had a big thought, and what he thought, he did. First he sneaked the
fresh cow’s bladder from the drag and hid it under his blanket. Then he
remembered something he had lost back on the trail, and told the old
people he would have to ride back and find it.
“So that is what he did; only he did not ride back very far. He dodged
into a side draw and came around some hills until he was far ahead of
his people; and there was the tepee with the dead man in it.
“He did not go in there right away, because that was not the way it was
in his big thought. He went down to the creek and tied his horse in the
brush. Then he stripped naked and covered himself all over with mud,
and made streaks in the mud with his finger. After that he painted his
face with the mud to make it look terrible. Last of all, he emptied
out the fresh cow’s bladder and pulled it over his hair and his head
and his ears, right down to his eyes. He almost scared himself when he
looked into the water.
“By now the sun was going down, and he went into the tepee where the
dead man was lying all dressed up with five big plugs of tobacco
beside him. The wild young man wanted to smoke right away; but he knew
if he did that, the old people would come and he would not get all the
tobacco for himself. So he hid under his blanket over against the tepee
wall and waited.
“Afterwhile when the day was just getting half-dark, he could hear the
four old people coming. Then he heard his grandfather say: ‘Soon our
grandson will be coming back, and while we are waiting we may as well
make an offering and get the tobacco.’ So they came into the tepee and
sat down at the feet of the dead young man. The grandfather then filled
his pipe with red willow bark and made an offering to the spirit.
‘Young man,’ he said, ‘whoever you are and wherever your spirit is now,
here is an offering. We ask the favor of you that no harm shall come to
us for taking your tobacco. We will always remember you when our days
are ripe.’
“Just then the wild young man put his head out from under the blanket
and yelled: ‘_How!_’
“When Charger got to this place he always quit talking awhile; but you
could see the story going on. You could see how terrible the ghost
looked, the way grandmother waddled as she ran, the way grandfather
hopped with a lame leg, how mother covered her head with her blanket,
running and falling, getting up and running some more. And you could
see the father away out ahead going like a man in a foot race with his
braids standing flat out behind his head because he was getting out
of there so fast. You could see grandmother look back at the ghost
and faint because it was so terrible. Then grandfather looked and
fainted. Then mother looked and fainted. And then there was a big foot
race between father and the ghost. You could watch Charger and see
it--father puffing and grunting with his eyes almost popping out of his
head, the ghost puffing and grunting and looking terrible. By the time
the ghost caught up and father fainted, everybody was laughing so hard
that Charger would have to wait before he could finish his story. And
it was not easy to quit laughing, because Charger kept on looking so
sorry and surprised, as though he thought it wasn’t funny to be chased
by a ghost like that.
“Then the wild young man went back to the creek and washed himself all
clean, and threw the cow’s bladder away. And when he was dressed, he
got on his horse and rode around so that he could come galloping from
where he said he had lost something and had to go back for it.
“So he did that, and when he came to where the four old people were
huddled together waiting for him, he heard all about it, and he was so
brave that his father and mother and his grandfather and grandmother
were very proud of him. He said: ‘I will go and get that tobacco, and
if the ghost tries to chase me I will fight him.’ They begged him not
to do that because the ghost was so terrible. But he said: ‘Make a fire
here and I will get the tobacco and bring the drag and the ponies so
that we can eat and smoke. Maybe that ghost can chase old people; but
if he tries to chase me, there is going to be a dead ghost around here.’
“They tried to hold him, but he went anyway; and afterwhile he came
back with the tobacco and the horses and the drag. Then grandmother
said: ‘We are safe now, for I think the ghost is afraid of our brave
young grandson.’ But when they had eaten, the old people would not even
touch the tobacco.
“So the wild young man had enough for once.”
Eagle Voice chuckled for a while, enjoying the boyhood memory; and
then--
“Charger could tell sad stories too,” he said. “And when he told one,
the people would be looking down their noses, feeling very bad. And he
could tell the kind of stories that made a boy feel cold on the back
of his neck and keep looking behind in the dark, because something
that was not there, was there anyway, and it might grab you all at
once.--Like the one about the evil _wakon_ who got his power from
eating dead peoples’ tongues. In the night he would sprout great wings
like a giant buzzard’s; and when somebody was sick and about to die,
the people would hear him flapping, flapping, flapping, with a queer
whisking sound above the tepee in the dark. Maybe somebody coming back
late in the night would pass a new scaffold, and that man-buzzard would
be sitting up there in the moonlight, and maybe the moon would be old
and broken and just about to go down. Then the man-buzzard would lift
slowly and fly away, and you could see him cross the moon and hear him
going--flap, flap, flap, with a queer whistling sound. In the morning
when relatives went to look, there would be another tongue missing!
It took a long while to tell that story, because it took the people a
long while to find out who was the evil _wakon_. They had to try this
and try that and look here and look there. And when they did find out,
everybody was surprised and you could hardly believe it.
“But the story that always makes me hungry is the one Charger told that
night about the Two Boys Who Had Sister-Trouble. I want to tell it
because what I eat these days does not do me much good, and I want to
be hungry like a boy again.
“So this is the way it was with the two boys who had sister-trouble.
“A long while ago before the hoop was broken and the people still
were good, there was a right way and a wrong way to do everything, and
something bad would happen if you did the wrong way. I have told you
how a man could not speak to his daughter-in-law and she could not
speak to him, even when they lived in the same tepee. If they had to
say something to each other, they said it to the son’s mother and she
said it to the other one. Neither could the two eat together. It was
the same way with a brother and sister when they were no longer little
children. They respected each other so much that if they had to say
something to each other they would say it to their mother and she would
tell it. These ways were good for the people, but now there is nothing
good at all. In those days a young man wanted his sisters to be proud
of him, and they might make beaded clothing for him to show how proud
they were, but they would be so ashamed to say it to him that they
would rather die.
“Now there was a young Shyela [Cheyenne] and his name was Thunder
Sounds. His father was a chief and people looked up to him. Also the
family had many ponies and a fine tepee. Thunder Sounds was a very
good-looking young man and his clothes were fine because his mother
and his sisters thought so much of him. He wore a shield of otter skin
across his breast. His quiver was full of arrows and covered with
porcupine quills; and even his blanket was beautifully quilled. Also
he had two fine spotted ponies that looked just alike. But I think he
was prouder of his two older sisters than he was of the ponies, because
they were very good to see and already they could do any woman’s work a
little better than any of the other girls could.
“This happened in the spring when the people were moving camp, and
Thunder Sounds, not being a man yet, did something just for fun that
would bother his sisters at their work. They were so bothered that they
forgot all about the right way to do, and scolded him. And that was how
it began.
“When the camp moved, Thunder Sounds did not go along. He stayed right
there, sitting on the ground in his fine clothes with his head hanging
and his two spotted ponies looking at him with their heads hanging
too; for it made them sad to feel how sad he was. It was morning when
the camp moved, and when the sun was getting low, he still sat there
thinking and thinking about his sisters and about death. Not only had
they spoken to him and thus shown they did not respect him; they had
even scolded him the way you scold a dog for stealing your meat. He
knew that he just could not live any more; but how could he find death?
“About that time a young man came back from the camp and stood beside
Thunder Sounds and said: ‘Your sisters have sent me. They are sorry and
they are crying for you to come back. Also they are cooking some tender
meat just for you.’ But Thunder Sounds did not lift his head and the
ponies did not lift their heads either, and the young man heard nothing
but his own words. So afterwhile he got tired standing there, and went
away. And the sun went down and there were stars and it was still.
“Then Thunder Sounds stood up and began singing a death-song there in
the big empty night, and the ponies neighed shrill. When he had sung,
he mounted and the other pony followed and the three went away in the
still starlight, looking for death.
“As he rode, Thunder Sounds thought: Surely tomorrow or the next day or
the next I shall meet an enemy who will kill me, and then all the shame
will be gone. All night long he rode, and when the morning star looked
out across the world where it was no longer night nor yet quite day,
and he could hardly keep the saddle any more, and the ponies stumbled
with weariness, he lay down on the prairie, thinking: Maybe an enemy
will find me while I sleep and the sun will never see my shame again.
“But when he awoke, the sun was high and staring hard at him; so he got
upon a pony and rode away, and the other pony followed. And as he rode
he lifted up his voice and sang a death-song. Some wrinkled old hills
mocked him, and a flock of crows jeered, fleeing from his shame.
“Now the sun was getting low again, and as Thunder Sounds rode, there
grew a gnawing in his belly even sharper than the shame that gnawed
his breast; and he said to himself: Am I a sick old woman to die by
starving? It is no way for a brave man to meet death. I will eat and
be strong to meet death like a man. So he found a water hole and let
the ponies drink. Then he hobbled them and left them where the grass
was deep along the slough. And having done these things, he hid with
his bow and arrows near the water hole and waited, with that gnawing
getting sharper in his belly. It was not long before some fat deer
came there to drink in the cool evening. So that night he feasted long
beside his lonely fire; but when the gnawing in his belly had grown
dull and ceased, the gnawing in his breast grew sharp again for all the
heaviness of sleep that was upon him, and he thought: This meat and a
good sleep will make me strong to die tomorrow like a man. And he slept.
“Then all at once the sun was staring hard at him again and the hobbled
ponies were looking down at him and nickering. So Thunder Sounds filled
his belly again against the gnawing, and, having done so, he said to
himself: Here is much good meat left. I cannot be always stopping to
hunt food when I am looking for death; and if I do not eat, how can I
be strong to die like a man? So he made a drying rack from bushes that
grew along the slough, and stripped the meat and hung it on the rack to
dry in the hot sun. It was the third evening at that camp before the
meat was light and dry and he could start again in search of death.
“Now it happened the next evening that Thunder Sounds came to a deep
narrow valley where trees grew and a little stream flowed among the
trees and the grass was deep and green beside the running water. There
was growling, jolting thunder just beyond the valley, and yonder clouds
were piling up above the treetops, and surely there was going to be
much rain. So Thunder Sounds thought: I have no tepee; it is nearly
night already, and the rain will be cold. It is no way for a brave man
to get sick and shiver until he dies. Maybe there is a cave to shelter
me so that I may be strong to die like a man when I meet an enemy.
“And so there was a cave but not just one. There were many caves, one
above the other up the steep side of the valley. The thin flat stone
top of one was the flat stone floor of the next one higher up. So
Thunder Sounds hobbled the ponies and left them where the grass was
deep and green. Then he took his bundle of _papa_ [dried meat] and
crawled into one of these caves a little way up the steep side of the
valley where he would not be far from his ponies.
“Thunder roared, lightning flashed, the wind howled, the rain came down
like a river; but Thunder Sounds was dry and warm, and being weary and
full of dried meat, he slept a dead sleep.
“When he awoke, the storm was gone, the night was still and there
were stars out yonder above the dark treetops. He held his breath and
listened. There was a sound just beneath him--a low regular sound like
breathing; then it was louder like the snoring of a heavy sleeper;
then it changed into snorts for a while, and again it was like steady
breathing.
“Thunder Sounds lay there awhile wondering if it might be a bear there
below him; but while he wondered, the breather snorted again and began
muttering queer words. And although the words had no meaning at all,
he knew that no bear could have said them. And he thought: It is no
bear, but a man. So he reached down into the cave below; and hardly
had he done this when a hand seized his and held it with a strong
grip. There was no sound of breathing now, and it seemed a long while
before anything happened. Then the grip loosened, and he could feel the
man’s fingers making sign talk upon his: ‘Who are you?’ Then Thunder
Sounds made the signs for Shyela, and asked in the same way: ‘Who are
you?’ And the other, with a rubbing of finger across finger, like two
trees scraping each other in a wind, made answer; and Thunder Sounds
thought: This is a Chickasaw and maybe the enemy I have been looking
for. But as he thought this, the other made a sign that seemed to mean,
‘let us sleep.’ Then the hand went limp and dropped away, and the deep
breathing began again.
“Right away after that, it seemed to Thunder Sounds, the sun leaped up
above the trees and stared hard upon his face, for he had fallen into a
heavy sleep. His first thought was of the enemy there beneath him. So
he sprang out of his cave, and at the same time the other sprang out of
his cave, and there the two stood silent for a while just looking at
each other so surprised they hardly breathed at all.
“Surely they were very handsome young men, and they looked so much
alike that they could have been twins. Each wore an otter skin shield
upon his breast. Their quivers were beautiful with porcupine quills and
full of arrows, and the blanket that each held with one hand about his
waist was very finely quilled. Only the sun saw them, but if anyone
else had been looking he would have said: ‘These handsome young men
have fathers the people praise, and their mothers and sisters love them
very much.’
“After they had looked hard into each other’s eyes for a while, the
Chickasaw began sign-talking and the other answered, sign-talking, and
I will tell you in words what passed between them. The stranger said:
‘If you are a Shyela, where are you going and what are you looking
for?’ And Thunder Sounds said: ‘I am riding far looking for death. If
you are a Chickasaw, where are you going and what are you looking for?’
And the other answered: ‘I am looking for the same thing! Why do you
want to die?’ And Thunder Sounds replied: ‘I have two older sisters
more beautiful than all other girls in the world and they have scolded
me, so I cannot live any more.’ The Chickasaw looked hard at Thunder
Sounds for a while with his mouth wide open and no sound or breath in
it, he was so surprised. Then he said, sign-talking: ‘You lie, Shyela!
They are not more beautiful than my two older sisters who have scolded
me too, and that is why I am riding far looking for death.’
“Now Thunder Sounds sprang back from the other, sign-talking fast: ‘You
are looking for death. I am looking for death. It is right here!’ He
dropped his blanket and grasped his knife and crouched, ready to spring
upon his enemy; and as he did so the Chickasaw did the same thing.
But each seemed waiting for the other, and when they had looked hard
at each other for a long while, Thunder Sounds dropped his knife and
sign-talked again: ‘It is still early and we have not eaten. I have
much meat. Let us eat first, and we shall be the stronger to kill each
other.’ Then the Chickasaw also dropped his knife and sign-talked back:
‘It is well. Let us eat first.’
“So the two sat down with the dried meat between them, like two
brothers who are twins, and when the meat was all gone, the Chickasaw
said: ‘I will go to the creek for a drink, then I will give you what
you are looking for.’ And Thunder Sounds replied: ‘I too will drink
before I give you what you want.’ So, side by side, they went to the
creek and, side by side, they stooped and drank, and as they did so,
Thunder Sounds’ two spotted ponies came stumbling close and nickered;
and the Chickasaw’s two piebald ponies, that were just alike, came
stumbling close and nickered. And when the two young men stood up full
of sweet, cool water and drew long breaths, they looked at each other
again; and all at once the Chickasaw grinned, maybe because his belly
felt so good. And when Thunder Sounds saw the grin, he grinned also,
for was his belly not as full as the other’s?
“When the two had walked back to where they had left their knives
on the ground, each stood waiting for the other to pick his up.
But neither would stoop first. So afterwhile the Chickasaw said,
sign-talking: ‘Let us play the hand-game before we die. If you win all
I have, you will kill me. If I win all you have, I will kill you.’ And
Thunder Sounds replied: ‘Let us play the hand-game.’ So they did.
“First they cut two small sticks that could be held in a closed hand,
one with the bark left on and the other peeled. Then they cut twelve
larger sticks for each, to be used as counters. And when this was done,
the Chickasaw said: ‘My ponies against your ponies.’ And the game
began. First the Chickasaw sang, ‘_Hi-yay, hi-yay--hi-ee-hi-yay_,’
while Thunder Sounds swung his hands about him in time with the song,
changing the little sticks from one hand to the other as he did so.
When the singing stopped suddenly, the swinging stopped too, and
Thunder Sounds held his closed fists up in front of him that the other
might guess which held the unpeeled stick. The guess was wrong, and
so the Shyela had thirteen counters. The game went on, the Chickasaw
singing and Thunder Sounds swinging. Sometimes one had nearly all the
counters, then the other had nearly all the counters; but afterwhile
the Chickasaw had them all, and the ponies were his.
“Then Thunder Sounds said in sign-talk: ‘My otter shield, my blanket,
my breech clout, my leggings, my moccasins, my bow and arrows,
everything but my knife, against yours.’ So they each stripped and
placed these things in a pile. Then Thunder Sounds began singing, the
Chickasaw began swinging, and after each had nearly won many times,
Thunder Sounds, at last, had all the counters and the Chickasaw had
no clothes and no bow and arrows--only the four ponies, his knife and
his gleaming long hair. And the Chickasaw, being angry, said: ‘My hair
against your hair.’ And he took the sticks, swinging while the other
sang. It took a long while, but this time Thunder Sounds lost. Then
the Chickasaw gave a war whoop, and, seizing one of the counters for
a coup-stick, he struck his enemy, crying, ‘_An-ho_.’ And when he had
counted coup, he cut off the gleaming long hair of Thunder Sounds close
up to the scalp and danced a few steps of the victory dance.
“This made the Shyela angry, and he said: ‘All that I have but my knife
against your hair.’ And after much singing and swinging and guessing,
Thunder Sounds had all the counters. Then with a war whoop he seized a
counter for a coup-stick and struck the other, crying, ‘_an-ho_.’ And
having counted coup on his enemy, he cut off the long gleaming hair
of the Chickasaw close up to the scalp and danced a few steps of the
victory dance.
“When this was done, each stepped back to where his knife was lying on
the ground; but neither stooped. And as they stood there looking at
each other, the Chickasaw began to grin again--a grin that broadened
until his whole face was puckered. Seeing this, the Shyela also began
to grin--a grin that broadened until it touched his eyes and set
them dancing. And seeing this, the Chickasaw snickered. Then Thunder
Sounds snickered; and all at once both began to laugh so loud that the
steeps along the narrow valley roared with mirth, and the four ponies
yonder in the deep green grass lifted up their voices all together in
screaming laughter. If there had been anyone there to see, he might
have said: ‘These young men are dying of the bellyache the way they
hold their bellies and howl. Naked and hairless!--_ho ho ho, ha ha ha,
he he he hi-ya-hi-o!_’ They looked so funny to each other, that it was
a long while before they could stop laughing; and when they stopped at
last, they were standing with their arms about each other to keep from
falling down, for the very weakness of mirth. With the tears running
down their faces, they were like twins long parted who had found each
other again--but the tears were tears of laughter.
“And after a while, they staggered apart, and the Chickasaw said,
sign-talking: ‘You are too funny to kill.’ Then he held his belly again
and howled, and Thunder Sounds sign-talked, saying: ‘You are as funny
as I am.’ Then he held his belly and howled awhile.
“And when the laughing-fit was over, the Chickasaw said: ‘Let us not
kill each other at all. We will be brother-friends. I will give you all
that was mine along with my hair. You will give me all that was yours
along with your hair. Then we will both go home and tell our people to
meet here when two moons have come and gone and the next new moon is
low above the sunset. There shall be a big feast and our people shall
be as one people forever.’
“And Thunder Sounds replied: ‘It is good; let it be as you say, my
brother.’
“So when they had held each other close for a while, each dressed in
the other’s clothes, and with the other’s hair and weapons rode away
towards his home, the Chickasaw upon a spotted pony exactly like the
one that followed, and Thunder Sounds upon a fine piebald pony followed
by its twin.
“The narrow valley, where the grass was deep and green beside the
running water and the trees made pleasant shade, lay waiting there
until two moons had grown and died above it. And when the thin third
moon hung low above the sunset, the place was filled with happy voices.
On one side of the sweet running water the Chickasaws had pitched their
tepees, and on the other side, Shyelas; and their ponies knew each
other, feasting together, muzzle deep, as the peoples feasted. And the
steep sides of the valley laughed and sang. And because all hearts
were strong with kindness, there was a big giving-away until no one
had anything left at all that had been his or hers; but everyone had
plenty. Even the little children gave their playthings to each other.
Men who had been strangers gave themselves and were brother-friends.
And their sisters became sisters, and the father of each became the
other’s uncle, and the mother of one the other’s aunt. From that day to
this no Shyela has ever harmed a Chickasaw, no Chickasaw a Shyela.
“And this was all because two boys had trouble with their sisters!”
XI
_Helping a Brother-Friend_