THE STORY OF SCARFACE
The children of the upper end of the camp kept the clay animals they had
captured just two days, and then they in turn were surprised by
Sinopah's older comrades and lost them, and a number of their own toys
also. In this encounter a boy of each party got very angry and hurt one
another in the rough scramble. That evening when their fathers came home
from hunting there was much talk about the trouble; it was very, very
seldom that Blackfeet children quarreled and came to blows, and Red
Crane and several other old men were called to decide what had best be
done.
In the morning all the children of the camp were called together and Red
Crane gave them a short talk:--
"My little ones," he said, "every day you are growing taller and
stronger and will soon be strong men. The Blackfeet will soon depend
upon you to fight the enemy, and they are all around us, and to keep our
great plains and the herds of game upon them for our own use: that is
one reason why you must never quarrel with one another. If you quarrel
when you are children, you will quarrel with one another when you are
older; it is only by being all brothers, as it were, by loving one
another and standing by one another, that you can keep the tribe from
being conquered by its many enemies. Another reason is that the great
Sun himself forbids it. Now, promise, all of you, that there shall be no
more of this."
"We take your words!" "We will quarrel no more," they shouted in answer,
and were soon off to play again.
That evening, when the family were all sitting around the lodge fire,
Sinopah rolled across the couch into his father's arms and asked: "Who
is the Sun? How can he tell us what to do? Who is Old Man to whom I
hear you praying?"
"I am glad you asked," White Wolf replied. "It is time for you to know
all about these things and to begin praying with us. Listen, now, and I
will try to make you understand.
"In the beginning was no one but Old Man. He was the same as any of us
except that he had yellow hair, blue eyes, and a white skin, and had
very powerful medicine which enabled him to do great things. The time
came when he thought he would like to have a world, so he made this one.
He made it flat, with a straight down-cut edge all around it. But that
didn't suit him, so in different parts of it he made a lot of running
jumps, and at every jump a mountain arose under him. Then from the
mountains he cut gashes in the plains, and wherever he cut, valleys were
formed and creeks and rivers ran in the bottom of them. This looked good
enough for the world, and so he then made living things on it: people,
animals, and all the grasses and things that leaf.
"But when Old Man made the people he gave them paws instead of hands, so
they were quite helpless and at the mercy of the bears and all other
animals; whenever they wanted to, the animals killed and ate the people.
"Old Man was so busy going here and there inspecting the world, and the
things he had made, that it was some time before he saw what was going
on. When he did notice it, he sat down on a big rock and scratched his
head many times and thought a long time before he knew what to do. He
then called all the people to him and slit down their claws, so that
they became fingers and thumbs, with which the people could do all kinds
of work. He showed them first how to make bows and arrows, stone knives
and arrow-points, and then taught them how to shoot and kill and cut up
the animals. Lastly, he gave them fire with which to cook the meat and
keep themselves warm. Since that time we have been more and more the
masters of the world. Better than all the other tribes he made, Old Man
liked us Blackfeet. He saw that this part of the world was the best
part, and so he gave it to us with all its many kinds of game.
"Away back in those first days the Blackfeet had much to learn. It was
the fault of a woman that caused sickness and death. The first person to
get sick was a little baby. The mother took it to Old Man and asked why
it cried; why it refused to eat?
"'It is sick,' he told her,'and it may die.'
"'Die? What is that?' the woman asked.
"'It is what happens to an animal when men shoot it with their arrows,'
Old Man replied. 'They cease to breathe, the heart stops beating, that
is the end of them.'
"'But my child must not die,' the woman cried. 'You made us; you are
powerful; I pray you to keep it from dying.'
"Old Man stood silent a long time. They were at the edge of a river. At
last he said to her: 'Woman, it shall be as you say about this. Now here
is a stone, and here is a piece of wood. I will throw into the water
which one of them you choose. If it floats, then your child and all the
people shall live forever; if it sinks, then all of you and those yet to
be born must die from one cause and another.'
"Old man had picked up the rock and the piece of wood while talking, and
he now held them out. 'Choose the one I shall throw,' he told her.
"The woman stood staring at the two things a long time, and the longer
she looked at them the more frightened she became; and at last she
cried: 'Throw the rock!'
"Old Man did as he was told; the stone struck the water with a big
splash and sank; the baby died in its mother's arms right there. Death
had come to the people by a woman's unwise choice.
"For a long time after that, whenever a person became sick he soon
died. The people had not yet learned about different medicines, and
other ways for curing sickness. Nor could they get help from Old Man: he
had told them all good-bye and gone into the West, his last words being
that at some far future time, when they desperately needed him, he would
return. Day after day they now cried out for him, and in vain.
"A number of winters came and went, and all the time the people kept
dying in great numbers. At last a young man who had a big scar on his
face set out to visit all the animals, hoping that some one of them
might tell him how to get rid of the scar. He traveled on and on for
several moons, visiting in turn the bear, the beaver, the wolf, and all
the others of the country. In those days all of them could talk.
"'O my brother!' he said to the bear, 'I have heard that you have great
medicine: I beg you to have pity and remove this scar from my face.'
"'I am sorry, but I haven't the power to do that,' the bear replied.
'Now there is the beaver; he is the wisest of all us animals; I advise
you to see him about this.'
"But the beaver could not remove the scar. He advised the young man to
call on the badger; the badger sent him on to the wolf; and so it went
until Scarface had seen them all. Then he gave up all hope, and at last,
arriving at the shore of a great lake, lay down on the sands to die.
"Then it was that two swans came swimming close to the shore where he
lay crying, and asked what was his trouble. Scarface told them, and when
he had ended the swans said: 'Brother, do not despair: one there is,
greater than all you have asked for help. His home is out there on an
island; you must go to him.'
"Scarface rose up and looked out on the great lake, and could see
nothing but the blue water extending to the very rim of the world.
'There is no island,' he said mournfully, and sat down on the sand.
'Oh, why did you put false hope in my heart? Go, now, and let me die in
peace.'
"'But we told you truth, brother,' the swans replied. 'Truly, an island
is out there, but so far it cannot be seen from here. We pity you; we
wish to help. Come now and lie down on our backs and we will carry you
to the sacred island. Never yet has any man of this world stepped foot
on it.'
"Scarface looked at the swans, at the lake, and then, reaching for his
bow and arrows, which he had thrown away when he lay down to die, he
went and lay down on the backs of the big birds. 'It matters not where I
die,' he thought. 'It may as well be out on that great blue water as
here on this sandy shore.'
"The swans were big and strong, their backs made a soft couch. While
they swam steadily and swiftly westward on the deep waters Scarface
slept. When he awoke they were nearing a big island, and presently,
having come to shallow water and near the shore, they told him to get
off. 'This is the place,' they said, 'and yonder behind that grove of
trees lives the great one'; and with that they turned, and rising on
their powerful wings flew away in the direction whence they had come.
"Scarface waded ashore and right on the beach met the most beautiful
youth he had ever seen. His clothing was of soft, white, tanned skins
embroidered with quill-work of rainbow colors.
"'You are welcome here,' said the youth. 'I will tell you my name: it is
Morning Star. My father is the Sun. My mother is the Moon. We live here
on this island.'
"Scarface then told who he was, and why he had come to this far place.
Morning Star said that he had come to the right one to help him.
"'But, brother,' he added, 'before going to our lodge I want you to do
something for me. Out there on that rocky point live a tribe of big,
sharp-billed birds. One by one they have killed my brothers, and I am
forbidden to fight them. I want you to go and kill them for me.'
"Scarface did not have to be asked twice. He strung his bow, ran out on
the point, and began to shoot the wicked birds. They came at him with
loud, harsh cries and tried to stab him with their bills, and one by one
they fell around him until all were dead. Then the two young men cut off
their scalps and carried them to the Moon. She was a beautiful woman and
was dressed in strange and gorgeous garments. When Scarface was made
known to her she hugged and kissed him, and then wept. 'I cry from
thinking of my dead sons,' she said. 'You have avenged their death; you
have killed those wicked birds, so now I take you for my son.'
"She then took Scarface into her beautiful big lodge and gave him choice
food. It was now almost night, and soon the Sun came home from his daily
task of giving light and heat to the world. When told what Scarface had
done, he gave him kind greeting. 'Young Blackfeet,' he said, 'you have
done much for us this day: remain with us for a time and I will do
something for you.'
"Scarface did stay there a long time. Every night the Sun taught him
sacred songs, and over and over showed him different kinds of plants
that were cures for different kinds of sicknesses. Also he said that he
was the ruler of the whole world and that people must pray to him for
what they need. And that they must love one another, and not lie or
steal. That they must be very kind to the old people, and the widows and
orphans.
"And then, one night, the Sun rubbed a powerful black medicine on the
young man's face which removed the scar. Then loading him with many
beautiful presents he led him out of the lodge, the Moon and Morning
Star following. Before them stretched the Wolf's Road,[1] and the Sun
pointed to it. 'There is your trail,' he said. 'Follow it and you will
arrive at the camp of the Blackfeet. Do not forget that you are to teach
them all that I have taught you.'
"At that the Moon and Morning Star wept, and so did Scarface, for he had
learned to love them as much as they did him. Tears almost blinded him
as he started out on the shining trail that mounted before him far up
into the sky. On and on he followed its straight way, and at last came
to the lodges of the people.
"So it was, O Sinopah, that the people got help in time of sickness and
trouble. That shining Maker of the Day is our greatest god and you must
ever pray to him, and make him presents."
That night the little boy sat by the fire a long time and thought about
all he had heard. Then he went to the doorway of the lodge and old Red
Crane pointed out the Wolf's Road. He thought that he would try to climb
it some day when he grew to be a man.
FOOTNOTE:
[1] The Wolf's Road, Mah-kwi Ok-so-kwi, is the constellation of stars we
commonly call the Milky Way.