took him out and made him dance. He danced several
times. Four or five women became fond of him and tried to marry
him, but he would pay no attention to them. While all this dancing
was going on, the girl in the enemy’s camp was making a pretty pair
of moccasins, a pair of beaded bracelets and beaded armlets. She
sent for a servant, a woman captive from the Arikara. The girl told
the woman that she would help her to get back to her people if she
would speak to a young man who was killing her people all the time.
This servant woman said that she had no way of traveling. The girl
said: “I shall give you two of my best ponies, and I want you to
take these moccasins and bracelets to that young man, and tell him
that he is a brave man; that I want him very badly; and that when
he shall come to my tipi I shall have six tipi pegs drawn up on the
north side of the tipi where my bed is; that when he shall reach in
his hand I will feel for the bracelet, and if I find it upon his
wrist I shall know that it is he.” So the girl took the servant
woman out of the camp, caught two of her ponies, and they rode many
miles. The girl then handed the bracelets, moccasins, and something
to eat to the servant woman and told her to go to her people. The
woman thanked the girl and went back to her people.
She came to the village of the Arikara. In the night she went to
the dances. She asked one woman where Rabbit-Boy was. It happened
that on this night the young man was dancing, so the woman went and
danced with the young man, then whispered to him and told him that
she wanted to see him. The young man thought that she wanted to
marry him, but when they were away from the people the woman told
Rabbit-Boy how the girl in the enemy’s camp had helped her to get
away; that it was the girl who had her tipi in the center of the
village every time he went through; that the girl wanted him; and
that she had given him the moccasins and the bracelets for him to
wear when he should go to her village. The young man said, “I will
go.” So the young man started that night. He traveled all the next
day and the next night before he reached the enemy’s camp. He went
to the north side of the tipi. He felt for the pegs, and there
were six of them drawn up. He then knew that the woman had told
the truth. He put his hand in, and it was caught. The woman felt
for the bracelet, and when she had found it she pulled Rabbit-Boy
in. The young man crawled into the tipi and put his robe on top of
hers, and crawled under it. There they lay together, although they
could not talk. The young man stayed with the girl all night. In
the morning, when the girl’s father, who was chief of the tribe,
woke up, he saw the things that the boy wore in battle hanging down
from a tipi pole. He looked down and there he saw Rabbit-Boy in bed
with his daughter. He made a big fire and sent for the warriors.
The warriors came, preparing to kill the young man. There was one
man who did not come with the rest, but when he came he told the
people to disperse to their homes; that although the young man
had been killing their people, he, for one, was glad that he had
come and married one of their girls; that now he would not kill
any more, but that he would lead their people out to the enemy’s
country and help kill the people. So the young man and the girl
were told to rise and sit by the fireplace. The young man stayed in
this village for several months. Now, the people at Rabbit-Boy’s
home thought that he had died. But the woman who had returned from
captivity told them that he would be coming after a while and that
she knew where he was.
The old chief was much pleased to have Rabbit-Boy for a son-in-law,
for now he would have scalps hanging on top of his tipi. The people
got together one day and said they wanted to go on the war-path.
The young man joined them. They went to his own country. The young
man put his people at a certain place, while he himself went near
to the village and found women who were working in their corn
patches. There he found one woman whom the Arikara had captured
from the people of his wife’s tribe. Rabbit-Boy killed this woman,
took her scalp, and took it back to the people of her tribe. Then
the people all went back to their camp and had war dances. The
scalp was given to the old chief. He had it strung between his tipi
poles, so the scalp hung high in the air. Every time a war-party
went out this young man would go with it. He would manage to get
the people to stay at a distance. He would then go to the fields,
and whenever he found a captive from this tribe he would kill it,
but he would not kill members of his own tribe. The young man led
several war-parties, and always managed to kill captives, but never
killed members of his own tribe. Finally the old chief asked that
they might go to the young man’s home. This they did. The young
man’s people gave him presents for his wife’s people. They then
returned to their country. The Arikara visited them, and they made
peace. They never made war on one another any more.
FOOTNOTES:
[34] Told by Elk.
34. THE MAN AND THE WATER-DOGS.[35]
Long ages ago there was a village with so many inhabitants that it
had four medicine-lodges. There was one man who was so brave that
his fame extended beyond the village. He committed some evil deeds
among his own people, but his people were afraid to correct him.
Thus he went on, committing more misdemeanors. He became so bad
that the people undertook to take his life. They formed a plot to
seize him. One family invited the man to a feast. When he entered
the lodge many men gathered about the lodge and waited till he came
out. The man came out and walked very slowly toward the river. He
never paid no attention to the men nor even tried to fight back,
but went on his way. Finally he stepped into the river, and some
one cried out to the men to catch him, but it was too late. He sank
down in the water and the people shouted for joy, because they
thought he was drowned.
The man walked on down on the bottom of the river and he saw there
a tipi. From its door came a Dog, and the Dog called to the man to
come in. He went in, and he saw many Dogs. The leader of the Dogs
raised his head and said that he was not hurt and that they never
would injure him. The leader showed much mercy toward the man and
told him not to be afraid of any man; and that if he should ever
get hurt he was to come right to the water and the Dogs would be
glad to receive him. So the man went out of the tipi and came up
out of the water. When it was night he went to the village.
He entered his house and saw his wife. He sat down and told her
that he regarded as nothing all the wounds he had received from the
men who tried to kill him. The woman was surprised, and was much
afraid of him. The man ordered his wife to go after some tobacco
from one of the councils that was being held in the village. She
went at once and entered one of the councils. She asked the head
men for some tobacco for her husband. The men were much agitated
and afraid, so they gave her some tobacco. The woman returned and
the man was much pleased. The men in the council decided to send
a messenger to see if the man had returned. One young man went
and peeped in and saw the man, all naked, sitting in his tipi. He
returned to the council and told what he had seen. The men were
more afraid. From that time on, the man committed worse crimes than
before, yet the people were afraid to make another attempt to kill
him. The man’s relatives gathered with the woman’s relatives and
they separated from the village, to return no more. They went in
the night, and before morning they camped. Some young men and the
famous one came to the village and killed a man and a woman. The
people knew who it was and yet they did not dare to fight them.
This was a separation where the people never meet again, which
happened because the man did the bad deeds.
FOOTNOTES:
[35] Told by Strike-Enemy.
35. THE FIVE TURTLES AND THE BUFFALO DANCE.[36]
In olden times, while the people had their village upon the
Missouri River, five soft-shell Turtles came out from the river
and went into the village. The two on each side of the middle one
received a bunch of eagle feathers on the head. They were placed
with the fifth, which had black feathers. When this Turtle saw that
its feathers were black, it was mad. It told the people that it was
going away, and it marched back into the river. The people gave it
smoke from their sacred pipes. The Turtle paid no attention to it,
but went into the river, so there were but four left. These four
Turtles were to remain with the people.
These Turtles died. The people made them into drums. Some years
afterwards they changed these drums into rawhide drums, making them
in imitation of the Turtle drums. They organized a dance known as
the “Buffalo dance.” These Turtles were drums. They danced four
days and four nights, and although this was a Buffalo dance, there
was one mysterious being in the crowd who had a bunch of feathers
of the magpie growing up all over his head. Pieces of skins of
animals were strapped over his back, and he had a buffalo beard
about his ankles, also about his waist. His face was painted with
all colors. Sub eius inguinibus palus erat qui penem simulabat. Ex
illo autem, dum saliebat et quasi equus acer huc et illuc currebat,
palus semper pandebat. Ubicumque mulierem videbat, eam circumibat
motusque dabat quasi cum ea concumberet.
Now, in this village there was a young girl who was never permitted
to be out of the lodge while this Buffalo dance was going on and
this being was dancing around. The girl asked her parents to
place a buffalo rawhide in front of the lodge, over the entrance,
that she might be permitted to peep out and look at the being. She
became bold, and went out from behind the hide. She was seen by
this being. Ille motus dedit quasi cum ea concumberet. Puella in
domicilium rediit; posteaque per menses magis atque magis gravida
fiebat. Iam tandem puerum parit. Anum comitem habet, quæ autem
reperire non potest. The mother told them that the child had been
born, so the people looked around with lights, trying to find the
child. They looked everywhere, but could not find the child. After
a while they found the child standing under the altar, grinning.
The child looked to be about two years old, and had teeth. It
walked about constantly, just as its father did, and was like him
in appearance. Finitimi repperunt eam numquam virum cognovisse,
sed ab eo monstro per eius motus gravidam factam esse. The people
caught the child and killed it. They put it into a bag and threw
the bag into the river.
The father of the child heard about this. He went to another
wonderful man who could see better in the night than in the day
and asked him to help him find the child. The man consented. He
took his medicines, put them upon himself and led the man to the
very spot where he had danced and where he had made the motions.
Then the medicine-man led the mysterious being into the lodge of
the girl who had given birth to the child. He showed where the
boy had been born, where he had run, where he had stood under the
sacred bundle, how the people caught him and killed him, and how
the people had taken him to the river and thrown him in. They went
down to the river. The medicine-man took a big rock and told the
strange being that when he should throw the rock into the waters,
the waters would part, and that he must be quick to jump in and
get the boy. The man threw the stone up into the air, and as it
fell into the water, the waters parted, and they could see the boy
lying there. The man jumped in and pulled him out. When the boy was
pulled out the father cried, and said that he wanted this wonderful
man to select a place to bury him, for he was a strange child. The
man led this mysterious being about the hill on the Missouri River,
and there the man took his club, and striking the largest stone
that the people knew of, he split it in two. They buried the child
between the two stones, and then went home. The mysterious being
then married the girl who had given birth to the mysterious little
boy who, immediately after his birth, got to dancing and running
around as his father had always done in dances.
FOOTNOTES:
[36] Told by Yellow-Bear.
36. THE NOTCHED STICK AND THE OLD WOMAN OF THE ISLAND.[37]
When my people held the medicine-men’s ceremonies, the leading
medicine-man, who sat in the west of the lodge, had a roll of
dried buffalo hide and a long stick with notches upon it. The
leaders of the medicine-men’s lodge had sticks that they rubbed
on this notched stick so that the dried buffalo hide made a noise
sounding something like that of a drum. When this noise was begun
they began to rattle the gourds. At the end of the ceremony of the
medicine-men the lodges inside of the big lodge were taken down to
the river, and the notched stick and the dried buffalo hide were
taken and placed upon an island. We were told not to go to the
island; but knowing the place, one man went, and he saw in place of
the hide and stick an old woman sitting there. He saw her plainly.
Her ears hung down with great, big cuts in them. She had a very
long face. When he took a look at her she turned her nose up. He
was scared and ran away towards the village. He met some other boys
and told them about the old woman. They would not believe him, so
they went back, and when they came to the island, sure enough, it
was no longer the old woman, but the hide and stick.
When the man went home he told his father all about it, and he
said: “True, my son; that is the reason that they put the objects
upon the island, because really they are an old woman.” Other boys
also visited the island, and they saw the same old woman. When
several went to the island another time, it was again a stick.
FOOTNOTES:
[37] Told by White-Owl.
37. THE MAN WHO MARRIED A COYOTE.[38]
A long time ago there was a war-party that started out from the
Arikara country toward the south. They were found by the enemy and
attacked. One man was killed and the others all returned home.
After many years this man who was killed rose from where he was
lying, for he had not really been killed, but was simply stunned
by falling onto hard ground. He had not been scalped. After this
man came to, he wandered over the prairies and fell in with the
Coyotes. He finally married a Coyote, and lived with her for
several years.
One day some men went hunting, and they saw a mysterious being
crossing the Missouri River. The warriors went down and surrounded
this mysterious being and caught him. He was not scalped, nor
wounded, but he had changed his ways so that he could live with the
Coyotes, and he was almost like an animal. The people begged him
to go home, saying that his wife and children were well and that
his wife was not married again. But he said: “I know; but I cannot,
for I am married.” They took him notwithstanding, and they gave
him medicines. He became well, and he entered the medicine-lodge.
The man asked permission to do some sleight-of-hand, and the
medicine-men gave him the privilege to do so. He took a man, went
around the lodge and vomited up a lot of hair, white clay, and
other things. After all this had come out of him he was cleansed
from being a Coyote. He continued with the sleight-of-hand, and he
told the people that he was going to call his wife; that his wife
was the one that he was afraid of, and this was the reason he had
not returned home. So he went up onto the top of the lodge and
shouted and shouted; then he went around to the west and shouted;
then to the north and to the east; then he came into the lodge,
and said, “My wife is far away.” He went out again and shouted
to the northwest, and after a while the people heard the Coyotes
away off. They kept coming nearer and nearer, and the people ran
away. The Coyotes kept on coming, and the people ran into the
lodge. The Coyote whom the man had married came into the lodge.
When she entered the lodge she went around to the northeast of the
fireplace, by way of the south, west, and north, and then to the
northeast, and there she took her place. “This,” said the man, “is
my wife.” The men called her names, saying: “You long-nosed thing!
Why did you not come? Why do you run off so far away?” The leading
medicine-man now arose. A pipe was given to him filled with native
tobacco. He made some smoke to the Coyote woman. After the smoke
the Coyote woman left the lodge and went off to join the other
Coyotes. The people saw this female Coyote, and now knew that this
man did have a Coyote woman.
Many years afterwards this same man was roaming over the prairies,
when a blizzard blew up. Just a little before sunset he came to a
bank of snow, and there lay one of his baby Coyotes. He went to
pick up the baby, but as he was so cold, he let the baby Coyote
stay in the snow, and he went home. After he had warmed himself he
went out to see if the baby was still in the snow, but when he got
there, there was no baby at all.
FOOTNOTES:
[38] Told by Many-Fox.
38. THE MAN WHO TURNED INTO A STONE.[39]
Once upon a time there was a big village on a prairie. In the
village there was an old man who was respected by all. Because he
was well-known as a medicine-man he had one of the sacred bundles,
and he used to call councils and many other meetings. If there
was sacrifice to be offered to some of the gods it was brought
before this old man, because the gods seemed always to make returns
for all his offerings. For this reason, he was above all other
medicine-men in the village.
At one time a very large party went out from the village on a
buffalo hunt. A few were left in the village. For many days one
young man kept coming and reporting that the people were coming
not very far away. The next day they saw them coming, but away in
the distance. It was the custom for these people to go out to meet
them before they reached the village, so many, including the old
medicine-man, went out to meet them. The old man came to a hill,
and there he sat down. The people traveled on foot in those days.
As the party came to the old man they only saluted him. There was
another custom of bringing some dried meat to some medicine-men,
especially to this famous old man, and offering up sacrifices to
the gods. This was the old man’s reason for going up there. Finally
most of them passed toward the village, but none of the young men
had any dried meat to present to the old man for him to give thanks
to his sacred bundle. They all passed, save one young man who came
last. When he saw the old man sitting there he saluted him and gave
him a dried buffalo tongue. The old man did not seem thankful for
it, but sat there with his head down.
When they all reached the village they made many feasts, and
councils were held in many places. The next day it was noticed that
the old medicine-man was missing. They looked for him, but could
not find him. One young man told that he had seen him sitting on
the hill. So they went to the hill and asked the old man to come
down, but he would not. One medicine-man took a sacred pipe from
his bundle and offered it to the old man to smoke, so that he might
forget his sorrows. The old man would not accept it, because, he
said, it was too late. The people begged him to come, but still he
sat there with his head cast downward. After a while he raised his
head and said to all, that it was too late to get up, that he was
to sit there always. He removed his blanket, and the people saw
that his legs had already turned to stone. The people all wept
and went away. They came the next day, and they saw a rock in the
form of a man, and they all cried again for the loss of the old
medicine-man, because there had been no one to give him any dry
meat to offer up as sacrifice to the gods.
FOOTNOTES:
[39] Told by Hawk.
39. THE WOMAN WHO TURNED INTO A STONE.[40]
In the village there was a nice-looking young woman, daughter of
one of the chiefs. They all liked her and had much admiration
for her. Many young men made great efforts to get the young girl
to marry, but she would not consent. After many failures on the
men’s side the young woman’s father tried to persuade her to marry
some young man. After all their advice the young woman refused to
marry. Again the old mother related to her daughter that it was
most enjoyable to live with a man, to have a man to support her, to
cherish her, and to protect her from all troubles. The young woman
accepted the mother’s advice at last, and she said she would marry.
One young man, a very good hunter, came to the young girl, and
after a long conversation persuaded her to promise that she would
marry him. The young woman told her mother, and she was glad, and
willing that her daughter should marry him; for the young man was
capable and qualified to support a family. Finally the young man
was called, and came to their lodge. Puellam in matrimonium duxit.
Cum nox esset, ad lectum genialem venerunt. Iuvenis gavisus est
quod tandem puellæ amore potiturus esset. Cum autem cum uxore
sua concumbere conaretur, non poterat. Per noctem totam frustra
conabatur. Postridie puella ad matrem venit, eique ostendit cur
virum habere noluisset. Deinde tunicam sustulit ostenditque
se helianthes pro volva habere. Mater autem vidit quo iuvenis
helianthi nocuisset dum cum uxore concumbere conabatur. So the
young woman took her bundle on her back, journeyed to a certain
place, sat down and turned to stone, because she was ashamed.
FOOTNOTES:
[40] Told by Hawk.
40. THE POWER OF THE BLOODY SCALPED-MAN.[41]
There was a young man in the Arikara village who wanted to have
some mysterious power. He went through the different places, over
high mountains, and steep banks. He had heard of a place to the
west of the village where young men had been scared away. He went
to the place and stood upon a hill which was close to the Missouri
River. He stood there for three days and nights, and during the
third night he heard a mysterious noise from the Missouri River. He
looked, and saw a man coming. The man approached, and said, “You
will please leave at once, for you make too much noise around this
place.” The man had a war-club in his right hand. His body was
daubed all over with white clay; his head was red with blood and
the blood was dripping from his forehead. The boy became scared,
and he ran home. He told one of his friends what had happened to
him and his friend laughed at him for running away from the place
where he had gone to get some power.