there. Many bears lived there. The battle was fought in the morning;
and the Pawnees were all killed in a hollow. Right after the fight, in
the afternoon, two bears came traveling along by this place. When they
came to the spot where the Pawnees had been killed, they found one of
the bodies, and the she bear recognized it as that of the boy who was
like a bear. She called to the he bear, and said, "Here is the man
that was very good to us. He often sacrificed smokes to us, and every
time he ate he used always to take a piece of food and give it to us,
saying, 'Here is something for you to eat. Eat this.' Here is the one
that always imitated us, and sung about us, and talked about us. Can
you do anything for him?" The he bear said, "I fear I cannot do it. I
have not the power, but I will try. I can do anything if the sun is
shining. I seem to have more power when the sun is shining on me."
That day it was cloudy and cold and snowing. Every now and then the
clouds would pass, and the sun come out for a little while, and then
the clouds would cover it up again.
The man was all cut up, pretty nearly hacked in small pieces, for he
was the bravest of all. The two bears gathered up the pieces of the
man, and put them together, and then the he bear lay down and took the
man on his breast, and the she bear lay on top of it to warm the body.
They worked over it with their medicine, and every now and then the he
bear would cry out, and say, "_A-ti´-us_--Father, help me. I wish the
sun was shining." After a while the dead body grew warm, and then
began to breathe a little. It was still all cut up, but it began to
have life. Pretty soon the man began to move, and to come to life, and
then he became conscious and had life.
When he came to himself and opened his eyes he was in the presence of
two bears. The he bear spoke to him, and said, "It is not through me
that you are living. It was the she bear who asked for help for you,
and had you brought back to life. Now, you are not yet whole and well.
You must come away with us, and live with us for a time, until all
your wounds are healed." The bears took him away with them. But the
man was very weak, and every now and then, as they were going along,
he would faint and fall down; but still they would help him up and
support him; and they took him along with them, until they came to a
cave in the rocks among the cedars, which was their home. When he
entered the cave, he found there their young ones that they had left
behind when they started out.
The man was all cut up and gashed. He had also been scalped, and had
no hair on his head. He lived with the bears until he was quite healed
of his wounds, and also had come to understand all their ways. The two
old bears taught him everything that they knew. The he bear said to
him, "None of all the beings and animals that roam over the country
are as great and as wise as the bears. No animal is equal to us. When
we get hungry, we go out and kill something and eat it. I did not
make the wisdom that I have. I am an animal, and I look to one above.
He made me, and he made me to be great. I am made to live here and to
be great, but still there will be an end to my days, just as with all
of us that _Ti-ra´-wa_ has created upon this earth. I am going to make
you a great man; but you must not deceive yourself. You must not think
that I am great, or can do great things of myself. You must always
look up above for the giver of all power. You shall be great in war
and great in wealth.
"Now you are well, and I shall take you back to your home, and after
this I want you to imitate us. This shall be a part of your greatness.
I shall look after you. I shall give to you a part of myself. If I am
killed, you shall be killed. If I grow old, you shall be old.
"I want you to look at one of the trees that _Ti-ra´-wa_ made in this
earth, and place your dependence on it. _Ti-ra´-wa_ made this tree
(pointing to a cedar). It never gets old. It is always green and
young. Take notice of this tree, and always have it with you; and when
you are in the lodge and it thunders and lightens,[6] throw some of it
on the fire and let the smoke rise. Hold that fast."
[6] A cedar is never struck by lightning.
The he bear took the skin of a bear, and made a cap for him, to hide
his naked skull. His wounds were now all healed, and he was well and
strong. The man's people had nearly forgotten him, it had been so long
ago, and they had supposed that the whole party had been killed.
Soon after this the he bear said, "Now we will take that journey."
They started, and went to the village, and waited near it till it was
night. Then the bear said to him, "Go into the village, and tell your
father that you are here. Then get for me a piece of buffalo meat, and
a blue bead, and some Indian tobacco, and some sweet smelling
clay."[7]
[7] A green clay, which they roast, and which then turns dark red,
and has a sweet smell.
The man went into the village, and his father was very much surprised,
and very glad to see him again. He got the presents, and brought them
to the bear, and gave them to him, and the bear talked to him.
When they were about to part, the bear came up to him, and put his
arms about him, and hugged him, and put his mouth against the man's
mouth, and said, "As the fur that I am in has touched you it will make
you great, and this will be a blessing to you." His paws were around
the man's shoulders, and he drew them down his arms, until they came
to his hands, and he held them, and said, "As my hands have touched
your hands, they are made great, not to fear anything. I have rubbed
my hands down over you, so that you shall be as tough as I am. Because
my mouth has touched your mouth you shall be made wise." Then he left
him, and went away.
So this man was the greatest of all warriors, and was brave. He was
like a bear. He originated the bear dance which still exists among the
tribe of Pawnees. He came to be an old man, and at last died of old
age. I suspect the old bear died at the same time.
[Illustration: A RATTLE.]
THE GHOST WIFE.
One time there were living together a man and his wife. They had a
young child. The woman died. The man was very sad, and mourned for his
wife.
One night he took the child in his arms, and went out from the village
to the place where his wife was buried, and stood over the grave, and
mourned for his wife. The little child was very helpless, and cried
all the time. The man's heart was sick with grief and loneliness. Late
in the night he fell asleep, fainting and worn out with sorrow. After
a while he awoke, and when he looked up, there was a form standing by
him. The form standing there was the one who had died. She spoke to
her husband, and said, "You are very unhappy here. There is a place to
go where we would not be unhappy. Where I have been nothing bad
happens to one. Here, you never know what evil will come to you. You
and the child had better come to me."
The man did not want to die. He said to her, "No; it will be better if
you can come back to us. We love you. If you were with us we would be
unhappy no longer."
For a long time they discussed this, to decide which one should go to
the other. At length the man by his persuasions overcame her, and the
woman agreed to come back. She said to the man, "If I am to come back
you must do exactly as I tell you for four nights. For four days the
curtain must remain let down before my sleeping place; it must not be
raised; no one must look behind it."
The man did as he had been told, and after four days had passed, the
curtain was lifted, and the woman came out from behind it. Then they
all saw her, first her relations, and afterward the whole tribe. Her
husband and her child were very glad, and they lived happily together.
A long time after this, the man took another wife. The first wife was
always pleasant and good-natured, but the new one was bad-tempered,
and after some time she grew jealous of the first woman, and
quarreled with her. At length, one day the last married became angry
with the other, and called her bad names, and finally said to her,
"You ought not to be here. You are nothing but a ghost, anyway."
That night when the man went to bed, he lay down, as was his custom,
by the side of his first wife. During the night he awoke, and found
that his wife had disappeared. She was seen no more. The next night
after this happened, the man and the child both died in sleep. The
wife had called them to her. They had gone to that place where there
is a living.
This convinced everybody that there is a hereafter.
TI-KE-WA-KUSH.
The Man who Called the Buffalo.
This happened in the olden time before we had met the white people.
Then the different bands lived in separate villages. The lodges were
made of dirt. The Kit-ke-hahk´-i band went off on a winter hunt,
roaming over the country, as they used to do, after buffalo. At this
time they did not find the buffalo near. They scouted in all
directions, but could discover no signs of them. It was a hard time of
starvation. The children cried and the women cried; they had nothing
at all to eat.
There was a person who looked at the children crying for something to
eat, and it touched his heart. They were very poor, and he felt sorry
for them. He said to the Head Chief, "Tell the chiefs and other head
men to do what I tell them. My heart is sick on account of the
suffering of the people. It may be that I can help them. Let a new
lodge be set up outside the village for us to meet in. I will see if I
can do anything to relieve the tribe." The Chief said that it was well
to do this, and he gave orders for it.
While they were preparing to build this lodge they would miss this man
in the night. He would disappear like a wind, and go off a long way,
and just as daylight came, he would be there again. Sometimes, while
sitting in his own lodge during the day, he would reach behind him,
and bring out a small piece of buffalo meat, fat and lean, and would
give it to some one, saying, "When you have had enough, save what is
left, and give it to some one else." When he would give this small
piece of meat to any one, the person would think, "This is not enough
to satisfy my hunger;" but after eating until he was full, there was
always enough left to give to some other person.
In those days it was the custom for the Head Chief of the tribe, once
in a while, to mount his horse, and ride about through the village,
talking to the people, and giving them good advice, and telling them
that they ought to do what was right by each other. At this time the
Chief spoke to the people, and explained that this man was going to
try to benefit the tribe. So the people made him many fine presents,
otter skins and eagle feathers, and when they gave him these things
each one said, "I give you this. It is for yourself. Try to help us."
He thanked them for these presents, and when they were all gathered
together he said, "Now you chiefs and head men of the tribe, and you
people, you have done well to give me these things. I shall give them
to that person who gives me that power, and who has taken pity on me.
I shall let you starve yet four days. Then help will come."
During these four days, every day and night he disappeared, but would
come back the same night. He would say to the people that he had been
far off, where it would take a person three or four days to go, but he
was always back the same night. When he got back on the fourth night,
he told the people that the buffalo were near, that the next morning
they would be but a little way off. He went up on the hill near the
camp, and sacrificed some eagle feathers, and some blue beads, and
some Indian tobacco, and then returned to the camp. Then he said to
the people, "When that object comes to that place of sacrifice, do
not interfere with it; do not turn it back. Let it go by. Just watch
and see."
The next morning at daylight, all the people came out of their lodges
to watch this hill, and the place where he had sacrificed. While they
were looking they saw a great buffalo bull come up over the hill to
the place. He stood there for a short time and looked about, and then
he walked on down the hill, and went galloping off past the village.
Then this man spoke to the people, and said, "There. That is what I
meant. That is the leader of the buffalo; where he went the whole herd
will follow."
He sent his servant to the chiefs to tell them to choose four boys,
and let them go to the top of the hill where the bull had come over,
and to look beyond it. The boys were sent, and ran to the top of the
hill, and when they looked over beyond it they stopped, and then
turned, and came back, running. They went to the chiefs' lodge, and
said to the chiefs sitting there, "Beyond that place of sacrifice
there is coming a whole herd of buffalo; many, many, crowding and
pushing each other."
Then, as it used to be in the old times, as soon as the young men had
told the Chief that the buffalo were coming, the Chief rode about the
village, and told every one to get ready to chase them. He said to
them besides, "Do not leave anything on the killing ground. Bring into
the camp not only the meat and hides, but the heads and legs and all
parts. Bring the best portions in first, and take them over to the new
lodge, so that we may have a feast there." For so the man had
directed.
Presently the buffalo came over the hill, and the people were ready,
and they made a surround, and killed all that they could, and brought
them home. Each man brought in his ribs and his young buffalo, and
left them there at that lodge. The other parts they brought into the
village, as he had directed. After they had brought in this meat, they
went to the lodge, and staid there four days and four nights, and had
a great feast, roasting these ribs. The man told them that they would
make four surrounds like this, and to get all the meat that they
could, "But," he said, "in surrounding these buffalo you must see that
all the meat is saved. _Ti-ra´-wa_ does not like the people to waste
the buffalo, and for that reason I advise you to make good use of all
you kill." During the four nights they feasted this man used to
disappear each night.
On the night of the fourth day he said to the people, "To-morrow the
buffalo will come again, and you will make another surround. Be
careful not to kill a yellow calf--a little one--that you will see
with the herd, nor its mother." This was in winter, and yet the calf
was the same color as a young calf born in the spring. They made the
surround, and let the yellow calf and its mother go.
A good many men in the tribe saw that this man was great, and that he
had done great things for the tribe, and they made him many presents,
the best horses that they had. He thanked them, but he did not want to
accept the presents. The tribe believed that he had done this
wonderful thing--had brought them buffalo--and all the people wanted
to do just what he told them to.
In the first two surrounds they killed many buffalo, and made much
dried meat. All their sacks were full, and the dried meat was piled up
out of doors. After the second surround, they feasted as before.
After four days, as they were going out to surround the buffalo the
third time, the wind changed, and before the people got near them, the
buffalo smelt them, and stampeded. While they were galloping away, the
man ran up on to the top of the hill, to the place of sacrifice,
carrying a pole, on which was tied the skin of a kit fox; and when he
saw the buffalo running, and that the people could not catch them, he
waved his pole, and called out _Ska-a-a-a!_ and the buffalo turned
right about, and charged back right through the people, and they
killed many of them. He wished to show the people that he had the
power over the buffalo.
After the third surround they had a great deal of meat, and he called
the chiefs together and said, "Now, my chiefs, are you satisfied?"
They said, "Yes, we are satisfied, and we are thankful to you for
taking pity on us and helping us. It is through your power that the
tribe has been saved from starving to death." He said, "You are to
make one more surround, and that will be the end. I want you to get
all you can. Kill as many as possible, for this will be the last of
the buffalo this winter. Those presents that you have made to me, and
that I did not wish to take, I give them back to you." Some of the
people would not take back the presents, but insisted that he should
keep them, and at last he said he would do so.
The fourth surround was made, and the people killed many buffalo, and
saved the meat. The night after this last surround, he disappeared and
drove the buffalo back. The next morning he told the people to look
about, and tell him if they saw anything. They did so, but they could
not see any buffalo.
The next day they moved camp, and went east toward their home. They
had so much dried meat that they could not take it all at once, but
had to come back and make two trips for it. When they moved below,
going east, they had no fresh meat, only dried meat; but sometimes
when this man would come in from his journeys, he would bring a piece
of meat--a little piece--and he would divide it up among the people,
and they would put it into the kettles and boil it, and everybody
would eat, but they could not eat it all up. There would always be
some left over. This man was so wonderful that he could change even
the buffalo chips that you see on the prairie into meat. He would
cover them up with his robe, and when he would take it off again, you
would see there pounded buffalo meat and tallow (pemmican),
_tup-o-har´-ash_.
The man was not married; he was a young man, and by this time the
people thought that he was one of the greatest men in the tribe, and
they wanted him to marry. They went to one of the chiefs and told him
that they wanted him to be this man's father-in-law, for they wanted
him to raise children, thinking that they might do something to
benefit the tribe. They did not want that race to die out. The old
people say that it would have been good if he had had children, but he
had none. If he had, perhaps they would have had the same power as
their father.
That person called the buffalo twice, and twice saved the tribe from a
famine. The second time the suffering was great, and they held a
council to ask him to help the tribe. They filled up the pipe and held
it out to him, asking him to take pity on the tribe. He took the pipe,
and lighted it, and smoked. He did it in the same way as the first
time, and they made four surrounds, and got much meat.
When this man died, all the people mourned for him a long time. The
Chief would ride around the village and call out, "Now I am poor in
mind on account of the death of this man, because he took pity on us
and saved the tribe. Now he is gone and there is no one left like
him."
This is a true and sacred story that belongs to the Kit-ke-hahk´-i
band. It happened once long ago, and has been handed down from father
to son in this band. The Skidi had a man who once called the buffalo,
causing them to return when stampeded, as was done in this story.
* * * * *
Note.--Big Knife, a Skidi, who died only recently, said that the man
was alive in his time. _Kuru´ks-u le-shar_ (Bear Chief), a Skidi, says
that he knew the man. His name was Carrying Mother.
[Illustration: BABY ON BOARD.]
PA-HU-KA´-TAWA.
About the end of the winter, before the grass began to grow in the
spring, a company of three brothers and two other men went out from
the village to trap beaver. When they had been gone about ten days,
and had got up above the Forks of the Loup River, they camped on the
South Fork, and in the morning sent one man ahead to see if he could
find any beaver sign, and could look out a good trapping ground.
When he had gone a little distance from the camp, he saw some Sioux,
and at the same moment they saw him. He did not run back to the camp;
he was too anxious to save himself; but ran across to a little creek,
and hid in the brush, not trying to let his brothers know that the
enemy were near. The Sioux followed him and found him, and chased him
about, and shot at him all day, until near sundown, when they killed
him.
The four other men had stopped in camp, but were not so far off but
that they could hear the shouts and yells, and they ran off from the
camp, and hid themselves and waited. When the other man did not come
back, they knew that he had been killed.
The next morning, the four men talked together. One said, "We had
better go up and see if he is killed." Another said, "Yes, let us go
there. It may be that we can bury him." So they went up where he had
been, going very carefully, and looking over all the hills as they
went, so as to see any enemies if they were about. They found him. He
was dead, shot full of arrows, scalped, his whole head skinned, his
arms and legs unjointed, his head cut off; he was all cut to pieces.
So they thought that there was not enough of him left to bury, and
besides, those killed in battle are often left unburied. When they
found how it was, they started back to the village, and when they came
close to it, one of the men called out, "_Pa-hu-ka´-tawa_ is killed!"
He called that out so that the people might know, and might begin to
mourn.
When they came into the village, the relations of this man felt very
badly because he was killed. It was coming on toward the time when
they begin to clear up their patches, to plant the corn, and to hoe,
and his father and mother mourned, and said, "Now we have no one to
help us hoe. We are old, and he helped us; but now he is gone." So
they mourned for him.
They did not visit the place where he had been killed for some time.
It was now spring, and they were planting, and hoeing the corn, and
when they got through their work, the whole tribe started out on the
summer hunt to get buffalo, as they used to do. They started up the
Loup, and when they had traveled along a number of days, they came
near the place where the man had been killed. When they got there, the
men who had been with him said, "This is the place where
_Pa-hu-ka´-tawa_ was killed," and his father and mother and all his
relations went over to the place where he had lain, to gather his
bones together and then to bury them. When they got to the place, they
could find no bones at all, but the arrows were there, sticking
straight up in the ground; all the arrows that had been shot into the
body. They wondered that they had not fallen down, for they thought
that the wolves might have dragged the body, but when they looked
everywhere about for the bones, they could find no sign of them
anywhere. It seemed strange to them that the arrows should be there
standing up in the ground, and they wondered what had become of the
bones. At length they gave up looking for them, and went back to the
camp. When they could not find the bones, they went on and hunted
buffalo, and killed plenty, and made dried meat. After two months they
started back to the village, going down the Platte River. His mother
had cried so much for _Pa-hu-ka´-tawa_, that she had become blind.
One pleasant afternoon they were camped on the Platte. The evening was
warm and soft and still. As the sun went down toward the earth, long
shining rays seemed to come down from it to the ground. All through
the air was a light smoke, and in the west the sky was red. Just as
the sun was setting, the people all heard a voice calling from the
other side of the river. They listened; and the voice said,
"_Pa-hu-ka´-tawa_ is coming back to you." Then all the Indians jumped
up, and ran across the river to meet him, for they thought perhaps he
was coming back. When they had got to the other side, they looked
about, but could see no one. Then they heard a voice from behind
them, on the other side of the camp, which said, "He is coming from
here." They all turned round and ran back to the other side of the
camp; but no one was there; and in a little while they heard the voice
again, on the other side of the river, saying, "He is coming." Then
they knew it was only a voice and not a person. They stopped running
about, and that night they talked about the voice. The next day they
went on down the river, and at length got back to the main village.
There they stayed six months, and by this time their dried meat was
all eaten, and it was toward spring.
The mother of _Pa-hu-ka´-tawa_ had her bed near the door of the lodge
on the left hand side, the last bed next to the door. One night, at
midnight, he came into the lodge, and touched his mother and said,
"Mother! mother!" His mother used to dream of him almost every night,
and she thought she was dreaming now. She said, "Oh, my son, do not do
this. You are deceiving me again." He stopped; but presently he
touched her again, and pushed her shoulder, and she awoke.
He said to her, "Mother, I am here," and she reached out and felt him.
She said, "Are you really my son?"
He answered, "Yes, I am your son."
Then she put her arms around him, and hugged him, and said to him,
"Oh, my son, my son, you have come back to me." She cried, she was so
glad.
Then they talked together. He gave her a piece of meat--a piece of
fresh buffalo meat--though they had had no fresh meat in the village
for six months. He said to his mother, "I am really alive, though I
was killed. The _Nahu´rac_ (animals) took pity on me, and have made me
alive again. And now I am going off; but do not cry about me any
more." Then he went away.