Singing Waters’ work as an Indian maiden in the Teton-Dakota tribe was
typical of the work of Indian maidens across the continent. Each year
she would make new clothing for her family and each day of the year she
would cook and do the many little things that were the duty of a good
Indian squaw. The work was hard but Singing Waters did not mind, for she
loved her husband and her children and was very happy and proud to be
able to help them.
When she found that she had some free time, Singing Waters would join
the other women of the tribe to boast about her husband’s great deeds on
the hunt and in battle. This was a favorite pastime of all the squaws.
They would spend many hours throughout the years to talk, over and over
again about the adventures of their braves. Each time they would repeat
the stories with even more enthusiasm.
One day, all the tribe’s braves had left to hunt down a great buffalo
herd for food and clothing for the tribe. Singing Waters was seated in
front of her tepee, teaching her two daughters how to cook, when the
morning sky grew suddenly very black. A great quiet fell upon the
village. Even the dogs that seemed to spend their day barking for no
good reason were silent. Singing Waters heard only the wind as it
whispered through the village.
Then from the distance, there came a rumble that seemed to come slowly
nearer and nearer to the village. Singing Waters realized quickly that a
dust storm was heading for her village. The other squaws had heard it,
too, and were rushing to gather their children into their tepees and
bind the skins across the entrances as tightly as they could. The dogs
whimpered and scattered for whatever shelter they could find. The
village did not have to wait long, for the winds were soon lashing
against the tepees, straining their fastenings, and the dust was
whipping through the village like a flood tide rushing over the rocks on
the seashore.
The dust reached into every opening in Singing Waters’ tepee. It wasn’t
long before a fine coating of it covered everything and everyone inside.
Her two daughters huddled close to her, crying slightly because of their
fear of the storm. But soon the wind blew out of the village, and the
last dust clouds settled to the ground. One by one the flaps of the
tepees swung back. Mothers, children and old men began to come out. They
found that many things, left outside in the haste of escaping from the
storm, were covered with coats of light brown dust. Everyone began
cleaning up the village and sweeping away the dust which had piled up
against the sides of the tepees.
While this was happening a young boy, named Fat Buffalo because he was
short and very fat, came running through the village, crying that his
mother was lost. Singing Waters halted him and shook him a little to
make him stop his screaming. When he had quieted, she was able to learn
that Brown Fawn, the boy’s mother, had left the tepee early that morning
to seek fresh water. She had been gone only a little while when the
storm struck. Now she was not back in the tepee and Fat Buffalo was
frightened.
Singing Waters was worried, but did not tell Fat Buffalo. She knew that
an Indian woman out in such a storm might easily fall under the stinging
pelting of the sand, only to be smothered by it. She might never be
found unless, years later, new storms should blow away the dust and
reveal the dry bones of a skeleton and a few bits of her clothing.
Though Singing Waters felt panic in her heart, she quieted herself and
spoke calmly to Fat Buffalo.
“Go back to your tepee, Fat Buffalo, and wait. Your mother probably
found shelter from the storm. Now that it has stopped she will be home
soon. If it will make you feel better, I will go and look for her.
Return now to your tepee. I wouldn’t be surprised if your mother were
there already.”
How Singing Waters hoped that Brown Fawn was back in the village by now!
It would be almost an impossible task to find her here on the plains if
she were dead or even hurt. First, Singing Waters would not know in
which direction to start. The water hole that she and most of the tribe
used was to the south, but there were many water holes in many
directions from the village. Singing Waters decided that she should go
to Brown Fawn’s tepee and find out if anyone else in the family knew in
which direction she had gone.
After warning her two daughters to stay close to home, saying that she
would be back shortly, Singing Waters ran swiftly through the village.
Reaching Brown Fawn’s tepee, she opened the tent flap and stepped
inside. As her eyes grew used to the darkness, she saw Fat Buffalo
kneeling in the far corner of the tepee, crying. Approaching slowly,
Singing Waters saw that there was someone else in the tepee and that Fat
Buffalo was kneeling next to that person. As she drew near, her heart
was happy, for she thought that Brown Fawn had returned and was
comforting Fat Buffalo. She was about to turn and leave when she
suddenly realized that this woman was not Brown Fawn, but Fat Buffalo’s
grandmother, Little Otter, who held the boy’s head on her lap.
Singing Waters approached quietly and spoke softly to Little Otter. “Has
Brown Fawn returned yet with the water?” she asked with slight hope in
her voice.
“No,” said Little Otter, “and it was because of me that she went in
search of water. We have some water here in the tepee. But I have not
been feeling well, and Brown Fawn thought that herbs brewed in fresh
spring water from the rocks on the near-by hills might make a tea which
would help my sickness to leave.”
“But,” said Singing Waters, “the hills where the streams flow are many
miles from here. If Brown Fawn left when the sun rose, then she might
just have reached the spring when the storm came. She is probably on her
way back to the village right now.”
The sad news about Brown Fawn soon reached everyone in the village. Many
anxious eyes watched the trail that led from the hills. Each person
hoped to be first to catch sight of Brown Fawn and bring happiness to
Little Otter and Fat Buffalo.
Later that afternoon, Singing Waters came once again to Brown Fawn’s
tepee. She talked quietly with Little Otter and then hurried back to her
tepee and placed a warm buffalo jacket across her shoulders. Then taking
her two little daughters, she went to her sister’s tepee and asked if
she might leave the children there for supper while she went in search
of Brown Fawn. Her sister looked at her and asked, “Why do you not wait
until the warriors return? They should be coming any time now, and they
could go in search of Brown Fawn! You have two little children to think
about.”
“Yes,” said Singing Waters, “I have two little children to think about,
but we do not know when the warriors will be back. If the hunting is
good they may not return for another week. Brown Fawn may not be too far
from the village.” Nothing Singing Waters’ sister could say to her would
change her mind. So she set out from the village toward the mountain
spring known to the members of her tribe as the medicine well. It was
getting late in the day, and Singing Waters knew that she must hurry if
she were to reach the medicine well before sunset. She knew the trail
well. As a girl she had followed it many times, for there always seemed
to be some sickness in her village.
Singing Waters finally came in sight of the ridge beyond which lay the
medicine well, still having found no trace of Brown Fawn. Tirelessly,
she trotted on until she had climbed the ridge and had worked her way to
the place from which the water flowed into the medicine well. As Singing
Waters approached the medicine well, she called Brown Fawn’s name
softly, but heard no answer. Then she began to call more loudly.
Suddenly, from far ahead she heard a voice answer. Now Singing Waters
began to run, for she feared that Brown Fawn was in serious trouble. She
ran until she reached the side of the medicine well, but still did not
see Brown Fawn. Then she called again and the voice answered. “Help me,
I am over here.”
The voice was coming from beyond the medicine well. Singing Waters ran
on further; then she stopped and called again. The voice replied again,
and Singing Waters knew that she was closer. Brown Fawn’s voice seemed
to be coming from just behind a rise ahead of her. She ran swiftly to
the top of the rise, and there she found a water bag. As she looked down
the side of the rise through the gathering gloom she could make out
Brown Fawn’s figure down the side of the hill. She sat leaning against a
boulder, and she called out to Singing Waters to help her. Singing
Waters slipped and slid in her haste down the side of the hill until she
was at the side of Brown Fawn. Brown Fawn was so glad to see her that
she cried, great tears rolling down her now pale cheeks.
Singing Waters could see that Brown Fawn had twisted her ankle. As she
began to lift the injured woman, Singing Waters asked her how she had
hurt herself and how she had escaped the storm. Brown Fawn told how she
had reached the medicine well just as the dust storm had broken. After
filling her water bag, she had turned quickly to go and had fallen,
twisting her ankle. When she was once again able to rise, putting her
weight on her other ankle, she found that she had lost all sense of
direction and had started hobbling in the wrong direction.
“Why didn’t you lie down among the rocks until the storm passed?”
Singing Waters asked.
“I wanted to rest,” Brown Fawn replied, “but then I would think of my
mother and son and I felt I must return to her and Fat Buffalo
immediately with the medicine water.”
“But,” said Singing Waters, “you are safe now. Now we must return to the
village while there is still a little light or we may become lost out
here on the prairie far away from the warmth of our tepees. Come, Brown
Fawn, lean upon me and I will help you to walk.”
So Brown Fawn placed her arm across Singing Waters’ shoulders. Together
they slowly started back to the village. It was dark by the time they
had reached the fringe of the village, but bright fires had been lighted
to show them the way home. There was much rejoicing as Singing Waters
entered the village half carrying Brown Fawn. Gentle hands grasped Brown
Fawn and placed her gently upon the buffalo robe in her tepee. Soon her
eyelids flickered and she opened them wide, looking around for a face
which meant much to her. But Singing Waters had returned to her own home
and her children and was recounting for them the adventure she had just
had. They smiled, knowing that their mother was a woman of great
courage. They were very proud.