The boy felt very badly that he had lost his horse; and, after the fight
was over, he went out from the village to where it had taken place, to
mourn for his horse. He went to the spot where the horse lay, and
gathered up all the pieces of flesh, which the Sioux had cut off, and
the legs and the hoofs, and put them all together in a pile. Then he
went off to the top of a hill near by, and sat down and drew his robe
over his head, and began to mourn for his horse.
As he sat there, he heard a great wind-storm coming up, and it passed
over him with a loud rushing sound, and after the wind came a rain. The
boy looked down from where he sat to the pile of flesh and bones, which
was all that was left of his horse, and he could just see it through the
rain. And the rain passed by, and his heart was very heavy, and he kept
on mourning.
And pretty soon came another rushing wind, and after it a rain; and as
he looked through the driving rain toward the spot where the pieces lay,
he thought that they seemed to come together and take shape, and that
the pile looked like a horse lying down, but he could not see well for
the thick rain.
After this came a third storm like the others; and now when he looked
toward the horse he thought he saw its tail move from side to side two
or three times, and that it lifted its head from the ground. The boy was
afraid, and wanted to run away, but he stayed.
And as he waited, there came another storm. And while the rain fell,
looking through the rain, the boy saw the horse raise himself up on his
forelegs and look about. Then the dun horse stood up.
V
The boy left the place where he had been sitting on the hilltop, and
went down to him. When the boy had come near to him, the horse spoke
and said: "You have seen how it has been this day; and from this you may
know how it will be after this. But _Ti-ra'-wa_ has been good, and has
let me come back to you. After this, do what I tell you; not any more,
not any less." Then the horse said: "Now lead me off, far away from the
camp, behind that big hill, and leave me there to-night, and in the
morning come for me;" and the boy did as he was told.
And when he went for the horse in the morning, he found with him a
beautiful white gelding, much more handsome than any horse in the tribe.
That night the dun horse told the boy to take him again to the place
behind the big hill, and to come for him the next morning; and when the
boy went for him again, he found with him a beautiful black gelding. And
so for ten nights, he left the horse among the hills, and each morning
he found a different coloured horse, a bay, a roan, a gray, a blue, a
spotted horse, and all of them finer than any horses that the Pawnees
had ever had in their tribe before.
Now the boy was rich, and he married the beautiful daughter of the Head
Chief, and when he became older he was made Head Chief himself. He had
many children by his beautiful wife, and one day when his oldest boy
died, he wrapped him in the spotted calf robe and buried him in it. He
always took good care of his old grandmother, and kept her in his own
lodge until she died. The dun horse was never ridden except at feasts,
and when they were going to have a doctors' dance, but he was always led
about with the Chief wherever he went. The horse lived in the village
for many years, until he became very old. And at last he died.