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diff --git a/25907-8.txt b/25907-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..64259c2 --- /dev/null +++ b/25907-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3397 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Indian Child Life, by Charles A. Eastman + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Indian Child Life + +Author: Charles A. Eastman + +Illustrator: George Varian + +Release Date: June 27, 2008 [EBook #25907] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INDIAN CHILD LIFE *** + + + + +Produced by K Nordquist and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + +[Illustration: Snana called loudly to her companion turnip-diggers. +Frontispiece. _See page_ 123.] + + + +INDIAN CHILD LIFE + + + +By + +CHARLES A. EASTMAN + +(_Ohiyesa_) + + + +ILLUSTRATED BY + +GEORGE VARIAN + + + +BOSTON +LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY +1915 + +_Copyright, 1913_, +BY LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. + +_All rights reserved_ + +Printers +S. J. PARKHILL & CO., BOSTON, U.S.A. + + + + +Transcriber's Note: In the name "Hak[=a]dah" the [=a] represents an +"a" with a macron above it. + + + + +A LETTER TO THE CHILDREN + + +DEAR CHILDREN:--You will like to know that the man who wrote these true +stories is himself one of the people he describes so pleasantly and so +lovingly for you. He hopes that when you have finished this book, the +Indians will seem to you very real and very friendly. He is not willing +that all your knowledge of the race that formerly possessed this +continent should come from the lips of strangers and enemies, or that +you should think of them as blood-thirsty and treacherous, as savage +and unclean. + +War, you know, is always cruel, and it is true that there were stern +fighting men among the Indians, as well as among your own forefathers. +But there were also men of peace, men generous and kindly and +religious. There were tender mothers, and happy little ones, and a home +life that was pure and true. There were high ideals of loyalty and +honor. It will do you good and make you happier to read of these +things. + +Perhaps you wonder how a "real, live Indian" could write a book. I will +tell you how. The story of this man's life is itself as wonderful as a +fairy tale. Born in a wigwam, as he has told you, and early left +motherless, he was brought up, like the little Hiawatha, by a good +grandmother. When he was four years old, war broke out between his +people and the United States government. The Indians were defeated and +many of them were killed. Some fled northward into Canada and took +refuge under the British flag, among them the writer of this book, with +his grandmother and an uncle. His father was captured by the whites. + +After ten years of that wild life, now everywhere at an end, of which +he has given you a true picture in his books, his father, whom the good +President Lincoln had pardoned and released from the military prison, +made the long and dangerous journey to Canada to find and bring back +his youngest son. The Sioux were beginning to learn that the old life +must go, and that, if they were to survive at all, they must follow +"the white man's road," long and hard as it looked to a free people. +They were beginning to plow and sow and send their children to school. + +Ohiyesa, the Winner, as the boy was called, came home with his father +to what was then Dakota Territory, to a little settlement of Sioux +homesteaders. Everything about the new life was strange to him, and at +first he did not like it at all. He had thoughts of running away and +making his way back to Canada. But his father, Many Lightnings, who had +been baptized a Christian under the name of Jacob Eastman, told him +that he, too, must take a new name, and he chose that of Charles +Alexander Eastman. He was told to cut off his long hair and put on +citizen's clothing. Then his father made him choose between going to +school and working at the plow. + +Ohiyesa tried plowing for half a day. It was hard work to break the +tough prairie sod with his father's oxen and the strange implement they +gave him. He decided to try school. Rather to his surprise, he liked +it, and he kept on. His teachers were pleased with his progress, and +soon better opportunities opened to him. He was sent farther east to a +better school, where he continued to do well, and soon went higher. In +the long summer vacations he worked, on farms, in shops and offices; +and in winter he studied and played football and all the other games +you play, until after about fifteen or sixteen years he found himself +with the diplomas of a famous college and a great university, a +Bachelor of Science, a Doctor of Medicine, and a doubly educated +man--educated in the lore of the wilderness as well as in some of the +deepest secrets of civilization. + +Since that day, a good many more years have passed. Ohiyesa, known as +Doctor Charles A. Eastman, has now a home and six children of his own +among the New England hills. He has hundreds of devoted friends of both +races. He is the author of five books which have been widely read, some +of them in England, France and Germany as well as in America, and he +speaks face to face to thousands of people every year. Perhaps some of +you have heard from his own lips his recollections of wild life. You +may find all the stories in this book, and many more of the same sort, +in the books called "Indian Boyhood," and "Old Indian Days," published +by Doubleday, Page and Company, of Garden City, L.I., who have kindly +consented to the publication of this little volume in order that the +children in our schools might read stories of real Indians by a real +Indian. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +PART ONE + +MY INDIAN CHILDHOOD + +CHAPTER PAGE + + I. "THE PITIFUL LAST" 1 + + II. EARLY HARDSHIPS 9 + +III. AN INDIAN SUGAR CAMP 19 + + IV. GAMES AND SPORTS 26 + + V. AN INDIAN BOY'S TRAINING 37 + + VI. THE BOY HUNTER 48 + +VII. EVENING IN THE LODGE 58 + + +PART TWO + +STORIES OF REAL INDIANS + + I. WINONA'S CHILDHOOD 75 + + II. WINONA'S GIRLHOOD 83 + +III. A MIDSUMMER FEAST 93 + + IV. THE FAITHFULNESS OF LONG EARS 103 + + V. SNANA'S FAWN 118 + + VI. HAKADAH'S FIRST OFFERING 131 + +VII. THE GRAVE OF THE DOG 145 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +Snana called loudly to her companion turnip-diggers _Frontispiece_ + +So he bravely jumped upon the nest PAGE 32 + +"Oh, what nice claws he has, uncle!" I exclaimed eagerly 69 + +He began to sing a dirge for him 140 + + + + +PART ONE + +MY INDIAN CHILDHOOD + + + + +I + +"THE PITIFUL LAST" + + +What boy would not be an Indian for a while when he thinks of the +freest life in the world? This life was mine. Every day there was a +real hunt. There was real game. + +No people have a better use of their five senses than the children of +the wilderness. We could smell as well as hear and see. We could feel +and taste as well as we could see and hear. Nowhere has the memory been +more fully developed than in the wild life, and I can still see wherein +I owe much to my early training. + +Of course I myself do not remember when I first saw the day, but my +brothers have often recalled the event with much mirth; for it was a +custom of the Sioux that when a boy was born his brother must plunge +into the water, or roll in the snow naked if it was winter time; and if +he was not big enough to do either of these himself, water was thrown +on him. If the new-born had a sister, she must be immersed. The idea +was that a warrior had come to camp, and the other children must +display some act of hardihood. + +I was so unfortunate as to be the youngest of five children who, soon +after I was born, were left motherless. I had to bear the humiliating +name "Hak[=a]dah," meaning "the pitiful last," until I should earn a +more dignified and appropriate name. I was regarded as little more than +a plaything by the rest of the children. + +The babe was done up as usual in a movable cradle made from an oak +board two and a half feet long and one and a half feet wide. On one +side of it was nailed with brass-headed tacks the richly embroidered +sack, which was open in front and laced up and down with buckskin +strings. Over the arms of the infant was a wooden bow, the ends of +which were firmly attached to the board, so that if the cradle should +fall the child's head and face would be protected. On this bow were +hung curious playthings--strings of artistically carved bones and hoofs +of deer, which rattled when the little hands moved them. + +In this upright cradle I lived, played, and slept the greater part of +the time during the first few months of my life. Whether I was made to +lean against a lodge pole or was suspended from a bough of a tree, +while my grandmother cut wood, or whether I was carried on her back, or +conveniently balanced by another child in a similar cradle hung on the +opposite side of a pony, I was still in my oaken bed. + +This grandmother, who had already lived through sixty years of +hardships, was a wonder to the young maidens of the tribe. She showed +no less enthusiasm over Hakadah than she had done when she held her +first-born, the boy's father, in her arms. Every little attention that +is due to a loved child she performed with much skill and devotion. She +made all my scanty garments and my tiny moccasins with a great deal of +taste. It was said by all that I could not have had more attention had +my mother been living. + +Uncheedah (grandmother) was a great singer. Sometimes, when Hakadah +wakened too early in the morning, she would sing to him something like +the following lullaby: + + Sleep, sleep, my boy, the Chippewas + Are far away--are far away. + Sleep, sleep, my boy; prepare to meet + The foe by day--the foe by day! + The cowards will not dare to fight + Till morning break--till morning break. + Sleep, sleep, my child, while still 'tis night; + Then bravely wake--then bravely wake! + +The Dakota women were wont to cut and bring their fuel from the woods +and, in fact, to perform most of the drudgery of the camp. This of +necessity fell to their lot because the men must follow the game during +the day. Very often my grandmother carried me with her on these +excursions; and while she worked it was her habit to suspend me from a +wild grape vine or a springy bough, so that the least breeze would +swing the cradle to and fro. + +She has told me that when I had grown old enough to take notice, I was +apparently capable of holding extended conversations in an unknown +dialect with birds and red squirrels. Once I fell asleep in my cradle, +suspended five or six feet from the ground, while Uncheedah was some +distance away, gathering birch bark for a canoe. A squirrel had found +it convenient to come upon the bow of my cradle and nibble his hickory +nut, until he awoke me by dropping the crumbs of his meal. It was a +common thing for birds to alight on my cradle in the woods. + +After I left my cradle, I almost walked away from it, she told me. She +then began calling my attention to natural objects. Whenever I heard +the song of a bird, she would tell me what bird it came from, something +after this fashion: + +"Hakadah, listen to Shechoka (the robin) calling his mate. He says he +has just found something good to eat." Or "Listen to Oopehanska (the +thrush); he is singing for his little wife. He will sing his best." +When in the evening the whippoorwill started his song with vim, no +further than a stone's throw from our tent in the woods, she would say +to me: + +"Hush! It may be an Ojibway scout!" + +Again, when I waked at midnight, she would say: + +"Do not cry! Hinakaga (the owl) is watching you from the tree-top." + +I usually covered up my head, for I had perfect faith in my +grandmother's admonitions, and she had given me a dreadful idea of this +bird. It was one of her legends that a little boy was once standing +just outside of the teepee (tent), crying vigorously for his mother, +when Hinakaga swooped down in the darkness and carried the poor little +fellow up into the trees. It was well known that the hoot of the owl +was commonly imitated by Indian scouts when on the war-path. There had +been dreadful massacres immediately following this call. Therefore it +was deemed wise to impress the sound early upon the mind of the child. + +Indian children were trained so that they hardly ever cried much in the +night. This was very expedient and necessary in their exposed life. In +my infancy it was my grandmother's custom to put me to sleep, as she +said, with the birds, and to waken me with them, until it became a +habit. She did this with an object in view. An Indian must always rise +early. In the first place, as a hunter, he finds his game best at +daybreak. Secondly, other tribes, when on the war-path, usually make +their attack very early in the morning. Even when our people are moving +about leisurely, we like to rise before daybreak, in order to travel +when the air is cool, and unobserved, perchance, by our enemies. + +As a little child, it was instilled into me to be silent and reticent. +This was one of the most important traits to form in the character of +the Indian. As a hunter and warrior it was considered absolutely +necessary to him, and was thought to lay the foundations of patience +and self-control. + + + + +II + +EARLY HARDSHIPS + + +One of the earliest recollections of my adventurous childhood is the +ride I had on a pony's side. I was passive in the whole matter. A +little girl cousin of mine was put in a bag and suspended from the horn +of an Indian saddle; but her weight must be balanced or the saddle +would not remain on the animal's back. Accordingly, I was put into +another sack and made to keep the saddle and the girl in position! I +did not object, for I had a very pleasant game of peek-a-boo with the +little girl, until we came to a big snow-drift, where the poor beast +was stuck fast and began to lie down. Then it was not so nice! + +This was the convenient and primitive way in which some mothers packed +their children for winter journeys. However cold the weather might be, +the inmate of the fur-lined sack was usually very comfortable--at least +I used to think so. I believe I was accustomed to all the precarious +Indian conveyances, and, as a boy, I enjoyed the dog-travaux ride as +much as any. The travaux consisted of a set of rawhide strips securely +lashed to the tent-poles, which were harnessed to the sides of the +animal as if he stood between shafts, while the free ends were allowed +to drag on the ground. Both ponies and large dogs were used as beasts +of burden, and they carried in this way the smaller children as well as +the baggage. + +This mode of travelling for children was possible only in the summer, +and as the dogs were sometimes unreliable, the little ones were exposed +to a certain amount of danger. For instance, whenever a train of dogs +had been travelling for a long time, almost perishing with the heat and +their heavy loads, a glimpse of water would cause them to forget all +their responsibilities. Some of them, in spite of the screams of the +women, would swim with their burdens into the cooling stream, and I was +thus, on more than one occasion, made to partake of an unwilling bath. + +I was a little over four years old at the time of the "Sioux massacre" +in Minnesota. In the general turmoil, we took flight into British +Columbia, and the journey is still vividly remembered by all our +family. A yoke of oxen and a lumber-wagon were taken from some white +farmer and brought home for our conveyance. + +How delighted I was when I learned that we were to ride behind those +wise-looking animals and in that gorgeously painted wagon! It seemed +almost like a living creature to me, this new vehicle with four legs, +and the more so when we got out of axle-grease and the wheels went +along squealing like pigs! + +The boys found a great deal of innocent fun in jumping from the high +wagon while the oxen were leisurely moving along. My elder brothers +soon became experts. At last, I mustered up courage enough to join them +in this sport. I was sure they stepped on the wheel, so I cautiously +placed my moccasined foot upon it. Alas, before I could realize what +had happened, I was under the wheels, and had it not been for the +neighbor immediately behind us, I might have been run over by the next +team as well. + +This was my first experience with a civilized vehicle. I cried out all +possible reproaches on the white man's team and concluded that a +dog-travaux was good enough for me. I was really rejoiced that we were +moving away from the people who made the wagon that had almost ended my +life, and it did not occur to me that I alone was to blame. I could not +be persuaded to ride in that wagon again and was glad when we finally +left it beside the Missouri river. + +The summer after the "Minnesota massacre," General Sibley pursued our +people across this river. Now the Missouri is considered one of the +most treacherous rivers in the world. Even a good modern boat is not +safe upon its uncertain current. We were forced to cross in +buffalo-skin boats--as round as tubs! + +The Washechu (white men) were coming in great numbers with their big +guns, and while most of our men were fighting them to gain time, the +women and the old men made and equipped the temporary boats, braced +with ribs of willow. Some of these were towed by two or three women or +men swimming in the water and some by ponies. It was not an easy matter +to keep them right side up, with their helpless freight of little +children and such goods as we possessed. + +In our flight, we little folks were strapped in the saddles or held in +front of an older person, and in the long night marches to get away +from the soldiers, we suffered from loss of sleep and insufficient +food. Our meals were eaten hastily, and sometimes in the saddle. Water +was not always to be found. The people carried it with them in bags +formed of tripe or the dried pericardium of animals. + +Now we were compelled to trespass upon the country of hostile tribes +and were harassed by them almost daily and nightly. Only the strictest +vigilance saved us. + +One day we met with another enemy near the British lines. It was a +prairie fire. We were surrounded. Another fire was quickly made, which +saved our lives. + +One of the most thrilling experiences of the following winter was a +blizzard, which overtook us in our wanderings. Here and there, a family +lay down in the snow, selecting a place where it was not likely to +drift much. For a day and a night we lay under the snow. Uncle stuck a +long pole beside us to tell us when the storm was over. We had plenty +of buffalo robes and the snow kept us warm, but we found it heavy. +After a time, it became packed and hollowed out around our bodies, so +that we were as comfortable as one can be under those circumstances. + +The next day the storm ceased, and we discovered a large herd of +buffaloes almost upon us. We dug our way out, shot some of the +buffaloes, made a fire and enjoyed a good dinner. + +I was now an exile as well as motherless; yet I was not unhappy. Our +wanderings from place to place afforded us many pleasant experiences +and quite as many hardships and misfortunes. There were times of plenty +and times of scarcity, and we had several narrow escapes from death. In +savage life, the early spring is the most trying time and almost all +the famines occurred at this period of the year. + +The Indians are a patient and a clannish people; their love for one +another is stronger than that of any civilized people I know. If this +were not so, I believe there would have been tribes of cannibals among +them. White people have been known to kill and eat their companions in +preference to starving; but Indians--never! + +In times of famine, the adults often denied themselves in order to make +the food last as long as possible for the children, who were not able +to bear hunger as well as the old. As a people, they can live without +food much longer than any other nation. + +I once passed through one of these hard springs when we had nothing to +eat for several days. I well remember the six small birds which +constituted the breakfast for six families one morning; and then we had +no dinner or supper to follow! What a relief that was to me--although I +had only a small wing of a small bird for my share! Soon after this, we +came into a region where buffaloes were plenty, and hunger and scarcity +were forgotten. + +Such was the Indians' wild life! When game was to be had and the sun +shone, they easily forgot the bitter experiences of the winter before. +Little preparation was made for the future. They are children of +Nature, and occasionally she whips them with the lashes of experience, +yet they are forgetful and careless. Much of their suffering might have +been prevented by a little calculation. + +During the summer, when Nature is at her best, and provides abundantly +for the savage, it seems to me that no life is happier than his! Food +is free--lodging free--everything free! All were alike rich in the +summer, and, again, all were alike poor in the winter and early spring. +However, their diseases were fewer and not so destructive as now, and +the Indian's health was generally good. The Indian boy enjoyed such a +life as almost all boys dream of and would choose for themselves if +they were permitted to do so. + +The raids made upon our people by other tribes were frequent, and we +had to be constantly on the watch. I remember at one time a night +attack was made upon our camp and all our ponies stampeded. Only a few +of them were recovered, and our journeys after this misfortune were +effected mostly by means of the dog-travaux. + +The second winter after the massacre, my father and my two older +brothers, with several others, were betrayed by a half-breed at +Winnipeg to the United States authorities. As I was then living with my +uncle in another part of the country, I became separated from them for +ten years. During all this time we believed that they had been killed +by the whites, and I was taught that I must avenge their deaths as soon +as I was able to go upon the war-path. + + + + +III + +AN INDIAN SUGAR CAMP + + +With the first March thaw the thoughts of the Indian women of my +childhood days turned promptly to the annual sugar-making. This +industry was chiefly followed by the old men and women and the +children. The rest of the tribe went out upon the spring fur-hunt at +this season, leaving us at home to make the sugar. + +The first and most important of the necessary utensils were the huge +iron and brass kettles for boiling. Everything else could be made, but +these must be bought, begged or borrowed. A maple tree was felled and a +log canoe hollowed out, into which the sap was to be gathered. Little +troughs of basswood and birchen basins were also made to receive the +sweet drops as they trickled from the tree. + +As soon as these labors were accomplished, we all proceeded to the bark +sugar house, which stood in the midst of a fine grove of maples on the +bank of the Minnesota river. We found this hut partially filled with +the snows of winter and the withered leaves of the preceding autumn, +and it must be cleared for our use. In the meantime a tent was pitched +outside for a few days' occupancy. The snow was still deep in the +woods, with a solid crust upon which we could easily walk; for we +usually moved to the sugar house before the sap had actually started, +the better to complete our preparations. + +My grandmother did not confine herself to canoe-making. She also +collected a good supply of fuel for the fires, for she would not have +much time to gather wood when the sap began to flow. Presently the +weather moderated and the snow began to melt. The month of April +brought showers which carried most of it off into the Minnesota river. +Now the women began to test the trees--moving leisurely among them, axe +in hand, and striking a single quick blow, to see if the sap would +appear. Trees, like people, have their individual characters; some were +ready to yield up their life-blood, while others were more reluctant. +Now one of the birchen basins was set under each tree, and a hardwood +chip driven deep into the cut which the axe had made. From the corners +of this chip--at first drop by drop, then, more freely--the sap +trickled into the little dishes. + +It is usual to make sugar from maples, but several other trees were +also tapped by the Indians. From the birch and ash was made a +dark-colored sugar, with a somewhat bitter taste, which was used for +medicinal purposes. The box-elder yielded a beautiful white sugar, +whose only fault was that there was never enough of it! + +A long fire was now made in the sugar house, and a row of brass kettles +suspended over the blaze. The sap was collected by the women in tin or +birchen buckets and poured into the canoes, from which the kettles were +kept filled. The hearts of the boys beat high with pleasant +anticipations when they heard the welcome hissing sound of the boiling +sap! Each boy claimed one kettle for his especial charge. It was his +duty to see that the fire was kept under it, to watch lest it boil +over, and finally, when the sap became sirup, to test it upon the snow, +dipping it out with a wooden paddle. So frequent were these tests that +for the first day or two we consumed nearly all that could be made; and +it was not until the sweetness began to pall that my grandmother set +herself in earnest to store up sugar for future use. She made it into +cakes of various forms, in birchen molds, and sometimes in hollow canes +or reeds, and the bills of ducks and geese. Some of it was pulverized +and packed in rawhide cases. Being a prudent woman, she did not give it +to us after the first month or so, except upon special occasions, and +it was thus made to last almost the year around. The smaller candies +were reserved as an occasional treat for the little fellows, and the +sugar was eaten at feasts with wild rice or parched corn, and also with +pounded dried meat. Coffee and tea, with their substitutes, were all +unknown to us in those days. + +Every pursuit has its trials and anxieties. My grandmother's special +tribulations, during the sugaring season, were the upsetting and +gnawing of holes in her birch-bark pans. The transgressors were the +rabbit and squirrel tribes, and we little boys for once became useful, +in shooting them with our bows and arrows. We hunted all over the sugar +camp, until the little creatures were fairly driven out of the +neighborhood. Occasionally one of my older brothers brought home a +rabbit or two, and then we had a feast. + +I remember on this occasion of our last sugar bush in Minnesota, that I +stood one day outside of our hut and watched the approach of a +visitor--a bent old man, his hair almost white, and carrying on his +back a large bundle of red willow, or kinnikinick, which the Indians +use for smoking. He threw down his load at the door and thus saluted +us: "You have indeed perfect weather for sugar-making." + +It was my great-grandfather, Cloud Man, whose original village was on +the shores of Lakes Calhoun and Harriet, now in the suburbs of the city +of Minneapolis. He was the first Sioux chief to welcome the Protestant +missionaries among his people, and a well-known character in those +pioneer days. He brought us word that some of the peaceful sugar-makers +near us on the river had been attacked and murdered by roving Ojibways. +This news disturbed us not a little, for we realized that we too might +become the victims of an Ojibway war party. Therefore we all felt some +uneasiness from this time until we returned heavy laden to our village. + + + + +IV + +GAMES AND SPORTS + + +The Indian boy was a prince of the wilderness. He had but very little +work to do during the period of his boyhood. His principal occupation +was the practice of a few simple arts in warfare and the chase. Aside +from this, he was master of his time. + +It is true that our savage life was a precarious one, and full of +dreadful catastrophes; however, this never prevented us from enjoying +our sports to the fullest extent. As we left our teepees in the +morning, we were never sure that our scalps would not dangle from a +pole in the afternoon! It was an uncertain life, to be sure. Yet we +observed that the fawns skipped and played happily while the gray +wolves might be peeping forth from behind the hills, ready to tear them +limb from limb. + +Our sports were molded by the life and customs of our people; indeed, +we practiced only what we expected to do when grown. Our games were +feats with the bow and arrow, foot and pony races, wrestling, swimming +and imitation of the customs and habits of our fathers. We had sham +fights with mud balls and willow wands; we played lacrosse, made war +upon bees, shot winter arrows (which were used only in that season), +and coasted upon the ribs of animals and buffalo robes. + +No sooner did the boys get together than, as a usual thing, they +divided into squads and chose sides; then a leading arrow was shot at +random into the air. Before it fell to the ground a volley from the +bows of the participants followed. Each player was quick to note the +direction and speed of the leading arrow and he tried to send his own +at the same speed and at an equal height, so that when it fell it would +be closer to the first than any of the others. + +It was considered out of place to shoot by first sighting the object +aimed at. This was usually impracticable in actual life, because the +object was almost always in motion, while the hunter himself was often +upon the back of a pony at full gallop. Therefore, it was the off-hand +shot that the Indian boy sought to master. There was another game with +arrows that was characterized by gambling, and was generally confined +to the men. + +The races were an every-day occurrence. At noon the boys were usually +gathered by some pleasant sheet of water, and as soon as the ponies +were watered, they were allowed to graze for an hour or two, while the +boys stripped for their noonday sports. A boy might say to some other +whom he considered his equal: + +"I can't run; but I will challenge you to fifty paces." + +A former hero, when beaten, would often explain his defeat by saying: +"I drank too much water." + +Boys of all ages were paired for a "spin," and the little red men +cheered on their favorites with spirit. + +As soon as this was ended, the pony races followed. All the speedy +ponies were picked out and riders chosen. If a boy declined to ride, +there would be shouts of derision. + +Last of all came the swimming. A little urchin would hang to his pony's +long tail, while the latter, with only his head above water, glided +sportively along. Finally the animals were driven into a fine field of +grass and we turned our attention to other games. + +The "mud-and-willow" fight was rather a severe and dangerous sport. A +lump of soft clay was stuck on the end of a limber and springy willow +wand and thrown as boys throw apples from sticks, with considerable +force. When there were fifty or a hundred players on each side, the +battle became warm; but anything to arouse the bravery of Indian boys +seemed to them a good and wholesome diversion. + +Wrestling was largely indulged in by us all. It may seem odd, but +wrestling was done by a great many boys at once--from ten to any number +on a side. It was really a battle, in which each one chose his +opponent. The rule was that if a boy sat down, he was let alone, but as +long as he remained standing within the field, he was open to an +attack. No one struck with the hand, but all manner of tripping with +legs and feet and butting with the knees was allowed. Altogether it was +an exhausting pastime--fully equal to the American game of football, +and only the young athlete could really enjoy it. + +One of our most curious sports was a war upon the nests of wild bees. +We imagined ourselves about to make an attack upon the Ojibways or some +tribal foe. We all painted and stole cautiously upon the nest; then, +with a rush and war-whoop, sprang upon the object of our attack and +endeavored to destroy it. But it seemed that the bees were always on +the alert and never entirely surprised, for they always raised quite as +many scalps as did their bold assailants! After the onslaught upon the +nest was ended, we usually followed it by a pretended scalp dance. + +On the occasion of my first experience in this mode of warfare, there +were two other little boys who were also novices. One of them +particularly was really too young to indulge in an exploit of that +kind. As it was the custom of our people, when they killed or wounded +an enemy on the battle-field, to announce the act in a loud voice, we +did the same. My friend, Little Wound (as I will call him, for I do not +remember his name), being quite small, was unable to reach the nest +until it had been well trampled upon and broken and the insects had +made a counter charge with such vigor as to repulse and scatter our +numbers in every direction. However, he evidently did not want to +retreat without any honors; so he bravely jumped upon the nest and +yelled: + +"I, the brave Little Wound, to-day kill the only fierce enemy!" + +[Illustration: So he bravely jumped upon the nest. _Page 32._] + +Scarcely were the last words uttered when he screamed as if stabbed to +the heart. One of his older companions shouted: + +"Dive into the water! Run! Dive into the water!" for there was a lake +near by. This advice he obeyed. + +When we had reassembled and were indulging in our mimic dance, Little +Wound was not allowed to dance. He was considered not to be in +existence--he had been killed by our enemies, the Bee tribe. Poor +little fellow! His swollen face was sad and ashamed as he sat on a +fallen log and watched the dance. Although he might well have styled +himself one of the noble dead who had died for their country, yet he +was not unmindful that he had _screamed_, and this weakness would be +apt to recur to him many times in the future. + +We had some quiet plays which we alternated with the more severe and +warlike ones. Among them were throwing wands and snow-arrows. In the +winter we coasted much. We had no "double-rippers" or toboggans, but +six or seven of the long ribs of a buffalo, fastened together at the +larger end, answered all practical purposes. Sometimes a strip of +bass-wood bark, four feet long and about six inches wide, was used with +considerable skill. We stood on one end and held the other, using the +slippery inside of the bark for the outside, and thus coasting down +long hills with remarkable speed. + +The spinning of tops was one of the all-absorbing winter sports. We +made our tops heart-shaped of wood, horn or bone. We whipped them with +a long thong of buckskin. The handle was a stick about a foot long and +sometimes we whittled the stick to make it spoon-shaped at one end. + +We played games with these tops--two to fifty boys at one time. Each +whips his top until it hums; then one takes the lead and the rest +follow in a sort of obstacle race. The top must spin all the way +through. There were bars of snow over which we must pilot our top in +the spoon end of our whip; then again we would toss it in the air on to +another open spot of ice or smooth snow-crust from twenty to fifty +paces away. The top that holds out the longest is the winner. + +We loved to play in the water. When we had no ponies, we often had +swimming matches of our own, and sometimes made rafts with which we +crossed lakes and rivers. It was a common thing to "duck" a young or +timid boy or to carry him into deep water to struggle as best he might. + +I remember a perilous ride with a companion on an unmanageable log, +when we were both less than seven years old. The older boys had put us +on this uncertain bark and pushed us out into the swift current of the +river. I cannot speak for my comrade in distress, but I can say now +that I would rather ride on a swift bronco any day than try to stay on +and steady a short log in a river. I never knew how we managed to +prevent a shipwreck on that voyage and to reach the shore. + +We had many curious wild pets. There were young foxes, bears, wolves, +raccoons, fawns, buffalo calves and birds of all kinds, tamed by +various boys. My pets were different at different times, but I +particularly remember one. I once had a grizzly bear for a pet, and so +far as he and I were concerned, our relations were charming and very +close. But I hardly know whether he made more enemies for me or I for +him. It was his habit to treat every boy unmercifully who injured me. + + + + +V + +AN INDIAN BOY'S TRAINING + + +Very early, the Indian boy assumed the task of preserving and +transmitting the legends of his ancestors and his race. Almost every +evening a myth, or a true story of some deed done in the past, was +narrated by one of the parents or grand-parents, while the boy listened +with parted lips and glistening eyes. On the following evening, he was +usually required to repeat it. If he was not an apt scholar, he +struggled long with his task; but, as a rule, the Indian boy is a good +listener and has a good memory, so that the stories were tolerably well +mastered. The household became his audience, by which he was +alternately criticized and applauded. + +This sort of teaching at once enlightens the boy's mind and stimulates +his ambition. His conception of his own future career becomes a vivid +and irresistible force. Whatever there is for him to learn must be +learned; whatever qualifications are necessary to a truly great man he +must seek at any expense of danger and hardship. Such was the feeling +of the imaginative and brave young Indian. It became apparent to him in +early life that he must accustom himself to rove alone and not to fear +or dislike the impression of solitude. + +It seems to be a popular idea that all the characteristic skill of the +Indian is instinctive and hereditary. This is a mistake. All the +stoicism and patience of the Indian are acquired traits, and continual +practice alone makes him master of the art of wood-craft. Physical +training and dieting were not neglected. I remember that I was not +allowed to have beef soup or any warm drink. The soup was for the old +men. General rules for the young were never to take their food very +hot, nor to drink much water. + +My uncle, who educated me up to the age of fifteen years, was a strict +disciplinarian and a good teacher. When I left the teepee in the +morning, he would say: "Hakadah, look closely to everything you see"; +and at evening, on my return, he used often to catechize me for an hour +or so. + +"On which side of the trees is the lighter-colored bark? On which side +do they have most regular branches?" + +It was his custom to let me name all the new birds that I had seen +during the day. I would name them according to the color or the shape +of the bill or their song or the appearance and locality of the +nest--in fact, anything about the bird that impressed me as +characteristic. I made many ridiculous errors, I must admit. He then +usually informed me of the correct name. Occasionally I made a hit and +this he would warmly commend. + +He went much deeper into this science when I was a little older, that +is, about the age of eight or nine years. He would say, for instance: + +"How do you know that there are fish in yonder lake?" + +"Because they jump out of the water for flies at mid-day." + +He would smile at my prompt but superficial reply. + +"What do you think of the little pebbles grouped together under the +shallow water? and what made the pretty curved marks in the sandy +bottom and the little sand-banks? Where do you find the fish-eating +birds? Have the inlet and the outlet of a lake anything to do with the +question?" + +He did not expect a correct reply at once to all the questions that he +put to me on these occasions, but he meant to make me observant and a +good student of nature. + +"Hakadah," he would say to me, "you ought to follow the example of the +shunktokecha (wolf). Even when he is surprised and runs for his life, +he will pause to take one more look at you before he enters his final +retreat. So you must take a second look at everything you see. + +"It is better to view animals unobserved. I have been a witness to +their courtships and their quarrels and have learned many of their +secrets in this way. I was once the unseen spectator of a thrilling +battle between a pair of grizzly bears and three buffaloes--a rash act +for the bears, for it was in the moon of strawberries, when the +buffaloes sharpen and polish their horns for bloody contests among +themselves. + +"I advise you, my boy, never to approach a grizzly's den from the +front, but to steal up behind and throw your blanket or a stone in +front of the hole. He does not usually rush for it, but first puts his +head out and listens and then comes out very indifferently and sits on +his haunches on the mound in front of the hole before he makes any +attack. While he is exposing himself in this fashion, aim at his heart. +Always be as cool as the animal himself." Thus he armed me against the +cunning of savage beasts by teaching me how to outwit them. + +"In hunting," he would resume, "you will be guided by the habits of the +animal you seek. Remember that a moose stays in swampy or low land or +between high mountains near a spring or lake, for thirty to sixty days +at a time. Most large game moves about continually, except the doe in +the spring; it is then a very easy matter to find her with the fawn. +Conceal yourself in a convenient place as soon as you observe any signs +of the presence of either, and then call with your birchen doe-caller. + +"Whichever one hears you first will soon appear in your neighborhood. +But you must be very watchful, or you may be made a fawn of by a large +wild-cat. They understand the characteristic call of the doe perfectly +well. + +"When you have any difficulty with a bear or a wild-cat--that is, if +the creature shows any signs of attacking you--you must make him fully +understand that you have seen him and are aware of his intentions. If +you are not well equipped for a pitched battle, the only way to make +him retreat is to take a long sharp-pointed pole for a spear and rush +toward him. No wild beast will face this unless he is cornered and +already wounded. These fierce beasts are generally afraid of the common +weapon of the larger animals,--the horns,--and if these are very long +and sharp, they dare not risk an open fight. + +"There is one exception to this rule--the gray wolf will attack +fiercely when very hungry. But their courage depends upon their +numbers; in this they are like white men. One wolf or two will never +attack a man. They will stampede a herd of buffaloes in order to get at +the calves; they will rush upon a herd of antelopes, for these are +helpless; but they are always careful about attacking man." + +Of this nature were the instructions of my uncle, who was widely known +at that time as among the greatest hunters of his tribe. + +All boys were expected to endure hardship without complaint. In savage +warfare, a young man must, of course, be an athlete and used to +undergoing all sorts of privations. He must be able to go without food +and water for two or three days without displaying any weakness, or to +run for a day and a night without any rest. He must be able to traverse +a pathless and wild country without losing his way either in the day or +night time. He cannot refuse to do any of these things if he aspires to +be a warrior. + +Sometimes my uncle would waken me very early in the morning and +challenge me to fast with him all day. I had to accept the challenge. +We blackened our faces with charcoal, so that every boy in the village +would know that I was fasting for the day. Then the little tempters +would make my life a misery until the merciful sun hid behind the +western hills. + +I can scarcely recall the time when my stern teacher began to give +sudden war-whoops over my head in the morning while I was sound asleep. +He expected me to leap up with perfect presence of mind, always ready +to grasp a weapon of some sort and to give a shrill whoop in reply. If +I was sleepy or startled and hardly knew what I was about, he would +ridicule me and say that I need never expect to sell my scalp dear. +Often he would vary these tactics by shooting off his gun just outside +of the lodge while I was yet asleep, at the same time giving +blood-curdling yells. After a time I became used to this. + +When Indians went upon the war-path, it was their custom to try the new +warriors thoroughly before coming to an engagement. For instance, when +they were near a hostile camp, they would select the novices to go +after the water and make them do all sorts of things to prove their +courage. In accordance with this idea, my uncle used to send me off +after water when we camped after dark in a strange place. Perhaps the +country was full of wild beasts, and, for aught I knew, there might be +scouts from hostile bands of Indians lurking in that very neighborhood. + +Yet I never objected, for that would show cowardice. I picked my way +through the woods, dipped my pail in the water and hurried back, always +careful to make as little noise as a cat. Being only a boy, my heart +would leap at every crackling of a dry twig or distant hooting of an +owl, until, at last, I reached our teepee. Then my uncle would perhaps +say: "Ah, Hakadah, you are a thorough warrior!" empty out the precious +contents of the pail, and order me to go a second time. + +Imagine how I felt! But I wished to be a brave man as much as a white +boy desires to be a great lawyer or even President of the United +States. Silently I would take the pail and endeavor to retrace my +foot-steps in the dark. + +With all this, our manners and morals were not neglected. I was made to +respect the adults and especially the aged. I was not allowed to join +in their discussions, nor even to speak in their presence, unless +requested to do so. Indian etiquette was very strict, and among the +requirements was that of avoiding the direct address. A term of +relationship or some title of courtesy was commonly used instead of the +personal name by those who wished to show respect. We were taught +generosity to the poor and reverence for the "Great Mystery." Religion +was the basis of all Indian training. + + + + +VI + +THE BOY HUNTER + + +There was almost as much difference between the Indian boys who were +brought up on the open prairies and those of the woods, as between city +and country boys. The hunting of the prairie boys was limited and their +knowledge of natural history imperfect. They were, as a rule, good +riders, but in all-round physical development much inferior to the red +men of the forest. + +Our hunting varied with the season of the year, and the nature of the +country which was for the time our home. Our chief weapon was the bow +and arrows, and perhaps, if we were lucky, a knife was possessed by +some one in the crowd. In the olden times, knives and hatchets were +made from bone and sharp stones. + +For fire we used a flint with a spongy piece of dry wood and a stone to +strike with. Another way of starting fire was for several of the boys +to sit down in a circle and rub two pieces of dry, spongy wood +together, one after another, until the wood took fire. + +We hunted in company a great deal, though it was a common thing for a +boy to set out for the woods quite alone, and he usually enjoyed +himself fully as much. Our game consisted mainly of small birds, +rabbits, squirrels and grouse. Fishing, too, occupied much of our time. +We hardly ever passed a creek or a pond without searching for some +signs of fish. When fish were present, we always managed to get some. +Fish-lines were made of wild hemp, sinew or horse-hair. We either +caught fish with lines, snared or speared them, or shot them with bow +and arrows. In the fall we charmed them up to the surface by gently +tickling them with a stick and quickly threw them out. We have +sometimes dammed the brooks and driven the larger fish into a willow +basket made for that purpose. + +It was part of our hunting to find new and strange things in the woods. +We examined the slightest sign of life; and if a bird had scratched the +leaves off the ground, or a bear dragged up a root for his morning +meal, we stopped to speculate on the time it was done. If we saw a +large old tree with some scratches on its bark, we concluded that a +bear or some raccoons must be living there. In that case we did not go +any nearer than was necessary, but later reported the incident at home. +An old deer-track would at once bring on a warm discussion as to +whether it was the track of a buck or a doe. Generally, at noon, we met +and compared our game, noting at the same time the peculiar +characteristics of everything we had killed. It was not merely a hunt, +for we combined with it the study of animal life. We also kept strict +account of our game, and thus learned who were the best shots among the +boys. + +I am sorry to say that we were merciless toward the birds. We often +took their eggs and their young ones. My brother Chatanna and I once +had a disagreeable adventure while bird-hunting. We were accustomed to +catch in our hands young ducks and geese during the summer, and while +doing this we happened to find a crane's nest. Of course, we were +delighted with our good luck. But, as it was already midsummer, the +young cranes--two in number--were rather large and they were a little +way from the nest; we also observed that the two old cranes were in a +swampy place near by; but, as it was moulting-time, we did not suppose +that they would venture on dry land. So we proceeded to chase the young +birds; but they were fleet runners and it took us some time to come up +with them. + +Meanwhile, the parent birds had heard the cries of their little ones +and come to their rescue. They were chasing us, while we followed the +birds. It was really a perilous encounter! Our strong bows finally +gained the victory in a hand-to-hand struggle with the angry cranes; +but after that we hardly ever hunted a crane's nest. Almost all birds +make some resistance when their eggs or young are taken, but they will +seldom attack man fearlessly. + +We used to climb large trees for birds of all kinds; but we never +undertook to get young owls unless they were on the ground. The hooting +owl especially is a dangerous bird to attack under these circumstances. + +I was once trying to catch a yellow-winged woodpecker in its nest when +my arm became twisted and lodged in the deep hole so that I could not +get it out without the aid of a knife; but we were a long way from home +and my only companion was a deaf-mute cousin of mine. I was about fifty +feet up in the tree, in a very uncomfortable position, but I had to +wait there for more than an hour before he brought me the knife with +which I finally released myself. + +Our devices for trapping small animals were rude, but they were often +successful. For instance, we used to gather up a peck or so of large, +sharp-pointed burrs and scatter them in the rabbit's furrow-like path. +In the morning, we would find the little fellow sitting quietly in his +tracks, unable to move, for the burrs stuck to his feet. + +Another way of snaring rabbits and grouse was the following: We made +nooses of twisted horse-hair, which we tied very firmly to the top of a +limber young tree, then bent the latter down to the track and fastened +the whole with a slip-knot, after adjusting the noose. When the rabbit +runs his head through the noose, he pulls the slip-knot and is quickly +carried up by the spring of the young tree. This is a good plan, for +the rabbit is out of harm's way as he swings high in the air. + +Perhaps the most enjoyable of all was the chipmunk hunt. We killed +these animals at any time of year, but the special time to hunt them +was in March. After the first thaw, the chipmunks burrow a hole through +the snow crust and make their first appearance for the season. +Sometimes as many as fifty will come together and hold a social +reunion. These gatherings occur early in the morning, from daybreak to +about nine o'clock. + +We boys learned this, among other secrets of nature, and got our +blunt-headed arrows together in good season for the chipmunk +expedition. + +We generally went in groups of six to a dozen or fifteen, to see which +would get the most. On the evening before, we selected several boys who +could imitate the chipmunk's call with wild oat-straws and each of +these provided himself with a supply of straws. + +The crust will hold the boys nicely at this time of the year. Bright +and early, they all come together at the appointed place, from which +each group starts out in a different direction, agreeing to meet +somewhere at a given position of the sun. + +My first experience of this kind is still well remembered. It was a +fine crisp March morning, and the sun had not yet shown himself among +the distant tree-tops as we hurried along through the ghostly wood. +Presently we arrived at a place where there were many signs of the +animals. Then each of us selected a tree and took up his position +behind it. The chipmunk-caller sat upon a log as motionless as he +could, and began to call. + +Soon we heard the patter of little feet on the hard snow; then we saw +the chipmunks approaching from all directions. Some stopped and ran +experimentally up a tree or a log, as if uncertain of the exact +direction of the call; others chased one another about. + +In a few minutes, the chipmunk-caller was besieged with them. Some ran +all over his person, others under him and still others ran up the tree +against which he was sitting. Each boy remained immovable until their +leader gave the signal; then a great shout arose, and the chipmunks in +their flight all ran up the different trees. + +Now the shooting-match began. The little creatures seemed to realize +their hopeless position; they would try again and again to come down +the trees and flee away from the deadly aim of the youthful hunters. +But they were shot down very fast; and whenever several of them rushed +toward the ground, the little redskin hugged the tree and yelled +frantically to scare them up again. + +Each boy shoots always against the trunk of the tree, so that the arrow +may bound back to him every time; otherwise, when he had shot away all +of them, he would be helpless, and another, who had cleared his own +tree, would come and take away his game, so there was warm competition. +Sometimes a desperate chipmunk would jump from the top of the tree in +order to escape, which was considered a joke on the boy who lost it and +a triumph for the brave little animal. At last all were killed or gone, +and then we went on to another place, keeping up the sport until the +sun came out and the chipmunks refused to answer the call. + + + + +VII + +EVENING IN THE LODGE + + +I had been skating on that part of the lake where there was an +overflow, and came home somewhat cold. I cannot say just how cold it +was, but it must have been intensely so, for the trees were cracking +all about me like pistol-shots. I did not mind, because I was wrapped +up in my buffalo robe with the hair inside, and a wide leather belt +held it about my loins. My skates were nothing more than strips of +basswood bark bound upon my feet. + +I had taken off my frozen moccasins and put on dry ones in their +places. + +"Where have you been and what have you been doing?" Uncheedah asked as +she placed before me some roast venison in a wooden bowl. "Did you see +any tracks of moose or bear?" + +"No, grandmother, I have only been playing at the lower end of the +lake. I have something to ask you," I said, eating my dinner and supper +together with all the relish of a hungry boy who has been skating in +the cold for half a day. + +"I found this feather, grandmother, and I could not make out what tribe +wear feathers in that shape." + +"Ugh, I am not a man; you had better ask your uncle. Besides, you +should know it yourself by this time. You are now old enough to think +about eagle feathers." + +I felt mortified by this reminder of my ignorance. It seemed a +reflection on me that I was not ambitious enough to have found all such +matters out before. + +"Uncle, you will tell me, won't you?" I said, in an appealing tone. + +"I am surprised, my boy, that you should fail to recognize this +feather. It is a Cree medicine feather, and not a warrior's." + +"Then," I said, with much embarrassment, "you had better tell me again, +uncle, the language of the feathers. I have really forgotten it all." + +The day was now gone; the moon had risen; but the cold had not +lessened, for the trunks of the trees were still snapping all around +our teepee, which was lighted and warmed by the immense logs which +Uncheedah's industry had provided. My uncle, White Footprint, now +undertook to explain to me the significance of the eagle's feather. + +"The eagle is the most war-like bird," he began, "and the most kingly +of all birds; besides, his feathers are unlike any others, and these +are the reasons why they are used by our people to signify deeds of +bravery. + +"It is not true that when a man wears a feather bonnet, each one of the +feathers represents the killing of a foe or even a _coup_. When a man +wears an eagle feather upright upon his head, he is supposed to have +counted one of four _coups_ upon his enemy." + +"Well, then, a _coup_ does not mean the killing of an enemy?" + +"No, it is the after-stroke or touching of the body after he falls. It +is so ordered, because oftentimes the touching of an enemy is much more +difficult to accomplish than the shooting of one from a distance. It +requires a strong heart to face the whole body of the enemy, in order +to count the _coup_ on the fallen one, who lies under cover of his +kinsmen's fire. Many a brave man has been lost in the attempt. + +"When a warrior approaches his foe, dead or alive, he calls upon the +other warriors to witness by saying: 'I, Fearless Bear, your brave, +again perform the brave deed of counting the first (or second or third +or fourth) _coup_ upon the body of the bravest of your enemies.' +Naturally, those who are present will see the act and be able to +testify to it. When they return, the heralds, as you know, announce +publicly all such deeds of valor, which then become a part of the man's +war record. Any brave who would wear the eagle's feather must give +proof of his right to do so. + +"When a brave is wounded in the same battle where he counted his +_coup_, he wears the feather hanging downward. When he is wounded, but +makes no count, he trims his feather, and in that case it need not be +an eagle feather. All other feathers are merely ornaments. When a +warrior wears a feather with a round mark, it means that he slew his +enemy. When the mark is cut into the feather and painted red, it means +that he took the scalp. + +"A brave who has been successful in ten battles is entitled to a +war-bonnet; and if he is a recognized leader, he is permitted to wear +one with long, trailing plumes. Also those who have counted many +_coups_ may tip the ends of the feathers with bits of white or colored +down. Sometimes the eagle feather is tipped with a strip of weasel +skin; that means the wearer had the honor of killing, scalping and +counting the first _coup_ upon the enemy all at the same time. + +"This feather you have found was worn by a Cree--it is indiscriminately +painted. All other feathers worn by the common Indians mean nothing," +he added. + +"Tell me, uncle, whether it would be proper for me to wear any feathers +at all if I have never gone upon the war-path." + +"You could wear any other kind of feathers, but not an eagle's," +replied my uncle, "although sometimes one is worn on great occasions by +the child of a noted man, to indicate the father's dignity and +position." + +The fire had gone down somewhat, so I pushed the embers together and +wrapped my robe more closely about me. Now and then the ice on the lake +would burst with a loud report like thunder. Uncheedah was busy +re-stringing one of uncle's old snow-shoes. There were two different +kinds that he wore; one with a straight toe and long; the other shorter +and with an upturned toe. She had one of the shoes fastened toe down, +between sticks driven into the ground, while she put in some new +strings and tightened the others. Aunt Four Stars was beading a new +pair of moccasins. + +Wabeda, the dog, the companion of my boyhood days, was in trouble +because he insisted upon bringing his extra bone into the teepee, while +Uncheedah was determined that he should not. I sympathized with him, +because I saw the matter as he did. If he should bury it in the snow +outside, I knew Shunktokecha (the coyote) would surely steal it. I knew +just how anxious Wabeda was about his bone. It was a fat bone--I mean a +bone of a fat deer; and all Indians know how much better they are than +the other kind. + +Wabeda always hated to see a good thing go to waste. His eyes spoke +words to me, for he and I had been friends for a long time. When I was +afraid of anything in the woods, he would get in front of me at once +and gently wag his tail. He always made it a point to look directly in +my face. His kind, large eyes gave me a thousand assurances. When I was +perplexed, he would hang about me until he understood the situation. +Many times I believed he saved my life by uttering the dog word in +time. + +Most animals, even the dangerous grizzly, do not care to be seen when +the two-legged kind and his dog are about. When I feared a surprise by +a bear or a gray wolf, I would say to Wabeda: "Now, my dog, give your +war-whoop!" and immediately he would sit up on his haunches and bark +"to beat the band," as you white boys say. When a bear or wolf heard +the noise, he would be apt to retreat. + +Sometimes I helped Wabeda and gave a war-whoop of my own. This drove +the deer away as well, but it relieved my mind. + +When he appealed to me on this occasion, therefore, I said: "Come, my +dog, let us bury your bone so that no Shunktokecha will take it." + +He appeared satisfied with my suggestion, so we went out together. + +We dug in the snow and buried our bone wrapped up in a piece of old +blanket, partly burned; then we covered it up again with snow. We knew +that the coyote would not touch anything burnt. I did not put it up a +tree because Wabeda always objected to that, and I made it a point to +consult his wishes whenever I could. + +I came in and Wabeda followed me with two short rib bones in his mouth. +Apparently he did not care to risk those delicacies. + +"There," exclaimed Uncheedah, "you still insist upon bringing in some +sort of bone!" but I begged her to let him gnaw them inside because it +was so cold. Having been granted this privilege, he settled himself at +my back and I became absorbed in some specially nice arrows that uncle +was making. + +"Oh, uncle, you must put on three feathers to all of them so that they +can fly straight," I suggested. + +"Yes, but if there are only two feathers, they will fly faster," he +answered. + +"Woow!" Wabeda uttered his suspicions. + +"Woow!" he said again, and rushed for the entrance of the teepee. He +kicked me over as he went and scattered the burning embers. + +"En na he na!" Uncheedah exclaimed, but he was already outside. + +"Wow, wow, wow! Wow, wow, wow!" + +A deep guttural voice answered him. Out I rushed with my bow and arrows +in my hand. + +"Come, uncle, come! A big cinnamon bear!" I shouted as I emerged from +the teepee. + +Uncle sprang out, and in a moment he had sent a swift arrow through the +bear's heart. The animal fell dead. He had just begun to dig up +Wabeda's bone, when the dog's quick ear had heard the sound. + +"Ah, uncle, Wabeda and I ought to have at least a little eaglet's +feather for this! I too sent my small arrow into the bear before he +fell," I exclaimed. "But I thought all bears ought to be in their +lodges in the winter time. What was this one doing at this time of the +year and night?" + +"Well," said my uncle, "I will tell you. Among the tribes, some are +naturally lazy. The cinnamon bear is the lazy one of his tribe. He +alone sleeps out of doors in the winter, and because he has not a warm +bed, he is soon hungry. Sometimes he lives in the hollow trunk of a +tree, where he has made a bed of dry grass; but when the night is very +cold, like to-night, he has to move about to keep himself from +freezing, and as he prowls around, he gets hungry." + +We dragged the huge carcass within our lodge. "Oh, what nice claws he +has, uncle!" I exclaimed eagerly. "Can I have them for my necklace?" + +[Illustration: "Oh, what nice claws he has, uncle!" I exclaimed +eagerly. _Page 69._] + +"It is only the old medicine-men who wear them regularly. The son of a +great warrior who has killed a grizzly may wear them upon a public +occasion," he explained. + +"And you are just like my father and are considered the best hunter +among the Santees and Sissetons. You have killed many grizzlies, so +that no one can object to my bear's-claw necklace," I said appealingly. + +White Foot-print smiled. "My boy, you shall have them," he said, "but +it is always better to earn them yourself." He cut the claws off +carefully for my use. + +"Tell me, uncle, whether you could wear these claws all the time?" I +asked. + +"Yes, I am entitled to wear them, but they are so heavy and +uncomfortable," he replied, with a superior air. + +At last the bear had been skinned and dressed and we all resumed our +usual places. Uncheedah was particularly pleased to have some more fat +for her cooking. + +"Now, grandmother, tell me the story of the bear's fat. I shall be so +happy if you will," I begged. + +"It is a good story and it is true. You should know it by heart and +gain a lesson from it," she replied. "It was in the forests of +Minnesota, in the country that now belongs to the Ojibways. From the +Bedawakanton Sioux village a young married couple went into the woods +to get fresh venison. The snow was deep; the ice was thick. Far away in +the woods they pitched their lonely teepee. The young man was a +well-known hunter and his wife a good maiden of the village. + +"He hunted entirely on snow-shoes, because the snow was very deep. His +wife had to wear snow-shoes too, to get to the spot where they pitched +their tent. It was thawing the day they went out, so their path was +distinct after the freeze came again. + +"The young man killed many deer and bears. His wife was very busy +curing the meat and trying out the fat while he was away hunting each +day. In the evenings she kept on trying the fat. He sat on one side of +the teepee and she on the other. + +"One evening, she had just lowered a kettle of fat to cool, and as she +looked into the hot fat she saw the face of an Ojibway scout looking +down at them through the smoke-hole. She said nothing, nor did she +betray herself in any way. + +"After a little she said to her husband in a natural voice: +'Marpeetopah, some one is looking at us through the smoke-hole, and I +think it is an enemy's scout.' + +"Then Marpeetopah (Four-skies) took up his bow and arrows and began to +straighten and dry them for the next day's hunt, talking and laughing +meanwhile. Suddenly he turned and sent an arrow upward, killing the +Ojibway, who fell dead at their door. + +"'Quick, Wadutah!' he exclaimed; 'you must hurry home upon our trail. I +will stay here. When this scout does not return, the war-party may come +in a body or send another scout. If only one comes, I can soon dispatch +him and then I will follow you. If I do not do that, they will overtake +us in our flight.' + +"Wadutah (Scarlet) protested and begged to be allowed to stay with her +husband, but at last she came away to get re-inforcements. + +"Then Marpeetopah (Four-skies) put more sticks on the fire so that the +teepee might be brightly lit and show him the way. He then took the +scalp of the enemy and proceeded on his track, until he came to the +upturned root of a great tree. There he spread out his arrows and laid +out his tomahawk. + +"Soon two more scouts were sent by the Ojibway war-party to see what +was the trouble and why the first one failed to come back. He heard +them as they approached. They were on snow-shoes. When they came close +to him, he shot an arrow into the foremost. As for the other, in his +effort to turn quickly his snow-shoes stuck in the deep snow and +detained him, so Marpeetopah killed them both. + +"Quickly he took the scalps and followed Wadutah. He ran hard. But the +Ojibways suspected something wrong and came to the lonely teepee, to +find all their scouts had been killed. They followed the path of +Marpeetopah and Wadutah to the main village, and there a great battle +was fought on the ice. Many were killed on both sides. It was after +this that the Sioux moved to the Mississippi river." + +I was sleepy by this time and I rolled myself up in my buffalo robe and +fell asleep. + + + + +PART TWO + +STORIES OF REAL INDIANS + + + + +I + +WINONA'S CHILDHOOD + + Hush, hushaby, little woman! + Be brave and weep not! + The spirits sleep not; + 'Tis they who ordain + To woman, pain. + + Hush, hushaby, little woman! + Now, all things bearing, + A new gift sharing + From those above-- + To woman, love. + + _--Sioux Lullaby._ + + +"Chinto, wéyanna! Yes, indeed; she is a real little woman," declares +the old grandmother, as she receives and critically examines the tiny +bit of humanity. + +There is no remark as to the color of its hair or eyes, both so black +as almost to be blue, but the old woman scans sharply the delicate +profile of the baby face. + +"Ah, she has the nose of her ancestors! Lips thin as a leaf, and eyes +bright as stars in midwinter!" she exclaims, as she passes on the furry +bundle to the other grandmother for her inspection. + +"Tokee! she is pretty enough to win a twinkle from the evening star," +remarks that smiling personage. + +"And what shall her name be? + +"Winona, the First-born, of course. That is hers by right of birth." + +"Still, it may not fit her. One must prove herself worthy in order to +retain that honorable name." + +"Ugh," retorts the first grandmother, "she can at least bear it on +probation!" + +"Tosh, tosh," the other assents. + +Thus the unconscious little Winona has passed the first stage of the +Indian's christening. + +Presently she is folded into a soft white doeskin, well lined with the +loose down of cattails, and snugly laced into an upright oaken cradle, +the front of which is a richly embroidered buckskin bag, with porcupine +quills and deer's hoofs suspended from its profuse fringes. This gay +cradle is strapped upon the second grandmother's back, and that +dignitary walks off with the newcomer. + +"You must come with me," she says. "We shall go among the father and +mother trees, and hear them speak with their thousand tongues, that you +may know their language forever. I will hang the cradle of the +woman-child upon Utuhu, the oak; and she shall hear the love-sighs of +the pine maiden!" + +In this fashion Winona is introduced to nature and becomes at once +"nature-born," in accord with the beliefs and practices of the wild red +man. + +The baby girl is called Winona for some months, when the medicine-man +is summoned and requested to name publicly the first-born daughter of +Chetonska, the White Hawk; but not until he has received a present of a +good pony with a finely painted buffalo-robe. It is usual to confer +another name besides that of the "First-born," which may be resumed +later if the maiden proves worthy. The name Winona implies much of +honor. It means charitable, kind, helpful; all that an eldest sister +should be! + +The herald goes around the ring of lodges announcing in singsong +fashion the christening, and inviting everybody to a feast in honor of +the event. A real American christening is always a gala occasion, when +much savage wealth is distributed among the poor and old people. Winona +has only just walked, and this fact is also announced with additional +gifts. A well-born child is ever before the tribal eye and in the +tribal ear, as every little step in its progress toward manhood or +womanhood--the first time of walking or swimming, first shot with bow +and arrow (if a boy), first pair of moccasins made (if a girl)--is +announced publicly with feasting and the giving of presents. + +So Winona receives her individual name of Tatiyopa, or Her Door. It is +symbolic, like most Indian names, and implies that the door of the +bearer is hospitable and her home attractive. + +The two grandmothers, who have carried the little maiden upon their +backs, now tell and sing to her by turns all the legends of their most +noted female ancestors, from the twin sisters of the old story, the +maidens who married among the star people of the sky, down to their own +mothers. All their lullabies are feminine, and designed to impress upon +her tender mind the life and duties of her sex. + +As soon as she is old enough to play with dolls, she plays mother in +all seriousness and gravity. She is dressed like a miniature woman (and +her dolls are clad likewise), in garments of doeskin to her ankles, +adorned with long fringes, embroidered with porcupine quills, and dyed +with root dyes in various colors. Her little blanket or robe, with +which she shyly drapes or screens her head and shoulders, is the skin +of a buffalo calf or a deer, soft, white, embroidered on the smooth +side, and often with the head and hoofs left on. + +"You must never forget, my little daughter, that you are a woman like +myself. Do always those things that you see me do," her mother often +admonishes her. + +Even the language of the Sioux has its feminine dialect, and the tiny +girl would be greatly abashed were it ever needful to correct her for +using a masculine termination. + +This mother makes for her little daughter a miniature copy of every +rude tool that she uses in her daily tasks. There is a little scraper +of elk-horn to scrape raw-hides preparatory to tanning them, another +scraper of a different shape for tanning, bone knives, and stone +mallets for pounding choke-cherries and jerked meat. + +While her mother is bending over a large buffalo-hide stretched and +pinned upon the ground, standing upon it and scraping off the fleshy +portion as nimbly as a carpenter shaves a board with his plane, Winona, +at five years of age, stands upon a corner of the great hide and +industriously scrapes away with her tiny instrument. When the mother +stops to sharpen her tool, the little woman always sharpens hers also. +Perhaps there is water to be fetched in bags made from the dried +pericardium of an animal; the girl brings some in a smaller water-bag. +When her mother goes for wood she carries one or two sticks on her +back. She pitches her play teepee to form an exact copy of her +mother's. Her little belongings are nearly all practical, and her very +play is real! + + + + +II + +WINONA'S GIRLHOOD + + Braver than the bravest, + You sought honors at death's door; + Could you not remember + One who weeps at home-- + Could you not remember me? + + Braver than the bravest, + You sought honors more than love; + Dear, I weep, yet I am not a coward; + My heart weeps for thee-- + My heart weeps when I remember thee! + + _--Sioux Love Song._ + + +The sky is blue overhead, peeping through window-like openings in a +roof of green leaves. Right between a great pine and a birch tree their +soft doeskin shawls are spread, and there sit two Sioux maidens amid +their fineries--variously colored porcupine quills for embroidery laid +upon sheets of thin birch-bark, and moccasin tops worked in colors like +autumn leaves. It is Winona and her friend Miniyata. + +They have arrived at the period during which the young girl is +carefully secluded from her brothers and cousins and future lovers, and +retires, as it were, into the nunnery of the woods, behind a veil of +thick foliage. Thus she is expected to develop her womanly qualities. +In meditation and solitude, entirely alone or with a chosen companion +of her own sex and age, she gains a secret strength, as she studies the +art of womanhood from nature herself. + +"Come, let us practise our sacred dance," says one to the other. Each +crowns her glossy head with a wreath of wild flowers, and they dance +with slow steps around the white birch, singing meanwhile the sacred +songs. + +Now upon the lake that stretches blue to the eastward there appears a +distant canoe, a mere speck, no bigger than a bird far off against the +shining sky. + +"See the lifting of the paddles!" exclaims Winona. + +"Like the leaping of a trout upon the water!" suggests Miniyata. + +"I hope they will not discover us, yet I would like to know who they +are," remarks the other, innocently. + +The birch canoe approaches swiftly, with two young men plying the light +cedar paddles. + +The girls now settle down to their needle-work, quite as if they had +never laughed or danced or woven garlands, bending over their +embroidery in perfect silence. Surely they would not wish to attract +attention, for the two sturdy young warriors have already landed. + +They pick up the canoe and lay it well up on the bank, out of sight. +Then one procures a strong pole. They lift a buck deer from the +canoe--not a mark upon it, save for the bullet wound; the deer looks as +if it were sleeping! They tie the hind legs together and the fore legs +also and carry it between them on the pole. + +Quickly and cleverly they do all this; and now they start forward and +come unexpectedly upon the maidens' retreat! They pause for an instant +in mute apology, but the girls smile their forgiveness, and the youths +hurry on toward the village. + +Winona has now attended her first maidens' feast and is considered +eligible to marriage. She may receive young men, but not in public or +in a social way, for such is not the custom of the Sioux. When he +speaks, she need not answer him unless she chooses. + +It was no disgrace to the chief's daughter in the old days to work with +her hands. Indeed, their standard of worth was the willingness to work, +but not for the sake of accumulation, only in order to give. Winona has +learned to prepare skins, to remove the hair and tan the skin of a deer +so that it may be made into moccasins within three days. She has a bone +tool for each stage of the conversion of the stiff rawhide into velvety +leather. She has been taught the art of painting tents and rawhide +cases, and the manufacture of garments of all kinds. + +Generosity is a trait that is highly developed in the Sioux woman. She +makes many moccasins and other articles of clothing for her male +relatives, or for any who are not well provided. She loves to see her +brother the best dressed among the young men, and the moccasins +especially of a young brave are the pride of his woman-kind. + +Her own person is neatly attired, but ordinarily with great simplicity. +Her doeskin gown has wide, flowing sleeves; the neck is low, but not so +low as is the evening dress of society. + +Her moccasins are plain; her leggins close-fitting and not as high as +her brother's. She parts her smooth, jet-black hair in the middle and +plaits it in two. In the old days she used to do it in one plait wound +around with wampum. Her ornaments, sparingly worn, are beads, elks' +teeth, and a touch of red paint. No feathers are worn by the woman, +unless in a sacred dance. She is supposed to be always occupied with +some feminine pursuit or engaged in some social affair, which also is +strictly feminine as a rule. + +There is an etiquette of sitting and standing, which is strictly +observed. The woman must never raise her knees or cross her feet when +seated. She seats herself on the ground sidewise, with both feet under +her. + +Notwithstanding her modesty and undemonstrative ways, there is no lack +of mirth and relaxation for Winona among her girl companions. + +In summer, swimming and playing in the water is a favorite amusement. +She even imitates with the soles of her feet the peculiar, resonant +sound that the beaver makes with her large, flat tail upon the surface +of the water. She is a graceful swimmer, keeping the feet together and +waving them backward and forward like the tail of a fish. + +Nearly all her games are different from those of the men. She has a +sport of wand-throwing, which develops fine muscles of the shoulder and +back. The wands are about eight feet long, and taper gradually from an +inch and a half to half an inch in diameter. Some of them are +artistically made, with heads of bone and horn, so that it is +remarkable to what a distance they may be made to slide over the +ground. In the feminine game of ball, which is something like "shinny," +the ball is driven with curved sticks between two goals. It is played +with from two or three to a hundred on a side, and a game between two +bands or villages is a picturesque event. + +A common indoor diversion is the "deer's foot" game, played with six +deer hoofs on a string, ending in a bone or steel awl. The object is to +throw it in such a way as to catch one or more hoofs on the point of +the awl, a feat which requires no little dexterity. Another is played +with marked plum-stones in a bowl, which are thrown like dice and count +according to the side that is turned uppermost. + +Winona's wooing is a typical one. As with any other people, love-making +is more or less in vogue at all times of the year, but more especially +at midsummer, during the characteristic reunions and festivities of +that season. The young men go about usually in pairs, and the maidens +do likewise. They may meet by chance at any time of day, in the woods +or at the spring, but oftenest seek to do so after dark, just outside +the teepee. The girl has her companion, and he has his, for the sake of +propriety or protection. The conversation is carried on in a whisper, +so that even these chaperons do not hear. + +At the sound of the drum on summer evenings, dances are begun within +the circular rows of teepees, but without the circle the young men +promenade in pairs. Each provides himself with the plaintive flute and +plays the simple cadences of his people, while his person is completely +covered with his fine robe, so that he cannot be recognized by the +passer-by. At every pause in the melody he gives his yodel-like +love-call, to which the girls respond with their musical, sing-song +laughter. + +Matosapa has improved every opportunity, until Winona has at last shyly +admitted her willingness to listen. For a whole year he has been +compelled at intervals to repeat the story of his love. Through the +autumn hunting of the buffalo and the long, cold winter he often +presents her kinsfolk with his game. + +At the next midsummer the parents on both sides are made acquainted +with the betrothal, and they at once begin preparations for the coming +wedding. Provisions and delicacies of all kinds are laid aside for a +feast. Matosapa's sisters and his girl cousins are told of the +approaching event, and they too prepare for it, since it is their duty +to dress or adorn the bride with garments made by their own hands. + +The bride is ceremoniously delivered to her husband's people, together +with presents of rich clothing, collected from all her clan, which she +afterward distributes among her new relations. Winona is carried in a +travois handsomely decorated, and is received with equal ceremony. + + + + +III + +A MIDSUMMER FEAST + + +The Wahpetonwan village on the banks of the Minnesota river was alive +with the newly-arrived guests and the preparations for the coming +event. Meat of wild game had been put away with much care during the +previous fall in anticipation of this feast. There was wild rice and +the choicest of dried venison that had been kept all winter, as well as +freshly dug turnips, ripe berries and an abundance of fresh meat. + +Along the edge of the woods the teepees were pitched in groups or +semi-circles, each band distinct from the others. The teepee of Mankato +or Blue Earth was pitched in a conspicuous spot. Just over the entrance +was painted in red and yellow a picture of a pipe, and directly +opposite this the rising sun. The painting was symbolic of welcome and +good will to men under the bright sun. + +A meeting was held to appoint some "medicine-man" to make the balls +that were to be used in the lacrosse contest; and presently the herald +announced that this honor had been conferred upon old Chankpee-yuhah, +or "Keeps the Club," while every other man of his profession was +disappointed. + +Towards evening he appeared in the circle, leading by the hand a boy +about four years old. Closely the little fellow observed every motion +of the man; nothing escaped his vigilant black eyes, which seemed +constantly to grow brighter and larger, while his glossy black hair was +plaited and wound around his head like that of a Celestial. He wore a +bit of swan's down in each ear, which formed a striking contrast with +the child's complexion. Further than this, the boy was painted +according to the fashion of the age. He held in his hands a miniature +bow and arrows. + +The medicine-man drew himself up in an admirable attitude, and +proceeded to make his short speech: + +"Wahpetonwans, you boast that you run down the elk; you can outrun the +Ojibways. Before you all, I dedicate to you this red ball. Kaposias, +you claim that no one has a lighter foot than you; you declare that you +can endure running a whole day without water. To you I dedicate this +black ball. Either you or the Leaf-Dwellers will have to drop your eyes +and bow your head when the game is over. I wish to announce that if the +Wahpetonwans should win, this little warrior shall bear the name +Ohiyesa (winner) through life; but if the Light Lodges should win, let +the name be given to any child appointed by them." + +The ground selected for the great game was on a narrow strip of land +between a lake and the river. It was about three quarters of a mile +long and a quarter of a mile in width. The spectators had already +ranged themselves all along the two sides, as well as at the two ends, +which were somewhat higher than the middle. The soldiers appointed to +keep order furnished much of the entertainment of the day. They painted +artistically and tastefully, according to the Indian fashion, not only +their bodies but also their ponies and clubs. They were so strict in +enforcing the laws that no one could venture with safety within a few +feet of the limits of the field. + +Now all of the minor events and feasts, occupying several days' time, +had been observed. Heralds on ponies' backs announced that all who +intended to participate in the final game were requested to repair to +the ground; also that if any one bore a grudge against another, he was +implored to forget his ill-feeling until the contest should be over. + +The most powerful men were stationed at the half-way ground, while the +fast runners were assigned to the back. It was an impressive spectacle +a fine collection of agile forms, almost stripped of garments and +painted in wild imitation of the rainbow and sunset sky on human +canvas. Some had undertaken to depict the Milky Way across their tawny +bodies, and one or two made a bold attempt to reproduce the lightning. +Others contented themselves with painting the figure of some fleet +animal or swift bird on their muscular chests. + +At the middle of the ground were stationed four immense men, +magnificently formed. A fifth approached this group, paused a moment, +and then threw his head back, gazed up into the sky in the manner of a +cock and gave a smooth, clear operatic tone. Instantly the little black +ball went up between the two middle rushers, in the midst of yells, +cheers and war-whoops. Both men endeavored to catch it in the air; but +alas! each interfered with the other; then the guards on each side +rushed upon them. For a time, a hundred lacrosse sticks vied with each +other, and the wriggling human flesh and paint were all one could see +through the cloud of dust. Suddenly there shot swiftly through the air +toward the south, toward the Kaposias' goal, the ball. There was a +general cheer from their adherents, which echoed back from the white +cliff on the opposite side of the Minnesota. + +As the ball flew through the air, two adversaries were ready to receive +it. The Kaposia quickly met the ball, but failed to catch it in his +netted bag, for the other had swung his up like a flash. Thus it struck +the ground, but had no opportunity to bound up when a Wahpeton pounced +upon it like a cat and slipped out of the grasp of his opponents. A +mighty cheer thundered through the air. + +The warrior who had undertaken to pilot the little sphere was risking +much, for he must dodge a host of Kaposias before he could gain any +ground. He was alert and agile; now springing like a panther, now +leaping like a deer over a stooping opponent who tried to seize him +around the waist. Every opposing player was upon his heels, while those +of his own side did all in their power to clear the way for him. But it +was all in vain. He only gained fifty paces. + +Thus the game went. First one side, then the other would gain an +advantage, and then it was lost, until the herald proclaimed that it +was time to change the ball. No victory was in sight for either side. + +After a few minutes' rest, the game was resumed. The red ball was now +tossed in the air in the usual way. No sooner had it descended than one +of the rushers caught it and away it went northward; again it was +fortunate, for it was advanced by one of the same side. The scene was +now one of the wildest excitement and confusion. At last, the northward +flight of the ball was checked for a moment and a desperate struggle +ensued. + +The ball had not been allowed to come to the surface since it reached +this point, for there were more than a hundred men who scrambled for +it. Suddenly a warrior shot out of the throng like the ball itself! +Then some of the players shouted: "Look out for Antelope!" But it was +too late. The little sphere had already nestled into Antelope's palm +and that fleetest of Wahpetons had thrown down his lacrosse stick and +set a determined eye upon the northern goal. + +Such a speed! He had cleared almost all the opponents' guards--there +were but two more. These were exceptional runners of the Kaposias. As +he approached them in his almost irresistible speed, every savage heart +thumped louder in the Indian's dusky bosom. In another moment there +would be a defeat for the Kaposias or a prolongation of the game. The +two men, with a determined look approached their foe like two panthers +prepared to spring; yet he neither slackened his speed nor deviated +from his course. A crash--a mighty shout!--the two Kaposias collided, +and the swift Antelope had won the laurels! + +The turmoil and commotion at the victors' camp were indescribable. A +few beats of a drum were heard, after which the criers hurried along +the lines, announcing the last act to be performed at the camp of the +"Leaf Dwellers." + +The day had been a perfect one. Every event had been a success; and, as +a matter of course, the old people were happy, for they largely +profited by these occasions. Within the circle formed by the general +assembly sat in a group the members of the common council. Blue Earth +arose, and in a few appropriate and courteous remarks assured his +guests that it was not selfishness that led his braves to carry off the +honors of the last event, but that this was a friendly contest in which +each band must assert its prowess. In memory of this victory, the boy +would now receive his name. A loud "Ho-o-o" of approbation reverberated +from the edge of the forest upon the Minnesota's bank. + +Half frightened, the little fellow was now brought into the circle, +looking very much as if he were about to be executed. Cheer after cheer +went up for the awe-stricken boy. Chankpee-yuhah, the medicine-man, +proceeded to confer the name. + +"Ohiyesa (or Winner) shall be thy name henceforth. Be brave, be patient +and thou shalt always win! Thy name is Ohiyesa." + + + + +IV + +THE FAITHFULNESS OF LONG EARS + + +Away beyond the Thin Hills, above the Big Lone Tree upon the Powder +river, the Uncpapa Sioux had celebrated their Sun Dance, some forty +years ago. It was midsummer and the red folk were happy. They lacked +for nothing. The yellowish green flat on either side of the Powder was +studded with wild flowers, and the cottonwood trees were in full leaf. +One large circle of buffalo-skin teepees formed the movable village. + +The tribal rites had all been observed, and the usual summer +festivities enjoyed to the full. The camp as it broke up divided itself +in three parts, each of which had determined to seek a favorite +hunting-ground. + +One band journeyed west, toward the Tongue river. One followed a +tributary of the Powder to the south. The third merely changed camp, on +account of the grazing for ponies, and for four days remained near the +old place. + +The party that went west did not fail to realize the perilous nature of +their wanderings, for they were trespassing upon the country of the +warlike Crows. + +On the third day at sunrise, the Sioux crier's voice resounded in the +valley of the Powder, announcing that the lodges must be razed and the +villagers must take up their march. + +Breakfast of jerked buffalo meat had been served and the women were +adjusting their packs, not without much chatter and apparent confusion. +Weeko (Beautiful Woman), the young wife of the war-chief Shunkaska, who +had made many presents at the dances in honor of her twin boys, now +gave one of her remaining ponies to a poor old woman whose only beast +of burden, a large dog, had died during the night. + +This made it necessary to shift the packs of the others. Nakpa, or Long +Ears, her kitten-like gray mule, which had heretofore been honored with +the precious burden of the twin babies, was to be given a heavier and +more cumbersome load. Weeko's two-year-old spotted pony was selected to +carry the babies. + +Accordingly, the two children, in their gorgeously beaded buckskin +hoods, were suspended upon either side of the pony's saddle. As Weeko's +first-born, they were beautifully dressed; even the saddle and bridle +were daintily worked by her own hands. + +The caravan was now in motion, and Weeko started all her ponies after +the leader, while she adjusted the mule's clumsy burden of kettles and +other household gear. In a moment: + +"Go on, let us see how you move with your new load! Go on!" she +exclaimed again, with a light blow of the horse-hair lariat, as the +animal stood perfectly still. + +Nakpa simply gave an angry side glance at her load and shifted her +position once or twice. Then she threw herself headlong into the air +and landed stiff-legged, uttering at the same time her unearthly +protest. First she dove straight through the crowd, then proceeded in a +circle, her heels describing wonderful curves and sweeps in the air. +Her pack, too, began to come to pieces and to take forced flights from +her undignified body and heels, in the midst of the screams of women +and children, the barking of dogs, and the war-whoops of the amused +young braves. + +The cowskin tent became detached from her saddle, and a moment later +Nakpa stood free. Her sides worked like a bellows as she stood there, +meekly indignant, apparently considering herself to be the victim of an +uncalled-for misunderstanding. + +"I should put an arrow through her at once, only she is not worth a +good arrow," said Shunkaska, or White Dog, the husband of Weeko. At his +wife's answer, he opened his eyes in surprised displeasure. + +"No, she shall have her own pack again. She wants her twins. I ought +never to have taken them from her!" + +Weeko approached Nakpa as she stood alone and unfriended in the face of +her little world, all of whom considered that she had committed the +unpardonable sin. As for her, she evidently felt that her misfortunes +had not been of her own making. She gave a hesitating, sidelong look at +her mistress. + +"Nakpa, you should not have acted so. I knew you were stronger than the +others, therefore I gave you that load," said Weeko in a conciliatory +tone, and patted her on the nose. "Come, now, you shall have your own +pet pack," and she led her back to where the young pony stood silently +with the babies. + +Nakpa threw back her ears and cast savage looks at him, while +Shunkaska, with no small annoyance, gathered together as much as he +could of their scattered household effects. The sleeping brown-skinned +babies in their chrysalis-like hoods were gently lowered from the +pony's back and attached securely to Nakpa's padded wooden saddle. The +family pots and kettles were divided among the pack-ponies. Order was +restored and the village once more in motion. + +"Come now, Nakpa; you have your wish. You must take good care of my +babies. Be good, because I have trusted you," murmured the young mother +in her softest tones. + +"Really, Weeko, you have some common ground with Nakpa, for you both +always want to have your own way, and stick to it, too! I tell you, I +fear this Long Ears. She is not to be trusted with babies," remarked +Shunkaska, with a good deal of severity. + +But his wife made no reply, for she well knew that though he might +criticize, he would not actually interfere with her domestic +arrangements. + +He now started ahead to join the men in advance of the slow-moving +procession, thus leaving her in undivided charge of her household. One +or two of the pack ponies were not well trained and required all her +attention. Nakpa had been a faithful servant until her escapade of the +morning, and she was now obviously satisfied with her mistress' +arrangements. She walked alongside with her lariat dragging, and +perfectly free to do as she pleased. + +Some hours later, the party ascended a slope from the river bottom to +cross over the divide which lay between the Powder River and a +tributary stream. The ford was deep, with a swift current. Here and +there a bald butte stood out in full relief against the brilliant blue +sky. + +"Whoo! whoo!" came the blood-curdling signal of danger from the front. +It was no unfamiliar sound--the rovers knew it only too well. It meant +sudden death--or at best a cruel struggle and frantic flight. + +Terrified, yet self-possessed, the women turned to fly while yet there +was time. Instantly the mother looked to Nakpa, who carried on either +side of the saddle her precious boys. She hurriedly examined the +fastenings to see that all was secure, and then caught her swiftest +pony, for, like all Indian women, she knew just what was happening, and +that while her husband was engaged in front with the enemy, she must +seek safety with her babies. + +Hardly was she in the saddle when a heartrending war-whoop sounded on +their flank, and she knew that they were surrounded! Instinctively she +reached for her husband's second quiver of arrows, which was carried by +one of the pack-ponies. Alas! the Crow warriors were already upon them! +The ponies became unmanageable, and the wild screams of women and +children pierced the awful confusion. + +Quick as a flash, Weeko turned again to her babies, but Nakpa had +already disappeared! + +When the Crows made their flank charge, Nakpa apparently appreciated +the situation. To save herself and the babies, she took a desperate +chance. She fled straight through the attacking force. + +When the warriors came howling upon her in great numbers, she at once +started back the way she had come, to the camp left behind. They had +travelled nearly three days. To be sure, they did not travel more than +fifteen miles a day, but it was full forty miles to cover before dark. + +"Look! look!" exclaimed a warrior, "two babies hung from the saddle of +a mule!" + +No one heeded this man's call, and his arrow did not touch Nakpa or +either of the boys, but it struck the thick part of the saddle over the +mule's back. + +"Whoo! whoo!" yelled another Crow to his comrades, "the Sioux have +dispatched a runner to get reinforcements! There he goes, down on the +flat! Now he has almost reached the river bottom!" + +It was only Nakpa. She laid back her ears and stretched out more and +more to gain the river, for she realized that when she had crossed the +ford the Crows would not pursue her farther. + +Now she had reached the bank. With the intense heat from her exertions, +she was extremely nervous, and she imagined a warrior behind every +bush. Yet she had enough sense left to realize that she must not +satisfy her thirst. She tried the bottom with her forefoot, then waded +carefully into the deep stream. + +She kept her big ears well to the front as she swam, to catch the +slightest sound. As she stepped on the opposite shore, she shook +herself and the boys vigorously, then pulled a few mouthfuls of grass +and started on. + +Soon one of the babies began to cry, and the other was not long in +joining him. Nakpa did not know what to do. She gave a gentle whinny +and both babies apparently stopped to listen; then she took up an easy +gait as if to put them to sleep. + +These tactics answered only for a time. As she fairly flew over the +lowlands, the babies' hunger increased and they screamed so loud that a +passing coyote had to sit upon his haunches and wonder what in the +world the fleeing long-eared horse was carrying on his saddle. Even +magpies and crows flew near as if to ascertain the meaning of this +curious sound. + +Nakpa now came to the Little Trail creek, a tributary of the Powder, +not far from the old camp. There she swerved aside so suddenly as +almost to jerk her babies out of their cradles. Two gray wolves, one on +each side, approached her, growling low--their white teeth showing. + +Never in her humble life had Nakpa been in more desperate straits. The +larger of the wolves came fiercely forward to engage her attention, +while his mate was to attack her behind and cut her hamstrings. But for +once the pair had made a miscalculation. The mule used her front hoofs +vigorously on the foremost wolf, while her hind ones were doing even +more effective work. The larger wolf soon went limping away with a +broken hip, and the one in the rear received a deep cut on the jaw +which proved an effectual discouragement. + +A little further on, an Indian hunter drew near on horseback, but Nakpa +did not pause or slacken her pace. On she fled through the long dry +grass of the river bottoms, while her babies slept again from sheer +exhaustion. Toward sunset, she entered the Sioux camp amid great +excitement, for some one had spied her afar off, and the boys and the +dogs announced her coming. + +"Whoo, whoo! Weeko's Nakpa has come back with the twins! Whoo, whoo!" +exclaimed the men. "Tokee! tokee!" cried the women. + +Zeezeewin, a sister to Weeko, who was in the village, came forward and +released the children, as Nakpa gave a low whinny and stopped. + +"Sing a Brave-Heart song for the Long-Eared One! She has escaped alone +with her charge. She is entitled to wear an eagle's feather! Look at +the arrow in her saddle! and more, she has a knife-wound in her jaw and +an arrow-cut on her hind leg.--No, those are the marks of a wolf's +teeth! She has passed through many dangers and saved two chief's sons, +who will some day make the Crows sorry for this day's work!" + +The speaker was an old man, who thus addressed the fast gathering +throng. + +Zeezeewin now came forward again with an eagle feather and some white +paint in her hands. The young men rubbed Nakpa down, and the feather, +marked with red to indicate her wounds, was fastened to her mane. +Shoulders and hips were touched with red paint to show her endurance in +running. Then the crier, praising her brave deed in heroic verse, led +her around the camp, inside of the circle of teepees. All the people +stood outside their lodges and listened respectfully, for the Dakota +loves well to honor the faithful and the brave. + +During the next day, riders came in from the ill-fated party, bringing +the sad news of the fight and heavy loss. Late in the afternoon came +Weeko, her face swollen with crying, her beautiful hair cut short in +mourning, her garments torn and covered with dust and blood. Her +husband had fallen in the fight, and her twin boys she supposed to have +been taken captive by the Crows. Singing in a hoarse voice the praises +of her departed warrior, she entered the camp. As she approached her +sister's teepee, there stood Nakpa, still wearing her honorable +decorations. At the same moment, Zeezeewin came out to meet her with +both babies in her arms. + +"Mechinkshee! mechinkshee! (my sons, my sons!)" was all that the poor +mother could say, as she all but fell from the saddle to the ground. +The despised Long Ears had not betrayed her trust. + + + + +V + +SNANA'S FAWN + + +The Little Missouri was in her spring fulness, and the hills among +which she found her way to the Great Muddy were profusely adorned with +colors, much like those worn by the wild red man upon a holiday! +Between the gorgeous buttes and rainbow-tinted ridges there were narrow +plains, broken here and there by dry creeks or gulches, and these again +were clothed scantily with poplars and sad-colored bull-berry bushes, +while the bare spots were purple with the wild Dakota crocuses. + +Upon the lowest of a series of natural terraces there stood on this May +morning a young Sioux girl, whose graceful movements were not unlike +those of a doe which chanced to be lurking in a neighboring gulch. On +the upper plains, not far away, were her young companions, all busily +employed with the wewoptay, as it is called--the sharp-pointed stick +with which the Sioux women dig wild turnips. They were gayly gossiping +together, or each humming a love-song as she worked, only Snana stood +somewhat apart from the rest; in fact, concealed by the crest of the +ridge. + +It was now full-born day. The sun shone hot upon the bare ground, and +the drops stood upon Snana's forehead as she plied her long pole. There +was a cool spring in the dry creek bed near by, well hidden by a clump +of choke-cherry bushes, and she turned thither to cool her thirsty +throat. In the depths of the ravine her eye caught a familiar +footprint--the track of a doe with the young fawn beside it. The +hunting instinct arose within. + +"It will be a great feat if I can find and take from her the babe. The +little tawny skin shall be beautifully dressed by my mother. The legs +and the nose shall be embossed with porcupine quills. It will be my +work-bag," she said to herself. + +As she stole forward on the fresh trail she scanned every nook, every +clump of bushes. There was a sudden rustle from within a grove of wild +plum trees, thickly festooned with grape and clematis, and the doe +mother bounded away as carelessly as if she were never to return. + +Ah, a mother's ruse! Snana entered the thorny enclosure, which was +almost a rude teepee, and, tucked away in the further-most corner, lay +something with a trout-like, speckled, tawny coat. She bent over it. +The fawn was apparently sleeping. Presently its eyes moved a bit, and a +shiver passed through its subtle body. + +"Thou shalt not die; thy skin shall not become my work-bag!" +unconsciously the maiden spoke. The mother sympathy had taken hold on +her mind. She picked the fawn up tenderly, bound its legs, and put it +on her back to carry like an Indian babe in the folds of her robe. + +"I cannot leave you alone, Tachinchala. Your mother is not here. Our +hunters will soon return by this road, and your mother has left behind +her two plain tracks leading to this thicket," she murmured. + +The wild creature struggled vigorously for a minute, and then became +quiet. Its graceful head protruded from the elk-skin robe just over +Snana's shoulder. She was slowly climbing the slope with her burden, +when suddenly like an apparition the doe mother stood before her. The +fawn called loudly when it was first seized, and the mother was not too +far away to hear. Now she called frantically for her child, at the same +time stamping with her delicate forefeet. + +"Yes, sister, you are right; she is yours; but you cannot save her +to-day! The hunters will soon be here. Let me keep her for you; I will +return her to you safely. And hear me, O sister of the woods, that some +day I may become the mother of a noble race of warriors and of fine +women, as handsome as you are!" + +At this moment the quick eyes of the Indian girl detected something +strange in the doe's actions. She glanced in every direction and +behold! a grizzly bear was cautiously approaching the group from a +considerable distance. + +"Run, run, sister! I shall save your child if I can," she cried, and +flew for the nearest scrub oak on the edge of the bank. Up the tree she +scrambled, with the fawn still securely bound to her back. The grizzly +came on with teeth exposed, and the doe-mother in her flight came +between him and the tree, giving a series of indignant snorts as she +ran, and so distracted Mato from his object of attack; but only for a +few seconds--then on he came! + +"Desist, O brave Mato! It does not become a great medicine-man to +attack a helpless woman with a burden upon her back!" + +Snana spoke as if the huge brute could understand her, and, indeed, the +Indians hold that wild animals understand intuitively when appealed to +by human beings in distress. Yet he replied only with a hoarse growl, +as rising upon his hind legs he shook the little tree vigorously. + +"Ye, ye, heyupi ye!" Snana called loudly to her companion +turnip-diggers. Her cry soon brought all the women into sight upon a +near-by ridge, and they immediately gave a general alarm. Mato saw +them, but appeared not at all concerned and was still intent upon +dislodging the girl, who clung frantically to her perch. + +Presently there appeared upon the little knoll several warriors, +mounted and uttering the usual war-whoop, as if they were about to +swoop down upon a human enemy. This touched the dignity of Mato, and he +immediately prepared to accept the challenge. Every Indian was alive to +the possibilities of the occasion, for it is well known that Mato, or +grizzly bear, alone among animals is given the rank of a warrior, so +that whoever conquers him may wear an eagle feather. + +"Woo! woo!" the warriors shouted, as they maneuvered to draw him into +the open plain. + +He answered with hoarse growls, threatening a rider who had ventured +too near. But arrows were many and well-aimed, and in a few minutes the +great and warlike Mato lay dead at the foot of the tree. + +The men ran forward and counted their _coups_ on him, just as when an +enemy is fallen. Then they looked at one another and placed their hands +over their mouths as the young girl descended the-tree with a fawn +bound upon her back. + +"So that was the bait!" they cried. "And will you not make a feast with +that fawn for us who came to your rescue?" + +"The fawn is young and tender, and we have not eaten meat for two days. +It will be a generous thing to do," added her father, who was among +them. + +"Ye-e-e!" she cried out in distress. "Do not ask it! I have seen this +fawn's mother. I have promised to keep her child safe. See! I have +saved its life, even when my own was in danger." + +"Ho, ho, wakan ye lo! (Yes, yes, 'tis holy or mysterious)," they +exclaimed approvingly. + +It was no small trouble for Snana to keep her trust. As may well be +supposed, all the dogs of the teepee village must be watched and kept +at a distance. Neither was it easy to feed the little captive; but in +gaining its confidence the girl was an adept. The fawn soon followed +her everywhere, and called to her when hungry exactly as she had called +to her own mother. + +After several days, when her fright at the encounter with the bear had +somewhat worn off, Snana took her pet into the woods and back to the +very spot in which she had found it. In the furthest corner of the wild +plum grove she laid it down, gently stroked its soft forehead, and +smoothed the leaf-like ears. The little thing closed its eyes. Once +more the Sioux girl bent over and laid her cheek against the fawn's +head; then reluctantly she moved away, hoping and yet dreading that the +mother would return. She crouched under a clump of bushes near by, and +gave the doe call. It was a reckless thing for her to do, for such a +call might bring upon her a mountain lion or ever-watchful silver-tip; +but Snana did not think of that. + +In a few minutes she heard the light patter of hoofs, and caught a +glimpse of a doe running straight toward the fawn's hiding-place. When +she stole near enough to see, the doe and the fawn were examining one +another carefully, as if fearing some treachery. At last both were +apparently satisfied. The doe caressed her natural child, and the +little one accepted the milk she offered. + +In the Sioux maiden's mind there was turmoil. A close attachment to the +little wild creature had already taken root there, contending with the +sense of justice that was strong within her. Now womanly sympathy for +the mother was in control, and now a desire to possess and protect her +helpless pet. + +"I can take care of her against all hunters, both animal and human. +They are ever ready to seize the helpless fawn for food. Her life will +be often exposed. You cannot save her from disaster. O, Takcha, my +sister, let me still keep her for you!" she finally appealed to the +poor doe, who was nervously watching the intruder, and apparently +thinking how she might best escape with the fawn. + +Just at this moment there came a low call from the wood. It was a doe +call; but the wild mother and her new friend both knew that it was not +the call of a real doe. + +"It is a Sioux hunter!" whispered the girl. "You must go, my sister! Be +off; I will take your child to safety!" + +While she was yet speaking, the doe seemed to realize the danger. She +stopped only an instant to lick fondly the tawny coat of the little +one, then she bounded away. + +As Snana emerged from the bushes with her charge, a young hunter met +her face to face, and stared at her curiously. He was not of her +father's camp, but a stranger. + +"Ugh, you have my game." + +"Tosh!" she replied coquettishly. + +It was so often said among the Indians that the doe was wont to put on +human form to mislead the hunter, that it looked strange to see a woman +with a fawn, and the young man could not forbear to gaze upon Snana. + +"You are not the real mother in maiden's guise? Tell me truly if you +are of human blood," he demanded rudely. + +"I am a Sioux maiden! Do you not know my father?" she replied. + +"Ah, but who is your father? What is his name?" he insisted, nervously +fingering his arrows. + +"Do not be a coward! Surely you should know a maid of your own race," +she replied reproachfully. + +"Ah, you know the tricks of the doe! What is thy name?" + +"Hast thou forgotten the etiquette of thy people, and wouldst compel me +to pronounce my own name? I refuse; thou art jesting!" she retorted +with a smile. + +"Thou dost give the tricky answers of a doe. I cannot wait; I must act +before I lose my natural mind. But already I am yours. Whatever purpose +you may have in thus charming a poor hunter, be merciful," and, +throwing aside his quiver, he sat down. + +The maiden stole a glance at his face and then another. He was +handsome. Softly she reëntered the thicket and laid down the little +fawn. + +"Promise me never to hunt here again!" she said earnestly, as she came +forth without her pretty burden, and he exacted another promise in +return. Thus Snana lost her fawn, and found a lover. + + + + +VI + +HAKADAH'S FIRST OFFERING + + +"Hakadah, coowah!" was the sonorous call that came from a large teepee +in the midst of the Indian encampment. In answer to the summons there +emerged from the woods, which were only a few steps away, a boy, +accompanied by a splendid black dog. There was little in the appearance +of the little fellow to distinguish him from the other Sioux boys. + +He hastened to the tent from which he had been summoned, carrying in +his hands a bow and arrows gorgeously painted, while the small birds +and squirrels that he had killed with these weapons dangled from his +belt. + +Within the tent sat two old women, one on each side of the fire. +Uncheedah was the boy's grandmother, who had brought up the motherless +child. Wahchewin was only a caller, but she had been invited to remain +and assist in the first personal offering of Hakadah to the "Great +Mystery." + +It had been whispered through the teepee village that Uncheedah +intended to give a feast in honor of her grandchild's first sacrificial +offering. This was mere speculation, however, for the clear-sighted old +woman had determined to keep this part of the matter secret until the +offering should be completed, believing that the "Great Mystery" should +be met in silence and dignity. + +The boy came rushing into the lodge, followed by his dog Ohitika, who +was wagging his tail promiscuously, as if to say: "Master and I are +really hunters!" + +Hakadah breathlessly gave a descriptive narrative of the killing of +each bird and squirrel as he pulled them off his belt and threw them +before his grandmother. + +"This blunt-headed arrow," said he, "actually had eyes this morning. +Before the squirrel can dodge around the tree it strikes him in the +head, and, as he falls to the ground, my Ohitika is upon him." + +He knelt upon one knee as he talked, his black eyes shining like +evening stars. + +"Sit down here," said Uncheedah to the boy; "I have something to say to +you. You see that you are now almost a man. Observe the game you have +brought me! It will not be long before you will leave me, for a warrior +must seek opportunities to make him great among his people. + +"You must endeavor to equal your father and grandfather," she went on. +"They were warriors and feast-makers. But it is not the poor hunter who +makes many feasts. Do you not remember the 'Legend of the Feast-Maker,' +who gave forty feasts in twelve moons? And have you forgotten the story +of the warrior who sought the will of the Great Mystery? To-day you +will make your first offering to him." + +The concluding sentence fairly dilated the eyes of the young hunter, +for he felt that a great event was about to occur, in which he would be +the principal actor. But Uncheedah resumed her speech. + +"You must give up one of your belongings--whichever is dearest to +you--for this is to be a sacrificial offering." + +This somewhat confused the boy; not that he was selfish, but rather +uncertain as to what would be the most appropriate thing to give. Then, +too, he supposed that his grandmother referred to his ornaments and +playthings only. So he volunteered: + +"I can give up my best bow and arrows, and all the paints I have, +and--and my bear's claws necklace, grandmother!" + +"Are these the things dearest to you?" she demanded. + +"Not the bow and arrows, but the paints will be very hard to get, for +there are no white people near; and the necklace--it is not easy to get +one like it again. I will also give up my otter-skin head-dress, if you +think that it not enough." + +"But think, my boy, you have not yet mentioned the thing that will be a +pleasant offering to the Great Mystery." + +The boy looked into the woman's face with a puzzled expression. + +"I have nothing else as good as those things I have named, grandmother, +unless it is my spotted pony; and I am sure that the Great Mystery will +not require a little boy to make him so large a gift. Besides, my uncle +gave three otter-skins and five eagle-feathers for him and I promised +to keep him a long while, if the Blackfeet or the Crows do not steal +him." + +Uncheedah was not fully satisfied with the boy's free offerings. +Perhaps it had not occurred to him what she really wanted. But +Uncheedah knew where his affection was vested. His faithful dog, his +pet and companion--Hakadah was almost inseparable from the loving +beast. + +She was sure that it would be difficult to obtain his consent to +sacrifice the animal, but she ventured upon a final appeal. + +"You must remember," she said, "that in this offering you will call +upon him who looks at you from every creation. In the wind you hear him +whisper to you. He gives his war-whoop in the thunder. He watches you +by day with his eye, the sun; at night, he gazes upon your sleeping +countenance through the moon. In short, it is the Mystery of Mysteries, +who controls all things, to whom you will make your first offering. By +this act, you will ask him to grant to you what he has granted to few +men. I know you wish to be a great warrior and hunter. I am not +prepared to see my Hakadah show any cowardice, for the love of +possessions is a woman's trait and not a brave's." + +During this speech, the boy had been completely aroused to the spirit +of manliness, and in his excitement was willing to give up anything he +had--even his pony! But he was unmindful of his friend and companion, +Ohitika, the dog! So, scarcely had Uncheedah finished speaking, when he +almost shouted: + +"Grandmother, I will give up any of my possessions for the offering to +the Great Mystery! You may select what you think will be most pleasing +to him." + +There were two silent spectators of this little dialogue. One was +Wahchewin, the other was Ohitika. The woman had been invited to stay, +although only a neighbor. The dog, by force of habit, had taken up his +usual position by the side of his master when they entered the teepee. +Without moving a muscle, save those of his eyes, he had been a very +close observer of what passed. + +Had the dog but moved once to attract the attention of his little +friend, he might have been dissuaded from that impetuous exclamation: +"Grandmother, I will give up any of my possessions!" + +It was hard for Uncheedah to tell the boy that he must part with his +dog, but she was equal to the situation. + +"Hakadah," she proceeded cautiously, "you are a young brave. I know, +though young, your heart is strong and your courage is great. You will +be pleased to give up the dearest thing you have for your first +offering. You must give up Ohitika. He is brave; and you, too, are +brave. He will not fear death; you will bear his loss bravely. +Come,--here are four bundles of paints and a filled pipe,--let us go to +the place!" + +When the last words were uttered, Hakadah did not seem to hear them. He +was simply unable to speak. To a civilized eye, he would have appeared +at that moment like a little copper statue. His bright black eyes were +fast melting in floods of tears, when he caught his grandmother's eye +and recollected her oft-repeated adage: "Tears for woman and the +war-whoop for man to drown sorrow!" + +He swallowed two or three big mouthfuls of heartache and the little +warrior was master of the situation. + +"Grandmother, my Brave will have to die! Let me tie together two of the +prettiest tails of the squirrels that he and I killed this morning, to +show to the Great Mystery what a hunter he has been. Let me paint him +myself." + +This request Uncheedah could not refuse, and she left the pair alone +for a few minutes, while she went to ask Wacoota to execute Ohitika. + +Every Indian boy knows that, when a warrior is about to meet death, he +must sing a death dirge. Hakadah thought of his Ohitika as a person who +would meet his death without a struggle, so he began to sing a dirge +for him, at the same time hugging him tight to himself. As if he were a +human being, he whispered in his ear: + +[Illustration: He began to sing a dirge for him. _Page 140._] + +"Be brave, my Ohitika! I shall remember you the first time I am upon +the war-path in the Ojibway country." + +At last he heard Uncheedah talking with a man outside the teepee, so he +quickly took up his paints. Ohitika was a jet-black dog, with a silver +tip on the end of his tail and on his nose, beside one white paw and a +white star upon a protuberance between his ears. Hakadah knew that a +man who prepares for death usually paints with red and black. Nature +had partially provided Ohitika in this respect, so that only red was +required and this Hakadah supplied generously. + +Then he took off a piece of red cloth and tied it around the dog's +neck; to this he fastened two of the squirrels' tails and a wing from +the oriole they had killed that morning. + +Just then it occurred to him that good warriors always mourn for their +departed friends, and the usual mourning was black paint. He loosened +his black braided locks, ground a dead coal, mixed it with bear's oil +and rubbed it on his entire face. + +During this time every hole in the tent was occupied with an eye. Among +the lookers-on was his grandmother. She was very near relenting. Had +she not feared the wrath of the Great Mystery, she would have been +happy to call out to the boy: "Keep your dear dog, my child!" + +As it was, Hakadah came out of the teepee with his face looking like an +eclipsed moon, leading his beautiful dog, who was even handsomer than +ever with the red touches on his specks of white. + +It was now Uncheedah's turn to struggle with the storm and burden in +her soul. But the boy was emboldened by the people's admiration of his +bravery, and did not shed a tear. As soon as she was able to speak, the +loving grandmother said: + +"No, my young brave, not so! You must not mourn for your first +offering. Wash your face and then we will go." + +The boy obeyed, submitted Ohitika to Wacoota with a smile, and walked +off with his grandmother and Wahchewin. + +The boy and his grandmother descended the bank, following a tortuous +foot-path until they reached the water's edge. Then they proceeded to +the mouth of an immense cave, some fifty feet above the river, under +the cliff. A little stream of limpid water trickled down from a spring +within the cave. The little watercourse served as a sort of natural +staircase for the visitors. A cool, pleasant atmosphere exhaled from +the mouth of the cavern. Really it was a shrine of nature, and it is +not strange that it was so regarded by the tribe. + +A feeling of awe and reverence came to the boy. "It is the home of the +Great Mystery," he thought to himself; and the impressiveness of his +surroundings made him forget his sorrow. + +Very soon Wahchewin came with some difficulty to the steps. She placed +the body of Ohitika upon the ground in a life-like position and again +left the two alone. + +As soon as she disappeared from view, Uncheedah, with all solemnity and +reverence, unfastened the leather strings that held the four small +bundles of paints and one of tobacco, while the filled pipe was laid +beside the dead Ohitika. + +She scattered paints and tobacco all about. Again they stood a few +moments silently; then she drew a deep breath and began her prayer to +the Great Mystery: + +"O, Great Mystery, we hear thy voice in the rushing waters below us! We +hear thy whisper in the great oaks above! Our spirits are refreshed +with thy breath from within this cave. O, hear our prayer! Behold this +little boy and bless him! Make him a warrior and a hunter as great as +thou didst make his father and grandfather." + +And with this prayer the little warrior had completed his first +offering. + + + + +VII + +THE GRAVE OF THE DOG + + +The full moon was just clear of the high mountain ranges when the game +scout moved slowly homeward, well wrapped in his long buffalo robe, +which was securely belted to his strong loins; his quiver tightly tied +to his shoulders so as not to impede his progress. + +As he emerged from the lowlands into the upper regions, he loomed up a +gigantic figure against the clear, moonlit horizon. His picturesque +foxskin cap with all its trimmings was incrusted with frost from the +breath of his nostrils, and his lagging footfall sounded crisply. The +distance he had that day covered was enough for any human endurance; +yet he was neither faint nor hungry; but his feet were frozen into the +psay, the snow-shoes, so that he could not run faster than an easy slip +and slide. + +At last he reached the much-coveted point--the crown of the last +ascent; and when he smelled fire and the savory odor of the jerked +buffalo meat, it well-nigh caused him to waver! But he must not fail to +follow the custom of untold ages, and give the game scout's wolf call +before entering camp. + +Accordingly he paused upon the highest point of the ridge and uttered a +cry to which the hungry cry of a real wolf would have seemed but a +coyote's yelp in comparison! Then it was that the rest of the buffalo +hunters knew that their game scout was returning with welcome news; for +the unsuccessful scout enters the camp silently. + +In the meantime, the hunters at the temporary camp were aroused to a +high pitch of excitement. Some turned their buffalo robes and put them +on in such a way as to convert themselves into make-believe bison, and +began to tread the snow, while others were singing the buffalo song, +that their spirits might be charmed and allured within the circle of +the camp-fires. The scout, too, was singing his buffalo bull song in a +guttural, lowing chant as he neared the hunting camp. Within arrow-shot +he paused again, while the usual ceremonies were enacted for his +reception. This done, he was seated with the leaders in a chosen place. + +"It was a long run," he said, "but there were no difficulties. I found +the first herd directly north of here. The second herd, a great one, is +northeast, near Shell Lake. The snow is deep. The buffalo can only +follow their leader in their retreat." + +"Hi, hi, hi!" the hunters exclaimed solemnly in token of gratitude, +raising their hands heavenward and then pointing them toward the +ground. + +"Ho, kola! one more round of the buffalo-pipe, then we shall retire, to +rise before daybreak for the hunt," advised one of the leaders. +Silently they partook in turn of the long-stemmed pipe, and one by one, +with a dignified "Ho!" departed to their teepees. + +The scout betook himself to his little old buffalo teepee, which he +used for winter hunting expeditions. His faithful Shunka, who had been +all this time its only occupant, met him at the entrance as dogs alone +know how to welcome a lifelong friend. As his master entered he +stretched himself in his old-time way, from the tip of his tail to that +of his tongue, and finished by curling both ends upward. + +"Ho, mita Shunka, eat this; for you must be hungry!" So saying, the +scout laid before his canine friend the last piece of his dried buffalo +meat. It was the sweetest meal ever eaten by a dog, judging by his long +smacking of his lips after he had swallowed it! + +The hunting party was soon lost in heavy slumber. Not a sound could be +heard save the gnawing of the ponies upon the cottonwood bark, which +was provided for them instead of hay in the winter time. + +When Wapashaw, the game scout, had rolled himself in his warm buffalo +robe and was sound asleep, his faithful companion hunter, the great +Esquimaux wolf dog, silently rose and again stretched himself, then +stood quiet for a moment as if meditating. It was clear that he knew +well what he had planned to do, but was considering how he should do it +without arousing any suspicion of his movements. This is a dog's art, +and the night tricks and marauding must always be the joy and secret of +his life! + +Softly he emerged from the lodge and gave a sweeping glance around to +assure him that there were none to spy upon him. Suspiciously he +sniffed the air, as if to ascertain whether there could be any danger +to his sleeping master while he should be away. + +Up the long ascent he trotted in a northerly direction, yet not +following his master's trail. He was large and formidable in strength, +combining the features of his wild brothers of the plains with those of +the dogs who keep company with the red men. His jet-black hair and +sharp ears and nose appeared to immense advantage against the spotless +and jewelled snow, until presently his own warm breath had coated him +with heavy frost. + +After a time Shunka struck into his master's trail and followed it all +the way, only taking a short cut here and there when, by dog instinct, +he knew that a man must go around such a point to get to his +destination. He met many travellers during the night, but none had +dared to approach him, though some few followed at a distance, as if to +discover his purpose. + +At last he reached Shell Lake, and there beheld a great gathering of +the herds! They stood in groups, like enormous rocks, no longer black, +but white with frost. Every one of them emitted a white steam, quickly +frozen into a fine snow in the air. + +Shunka sat upon his haunches and gazed. "Wough, this is it!" he said to +himself. He had kept still when the game scout gave the wolf call, +though the camp was in an uproar, and from the adjacent hills the wild +hunters were equally joyous, because they understood the meaning of the +unwonted noise. Yet his curiosity was not fully satisfied, and he had +set out to discover the truth, and it may be to protect or serve his +master in case of danger. + +At daybreak the great dog meekly entered his master's rude teepee, and +found him already preparing for the prospective hunt. He was filling +his inside moccasins full of buffalo hair to serve as stockings, over +which he put on his large buffalo moccasins with the hair inside, and +adjusted his warm leggins. He then adjusted his snow-shoes and filled +his quiver full of good arrows. The dog quietly lay down in a warm +place, making himself as small as possible, as if to escape +observation, and calmly watched his master. + +Soon all the hunters were running in single file upon the trail of the +scout, each Indian closely followed by his trusty hunting dog. In less +than two hours they stood just back of the low ridge which rounded the +south side of Shell Lake. The narrow strip of land between its twin +divisions was literally filled with the bison. In the gulches beyond, +between the dark lines of timber, there were also scattered groups; but +the hunters at once saw their advantage over the herd upon the +peninsula. + +"Hechetu, kola! This is well, friends!" exclaimed the first to speak. +"These can be forced to cross the slippery ice and the mire around the +springs. This will help us to get more meat. Our people are hungry, and +we must kill many in order to feed them!" + +"Ugh, he is always right! Our dogs must help us here. The meat will be +theirs as well as ours," another added. + +"Tosh, kola! The game scout's dog is the greatest Shunka of them all! +He has a mind near like that of a man. Let him lead the attack of his +fellows, while we crawl up on the opposite side and surround the +buffalo upon the slippery ice and in the deceitful mire," spoke up a +third. So it was agreed that the game scout and his Shunka should lead +the attack. + +"Woo, woo, woo!" was the hoarse signal from the throat of the game +scout; but his voice was drowned by the howling and barking of the +savage dogs as they made their charge. In a moment all was confusion +among the buffalo. Some started this way, others that, and the great +mass swayed to and fro uncertainly. A few were ready to fight, but the +snow was too deep for a countercharge upon the dogs, save on the ice +just in front of them, where the wind had always full sweep. There all +was slippery and shining! In their excitement and confusion the bison +rushed upon this uncertain plain. + +Their weight and the momentum of their rush carried them hopelessly far +out, where they were again confused as to which way to go, and many +were stuck in the mire which was concealed by the snow, except here and +there an opening above a spring from which there issued a steaming +vapor. The game scout and his valiant dog led on the force of canines +with deafening war-cries, and one could see black heads here and there +popping from behind the embankments. As the herd finally swept toward +the opposite shore, many dead were left behind. Pierced by the arrows +of the hunters, they lay like black mounds upon the glassy plain. + +It was a great hunt! "Once more the camp will be fed," they thought, +"and this good fortune will help us to reach the spring alive!" + +A chant of rejoicing rang out from the opposite shore, while the game +scout unsheathed his big knife and began the work which is ever the +sequel of the hunt--to dress the game; although the survivors of the +slaughter had scarcely disappeared behind the hills. + +All were busily skinning and cutting up the meat into pieces convenient +for carrying, when suddenly a hunter called the attention of those near +him to an ominous change in the atmosphere. + +"There are signs of a blizzard! We must hurry into the near woods +before it reaches us!" he shouted. + +Some heard him; others did not. Those who saw or heard passed on the +signal and hurried toward the wood, where others had already arranged +rude shelters and gathered piles of dry wood for fuel. + +Around the several camp-fires the hunters sat or stood, while slices of +savory meat were broiled and eaten with a relish by the half-starved +men. + +But the storm had now fairly enveloped them in whirling whiteness. +"Woo, woo!" they called to those who had not yet reached camp. One +after another answered and emerged from the blinding pall of snow. At +last none were missing save the game scout and his Shunka! + +The hunters passed the time in eating and telling stories until a late +hour, occasionally giving a united shout to guide the lost one should +he chance to pass near their camp. + +"Fear not for our scout, friends!" finally exclaimed a leader among +them. "He is a brave and experienced man. He will find a safe +resting-place, and join us when the wind ceases to rage." So they all +wrapped themselves in their robes and lay down to sleep. + +All that night and the following day it was impossible to give succor, +and the hunters felt much concern for the absent. Late in the second +night the great storm subsided. + +"Ho, ho! Iyotanka! Rise up!" So the first hunter to awaken aroused all +the others. + +As after every other storm, it was wonderfully still; so still that one +could hear distinctly the pounding feet of the jack-rabbits coming down +over the slopes to the willows for food. All dry vegetation was buried +beneath the deep snow, and everywhere they saw this white-robed +creature of the prairie coming down to the woods. + +Now the air was full of the wolf and coyote game call, and they were +seen in great numbers upon the ice. + +"See, see! the hungry wolves are dragging the carcasses away! Harken to +the war-cries of the scout's Shunka! Hurry, hurry!" they urged one +another in chorus. + +Away they ran and out upon the lake; now upon the wind-swept ice, now +upon the crusted snow; running when they could, sliding when they must. +There was certainly a great concourse of the wolves, whirling in +frantic circles, but continually moving toward the farther end of the +lake. They could hear distinctly the hoarse bark of the scout's Shunka, +and occasionally the muffled war-whoop of a man, as if it came from +under the ice. + +As they approached nearer the scene they could hear more distinctly the +voice of their friend, but still as it were from underground. When they +reached the spot to which the wolves had dragged two of the carcasses +of the buffalo, Shunka was seen to stand by one of them, but at that +moment he staggered and fell. The hunters took out their knives and +ripped up the frozen hide covering the abdominal cavity. It revealed a +warm nest of hay and buffalo hair in which the scout lay, wrapped in +his own robe! + +He had placed his dog in one of the carcasses and himself in another +for protection from the storm; but the dog was wiser than the man, for +he kept his entrance open. The man lapped the hide over and it froze +solidly, shutting him securely in. When the hungry wolves came Shunka +promptly extricated himself and held them off as long as he could; +meanwhile, sliding and pulling, the wolves continued to drag over the +slippery ice the body of the buffalo in which his master had taken +refuge. The poor, faithful dog, with no care for his own safety, stood +by his imprisoned master until the hunters came up. But it was too +late, for he had received more than one mortal wound. + +As soon as the scout got out, with a face more anxious for another than +for himself, he exclaimed: + +"Where is Shunka, the bravest of his tribe?" + +"Ho, kola, it is so, indeed; and here he lies," replied one sadly. + +His master knelt by his side, gently stroking the face of the dog. + +"Ah, my friend; you go where all spirits live! The Great Mystery has a +home for every living creature. May he permit our meeting there!" + +At daybreak the scout carried him up to one of the pretty round hills +overlooking the lake, and built up around him walls of loose stone. Red +paints were scattered over the snow, in accordance with Indian custom, +and the farewell song was sung. + +Since that day the place has been known to the Sioux as +Shunkahanakapi--the Grave of the Dog. + + +THE END + + + + +GLOSSARY OF INDIAN WORDS + + +Be-day-wah´-kan-ton, lake-dwellers. + + +Cha-tan´-na, fourth son. + +chin´-to, certainly. + +Che-ton´-skah, white hawk. + +Chank-pay´-yu-hah, carries the club. + +coo´-wah, come here! + + +ha-nah´-kah-pee, grave. + +he-yu´-pee-yay, come all of you! + +hay´-chay-tu, it is well. + +Hah-kay´-dah, the last-born. + +he-nah´-kah-gah, the owl. + + +Kah-po´-se-yah, Light Lodges (a band of Sioux). + +Ko´-lah, friend. + + +Man-kah´-to, blue earth. + +Mah-to´, bear. + +Mah-to´-sap-ah, black bear. + +Mah-pee´-to-pah, four heavens. + +Me-ne-yah´-tah, beside the water. + +Me-chink´-shee, my son. + + +Nak-pah´, ears (of an animal). + + +O-o´-pay-han´-skah, bluebird. + +o-hit´-e-kah, brave. + + +shun´kah, dog. + +Sna´-na, rattle. + +shunk-to´-kay-chah, wolf. + +She-cho´-kah, robin. + +Shun´-kah-skah, white dog. + + +tee´-pee, tent. + +tak-chah´, deer. + +to-kee´, well, well! + +Ta-tee´-yo-pah, her door. + + +Un-chee´-dah, grand-mother. + +u-tu´-hu, oak. + + +wa-kan´, holy, wonderful. + +Wah-coo´-tay, shooter. + +Wah-pay´-ton, dweller among the leaves. + +Wah-chee´-win, dancing woman. + +Wee-ko´, beautiful woman. + +Wa-doo´-tah, scarlet. + +we´-yan-nah, little woman. + +We-no´-nah, first-born girl. + +Wah-be-day´, orphan. + + +Zee-zee´-wee, yellow woman. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Indian Child Life, by Charles A. Eastman + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INDIAN CHILD LIFE *** + +***** This file should be named 25907-8.txt or 25907-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/5/9/0/25907/ + +Produced by K Nordquist and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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