plains, there was a great famine in all the land. For many months no
buffaloes were killed, and there was no meat to be had at any price.
One by one the old people dropped off because of a lack of food, and
the young children died early because there was no nourishment, and
there was great sorrow everywhere. Only the strong women and the
stronger warriors remained alive, but even they gradually grew weaker
because of the pinch of the hunger sent into the land by famine. At
last the Chief of the tribe prayed that the Great Chieftain of the
Indians might come into his territory to tell the people what to do to
save themselves.
[Illustration: FOR SOME DAYS THE BOY LAY IN TERROR IN THE NEST ... AND
FAR OUT ON THE OCEAN HE COULD SEE GREAT SHIPS GOING BY]
The Great Chief was at that time far away in the south country where
the warm winds were blowing and the flowers were blooming. But one
night he heard the Chief's prayer borne to him on the winds, and he
hastened northward, for he knew that his people on the plains were
somehow in dire distress. Soon he arrived at the village of the hungry
tribe. "Who has called me here?" he asked. "It was I," answered the
Chief. "My people are all starving because there are no buffaloes in
the country, and if you had not come we should soon have all
perished." Then the Great Chief looked upon his people and he noticed
that the old folks and the little children had disappeared; only a few
children were left and they had pinched cheeks and sunken eyes. And he
took pity on them and said, "There is a great thief not far distant.
He is probably a wicked giant, and he has driven all the buffaloes
away. But I will find him and soon you shall have food." And the
people were all comforted, for they knew that the Great Chief would
keep his word.
Then the Chief took with him the young Chief's son and set out on his
quest. The people wanted to go with him, but he said, "No! We shall go
alone. It is a dangerous duty, and it is better that, if need be, two
should die in the attempt, than that all should perish." They
journeyed westwards across the prairies towards the Great Water in the
West, and as they went, the youth prayed to the Sun and the Moon and
the Morning Star to send them success. Soon they came to the rolling
foot-hills covered with sweet-grass and scrubby pine. But still they
saw no signs of buffalo. At last they reached a narrow stream, on the
bank of which they saw a house with smoke coming from the chimney.
"There is the cause of all our troubles," said the Chief. "In that
house dwells the giant Buffalo-thief and his wife. They have driven
all the animals from the prairies until not one is left. My magic
power tells me it is so!" Then by his magic power he changed his
companion into a sharp-pointed straight stick, while he himself took
the shape of a dog, and they lay on the ground and waited.
Soon the giant and his wife and their little son came along. The boy
patted the dog on the head, and said, "See what a nice dog I have
found. He must be lost. May I take him home?" His father said, "No, I
do not like his looks. Do not touch him." The boy cried bitterly, for
he had long hoped for a dog of his own, and his mother pleaded for him
so hard that at last the giant father said, "Oh, very well. Have your
own way, but no good can come of it." The woman picked up the stick
and said, "I will take this nice straight stick along with me. I can
dig roots with it to make medicine." So they all went to the giant's
house, the giant frowning angrily, the woman carrying the stick, and
the boy leading the dog.
[Illustration: THE GIANT FROWNING ANGRILY, THE WOMAN CARRYING THE
STICK AND THE BOY LEADING THE DOG]
The next morning the giant went out and soon came back with a fat
young buffalo, all skinned and ready for cooking. They roasted it on a
spit over the fire and had a good meal. The boy fed some meat to the
dog, but his father, when he saw what the boy was doing, beat him
soundly, and said, "Have I not told you the dog is an evil thing? You
must not disobey me." But again the woman pleaded for her boy, and the
dog was fed. That night when all the world was asleep, the dog and the
stick changed back to their human form and had a good supper of what
was left of the buffalo-meat. And the Chief said to the youth, "The
giant is the Buffalo-thief who keeps the herds from coming to the
prairies. It is useless to kill him until we have found where he has
hidden them." So they changed back to the shapes of dog and stick and
went to sleep.
The next morning the woman and her boy set off to the forest near the
mountain, to gather berries and to dig up medicine roots. They took
the dog and the stick with them. At noon, after they had worked for
some time, they sat down to have their luncheon. The woman threw the
stick down on the ground, and the boy let the dog run away among the
shrubs. The dog wandered to the side of the mountain. There he found
an opening like the mouth of a cave. Peering into the place he saw
many buffaloes within, and he knew that at last he had found the
hiding place of the giant's plunder. He went back to the woman and the
boy and began to bark. This was the signal agreed on with his
companion. The woman and her son thought he was barking at a bird, and
they laughed at his capers as he jumped about. But he was in reality
calling to his comrade. The stick understood the call and wiggled like
a snake through the underbrush to the dog's side, unseen by the boy
and his mother. They then entered the large cave in the side of the
mountain, and there they found a great herd of buffaloes--all the
buffaloes that had been driven from the prairies. The dog barked at
them and snapped at their heels, and the stick beat them, and they
began to drive them quickly out of the cavern and eastward toward the
plains. But they still kept the shape of dog and stick. When evening
came, and it was time for the boy and his mother to go home, the boy
searched for the dog and the woman looked for her stick, but they
could not find them, and they had to go home without them.
Just as the woman and her son reached their house on the bank of the
river, the giant-thief was coming home too. He chanced to look to the
east, and there he saw, far away, many buffaloes running towards the
foot-hills where the sweet-grass grew. He was very angry, and he cried
loudly to his son, "Where is the dog? Where is the dog?" "I lost him
in the underbrush," said the boy; "he chased a bird and did not come
back." "It was not a bird he chased," said the giant; "it was one of
my buffaloes. I told you he was an evil thing and not to touch him,
but you and your mother would have your way. Now my buffaloes are all
gone." He gnashed his teeth in a great rage, and rushed off to the
hidden cave to see if any buffaloes were left, crying as he went, "I
will kill the dog if I find him." When he reached the cave the Chief
and the youth, still in the form of a dog and a stick, were just
rounding up the last of the buffaloes. The giant rushed at them to
kill the dog and to break the stick, but they sprang upon an old
buffalo and hid in his long hair and, clinging on tightly, the dog bit
the buffalo until the old animal plunged and roared and rushed from
the cave, bearing the Chief and the youth concealed on his back. He
galloped eastward until he reached the herd far away on the prairie,
leaving the giant far behind to make the best of his anger. Then the
Chief and the brave youth took their old form of men, and in high
spirits they drove the herd of buffaloes back to their hungry people
waiting patiently on the plains.
The people were very pleased to see the Great Chief and the youth
returning to the village with the great herd of fat buffaloes, for
they knew now that the famine was ended. But as they drove the animals
into a great fenced enclosure, a large grey bird flew over their heads
and swooped down upon them and pecked at them with its bill, and tried
to frighten them and drive them away. The Great Chief knew by his
magic power that the grey bird was none other than the giant-thief who
had stolen the buffaloes, and who had changed himself into a bird to
fly across the prairies in pursuit of them. Then the Chief changed
himself into an otter and lay down on the bank of the stream,
pretending to be dead. The grey bird flew down upon him, for he
thought he would have a good meal of fat otter. But the Chief seized
him by the leg, and changing back to his own form, he bore him in
triumph to his camp. He tied him up fast to the smoke-hole of his tent
and made a great fire inside. The giant cried, "Spare me, spare me,
and I shall never do you more harm." But the Chief left him on the
tent pole all night long while the black smoke from the fire poured
out around him. In the morning his feathers were all black. Then the
Chief let him down. And he said, "You may go now, but you will never
be able to resume your former shape. You will henceforth be a raven, a
bird of ill-omen upon the earth, an outlaw and a brigand among the
birds, despised among men because of your thefts. And you will always
have to steal and to hunt hard for your food." And to this day the
feathers of the raven are black, and he is a bird of ill-omen upon the
earth because of his encounter with the Great Chieftain long ago.
THE CRUEL STEPMOTHER
Once long ago, when the Blackfeet Indians dwelt on the Canadian
prairies, a poor Indian and his two children, a boy and a girl, were
living near the bank of a great river. The children's mother had long
been dead and they had long been left to the care of their father.
Their father did not think it was right that they should grow up
without a woman's kindness, and he decided at last to take another
wife. So he went far away to a distant village and there he married a
queer woman of another tribe. Soon times grew hard in the North
Country, and it was very difficult to get food. The family lived for
many days on roots and berries, and often they were very hungry
because there was no meat. Now it happened that the woman the man had
married was a very wicked witch-woman, who was capable of doing many
evil deeds. She had no love for her stepchildren, and she treated them
very cruelly. She blamed them for the lack of food in the house, and
beating them soundly, she said, "You gluttonous brats; you always eat
too much. It is little wonder that we cannot keep the house supplied
with food." The man saw his wife's cruelty to the children, but
although it made him sad, and at times angry, he did not interfere,
for he thought the woman should rule her home.
One night in the early spring, as the man slept, his first wife
appeared to him in a dream, and said, "Hang a large spider web across
the trail in the forest where the animals pass and you will get plenty
of food. But be good to my children. Their cruel stepmother is
planning to kill them." And she told him where to look for the magical
spider web. The next day the man found the large spider web, and he
went far away into the forest and hung it from the trees over the
trail where the animals passed. That evening when he went back to the
web he found many animals entangled in its meshes, for it had magical
power. He killed the animals and brought them home, and that night
they had a good fat supper of roast deer meat. Day after day the
magical spider web gave him great numbers of rabbits and deer, as the
vision of his dead wife had told him in the night, and from that time
on the family did not want for food.
But the man's success in hunting only angered his witch-wife. She had
now no cause for complaint against the little children, and she could
no longer scold them and say that because of them there was no food in
the house. Her hatred for them grew stronger each day, and at last
she decided to kill them and to kill their father as soon as she
could. Their father was going away on the morrow in search of wood to
make arrows for his bows, and she thought she would have a good chance
to kill them while he was gone. Then she would kill their father when
he returned. So she laid her plans. But that night the vision of his
first wife came again to the man as he slept, and it said, "Your
present wife is a witch-woman. She plans to kill the children
to-morrow when you are away, and when you come home she will kill you,
too. You must kill her while there is yet time. Remember my little
children."
When the man awoke in the morning he was much alarmed because of the
story told him by the vision of the night. He no longer trusted his
witch-wife and he decided to get rid of her. But he feared she would
attack the children before he could prevent it. So when the witch-wife
went out to get water from the stream to make breakfast, he gave each
of the children a stick, a white stone, and a bunch of soft moss, and
he said, "You must run away from here and stay away until I can find
you, for you are in great danger. You will find these three things I
give you of great use. Throw them behind you if any evil thing pursues
you, and they will keep you from harm." The children in great fear at
once ran away into the forest. Then the man hung his magical spider
web over the door of the house, and sat quietly inside waiting for
his wife to come back. In a little while she came home, carrying a
pail of water, but she did not see the web with its fine strands
hanging across the door, and when she walked into it she was at once
entangled in its meshes. She struggled hard to get free, but her head
was inside the door while her body was outside, and the web held her
fast around the neck. Then the man said, "I know now that you are a
cruel witch-woman. You will beat my children no more." With his
stone-axe he struck her a mighty blow which completely severed her
head from her body. Then he ran from the house as fast as he could and
went towards his children, who were watching him not far away.
But the man was not yet done with the cruel witch-woman. As he ran
from the house her headless body, freed from the spider web, ran after
him, while her severed head, with eyes staring and hair flying,
followed the children, sometimes bumping along the ground and
sometimes rising through the air. The father thought it would be well
to go in a different direction from the children, and he went west,
while they went east. The children were very frightened when they saw
the horrible head behind them, slowly gaining upon them. Then they
remembered their father's magic gifts. When the head was close upon
them, they threw their sticks on the ground at their backs and at once
a dense forest sprang up between them and their pursuer. The children
said, "Now we will rest here for a while, for we are nearly out of
breath. The wicked head cannot get through that dense forest." And
they sat on the grass and rested.
Soon, however, the pursuing head emerged from the thick trees. The
children got up and ran as hard as they could, but close behind them
came the severed head, rolling its eyes and gnashing its teeth in a
great frenzy, and uttering terrible yells. It was very near to them,
when the children again remembered their father's gifts. They threw
the white stones behind them, and at once a high mountain of white
rock rose between them and their enemy. They sat on the ground and
rested, and said, "Oh dear, oh dear, what shall we do? We have only
one means of safety left, these little bits of moss." The wicked head
hurled itself against the mountain, but it could not get through. A
big buffalo bull was feeding on the grass near it, and the head called
to him to break a road through the mountain. The bull rushed at the
mountain with all his force, but the mountain was so hard that it
broke his head and he fell down dead. Some moles were playing in the
soft earth near by, and the head called to them to make a passage
through the hill. So the moles searched and found a soft earthy place
in the midst of the rock and soon they tunnelled a hole to the other
side of the mountain, through which the head was able to pass. When
the children saw their pursuer coming out of the moles' tunnel they
cried loudly and ran away as fast as they could. At last, after a very
long chase, the head was almost upon them, and they decided to use
their last means of protection. They threw the wet moss behind them,
and at once a long black swamp appeared where the moss had fallen,
between them and their wicked follower. The head was going at such a
great speed, bumping over the ground, that it could not stop. It
rolled into the swamp and disappeared into the soft mud and was never
seen again.
[Illustration: THE BULL RUSHED AT THE MOUNTAIN WITH ALL HIS FORCE]
The children then went home to wait for their father. It was a long
journey, for they had run far. But their father never came. Months and
months they waited, but he did not come, and they grew up to be great
magicians and very powerful among their tribe. At last, by their magic
power, they learned what had happened to their father. Their
stepmother's body continued to follow him as he ran towards the west.
It followed him for many days. Then by his magic power, which the
vision of his dead wife had brought to him, he changed himself into
the Sun, and went to live with his wife in the sky-country. But the
old witch-woman also had magic power, and she changed herself into the
Moon and followed him to the land of the stars. And there she still
pursues him. And while he keeps ahead of her and she cannot catch him,
night follows day in all the world. But if she overtakes him she will
kill him, and day will disappear and night shall reign for evermore
upon the earth. And the Blackfeet of the plains pray that he will
always keep in front in the race with his former witch-wife, so that
there may be always Night and Day in succession in all the land.
THE BOY WHO WAS SAVED BY THOUGHTS
A poor widow woman once lived near the sea in Eastern Canada. Her
husband had been drowned catching fish one stormy day far off the
coast, and her little boy was now her only means of support. He had no
brothers or sisters, and he and his mother, because they lived alone,
were always good comrades. Although he was very young and small, he
was very strong, and he could catch fish and game like a man. Every
day he brought home food to his mother, and they were never in want.
Now it happened that the Great Eagle who made the Winds in these parts
became very angry because he was not given enough to eat. He went
screaming through the land in search of food, but no food could he
find. And he said, "If the people will not give me food, I will take
care that they get no food for themselves, and when I grow very hungry
I shall eat up all the little children in the land. For my young ones
must have nourishment too." So he tossed the waters about with the
wind of his great wings, and he bent the trees and flattened the corn,
and for days he made such a hurly-burly on the earth that the people
stayed indoors, and they were afraid to come out in search of food.
At last the boy and his mother became very hungry. And the boy said,
"I must go and find food, for there is not a crumb left in the house.
We cannot wait longer." And he said to his mother, "I know where a fat
young beaver lives in his house of reeds on the bank of the stream
near the sea. I shall go and kill him, and his flesh will feed us for
many days." His mother did not want him to make this hazardous
journey, for the Great Eagle was still in the land. But he said to
her, "You must think of me always when I am gone, and I will think of
you, and while we keep each other in our memories I shall come to no
harm." So, taking his long hunting knife, he set out for the beaver's
home in his house of reeds on the bank of the stream near the sea. He
reached the place without mishap and there he found Beaver fast
asleep. He soon killed him and slung him over his shoulder and started
back to his mother's house. "A good fat load I have here," he said to
himself, "and we shall now have many a good dinner of roast
beaver-meat."
But as he went along with his load on his back the Great Eagle spied
him from a distance and swooped down upon him without warning. Before
he could strike with his knife, the Eagle caught him by the shoulders
and soared away, holding him in a mighty grip with the beaver still
on his back. The boy tried to plunge his knife into the Eagle's
breast, but the feathers were too thick and tough, and he was not
strong enough to drive the knife through them. He could do nothing but
make the best of his sorry plight. "Surely I can think of a way of
escape," he said to himself, "and my mother's thoughts will be with me
to help me." Soon the Eagle arrived at his home. It was built on a
high cliff overlooking the sea, hundreds of feet above the beach,
where even the sound of the surf rolling in from afar could not reach
it. There were many young birds in the nest, all clamouring for food.
Great Eagle threw the boy to the side of the nest and told him to stay
there. And he said, "I shall first eat the beaver, and after he is all
eaten up we shall have a good fat meal from you." Then he picked the
beaver to pieces and fed part of it to his young ones.
For some days the boy lay in terror in the nest, trying to think of a
way of escape. Birds flew high over his head, and far out on the ocean
he could see great ships going by. But no help came to him, and he
thought that death would soon be upon him. And his mother sat at home
waiting for him to return, but day after day passed and still he did
not come. She thought he must surely be in great danger, or that
perhaps he was already dead. One day, as she was weeping, thinking of
her lost boy, an old woman came along. "Why do you cry?" she asked.
And the weeping woman said, "My boy has been away for many days. I
know that harm has come upon him. The men of my tribe have gone in
search of him, and they will kill whatever holds him a prisoner, but I
fear he will never come back alive." And the old woman said, "Little
good the men of your tribe can do you! You must aid him with your
thoughts, for material things are vain. I will help you, for I have
been given great power by the Little People of the Hills." So the
woman used her thoughts and her wishes to bring back her boy.
That night the boy noticed that the beaver had all been eaten up and
that not a morsel remained. He knew that unless he could save himself
at once he would surely die on the morrow. The Great Eagle, he knew,
would swoop down upon him and kill him with a blow of his powerful
beak and claws. But when the boy slept, he saw his mother in his
slumber. And she said to him, "To-morrow when Great Eagle goes from
the nest, brace your knife, point upwards, against the rock. When he
swoops down to kill you his breast will strike the knife, and he will
be pierced to death. You are not strong enough to cut through his
feathers with your knife, but he is powerful enough to destroy
himself." The next morning when Great Eagle went out, the boy did as
the vision of the night had told him. He braced his sharp
hunting-knife, point upwards, against the rock and sat still and
waited. Then he heard the young eagles making a great noise and crying
loudly for their breakfast. He knew that his hour had come. Soon the
Great Eagle, hearing the screams of his young ones, came flying back
to the nest to kill the boy. He circled around above him with loud
cries and then with great force swooped down upon him, hoping to kill
him with his beak and claws. But instead, he struck the blade braced
upwards against the rock. The knife pierced far into his breast, and
with a loud scream he rolled over dead into the nest. The boy then
killed the young eagles, and he knew that now for a time he was safe.