time when the swallows, the blackbirds, the meadowlarks, and other
kinds of birds will be gathering into flocks to fly away to the
south-land for the winter. The beavers are cutting trees and saplings
to store the branches under water for their winter food supply of
bark; they are also gathering into their houses certain kinds of roots
for food. The muskrats are repairing their houses and are storing in
them the tubers of the water-lilies and of the arrow-leaf and of other
kinds of plants for their winter supply. In the edge of the timber,
where the ground beans grow, the bean mice are making their
store-houses and filling them with ground beans and artichokes. And
your people have returned from the buffalo hunt with a good supply of
dried meat and hides. They are now busy at home gathering and storing
their crops of corn, of beans, and of squashes and pumpkins. We have
this past summer instructed you in our arts of healing and other
learning, and have imparted to you our mysterious powers, and have
taught you about our ways of living. You are now competent to use for
the good of your people the remedies and perform the mysteries which
were given to us by Tirawa, and which we have now given to you. So you
may now return to the village of your people. Go to the chiefs of the
village and tell them what the Nahurak have done for you, and say to
them that the people are to bring together gifts of dried buffalo meat
and dried corn and dried choke-cherries, and other kinds of food; of
robes and leggings and moccasins embroidered with porcupine quills;
and of tobacco for incense. All these things the people are to send by
you as gifts to the Nahurak at Pahuk in recognition of the favour
which the Nahurak showed to you."
So the boy parted from his animal friends at Pahuk, and promised to
return and visit them, and to bring them presents to show his
thankfulness and the thankfulness of his people for what the animals
had done for him. He traveled on up the Platte River and reached the
village of his people in the night. He went to his father's house. He
found his father and mother asleep and the fire had burned low. There
was only a little light from the coals. He went to his mother's bed
and touched her shoulder and spoke to her to waken her. He said "It is
I. I have come back." When his mother saw him and heard his voice she
was surprised, but she was glad-hearted to see her boy again. So she
wakened the boy's father and told him the boy had come back. When the
father saw the boy he thought it must be his ghost, and he was afraid.
But the boy did not mention anything that had happened nor say where
he had been. He said only "I have come back again."
The next day some of the people saw him, and they were surprised. They
told their neighbors, and soon it was rumored all over the village
that the boy had returned. They came where he was and stood around and
looked at him and asked him questions, but he told them nothing. But
he went to the chiefs of the village and made his report to them.
Afterwards he gave account to the people, saying, "I have been away
all summer with friends, with people who have been very good to me.
Now I should like to take them a present of dried meat and other good
things, so that we can have a feast. I beg you to help me, my
friends." So they brought together a quantity of the articles
required, and they chose some young men to go with him to help carry
the gifts to the people who had befriended him.
So the boy and his companions went on the way towards the Nahurak
lodge at Pahuk. When they came near to the place the boy dismissed the
young men who had accompanied him, and they went back to the village.
Now the boy went on alone and met the kingfisher, the messenger of the
Nahurak, and sent word by him that he had come to visit the Nahurak,
and had brought presents from his people. So the boy was invited into
the lodge and all the Nahurak made sounds of gladness at seeing him
again. The boy brought in the presents which had been sent by his
people and they had a feast. After the feast they held a doctors'
ceremony. They reviewed all the things that the Nahurak had taught him
during the summer that he had spent with them. Then the boy was made a
doctor, and he was now able to do many wonderful things.
After this the time came for the young man to return again to the
village of his people. The animals were thankful and gave praise to
Tirawa for the gifts which the young man had brought to them. And the
young man was thankful to the animals and he praised Tirawa for what
the animals had done for him. Then he returned to the village of his
people. He never told the people what his father had done to him.
The young man lived a long and useful life among his people and
attained much honour. He did many wonderful things for his people and
healed them of their diseases and injuries. In time he gathered about
him a group of other young men, who, like himself, were of serious and
thoughtful mind, and who had desire toward the welfare of the people.
These young men became his disciples, and to them he taught the
mysteries which had been imparted to him by the animals of the lodge
at Pahuk. These wise men in turn taught other worthy inquirers, and
these again others; and so these mysteries and learning and the
healing arts have come down from that long-ago time to the present
among the Pawnee people.
THE LODGE OF THE BLACK-TAIL DEER WHICH TALKED WITH ITS CAPTOR
North Dakota has a number of places to which attach interesting
legends and myths. One such place is a butte not far from Schmitt on
the south side of the Missouri River on the road between Mandan and
Cannon Ball. It is west of Eagle-beak Butte.
The story of this butte is a Mandan myth. A long time ago the Mandans
lived in a village which was on a level place just north of the Bad
Water Creek, which white people call Little Heart River. At the west
of this place there is a range of high hills. The Mandans lived at the
Bad Water Village in the time long before white men had come across
the great water, so there were no horses in the country. The people
had no animals except dogs to help them carry their burdens. And of
course they had never heard of the thunder-irons (guns) which strike
and kill the deer and other game at long distance. So it was hard work
to obtain their supplies of meat and to carry the same home to their
houses.
A man who lived in the Bad Water village had dug a deer pit in a place
among the hills west of the village and cunningly covered it over to
appear not different from the ground about it. By this means he hoped
to capture a deer whose flesh would be food for his family, and whose
skin would be useful for making clothing; whose sinew would be used
for thread, some of its bones to be used for making awls and needles,
others for other useful implements and tools. Its horns would be used
to make garden rakes for working the ground of his family's garden.
One morning in autumn there had been a snowfall during the preceding
night, the first snowfall of the season. The man went out early in the
morning into the hills to look at his trap to see if it might have
caught something during the night. As he approached the place he saw
that the cover was broken through, and when he came near and looked in
he was rejoiced to see that he had captured a fine large black-tail
deer.
Now when he came to the edge of the pit and looked down at his prize
the deer looked up at him and spoke to him, saying, "O, man, do not
kill me, but let me go free from the pit. If you release me you will
do well." The man was surprised to hear the deer speak to him like a
man, and he was disappointed to think of losing his prize. But he
thought to himself, "This is something mysterious, I must give heed; I
must not defy the Mysterious Power, but listen to the message; for it
must be that some Mysterious Power wishes to impart something to me
through this animal as its messenger." So as he thus hesitated in
doubt the deer again made its plea and requested to be set free. But
the man spoke of his duty to his family, who looked to him for food
and for clothing. Again the deer spoke and said, "Indeed you do well
to think of your family, and your endeavor to provide for them as well
as you can is prompted both by your love and duty. But I say to you
that you would do well if you allow me to go. If you do so, I promise
you that you will have success in hunting; you shall find game
abundant for the needs of yourself and family. And when war comes upon
your people you shall be victorious over the enemy. So shall you be
remembered among your people for bravery."
The man gave heed to what the deer said to him, and he dared not
disobey the message which had come to him in this mysterious way. So
now he began to dig down the side of the pit so that the deer could
come out. When he had finished he said to the deer, "Now you may go."
Then the deer came up the incline from the pit and ran down across the
Bad Water Creek away toward the Eagle Beak Hill. As he ran the new
fallen snow flew behind him from his hoofs in a white cloud, and he
sang a song:
"I was glad when I saw the first snow,
But I almost lost the sight of day."
The man watched the deer as it ran and observed that when it
approached a conical butte west of Eagle-beak Butte that the butte
opened with a loud roaring sound and the deer entered and he saw it no
more, and then the butte closed again as before.
The man went home pondering these things in his mind. As time passed
events came true as they had been promised to him in the message
spoken to him by the deer. He became renowned among his people for his
skill and success in the chase, for his generosity to the old people
and to the sick and poor, and he attained many honors for his deeds of
valour in warfare against the enemies of his people.
Ever since that time the Mandans have called the butte into which the
deer disappeared after its release from the pit, The Lodge of the
Black-tail Deer.
THE WONDERFUL BASKET
_A Mandan Story_
Indians of all tribes held the thought of the brotherhood of all
living nature, of the trees and flowers and grasses, of the fishes in
the waters, of the living things which creep or walk or run on the
land and of the birds which fly above the earth, and of human beings.
And they believed that human beings often gained wisdom and useful
information through dreams and visions in which the guardian spirits
of any of these other living creatures talked to them, revealing to
chosen, attentive and worthy persons, secrets of nature which were
hidden from the careless and unworthy.
Among most tribes the cedar tree is considered to possess a property
of mystery and sacredness. For this reason twigs of cedar were often
burned as incense in a sacred fire for the purpose of driving away
evil influences. And if a person reclined under the shelter of cedar
trees the healing power and strength of their spirit would come to him
and his own spirit would thus gain composure and strength to meet
life's troubles.
Once in the old times a woman was resting under a cedar tree. She was
weary from her work, and as the gentle wind sighed among the thick
green branches above her she dropped to sleep. While she slept the
cedar tree spoke to her in a soft murmuring voice, and the woman gave
heed to the words of the cedar tree.
And this is what the cedar tree said to the woman: "Sister, if you
will dig down into the earth you will find there my slender, strong,
pliant roots. Take up some of these and weave them into a basket. You
shall find thereafter that some good shall come of it. It shall bring
good to you and to all women."
So the woman did as she was told by the cedar tree. She took up the
slender roots and wove of them a basket. The basket was light but
strong, and so pliant that it could be rolled into a small bundle when
empty, though it was large enough to hold many things when it was
opened out.
One day the woman took the basket with her and walked far out upon the
prairie where tipsin grew in abundance. She dug a quantity of the
sweet and wholesome roots to take home for food for herself and her
family. The tipsin roots grow so deep in the tough prairie sod that it
is hard work to dig them, so when she had filled her basket she was
very tired. She sat down to rest and sighed for very weariness, and
the tears came to her eyes. She said, "Alas! now I must carry home
this heavy load although I am already weary and faint."
Then the basket whispered to her "Do not cry. Wipe away your tears;
bathe your hot cheeks with water at the brook; be glad, for I am your
friend."
Then the woman wiped away her tears and went and bathed her cheeks and
brushed her hair. When she returned the basket seemed to smile. It
said to her "You were troubled for nothing. You forget what the cedar
tree said to you in your dreams. You were told that good would come to
you if you made a basket as you were instructed. Now you need not
carry your load; but sing and be glad and walk on to the village. I
shall come with you, carrying your load."
So the woman went on her way home, singing from happiness, while the
basket kept by her side carrying the load of tipsin roots.
As she came near the village the women knew by her happy singing voice
that some good thing had happened to her. Then as they looked up they
saw her coming, and with her was coming the wonderful basket carrying
the load.
Then all her neighbors begged her to teach them how to make a
wonderful basket. So she taught them as she had been taught by the
holy cedar tree how to make a wonderful basket out of its tiny roots.
And so, from that time, whenever a woman went out to gather June
berries or wild cherries, or raspberries, or wild plums or pembinas or
tipsin, or wild rice; or to their cultivated fields to gather corn or
beans, she was not obliged to carry the load home. When she was ready
she started towards the village singing, and the basket came with her
cheerfully carrying the burden.
One day, long after this, a woman had found the winter store-house of
the hintunka people, which they make under-ground, and into which they
garner their store of food for the winter time. The hard-working
hintunka people put away in their store-houses quantities of wild
ground beans, various kinds of seeds and roots and tubers to provide
themselves food for the cold time when the ground is frozen and the
earth is covered with snow.
It happened that the woman who found this store-house of the hintunka
people was one who was not considerate of the rights of other people.
She thought only that here was a quantity of food which was desirable
and easy to obtain. So she filled her basket with the wild ground
beans which are so delicious when cooked with bits of meat. She cared
not that it had cost the hintunka people many weary hours of hard work
to dig these beans and bring them together in this place, nor did she
care that without them the hintunka people, their old people and their
little ones, all would be left destitute of food and must perish from
famine.
While she was filling her basket a poor little hintunka woman cried
pitifully and said, "This is our food. We have worked hard for it. You
ought not to rob us of it. Without it we shall die miserably of
hunger." But the woman took the beans and heeded not the pitiful
crying of the hintunka woman. She had filled her basket, and was
making ready to go home but there was no song in her heart.
Then, while the filled basket sat there waiting a coyote standing near
by, laughed. At this the basket was vexed, and said, "You are rude.
Why do you laugh at me?" But the coyote only laughed all the more.
This annoyed the basket greatly, and made it feel very uneasy and
distressed, for it knew something must be wrong. And it said to the
coyote, "Do tell me why you laugh. What is it which is strange?"
Then the coyote replied, "I laugh because you are so foolish. For a
long time you have been carrying burdens to the village while the
women go their way singing."
But the basket said, "I am not foolish, I have the good spirit of the
cedar tree. I am willing to carry burdens to help the women. I am glad
when I hear their joyful singing." The coyote said, "But what do you
get for it, friend? You work like a slave. You receive nothing for it.
No one offers you a mouthful of food. When you rest for a time from
your labor you are not covered with a robe made beautiful with
quill-work. When you have carried burdens for a woman she merely hangs
you upon a peg on the wall till the next time she wishes you to carry
something for her."
As the basket considered the things which the coyote said it began to
be discontented. It felt that it had been treated unfairly; that it
had no pay nor thanks for all it had done, and so the basket was
sulky, and refused to carry the load to the village, and the woman at
last had to take up the burden and carry it upon her back; and she
felt aggrieved and bitter because the basket would not carry it for
her. She did not consider that all the service she had ever had from
the basket was from kindness and good will and not from obligation.
And ever since that time the women have had to carry burdens upon
their backs, for the baskets no longer carried burdens for them.
CAUSE OF THE BREAKING UP OF THE ICE IN THE MISSOURI RIVER IN
SPRINGTIME
_A Myth of the Dakota Nation_
It is said that in the long ago there was a mysterious being within
the stream of the Missouri River. It was seldom seen by human beings,
and was most dreadful to see. It is said that sometimes it was seen
within the water in the middle of the stream, causing a redness
shining like the redness of fire as it passed up the stream against
the current with a terrific roaring sound.
And they say that if this dreadful being was seen by anyone in the
daytime anyone who thus saw it soon after became crazy and continued
restless and writhing as though in pain until he was relieved by
death. And it is said that one time not a very great many years ago
this frightful being was seen by a man, and he told how it appeared.
He said that it was of strange form and covered all over with hair
like a buffalo, but red in color; that it had only one eye in the
middle of its forehead, and above that a single horn. Its backbone
stood out notched and jagged like an enormous saw. As soon as the man
beheld the awful sight everything became dark to him, he said. He was
just able to reach home, but he lost his reason and soon after that he
died.
It is said this mysterious "Miniwashitu" (water monster) still lives
in the Missouri River, and that in springtime, as it moves up-stream
against the current it breaks up the ice of the river. This water
monster was held in awe and dread by the people.
THE WATER-SPRING OF THE HOLY MAN
_A Myth of the Dakota Nation_
Long ago there was a village of people of the Dakota Nation, which was
situated on the east side of the great river which they call the
Muddy-Water River, but which white people call the Missouri River. The
white people named it so from the Missouri nation of Indians on the
lower course of this great river.
This village we have just mentioned was on the east side of the river
nearly opposite to the mouth of the Cannonball River. The people were
happy in this village, for it was a pleasant place. There was plenty
of wood for their fires, and there was an abundance of buffalo
berries, wild plums, choke-cherries, June berries, wild grapes, wild
raspberries and other fruit growing in the woods. Upon the high
prairie there was much tipsin, whose roots are so good when cooked
with meat or with dried green corn. Moreover, in the timber were many
boxelder trees, whose sap was made into sugar in early spring time.
Not far away were some lakes where there were many wild ducks and
geese and other water fowl. The flesh of these fowl, and also their
eggs were good food. Upon the prairie were herds of buffalo and
antelope and elk, and in the timber along the river were many deer.
And below the hills, on the level ground of the river valley there was
fertile soil where they planted their fields of corn and beans and
squashes. They also cultivated the great sunflowers whose seeds are so
good for food.
And the people loved this place, for besides all the good things to
eat, and other comforts which it gave them, it was also pleasant to
look upon. There was the mysterious river coming down from the distant
mountains away in the west and flowing on towards the lands of other
nations of people in the south, and whose channel could be seen
winding its gleaming way among the dark trees on its shores. Upon the
prairie hills in early spring the courageous little pasque flowers
appeared like a gray-blue cloud let down upon the hill-tops where they
nodded their cheery greetings to the people who passed them. A little
later in the little vales were masses of deep blue violets. Still
later the prairie was bright with the colour and the air was sweet
with the breath of the wild rose of the prairie. The cheery
meadowlark, which the people call the bird of promise, flitted here
and there and called his greetings and promised good things to his
friends, the Dakota people.
And through the procession of the seasons there were spread out before
their eyes on all sides scenes of beauty, changing with the change of
seasons and changing every day, indeed the beauties of colour and
light and shade were changing at every stage of the day from the rosy
dawn till the blue shades of evening came.
Yes, it was a delightful land and the people rejoiced in it. But a
strange thing happened which caused the people to move away to a far
distant place. And this is the way it happened:
There was living in this village an old man, a wise man, a man who was
held in great respect by the people, for he was a holy man, to whom
the Unseen Powers granted knowledge not given to all the people. And
these revelations came to the holy man in visions.
This holy man was now too old and feeble to till the soil and raise
crops of food plants, or to go on the chase for game, or to gather any
of the wild food plants. But because they held him in honor the young
men were glad to provide for him, and the women cooked for him of the
best they had.
But one time he had a vision which made him very sad, so that he could
only cry and weep and could not speak of his vision for sadness of
heart. And the people besought him to tell them his vision, for, they
said, "if it is a vision of evil to come, we may as well know the
worst. We ought to be prepared for it." For a long time the old man
could not bring himself to tell them the evil foreboding which had
come to him. But at last, when they continued strongly urging him to
tell them what it was, he said: "Well, my children, I will tell you
the vision, for it may be that I shall not live long. This vision has
come to me from the Mysterious and Awful Powers, and it is full of
evil portent for our people." But now he was again so overcome by
sadness that he was unable to tell it.
Again, after some days the people begged him to tell the vision, and
they pressed him so urgently that finally he said: "This is what I saw
in my vision, which has come to me repeatedly. I saw a great incursion
of human beings of strange appearance. They are coming from the
direction of the rising sun and are moving toward this land in
multitudes so great that they cannot be counted. They move everywhere
over the face of the land like the restless fluctuations of heated air
which are sometimes seen incessantly wavering over the heated prairie
on a summer day. They are moving on resistlessly toward us and nothing
can stop them, and they will take our land from us. They are a
terrible people and of a monstrous appearance. The skin of this
people is not of a wholesome color like the skin of our people who are
born of our holy mother earth. Their skin is hideous and ghastly, and
the men have hairy faces like the face of a wolf. They are not kind
like our people; they are savages, cruel and unfeeling. They have no
reverence for our holy places, nor for our holy mother earth. And they
kill and destroy all things and make the land desolate. They have no
ear for the voices of the trees and the flowers, and no pity for the
birds and the beasts of the field. And they deface and spoil the
beauty of the land and befoul the water courses.
"And they have many dreadful customs. When a person dies the body is
not honorably laid upon a funeral scaffold on the prairie or in the
branches of a tree in the forest as we do, but they dig a hole in the
ground and put the body down into the hole and then fill the hole up
again, throwing the dirt down upon the body. And they have strange and
powerful weapons, so that when they come our people will not be able
to withstand them. It is this dreadful vision which has overcome me
with sadness."
Then the people were amazed and angry. They tried to have him change
his vision, but he could not. Again the same vision came to him. The
leading men now counseled and gave the order that the people should
give him no more food for some days. They said, "Perhaps he will have
a different vision." So he was left alone in his tent for four days.
And on the fourth day when they came to his tent they found him dead.
They had not intended to cause his death, but they hoped that if they
let him become very hungry he would change his vision.