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@@ -0,0 +1,6144 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Indian Boyhood, by [AKA Ohiyesa], 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 Boyhood + +Author: [AKA Ohiyesa], Charles A. Eastman + +Release Date: July 5, 2008 [EBook #337] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INDIAN BOYHOOD *** + + + + +Produced by Judith Boss + + + + + +INDIAN BOYHOOD + +By [Ohiyesa] Charles A. Eastman + + + + +Contents + + I + EARLIEST RECOLLECTIONS + I: Hakadah, "The Pitiful Last" + II: Early Hardships + III: My Indian Grandmother + IV: In Indian Sugar Camp + V: A Midsummer Feast + + II + AN INDIAN BOY'S TRAINING + + III + MY PLAYS AND PLAYMATES + I: Games and Sports + II: My Playmates + III: The Boy Hunter + + IV + HAKADAH'S FIRST OFFERING + + V + FAMILY TRADITIONS + I: A Visit to Smoky Day + II: The Stone Boy + + + VI + EVENING IN THE LODGE + I: Evening in the Lodge + II: Adventures of My Uncle + + VII + THE END OF THE BEAR DANCE + + VIII + THE MAIDENS' FEAST + + IX + MORE LEGENDS + I: A Legend of Devil's Lake + II: Manitoshaw's Hunting + + X + INDIAN LIFE AND ADVENTURE + I: Life in the Woods + II: A Winter Camp + III: Wild Harvests + IV: A Meeting on the Plains + V: An Adventurous Journey + + XI + THE LAUGHING PHILOSOPHER + + XII + FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF CIVILIZATION + + + + + +I. EARLIEST RECOLLECTIONS + + + + +I. Hadakah, "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. Occasionally there was a medicine dance away off in +the woods where no one could disturb us, in which the boys impersonated +their elders, Brave Bull, Standing Elk, High Hawk, Medicine Bear, and +the rest. They painted and imitated their fathers and grandfathers to +the minutest detail, and accurately too, because they had seen the real +thing all their lives. + +We were not only good mimics but we were close students of nature. We +studied the habits of animals just as you study your books. We watched +the men of our people and represented them in our play; then learned to +emulate them in our lives. + +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 "Hakadah," 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. + +My mother, who was known as the handsomest woman of all the Spirit Lake +and Leaf Dweller Sioux, was dangerously ill, and one of the medicine men +who attended her said: "Another medicine man has come into existence, +but the mother must die. Therefore let him bear the name 'Mysterious +Medicine.'" But one of the bystanders hastily interfered, saying that an +uncle of the child already bore that name, so, for the time, I was only +"Hakadah." + +My beautiful mother, sometimes called the "Demi-Goddess" of the Sioux, +who tradition says had every feature of a Caucasian descent with the +exception of her luxuriant black hair and deep black eyes, held me +tightly to her bosom upon her death-bed, while she whispered a few words +to her mother-in-law. She said: "I give you this boy for your own. I +cannot trust my own mother with him; she will neglect him and he will +surely die." + +The woman to whom these words were spoken was below the average in +stature, remarkably active for her age (she was then fully sixty), and +possessed of as much goodness as intelligence. My mother's judgment +concerning her own mother was well founded, for soon after her death +that old lady appeared, and declared that Hakadah was too young to live +without a mother. She offered to keep me until I died, and then she +would put me in my mother's grave. Of course my other grandmother +denounced the suggestion as a very wicked one, and refused to give me +up. + +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. My disapproval +of his intrusion was so decided that he had to take a sudden and quick +flight to another bough, and from there he began to pour out his wrath +upon me, while I continued my objections to his presence so audibly that +Uncheedah soon came to my rescue, and compelled the bold intruder to +go away. It was a common thing for birds to alight on my cradle in the +woods. + +My food was, at first, a troublesome question for my kind foster-mother. +She cooked some wild rice and strained it, and mixed it with broth made +from choice venison. She also pounded dried venison almost to a flour, +and kept it in water till the nourishing juices were extracted, then +mixed with it some pounded maize, which was browned before pounding. +This soup of wild rice, pounded venison and maize was my main-stay. But +soon my teeth came--much earlier than the white children usually cut +theirs; and then my good nurse gave me a little more varied food, and I +did all my own grinding. + +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. There are times when boisterous mirth is indulged in by +our people, but the rule is gravity and decorum. + +After all, my babyhood was full of interest and the beginnings of life's +realities. The spirit of daring was already whispered into my ears. The +value of the eagle feather as worn by the warrior had caught my eye. +One day, when I was left alone, at scarcely two years of age, I took my +uncle's war bonnet and plucked out all its eagle feathers to decorate my +dog and myself. So soon the life that was about me had made its impress, +and already I desired intensely to comply with all of its demands. + + + + +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 +at all, for I had a very pleasant game of peek-aboo 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 Indian's 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. + +I must say a word in regard to the character of this uncle, my father's +brother, who was my adviser and teacher for many years. He was a man +about six feet two inches in height, very erect and broad-shouldered. He +was known at that time as one of the best hunters and bravest warriors +among the Sioux in British America, where he still lives, for to this +day we have failed to persuade him to return to the United States. + +He is a typical Indian--not handsome, but truthful and brave. He had a +few simple principles from which he hardly ever departed. Some of these +I shall describe when I speak of my early training. + +It is wonderful that any children grew up through all the exposures +and hardships that we suffered in those days! The frail teepee pitched +anywhere, in the winter as well as in the summer, was all the protection +that we had against cold and storms. I can recall times when we were +snowed in and it was very difficult to get fuel. We were once three +days without much fire and all of this time it stormed violently. There +seemed to be no special anxiety on the part of our people; they rather +looked upon all this as a matter of course, knowing that the storm would +cease when the time came. + +I could once endure as much cold and hunger as any of them; but now if I +miss one meal or accidentally wet my feet, I feel it as much as if I +had never lived in the manner I have described, when it was a matter of +course to get myself soaking wet many a time. Even if there was plenty +to eat, it was thought better for us to practice fasting sometimes; and +hard exercise was kept up continually, both for the sake of health and +to prepare the body for the extraordinary exertions that it might, at +any moment, be required to undergo. In my own remembrance, my uncle used +often to bring home a deer on his shoulder. The distance was sometimes +considerable; yet he did not consider it any sort of a feat. + +The usual custom with us was to eat only two meals a day and these were +served at each end of the day. This rule was not invariable, however, +for if there should be any callers, it was Indian etiquette to offer +either tobacco or food, or both. The rule of two meals a day was more +closely observed by the men--especially the younger men--than by the +women and children. This was when the Indians recognized that a true +manhood, one of physical activity and endurance, depends upon dieting +and regular exercise. No such system is practised by the reservation +Indians of to-day. + + + + +III. My Indian Grandmother + +AS a motherless child, I always regarded my good grandmother as the +wisest of guides and the best of protectors. It was not long before I +began to realize her superiority to most of her contemporaries. This +idea was not gained entirely from my own observation, but also from a +knowledge of the high regard in which she was held by other women. +Aside from her native talent and ingenuity, she was endowed with a truly +wonderful memory. No other midwife in her day and tribe could compete +with her in skill and judgment. Her observations in practice were all +preserved in her mind for reference, as systematically as if they had +been written upon the pages of a note-book. + +I distinctly recall one occasion when she took me with her into the +woods in search of certain medicinal roots. + +"Why do you not use all kinds of roots for medicines?" said I. + +"Because," she replied, in her quick, characteristic manner, "the +Great Mystery does not will us to find things too easily. In that case +everybody would be a medicine-giver, and Ohiyesa must learn that there +are many secrets which the Great Mystery will disclose only to the most +worthy. Only those who seek him fasting and in solitude will receive his +signs." + +With this and many similar explanations she wrought in my soul wonderful +and lively conceptions of the "Great Mystery" and of the effects of +prayer and solitude. I continued my childish questioning. + +"But why did you not dig those plants that we saw in the woods, of the +same kind that you are digging now?" + +"For the same reason that we do not like the berries we find in the +shadow of deep woods as well as the ones which grow in sunny places. The +latter have more sweetness and flavor. Those herbs which have medicinal +virtues should be sought in a place that is neither too wet nor too +dry, and where they have a generous amount of sunshine to maintain their +vigor. + +"Some day Ohiyesa will be old enough to know the secrets of medicine; +then I will tell him all. But if you should grow up to be a bad man, I +must withhold these treasures from you and give them to your brother, +for a medicine man must be a good and wise man. I hope Ohiyesa will be +a great medicine man when he grows up. To be a great warrior is a noble +ambition; but to be a mighty medicine man is a nobler!" + +She said these things so thoughtfully and impressively that I cannot but +feel and remember them even to this day. + +Our native women gathered all the wild rice, roots, berries and fruits +which formed an important part of our food. This was distinctively +a woman's work. Uncheedah (grandmother) understood these matters +perfectly, and it became a kind of instinct with her to know just where +to look for each edible variety and at what season of the year. This +sort of labor gave the Indian women every opportunity to observe and +study Nature after their fashion; and in this Uncheedah was more acute +than most of the men. The abilities of her boys were not all inherited +from their father; indeed, the stronger family traits came obviously +from her. She was a leader among the native women, and they came to her, +not only for medical aid, but for advice in all their affairs. + +In bravery she equaled any of the men. This trait, together with her +ingenuity and alertness of mind, more than once saved her and her people +from destruction. Once, when we were roaming over a region occupied by +other tribes, and on a day when most of the men were out upon the hunt, +a party of hostile Indians suddenly appeared. Although there were a few +men left at home, they were taken by surprise at first and scarcely knew +what to do, when this woman came forward and advanced alone to meet our +foes. She had gone some distance when some of the men followed her. +She met the strangers and offered her hand to them. They accepted +her friendly greeting; and as a result of her brave act we were left +unmolested and at peace. + +Another story of her was related to me by my father. My grandfather, who +was a noted hunter, often wandered away from his band in search of game. +In this instance he had with him only his own family of three boys and +his wife. One evening, when he returned from the chase, he found to his +surprise that she had built a stockade around her teepee. + +She had discovered the danger-sign in a single foot-print, which she saw +at a glance was not that of her husband, and she was also convinced that +it was not the foot-print of a Sioux, from the shape of the moccasin. +This ability to recognize footprints is general among the Indians, but +more marked in certain individuals. + +This courageous woman had driven away a party of five Ojibway warriors. +They approached the lodge cautiously, but her dog gave timely warning, +and she poured into them from behind her defences the contents of a +double-barrelled gun, with such good effect that the astonished braves +thought it wise to retreat. + +I was not more than five or six years old when the Indian soldiers came +one day and destroyed our large buffalo-skin teepee. It was charged +that my uncle had hunted alone a large herd of buffaloes. This was +not exactly true. He had unfortunately frightened a large herd while +shooting a deer in the edge of the woods. However, it was customary to +punish such an act severely, even though the offense was accidental. + +When we were attacked by the police, I was playing in the teepee, and +the only other person at home was Uncheedah. I had not noticed their +approach, and when the war-cry was given by thirty or forty Indians with +strong lungs, I thought my little world was coming to an end. Instantly +innumerable knives and tomahawks penetrated our frail home, while +bullets went through the poles and tent-fastenings up above our heads. + +I hardly know what I did, but I imagine it was just what any other +little fellow would have done under like circumstances. My first clear +realization of the situation was when Uncheedah had a dispute with the +leader, claiming that the matter had not been properly investigated, +and that none of the policemen had attained to a reputation in war which +would justify them in touching her son's teepee. But alas! our poor +dwelling was already an unrecognizable ruin; even the poles were broken +into splinters. + +The Indian women, after reaching middle age, are usually heavy and lack +agility, but my grandmother was in this also an exception. She was fully +sixty when I was born; and when I was seven years old she swam across a +swift and wide stream, carrying me on her back, because she did not wish +to expose me to accident in one of the clumsy round boats of bull-hide +which were rigged up to cross the rivers which impeded our way, +especially in the springtime. Her strength and endurance were +remarkable. Even after she had attained the age of eighty-two, she one +day walked twenty-five miles without appearing much fatigued. + +I marvel now at the purity and elevated sentiment possessed by this +woman, when I consider the customs and habits of her people at the time. +When her husband died she was still comparatively a young woman--still +active, clever and industrious. She was descended from a haughty +chieftain of the "Dwellers among the Leaves." Although women of her +age and position were held to be eligible to re-marriage, and she had +several persistent suitors who were men of her own age and chiefs, yet +she preferred to cherish in solitude the memory of her husband. + +I was very small when my uncle brought home two Ojibway young women. In +the fight in which they were captured, none of the Sioux war party had +been killed; therefore they were sympathized with and tenderly treated +by the Sioux women. They were apparently happy, although of course they +felt deeply the losses sustained at the time of their capture, and they +did not fail to show their appreciation of the kindnesses received at +our hands. + +As I recall now the remarks made by one of them at the time of their +final release, they appear to me quite remarkable. They lived in my +grandmother's family for two years, and were then returned to their +people at a great peace council of the two nations. When they were about +to leave my grandmother, the elder of the two sisters first embraced +her, and then spoke somewhat as follows: + +"You are a brave woman and a true mother. I understand now why your son +so bravely conquered our band, and took my sister and myself captive. +I hated him at first, but now I admire him, because he did just what my +father, my brother or my husband would have done had they opportunity. +He did even more. He saved us from the tomahawks of his fellow-warriors, +and brought us to his home to know a noble and a brave woman. + +"I shall never forget your many favors shown to us. But I must go. I +belong to my tribe and I shall return to them. I will endeavor to be a +true woman also, and to teach my boys to be generous warriors like your +son." + +Her sister chose to remain among the Sioux all her life, and she married +one of our young men. + +"I shall make the Sioux and the Ojibways," she said, "to be as +brothers." + +There are many other instances of intermarriage with captive women. +The mother of the well-known Sioux chieftain, Wabashaw, was an Ojibway +woman. I once knew a woman who was said to be a white captive. She was +married to a noted warrior, and had a fine family of five boys. She was +well accustomed to the Indian ways, and as a child I should not have +suspected that she was white. The skins of these people became so +sunburned and full of paint that it required a keen eye to distinguish +them from the real Indians. + + + + +IV. An Indian Sugar Camp + +WITH the first March thaw the thoughts of the Indian women of my +childhood days turned promptly to the annual sugarmaking. 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 worked like a beaver in these days (or rather like +a muskrat, as the Indians say; for this industrious little animal +sometimes collects as many as six or eight bushels of edible roots for +the winter, only to be robbed of his store by some of our people). If +there was prospect of a good sugaring season, she now made a second +and even a third canoe to contain the sap. These canoes were afterward +utilized by the hunters for their proper purpose. + +During our last sugar-making in Minnesota, before the "outbreak," my +grandmother was at work upon a canoe with her axe, while a young aunt +of mine stood by. We boys were congregated within the large, oval +sugar house, busily engaged in making arrows for the destruction of the +rabbits and chipmunks which we knew would come in numbers to drink the +sap. The birds also were beginning to return, and the cold storms of +March would drive them to our door. I was then too young to do much +except look on; but I fully entered into the spirit of the occasion, +and rejoiced to see the bigger boys industriously sharpen their arrows, +resting them against the ends of the long sticks which were burning +in the fire, and occasionally cutting a chip from the stick. In their +eagerness they paid little attention to this circumstance, although they +well knew that it was strictly forbidden to touch a knife to a burning +ember. + +Suddenly loud screams were heard from without and we all rushed out to +see what was the matter. It was a serious affair. My grandmother's axe +had slipped, and by an upward stroke nearly severed three of the fingers +of my aunt, who stood looking on, with her hands folded upon her waist. +As we ran out the old lady, who had already noticed and reproved our +carelessness in regard to the burning embers, pursued us with loud +reproaches and threats of a whipping. This will seem mysterious to my +readers, but is easily explained by the Indian superstition, which holds +that such an offense as we had committed is invariably punished by the +accidental cutting of some one of the family. + +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. The +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 up 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. + +The sugaring season extended well into April, and the returning birds +made the precincts of our camp joyful with their songs. I often followed +my older brothers into the woods, although I was then but four or five +years old. Upon one of these excursions they went so far that I ventured +back alone. When within sight of our hut, I saw a chipmunk sitting upon +a log, and uttering the sound he makes when he calls to his mate. How +glorious it would be, I thought, if I could shoot him with my tiny bow +and arrows! Stealthily and cautiously I approached, keeping my eyes upon +the pretty little animal, and just as I was about to let fly my shaft, +I heard a hissing noise at my feet. There lay a horrid snake, coiled and +ready to spring! Forgetful that I was a warrior, I gave a loud scream +and started backward; but soon recollecting myself, looked down with +shame, although no one was near. However, I retreated to the inclined +trunk of a fallen tree, and there, as I have often been told, was +overheard soliloquizing in the following words: "I wonder if a snake can +climb a tree!" + +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. + + + + + +V. A Midsummer Feast + +IT was midsummer. Everything that the Santee Sioux had undertaken during +the year had been unusually successful. The spring fur-hunters had been +fortunate, and the heavy winter had proved productive of much +maple sugar. The women's patches of maize and potatoes were already +sufficiently advanced to use. The Wahpetonwan band of Sioux, the +"Dwellers among the Leaves," were fully awakened to the fact that it was +almost time for the midsummer festivities of the old, wild days. + +The invitations were bundles of tobacco, and acceptances were sent back +from the various bands--the "Light Lodges", "Dwellers back from the +River," and many others, in similar fashion. Blue Earth, chief of the +"Dwellers among the Leaves," was the host. + +There were to be many different kinds of athletic games; indeed, the +festival was something like a State fair, in that there were many side +shows and competitive events. For instance, supposing that (Miss) White +Rabbit should desire to give a "maidens' feast," she would employ a +crier to go among the different bands announcing the fact in a sing-song +manner: + +"Miss White Rabbit will receive her maiden friends to-day at noon, +inside of the circular encampment of the Kaposia band." + +Again, should (Mr.) Sleepy Eye wish to have his child's ears +pierced publicly, he would have to give away a great deal of savage +wealth--namely, otter, bear and beaver skins and ponies--or the child +would not be considered as belonging to a family in good standing. + +But the one all-important event of the occasion was the lacrosse game, +for which it had been customary to select those two bands which could +boast the greater number of fast runners. + +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. He was a powerful man physically, who had apparently won +the confidence of the people by his fine personal appearance and by +working upon superstitious minds. + +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 exuberant 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 final 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. + +The coiffure of the Sioux lacrosse player has often been unconsciously +imitated by the fashionable hair-dressers of modern times. Some banged +and singed their hair; others did a little more by adding powder. The +Grecian knot was located on the wrong side of the head, being tied +tightly over the forehead. A great many simply brushed back their long +locks and tied them with a strip of otter skin. + +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. Cheers and war-whoops became general, such as were never equaled +in any concourse of savages, and possibly nowhere except at a college +game of football. + +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! 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 Ohivesa." + + + + +II. AN INDIAN BOY'S TRAINING + +IT is commonly supposed that there is no systematic education of their +children among the aborigines of this country. Nothing could be farther +from the truth. All the customs of this primitive people were held to +be divinely instituted, and those in connection with the training +of children were scrupulously adhered to and transmitted from one +generation to another. + +The expectant parents conjointly bent all their efforts to the task +of giving the new-comer the best they could gather from a long line +of ancestors. A pregnant Indian woman would often choose one of the +greatest characters of her family and tribe as a model for her child. +This hero was daily called to mind. She would gather from tradition all +of his noted deeds and daring exploits, rehearsing them to herself when +alone. In order that the impression might be more distinct, she avoided +company. She isolated herself as much as possible, and wandered in +solitude, not thoughtlessly, but with an eye to the impress given by +grand and beautiful scenery. + +The Indians believed, also, that certain kinds of animals would confer +peculiar gifts upon the unborn, while others would leave so strong an +adverse impression that the child might become a monstrosity. A case +of hare-lip was commonly attributed to the rabbit. It was said that a +rabbit had charmed the mother and given to the babe its own features. +Even the meat of certain animals was denied the pregnant woman, because +it was supposed to influence the disposition or features of the child. + +Scarcely was the embyro warrior ushered into the world, when he was met +by lullabies that speak of wonderful exploits in hunting and war. Those +ideas which so fully occupied his mother's mind before his birth are now +put into words by all about the child, who is as yet quite unresponsive +to their appeals to his honor and ambition. He is called the future +defender of his people, whose lives may depend upon his courage and +skill. If the child is a girl, she is at once addressed as the future +mother of a noble race. + +In hunting songs, the leading animals are introduced; they come to the +boy to offer their bodies for the sustenance of his tribe. The animals +are regarded as his friends, and spoken of almost as tribes of people, +or as his cousins, grandfathers and grandmothers. The songs of wooing, +adapted as lullabies, were equally imaginative, and the suitors were +often animals personified, while pretty maidens were represented by the +mink and the doe. + +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 grandparents, 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 voluminous +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 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 grey 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 footsteps 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. + +I recall to the present day some of the kind warnings and reproofs +that my good grandmother was wont to give me. "Be strong of heart--be +patient!" she used to say. She told me of a young chief who was noted +for his uncontrollable temper. While in one of his rages he attempted to +kill a woman, for which he was slain by his own band and left unburied +as a mark of disgrace--his body was simply covered with green grass. If +I ever lost my temper, she would say: + +"Hakadah, control yourself, or you will be like that young man I told +you of, and lie under a green blanket!" + +In the old days, no young man was allowed to use tobacco in any form +until he had become an acknowledged warrior and had achieved a +record. If a youth should seek a wife before he had reached the age of +twenty-two or twenty-three, and been recognized as a brave man, he was +sneered at and considered an ill-bred Indian. He must also be a skillful +hunter. An Indian cannot be a good husband unless he brings home plenty +of game. + +These precepts were in the line of our training for the wild life. + + + + +III. MY PLAYS AND PLAYMATES + + + + +I. 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. + +Whatever was required of us boys was quickly performed: then the field +was clear for our games and plays. There was always keen competition +among us. We felt very much as our fathers did in hunting and war--each +one strove to excel all the others. + +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. + +Lacrosse was an older game and was confined entirely to the Sisseton and +Santee Sioux. Shinny, such as is enjoyed by white boys on the ice, is +still played on the open prairie by the western Sioux. The "moccasin +game," although sometimes played by the boys, was intended mainly for +adults. + +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 warwhoop, 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!" + +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 heartshaped 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 snowcrust from twenty to fifty paces away. The top that +holds out the longest is the winner. + +Sometimes we played "medicine dance." This, to us, was almost what +"playing church" is among white children, but our people seemed to think +it an act of irreverence to imitate these dances, therefore performances +of this kind were always enjoyed in secret. We used to observe all the +important ceremonies and it required something of an actor to reproduce +the dramatic features of the dance. The real dances occupied a day and +a night, and the program was long and varied, so that it was not easy +to execute all the details perfectly; but the Indian children are born +imitators. + +The boys built an arbor of pine boughs in some out-of-the-way place +and at one end of it was a rude lodge. This was the medicine lodge +or headquarters. All the initiates were there. At the further end or +entrance were the door-keepers or soldiers, as we called them. The +members of each lodge entered in a body, standing in single file and +facing the headquarters. Each stretched out his right hand and a prayer +was offered by the leader, after which they took the places assigned to +them. + +When the preliminaries had been completed, our leader sounded the big +drum and we all said "A-ho-ho-ho!" as a sort of amen. Then the choir +began their song and whenever they ended a verse, we all said again +"A-ho-ho-ho!" At last they struck up the chorus and we all got upon +our feet and began to dance, by simply lifting up one foot and then the +other, with a slight swing to the body. + +Each boy was representing or imitating some one of the medicine men. +We painted and decorated ourselves just as they did and carried bird or +squirrel skins, or occasionally live birds and chipmunks as our medicine +bags and small white shells or pebbles for medicine charms. + +Then the persons to be initiated were brought in and seated, with much +ceremony, upon a blanket or buffalo robe. Directly in front of them +the ground was levelled smooth and here we laid an old pipe filled with +dried leaves for tobacco. Around it we placed the variously colored +feathers of the birds we had killed, and cedar and sweetgrass we burned +for incense. + +Finally those of us who had been selected to perform this ceremony +stretched out our arms at full length, holding the sacred medicine bags +and aiming them at the new members. After swinging them four times, we +shot them suddenly forward, but did not let go. The novices then fell +forward on their faces as if dead. Quickly a chorus was struck up and +we all joined in a lively dance around the supposed bodies. The girls +covered them up with their blankets, thus burying the dead. At last we +resurrected them with our charms and led them to their places among the +audience. Then came the last general dance and the final feast. + +I was often selected as choir-master on these occasions, for I had +happened to learn many of the medicine songs and was quite an apt mimic. +My grandmother, who was a noted medicine woman of the Turtle lodge, on +hearing of these sacrilegious acts (as she called them) warned me that +if any of the medicine men should discover them, they would punish me +terribly by shriveling my limbs with slow disease. + +Occasionally, we also played "white man." Our knowledge of the pale-face +was limited, but we had learned that he brought goods whenever he came +and that our people exchanged furs for his merchandise. We also knew +that his complexion was pale, that he had short hair on his head and +long hair on his face and that he wore coat, trousers, and hat, and +did not patronize blankets in the daytime. This was the picture we had +formed of the white man. + +So we painted two or three of our number with white clay and put on them +birchen hats which we sewed up for the occasion; fastened a piece of +fur to their chins for a beard and altered their costumes as much as +lay within our power. The white of the birch-bark was made to answer for +their white shirts. Their merchandise consisted of sand for sugar, wild +beans for coffee, dried leaves for tea, pulverized earth for gun-powder, +pebbles for bullets and clear water for the dangerous "spirit water." We +traded for these goods with skins of squirrels, rabbits and small birds. + +When we played "hunting buffalo" we would send a few good runners off on +the open prairie with a supply of meat; then start a few equally swift +boys to chase them and capture the food. Once we were engaged in this +sport when a real hunt by the men was in progress; yet we did not +realize that it was so near until, in the midst of our play, we saw +an immense buffalo coming at full speed directly toward us. Our mimic +buffalo hunt turned into a very real buffalo scare. Fortunately, we were +near the edge of the woods and we soon disappeared among the leaves +like a covey of young prairie-chickens and some hid in the bushes while +others took refuge in tall trees. + +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. He was despised for his +conduct in my interest and I was hated on account of his interference. + + + + +II. My Playmates + +CHATANNA was the brother with whom I passed much of my early childhood. +From the time that I was old enough to play with boys, this brother was +my close companion. He was a handsome boy, and an affectionate comrade. +We played together, slept together and ate together; and as Chatanna was +three years the older, I naturally looked up to him as to a superior. + +Oesedah was a beautiful little character. She was my cousin, and four +years younger than myself. Perhaps none of my early playmates are more +vividly remembered than is this little maiden. + +The name given her by a noted medicine-man was Makah-oesetopah-win. +It means The-four-corners-of-the-earth. As she was rather small, +the abbreviation with a diminutive termination was considered more +appropriate, hence Oesedah became her common name. + +Although she had a very good mother, Uncheedah was her efficient teacher +and chaperon Such knowledge as my grandmother deemed suitable to a +maiden was duly impressed upon her susceptible mind. When I was not in +the woods with Chatanna, Oesedah was my companion at home; and when I +returned from my play at evening, she would have a hundred questions +ready for me to answer. Some of these were questions concerning our +every-day life, and others were more difficult problems which had +suddenly dawned upon her active little mind. Whatever had occurred to +interest her during the day was immediately repeated for my benefit. + +There were certain questions upon which Oesedah held me to be authority, +and asked with the hope of increasing her little store of knowledge. I +have often heard her declare to her girl companions: "I know it is true; +Ohiyesa said so!" Uncheedah was partly responsible for this, for when +any questions came up which lay within the sphere of man's observation, +she would say: + +"Ohiyesa ought to know that: he is a man-I am not! You had better ask +him." + +The truth was that she had herself explained to me many of the subjects +under discussion. + +I was occasionally referred to little Oesedah in the same manner, and I +always accepted her childish elucidations of any matter upon which I had +been advised to consult her, because I knew the source of her wisdom. In +this simple way we were made to be teachers of one another. + +Very often we discussed some topic before our common instructor, or +answered her questions together, in order to show which had the readier +mind. + +"To what tribe does the lizard belong?" inquired Uncheedah, upon one of +these occasions. + +"To the four-legged tribe," I shouted. + +Oesedah, with her usual quickness, flashed out the answer: + +"It belongs to the creeping tribe." + +The Indians divided all animals into four general classes: 1st, those +that walk upon four legs; 2nd, those that fly; 3rd, those that swim with +fins; 4th, those that creep. + +Of course I endeavored to support my assertion that the lizard belongs +where I had placed it, be-. cause he has four distinct legs which propel +him everywhere, on the ground or in the water. But my opponent claimed +that the creature under dispute does not walk, but creeps. My strongest +argument was that it had legs; but Oesedah insisted that its body +touches the ground as it moves. As a last resort, I volunteered to go +find one, and demonstrate the point in question. + +The lizard having been brought, we smoothed off the ground and strewed +ashes on it so that we could see the track. Then I raised the question: +"What constitutes creeping, and what constitutes walking?" + +Uncheedah was the judge, and she stated, without any hesitation, that +an animal must stand clear of the ground on the support of its legs, and +walk with the body above the legs, and not in contact with the ground, +in order to be termed a walker; while a creeper is one that, regardless +of its legs, if it has them, drags its body upon the ground. Upon +hearing the judge's decision, I yielded at once to my opponent. + +At another time, when I was engaged in a similar discussion with my +brother Chatanna, Oesedah came to my rescue. Our grandmother had asked +us: + +"What bird shows most judgment in caring for its young?" + +Chatanna at once exclaimed: + +"The eagle!" but I held my peace for a moment, because I was +confused--so many birds came into my mind at once. I finally declared: + +"It is the oriole!" + +Chatanna was asked to state all the evidence that he had in support of +the eagle's good sense in rearing its young. He proceeded with an air of +confidence: + +"The eagle is the wisest of all birds. Its nest is made in the safest +possible place, upon a high and inaccessible cliff. It provides its +young with an abundance of fresh meat. They have the freshest of air. +They are brought up under the spell of the grandest scenes, and inspired +with lofty feelings and bravery. They see that all other beings live +beneath them, and that they are the children of the King of Birds. A +young eagle shows the spirit of a warrior while still in the nest. + +"Being exposed to the inclemency of the weather the young eaglets are +hardy. They are accustomed to hear the mutterings of the Thunder Bird +and the sighings of the Great Mystery. Why, the little eagles cannot +help being as noble as they are, because their parents selected for them +so lofty and inspiring a home! How happy they must be when they find +themselves above the clouds, and behold the zigzag flashes of lightning +all about them! It must be nice to taste a piece of fresh meat up in +their cool home, in the burning summer-time! Then when they drop down +the bones of the game they feed upon, wolves and vultures gather beneath +them, feeding upon their refuse. That alone would show them their +chieftainship over all the other birds. Isn't that so, grandmother?" +Thus triumphantly he concluded his argument. + +I was staggered at first by the noble speech of Chatannna, but I soon +recovered from its effects. The little Oesedah came to my aid by saying: +"Wait until Ohiyesa tells of the loveliness of the beautiful Oriole's +home!" This timely remark gave me courage and I began: + +"My grandmother, who was it said that a mother who has a gentle and +sweet voice will have children of a good disposition? I think the oriole +is that kind of a parent. It provides both sunshine and shadow for +its young. Its nest is suspended from the prettiest bough of the most +graceful tree, where it is rocked by the gentle winds; and the one we +found yesterday was beautifully lined with soft things, both deep and +warm, so that the little featherless birdies cannot suffer from the cold +and wet." + +Here Chatanna interrupted me to exclaim: "That is just like the white +people--who cares for them? The eagle teaches its young to be accustomed +to hardships, like young warriors!" + +Ohiyesa was provoked; he reproached his brother and appealed to the +judge, saying that he had not finished yet. + +"But you would not have lived, Chatanna, if you had been exposed like +that when you were a baby! The oriole shows wisdom in providing for its +children a good, comfortable home! A home upon a high rock would not be +pleasant-it would be cold! We climbed a mountain once, and it was cold +there; and who would care to stay in such a place when it storms? What +wisdom is there in having a pile of rough sticks upon a bare rock, +surrounded with ill-smelling bones of animals, for a home? Also, +my uncle says that the eaglets seem always to be on the point of +starvation. You have heard that whoever lives on game killed by some one +else is compared to an eagle. Isn't that so, grandmother? + +"The oriole suspends its nest from the lower side of a horizontal +bough so that no enemy can approach it. It enjoys peace and beauty and +safety." + +Oesedah was at Ohiyesa's side during the discussion, and occasionally +whispered into his ear. Uncheedah decided this time in favor of Ohiyesa. + +We were once very short of provisions in the winter time. My uncle, our +only means of support, was sick; and besides, we were separated from +the rest of the tribe and in a region where there was little game of any +kind. Oesedah had a pet squirrel, and as soon as we began to economize +our food had given portions of her allowance to her pet. + +At last we were reduced very much, and the prospect of obtaining +anything soon being gloomy, my grandmother reluctantly suggested that +the squirrel should be killed for food. Thereupon my little cousin +cried, and said: + +"Why cannot we all die alike wanting? The squirrel's life is as dear to +him as ours to us," and clung to it. Fortunately, relief came in time to +save her pet. + +Oesedah lived with us for a portion of the year, and as there were no +other girls in the family she played much alone, and had many imaginary +companions. At one time there was a small willow tree which she visited +regularly, holding long conversations, a part of which she would +afterward repeat to me. She said the willow tree was her husband, whom +some magic had compelled to take that form; but no grown person was ever +allowed to share her secret. + +When I was about eight years old I had for a playmate the adopted son of +a Sioux, who was a white captive. This boy was quite a noted personage, +although he was then only about ten or eleven years of age. When I +first became acquainted with him we were on the upper Missouri river. I +learned from him that he had been taken on the plains, and that both of +his parents were killed. + +He was at first sad and lonely, but soon found plenty of +consolation in his new home. The name of his adopted father was +"Keeps-the-Spotted-Ponies." He was known to have an unusual number of the +pretty calico ponies; indeed, he had a passion for accumulating property +in the shape of ponies, painted tents, decorated saddles and all sorts +of finery. He had lost his only son; but the little pale-face became the +adopted brother of two handsome young women, his daughters. This made +him quite popular among the young warriors. He was not slow to adopt the +Indian customs, and he acquired the Sioux language in a short time. + +I well remember hearing of his first experience of war. He was not more +than sixteen when he joined a war-party against the Gros-Ventres and +Mandans. My uncle reported that he was very brave until he was wounded +in the ankle; then he begged with tears to be taken back to a safe +place. Fortunately for him, his adopted father came to the rescue, and +saved him at the risk of his own life. He was called the "pale-face +Indian." His hair grew very long and he lavished paint on his face and +hair so that no one might suspect that he was a white man. + +One day this boy was playing a gambling game with one of the Sioux +warriors. He was an expert gambler, and won everything from the Indian. +At a certain point a dispute arose. The Indian was very angry, for +he discovered that his fellow-player had deliberately cheated him. The +Indians were strictly honest in those days, even in their gambling. + +The boy declared that he had merely performed a trick for the benefit of +his friend, but it nearly cost him his life. The indignant warrior had +already drawn his bow-string with the intention of shooting the captive, +but a third person intervened and saved the boy's life. He at once +explained his trick; and in order to show himself an honorable gambler, +gave back all the articles that he had won from his opponent. In the +midst of the confusion, old "Keeps-the-Spotted-Ponies" came rushing +through the crowd in a state of great excitement. He thought his +pale-face son had been killed. When he saw how matters stood, he gave +the aggrieved warrior a pony, "in order," as he said, "that there may be +no shadow between him and my son." + +One spring my uncle took Chatanna to the Canadian trading-post on the +Assiniboine river, where he went to trade off his furs for ammunition +and other commodities. When he came back, my brother was not with him! + +At first my fears were even worse than the reality. The facts were +these: A Canadian with whom my uncle had traded much had six daughters +and no son; and when he saw this handsome and intelligent little fellow, +he at once offered to adopt him. + +"I have no boy in my family," said he, "and I will deal with him as with +a son. I am always in these regions trading; so you can see him two or +three times in a year." + +He further assured my uncle that the possession of the boy would greatly +strengthen their friendship. The matter was finally agreed upon. At +first Chatanna was unwilling, but as we were taught to follow the advice +of our parents and guardians, he was obliged to yield. + +This was a severe blow to me, and for a long time I could not be +consoled. Uncheedah was fully in sympathy with my distress. She argued +that the white man's education was not desirable for her boys; in fact, +she urged her son so strongly to go back after Chatanna that he promised +on his next visit to the post to bring him home again. + +But the trader was a shrewd man. He immediately moved to another part of +the country; and I never saw my Chatanna, the companion of my childhood, +again! We learned afterward that he grew up and was married; but one day +he lost his way in a blizzard and was frozen to death. + +My little cousin and I went to school together in later years; but she +could not endure the confinement of the school-room. Although apparently +very happy, she suffered greatly from the change to an indoor life, as +have many of our people, and died six months after our return to the +United States. + + + + +III: The Boy Hunter + +IT will be no exaggeration to say that the life of the Indian hunter was +a life of fascination. From the moment that he lost sight of his rude +home in the midst of the forest, his untutored mind lost itself in the +myriad beauties and forces of nature. Yet he never forgot his personal +danger from some lurking foe or savage beast, however absorbing was his +passion for the chase. + +The Indian youth was a born hunter. Every motion, every step expressed +an inborn dignity and, at the same time, a depth of native caution. +His moccasined foot fell like the velvet paw of a cat--noiselessly; his +glittering black eyes scanned every object that appeared within their +view. Not a bird, not even a chipmunk, escaped their piercing glance. + +I was scarcely over three years old when I stood one morning just +outside our buffalo-skin teepee, with my little bow and arrows in my +hand, and gazed up among the trees. Suddenly the instinct to chase and +kill seized me powerfully. Just then a bird flew over my head and then +another caught my eye, as it balanced itself upon a swaying bough. +Everything else was forgotten and in that moment I had taken my first +step as a 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 horsehair, 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 oatstraws 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 red-skin 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. + +When we went out on the prairies we had a different and less lively kind +of sport. We used to snare with horse-hair and bow-strings all the small +ground animals, including the prairie-dog. We both snared and shot them. +Once a little boy set a snare for one, and lay flat on the ground a +little way from the hole, holding the end of the string. Presently he +felt something move and pulled in a huge rattlesnake; and to this day, +his name is "Caught-the-Rattlesnake." Very often a boy got a new name +in some such manner. At another time, we were playing in the woods and +found a fawn's track. We followed and caught it while asleep; but in +the struggle to get away, it kicked one boy, who is still called +"Kicked-by-the-Fawn." + +It became a necessary part of our education to learn to prepare a meal +while out hunting. It is a fact that most Indians will eat the liver and +some other portions of large animals raw, but they do not eat fish or +birds uncooked. Neither will they eat a frog, or an eel. On our boyish +hunts, we often went on until we found ourselves a long way from our +camp, when we would kindle a fire and roast a part of our game. + +Generally we broiled our meat over the coals on a stick. We roasted some +of it over the open fire. But the best way to cook fish and birds is in +the ashes, under a big fire. We take the fish fresh from the creek or +lake, have a good fire on the sand, dig in the sandy ashes and bury it +deep. The same thing is done in case of a bird, only we wet the feathers +first. When it is done, the scales or feathers and skin are stripped +off whole, and the delicious meat retains all its juices and flavor. We +pulled it off as we ate, leaving the bones undisturbed. + +Our people had also a method of boiling without pots or kettles. A large +piece of tripe was thoroughly washed and the ends tied, then suspended +between four stakes driven into the ground and filled with cold water. +The meat was then placed in this novel receptacle and boiled by means of +the addition of red-hot stones. + +Chatanna was a good hunter. He called the doe and fawn beautifully by +using a thin leaf of birchbark between two flattened sticks. One morning +we found the tracks of a doe and fawn who had passed within the hour, +for the light dew was brushed from the grass. + +"What shall we do?" I asked. "Shall we go back to the teepee and tell +uncle to bring his gun?" + +"No, no!" exclaimed Chatanna. "Did not our people kill deer and buffalo +long ago without guns? We will entice her into this open space, and, +while she stands bewildered, I can throw my lasso line over her head." + +He had called only a few seconds when the fawn emerged from the thick +woods and stood before us, prettier than a picture. Then I uttered the +call, and she threw her tobacco-leaf-like ears toward me, while Chatanna +threw his lasso. She gave one scream and launched forth into the air, +almost throwing the boy hunter to the ground. Again and again she flung +herself desperately into the air, but at last we led her to the nearest +tree and tied her securely. + +"Now," said he, "go and get our pets and see what they will do." + +At that time he had a good-sized black bear partly tamed, while I had +a young red fox and my faithful Ohitika or Brave. I untied Chagoo, the +bear, and Wanahon, the fox, while Ohitika got up and welcomed me by +wagging his tail in a dignified way. + +"Come," I said, "all three of you. I think we have something you would +all like to see." + +They seemed to understand me, for Chagoo began to pull his rope with +both paws, while Wanahon undertook the task of digging up by the roots +the sapling to which I had tied him. + +Before we got to the open spot, we already heard Ohitika's joyous bark, +and the two wild pets began to run, and pulled me along through the +underbrush. Chagoo soon assumed the utmost precaution and walked as if +he had splinters in his soles, while Wanahon kept his nose down low and +sneaked through the trees. + +Out into the open glade we came, and there, before the three rogues, +stood the little innocent fawn. She visibly trembled at the sight of the +motley group. The two human rogues looked to her, I presume, just as bad +as the other three. Chagoo regarded her with a mixture of curiosity +and defiance, while Wanahon stood as if rooted to the ground, evidently +planning how to get at her. But Ohitika (Brave), generous Ohitika, +his occasional barking was only in jest. He did not care to touch the +helpless thing. + +Suddenly the fawn sprang high into the air and then dropped her pretty +head on the ground. + +"Ohiyesa, the fawn is dead," cried Chatanna. "I wanted to keep her." + +"It is a shame;" I chimed in. + +We five guilty ones came and stood around her helpless form. We all +looked very sorry; even Chagoo's eyes showed repentance and regret. +As for Ohitika, he gave two great sighs and then betook himself to a +respectful distance. Chatanna had two big tears gradually swamping his +long, black eye-lashes; and I thought it was time to hide my face, for I +did not want him to look at me. + + + + +IV. 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." + +This was a matter which had, for several days, pretty much monopolized +Uncheedah's mind. It was her custom to see to this when each of her +children attained the age of eight summers. They had all been celebrated +as warriors and hunters among their tribe, and she had not hesitated to +claim for herself a good share of the honors they had achieved, because +she had brought them early to the notice of the "Great Mystery." + +She believed that her influence had helped to regulate and develop the +characters of her sons to the height of savage nobility and strength of +manhood. + +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 clearsighted 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 otterskin head-dress, if you +think that is 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 heart-ache 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: + +"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. + +They followed a well-beaten foot-path leading along the bank of the +Assiniboine river, through a beautiful grove of oak, and finally around +and under a very high cliff. The murmuring of the river came up from +just below. On the opposite side was a perpendicular white cliff, from +which extended back a gradual slope of land, clothed with the majestic +mountain oak. The scene was impressive and wild. + +Wahchewin had paused without a word when the little party reached the +edge of the cliff. It had been arranged between her and Uncheedah that +she should wait there for Wacoota, who was to bring as far as that the +portion of the offering with which he had been entrusted. + +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. + + + + +V. FAMILY TRADITIONS + + + + +I: A Visit to Smoky Day + +SMOKY DAY was widely known among us as a preserver of history and +legend. He was a living book of the traditions and history of his +people. Among his effects were bundles of small sticks, notched and +painted. One bundle contained the number of his own years. Another was +composed of sticks representing the important events of history, each +of which was marked with the number of years since that particular event +occurred. For instance, there was the year when so many stars fell from +the sky, with the number of years since it happened cut into the wood. +Another recorded the appearance of a comet; and from these heavenly +wonders the great national catastrophes and victories were reckoned. + +But I will try to repeat some of his favorite narratives as I heard them +from his own lips. I went to him one day with a piece of tobacco and +an eagle-feather; not to buy his MSS., but hoping for the privilege +of hearing him tell of some of the brave deeds of our people in remote +times. + +The tall and large old man greeted me with his usual courtesy and +thanked me for my present. As I recall the meeting, I well remember his +unusual stature, his slow speech and gracious manner. + +"Ah, Ohiyesa!" said he, "my young warrior--for such you will be some +day! I know this by your seeking to hear of the great deeds of your +ancestors. That is a good sign, and I love to repeat these stories to +one who is destined to be a brave man. I do not wish to lull you +to sleep with sweet words; but I know the conduct of your paternal +ancestors. They have been and are still among the bravest of our +tribe. To prove this, I will relate what happened in your paternal +grandfather's family, twenty years ago. + +"Two of his brothers were murdered by a jealous young man of their +own band. The deed was committed without just cause; therefore all +the braves were agreed to punish the murderer with death. When your +grandfather was approached with this suggestion, he replied that he and +the remaining brothers could not condescend to spill the blood of such a +wretch, but that the others might do whatever they thought just with the +young man. These men were foremost among the warriors of the Sioux, and +no one questioned their courage; yet when this calamity was brought upon +them by a villain, they refused to touch him! This, my boy, is a test of +true bravery. Self-possession and self-control at such a moment is proof +of a strong heart. + +"You have heard of Jingling Thunder the elder, whose brave deeds are +well known to the Villagers of the Lakes. He sought honor 'in the gates +of the enemy,' as we often say. The Great Mystery was especially kind to +him, because he was obedient. + +"Many winters ago there was a great battle, in which Jingling Thunder +won his first honors. It was forty winters before the falling of many +stars, which event occurred twenty winters after the coming of the +black-robed white priest; and that was fourteen winters before the +annihilation by our people of thirty lodges of the Sac and Fox Indians. +I well remember the latter event--it was just fifty winters ago. +However, I will count my sticks again." + +So saying, Smoky Day produced his bundle of variously colored sticks, +about five inches long. He counted and gave them to me to verify his +calculation. + +"But you," he resumed, "do not care to remember the winters that have +passed. You are young, and care only for the event and the deed. It was +very many years ago that this thing happened that I am about to tell +you, and yet our people speak of it with as much enthusiasm as if it +were only yesterday. Our heroes are always kept alive in the minds of +the nation. + +"Our people lived then on the east bank of the Mississippi, a little +south of where Imnejah-skah, or White Cliff (St. Paul, Minnesota), now +stands. After they left Mille Lacs they founded several villages, +but finally settled in this spot, whence the tribes have gradually +dispersed. Here a battle occurred which surpassed all others in history. +It lasted one whole day--the Sacs and Foxes and the Dakotas against the +Ojibways. + +"An invitation in the usual form of a filled pipe was brought to the +Sioux by a brave of the Sac and Fox tribe, to make a general attack +upon their common enemy. The Dakota braves quickly signified their +willingness in the same manner, and it having been agreed to meet upon +the St. Croix river, preparations were immediately begun to despatch a +large war-party. + +"Among our people there were many tried warriors whose names were known, +and every youth of a suitable age was desirous of emulating them. As +these young novices issued from every camp and almost every teepee, +their mothers, sisters, grandfathers and grandmothers were singing +for them the 'strong-heart' songs. An old woman, living with her only +grandchild, the remnant of a once large band who had all been killed +at three different times by different parties of the Ojibways, was +conspicuous among the singers. + +"Everyone who heard, cast toward her a sympathetic glance, for it was +well known that she and her grandson constituted the remnant of a +band of Sioux, and that her song indicated that her precious child had +attained the age of a warrior, and was now about to join the war-party, +and to seek a just revenge for the annihilation of his family. This was +Jingling Thunder, also familiarly known as 'The Little Last.' He was +seen to carry with him some family relics in the shape of war-clubs and +lances. + +"The aged woman's song was something like this: + + "Go, my brave Jingling Thunder! + Upon the silvery path + Behold that glittering track-- + + "And yet, my child, remember + How pitiful to live + Survivor of the young! + 'Stablish our name and kin!" + + +"The Sacs and Foxes were very daring and confident upon this occasion. +They proposed to the Sioux that they should engage alone with the enemy +at first, and let us see how their braves can fight! To this our people +assented, and they assembled upon the hills to watch the struggle +between their allies and the Ojibways. It seemed to be an equal fight, +and for a time no one could tell how the contest would end. Young +Jingling Thunder was an impatient spectator, and it was The Milky +Way--believed by the Dakotas to be the road travelled by the spirits of +departed braves hard to keep him from rushing forward to meet his foes. + +"At last a great shout went up, and the Sacs and Foxes were seen to be +retreating with heavy loss. Then the Sioux took the field, and were fast +winning the day, when fresh reinforcements came from the north for the +Ojibways. Up to this time Jingling Thunder had been among the foremost +in the battle, and had engaged in several close encounters. But this +fresh attack of the Ojibways was unexpected, and the Sioux were somewhat +tired. Besides, they had told the Sacs and Foxes to sit upon the hills +and rest their weary limbs and take lessons from their friends the +Sioux; therefore no aid was looked for from any quarter. + +"A great Ojibway chief made a fierce onslaught on the Dakotas. This +man Jingling Thunder now rushed forward to meet. The Ojibway boastfully +shouted to his warriors that he had met a tender fawn and would reserve +to himself the honor of destroying it. Jingling Thunder, on his side, +exclaimed that he had met the aged bear of whom he had heard so much, +but that he would need no assistance to overcome him. + +"The powerful man flashed his tomahawk in the air over the youthful +warrior's head, but the brave sprang aside as quick as lightning, and +in the same instant speared his enemy to the heart. As the Ojibway chief +gave a gasping yell and fell in death, his people lost courage; while +the success of the brave Jingling Thunder strengthened the hearts of the +Sioux, for they immediately followed up their advantage and drove the +enemy out of their territory. + +"This was the beginning of Jingling Thunder's career as a warrior. He +afterwards performed even greater acts of valor. He became the ancestor +of a famous band of the Sioux, of whom your own father, Ohiyesa, was a +member. You have doubtless heard his name in connection with many great +events. Yet he was a patient man, and was never known to quarrel with +one of his own nation." + +That night I lay awake a long time committing to memory the tradition +I had heard, and the next day I boasted to my playmate, Little Rainbow, +about my first lesson from the old storyteller. To this he replied: + +"I would rather have Weyuhah for my teacher. I think he remembers more +than any of the others. When Weyuhah tells about a battle you can see +it yourself; you can even hear the war-whoop," he went on with much +enthusiasm. + +"That is what his friends say of him; but those who are not his friends +say that he brings many warriors into the battle who were not there," +I answered indignantly, for I could not admit that old Smoky Day could +have a rival. + +Before I went to him again Uncheedah had thoughtfully prepared a nice +venison roast for the teacher, and I was proud to take him something +good to eat before beginning his story. + +"How," was his greeting, "so you have begun already, Ohiyesa? Your +family were ever feastmakers as well as warriors." + +Having done justice to the tender meat, he wiped his knife by sticking +it into the ground several times, and put it away in its sheath, after +which he cheerfully recommenced: + +"It came to pass not many winters ago that Wakinyan-tonka, the great +medicine man, had a vision; whereupon a war-party set out for the +Ojibway country. There were three brothers of your family among them, +all of whom were noted for valor and the chase. + +"Seven battles were fought in succession before they turned to come +back. They had secured a number of the enemy's birch canoes, and the +whole party came floating down the Mississippi, joyous and happy because +of their success. + +"But one night the war-chief announced that there was misfortune at +hand. The next day no one was willing to lead the fleet. The youngest of +the three brothers finally declared that he did not fear death, for it +comes when least expected and he volunteered to take the lead. + +"It happened that this young man had left a pretty maiden behind him, +whose choice needlework adorned his quiver. He was very handsome as well +as brave. + +"At daybreak the canoes were again launched upon the bosom of the great +river. All was quiet--a few birds beginning to sing. Just as the sun +peeped through the eastern tree-tops a great warcry came forth from the +near shores, and there was a rain of arrows. The birchen canoes were +pierced, and in the excitement many were capsized. + +"The Sioux were at a disadvantage. There was no shelter. Their +bow-strings and the feathers on their arrows were wet. The bold Ojibways +saw their advantage and pressed closer and closer; but our men fought +desperately, half in and half out of the water, until the enemy was +forced at last to retreat. Nevertheless that was a sad day for the +Wahpeton Sioux; but saddest of all was Winona's fate! + +"Morning Star, her lover, who led the canoe fleet that morning, was +among the slain. For two days the Sioux braves searched in the water for +their dead, but his body was not recovered. + +"At home, meanwhile, the people had been alarmed by ill omens. Winona, +eldest daughter of the great chief, one day entered her birch canoe +alone and paddled up the Mississippi, gazing now into the water around +her, now into the blue sky above. She thought she heard some young men +giving courtship calls in the distance, just as they do at night when +approaching the teepee of the beloved; and she knew the voice of Morning +Star well! Surely she could distinguish his call among the others! +Therefore she listened yet more intently, and looked skyward as her +light canoe glided gently up stream. + +"Ah, poor Winona! She saw only six sandhill cranes, looking no larger +than mosquitoes, as they flew in circles high up in the sky, going east +where all spirits go. Something said to her: 'Those are the spirits +of some of the Sioux braves, and Morning Star is among them!' Her eye +followed the birds as they traveled in a chain of circles. + +"Suddenly she glanced downward. 'What is this?' she screamed in despair. +It was Morning Star's body, floating down the river; his quiver, worked +by her own hands and now dyed with his blood, lay upon the surface of +the water. + +"'Ah, Great Mystery! why do you punish a poor girl so? Let me go with +the spirit of Morning Star!' + +"It was evening. The pale moon arose in the east and the stars were +bright. At this very hour the news of the disaster was brought home by +a returning scout, and the village was plunged in grief, but Winona's +spirit had flown away. No one ever saw her again. + +"This is enough for to-day, my boy. You may come again to-morrow." + + + + +II. The Stone Boy + +"Ho, mita koda!" (welcome, friend!) was Smoky Day's greeting, as I +entered his lodge on the third day. "I hope you did not dream of a +watery combat with the Ojibways, after the history I repeated to you +yesterday," the old sage continued, with a complaisant smile playing +upon his face. + +"No," I said, meekly, "but, on the other hand, I have wished that the +sun might travel a little faster, so that I could come for another +story." + +"Well, this time I will tell you one of the kind we call myths or fairy +stories. They are about men and women who do wonderful things--things +that ordinary people cannot do at all. Sometimes they are not exactly +human beings, for they partake of the nature of men and beasts, or of +men and gods. I tell you this beforehand, so that you may not ask any +questions, or be puzzled by the inconsistency of the actors in these old +stories. + +"Once there were ten brothers who lived with their only sister, a young +maiden of sixteen summers. She was very skilful at her embroidery, and +her brothers all had beautifully worked quivers and bows embossed with +porcupine quills. They loved and were kind to her, and the maiden in +her turn loved her brothers dearly, and was content with her position as +their housekeeper. They were great hunters, and scarcely ever remained +at home during the day, but when they returned at evening they would +relate to her all their adventures. + +"One night they came home one by one with their game, as usual, all but +the eldest, who did not return. It was supposed by the other brothers +that he had pursued a deer too far from the lodge, or perhaps shot more +game than he could well carry; but the sister had a presentiment that +something dreadful had befallen him. She was partially consoled by the +second brother, who offered to find the lost one in the morning. + +"Accordingly, he went in search of him, while the rest set out on the +hunt as usual. Toward evening all had returned safely, save the brother +who went in search of the absent. Again, the next older brother went +to look for the others, and he too returned no more. All the young men +disappeared one by one in this manner, leaving their sister alone. + +"The maiden's sorrow was very great. She wandered everywhere, weeping +and looking for her brothers, but found no trace of them. One day she +was walking beside a beautiful little stream, whose clear waters went +laughing and singing on their way. She could see the gleaming pebbles at +the bottom, and one in particular seemed so lovely to her tear-bedimmed +eyes, that she stooped and picked it up, dropping it within her skin +garment into her bosom. For the first time since her misfortunes she had +forgotten herself and her sorrow. + +"At last she went home, much happier than she had been, though she could +not have told the reason why. On the following day she sought again the +place where she had found the pebble, and this time she fell asleep on +the banks of the stream, When she awoke, there lay a beautiful babe in +her bosom. + +"She took it up and kissed it many times. And the child was a boy, but +it was heavy like a stone, so she called him a 'Little Stone Boy.' The +maiden cried no more, for she was very happy with her baby. The child +was unusually knowing, and walked almost from its birth. + +"One day Stone Boy discovered the bow and arrows of one of his uncles, +and desired to have them; but his mother cried, and said: + +"'Wait, my son, until you are a young man.' She made him some little +ones, and with these he soon learned to hunt, and killed small game +enough to support them both. When he had grown to be a big boy, he +insisted upon knowing whose were the ten bows that still hung upon the +walls of his mother's lodge. + +"At last she was obliged to tell him the sad story of her loss. + +"'Mother, I shall go in search of my uncles,' exclaimed the Stone Boy. + +"'But you will be lost like them,' she replied, 'and then I shall die of +grief.' + +"'No, I shall not be lost. I shall bring your ten brothers back to you. +Look, I will give you a sign. I will take a pillow, and place it upon +end. Watch this, for as long as I am living the pillow will stay as +I put it. Mother, give me some food and some moccasins with which to +travel!' + +"Taking the bow of one of his uncles, with its quiver full of arrows, +the Stone Boy departed. As he journeyed through the forest he spoke to +every animal he met, asking for news of his lost uncles. Sometimes he +called to them at the top of his voice. Once he thought he heard an +answer, so he walked in the direction of the sound. But it was only a +great grizzly bear who had wantonly mimicked the boy's call. Then Stone +Boy was greatly provoked. + +"'Was it you who answered my call, you longface?' he exclaimed. + +"Upon this the latter growled and said: + +"'You had better be careful how you address me, or you may be sorry for +what you say!' + +"'Who cares for you, you red-eyes, you ugly thing!' the boy replied; +whereupon the grizzly immediately set upon him. + +"But the boy's flesh became as hard as stone, and the bear's great teeth +and claws made no impression upon it. Then he was so dreadfully heavy; +and he kept laughing all the time as if he were being tickled, which +greatly aggravated the bear. Finally Stone Boy pushed him aside and sent +an arrow to his heart. + +"He walked on for some distance until he came to a huge fallen pine +tree, which had evidently been killed by lightning. The ground near by +bore marks of a struggle, and Stone Boy picked up several arrows exactly +like those of his uncles, which he himself carried. + +"While he was examining these things, he heard a sound like that of a +whirlwind, far up in the heavens. He looked up and saw a black speck +which grew rapidly larger until it became a dense cloud. Out of it came +a flash and then a thunderbolt. The boy was obliged to wink; and when he +opened his eyes, behold! a stately man stood before him and challenged +him to single combat. + +"Stone Boy accepted the challenge and they grappled with one another. +The man from the clouds was gigantic in stature and very powerful. But +Stone Boy was both strong and unnaturally heavy and hard to hold. The +great warrior from the sky sweated from his exertions, and there came a +heavy shower. Again and again the lightnings flashed about them as +the two struggled there. At last Stone Boy threw his opponent, who lay +motionless. There was a murmuring sound throughout the heavens and the +clouds rolled swiftly away. + +"'Now,' thought the hero, 'this man must have slain all my uncles. I +shall go to his home and find out what has become of them.' With this +he unfastened from the dead man's scalp-lock a beautiful bit of scarlet +down. He breathed gently upon it, and as it floated upward he followed +into the blue heavens. + +"Away went Stone Boy to the country of the Thunder Birds. It was a +beautiful land, with lakes, rivers, plains and mountains. The young +adventurer found himself looking down from the top of a high mountain, +and the country appeared to be very populous, for he saw lodges all +about him as far as the eye could reach. He particularly noticed a +majestic tree which towered above all the others, and in its bushy top +bore an enormous nest. Stone Boy descended from the mountain and soon +arrived at the foot of the tree; but there were no limbs except those +at the top and it was so tall that he did not attempt to climb it. He +simply took out his bit of down, breathed upon it and floated gently +upward. + +"When he was able to look into the nest he saw there innumerable eggs of +various sizes, and all of a remarkable red color. He was nothing but a +boy after all, and had all a boy's curiosity and recklessness. As he +was handling the eggs carelessly, his notice was attracted to a sudden +confusion in the little village below. All of the people seemed to be +running toward the tree. He mischievously threw an egg at them, and +in the instant that it broke he saw one of the men drop dead. Then all +began to cry out pitifully, 'Give me my heart!' + +"'Ah,' exclaimed Stone Boy, exulting,' so these are the hearts of the +people who destroyed my uncles! I shall break them all!' + +"And he really did break all of the eggs but four small ones which he +took in his hand. Then he descended the tree, and wandered among the +silent and deserted lodges in search of some trace of his lost uncles. +He found four little boys, the sole survivors of their race, and these +he commanded to tell him where their bones were laid. + +"They showed him the spot where a heap of bones was bleaching on the +ground. Then he bade one of the boys bring wood, a second water, a third +stones, and the fourth he sent to cut willow wands for the sweat lodge. +They obeyed, and Stone Boy built the lodge, made a fire, heated the +stones and collected within the lodge all the bones of his ten uncles. + +"As he poured the water upon the hot stones faint sounds could be heard +from within the magic bath. These changed to the murmuring of voices, +and finally to the singing of medicine songs. Stone Boy opened the door +and his ten uncles came forth in the flesh, thanking him and blessing +him for restoring them to life. Only the little finger of the youngest +uncle was missing. Stone Boy now heartlessly broke the four remaining +eggs, and took the little finger of the largest boy to supply the +missing bone. + +"They all returned to earth again and Stone Boy conducted his uncles to +his mother's lodge. She had never slept during his entire absence, but +watched incessantly the pillow upon which her boy was wont to rest his +head, and by which she was to know of his safety. Going a little in +advance of the others, he suddenly rushed forward into her teepee, +exclaiming: 'Mother, your ten brothers are coming--prepare a feast!' + +"For some time after this they all lived happily together. Stone Boy +occupied himself with solitary hunting. He was particularly fond of +hunting the fiercer wild animals. He killed them wantonly and brought +home only the ears, teeth and claws as his spoil, and with these he +played as he laughingly recounted his exploits. His mother and uncles +protested, and begged him at least to spare the lives of those animals +held sacred by the Dakotas, but Stone Boy relied upon his supernatural +powers to protect him from harm. + +"One evening, however, he was noticeably silent and upon being pressed +to give the reason, replied as follows: + +"'For some days past I have heard the animals talking of a conspiracy +against us. I was going west the other morning when I heard a crier +announcing a general war upon Stone Boy and his people. The crier was +a Buffalo, going at full speed from west to east. Again, I heard the +Beaver conversing with the Musk-rat, and both said that their services +were already promised to overflow the lakes and rivers and cause a +destructive flood. I heard, also, the little Swallow holding a secret +council with all the birds of the air. He said that he had been +appointed a messenger to the Thunder Birds, and that at a certain signal +the doors of the sky would be opened and rains descend to drown Stone +Boy. Old Badger and the Grizzly Bear are appointed to burrow underneath +our fortifications. + +"'However, I am not at all afraid for myself, but I am anxious for you, +Mother, and for my uncles.' + +"'Ugh!' grunted all the uncles, 'we told you that you would get into +trouble by killing so many of our sacred animals for your own amusement. + +"'But,' continued Stone Boy, 'I shall make a good resistance, and I +expect you all to help me.' + +"Accordingly they all worked under his direction in preparing for the +defence. First of all, he threw a pebble into the air, and behold a +great rocky wall around their teepee. A second, third, fourth and fifth +pebble became other walls without the first. From the sixth and seventh +were formed two stone lodges, one upon the other. The uncles meantime, +made numbers of bows and quivers full of arrows, which were ranged at +convenient distances along the tops of the walls. His mother prepared +great quantities of food and made many moccasins for her boy, who +declared that he would defend the fortress alone. + +"At last they saw the army of beasts advancing, each tribe by itself +and commanded by a leader of extraordinary size. The onset was terrific. +They flung themselves against the high walls with savage cries, while +the badgers and other burrowing animals ceaselessly worked to undermine +them. Stone Boy aimed his sharp arrows with such deadly effect that his +enemies fell by thousands. So great was their loss that the dead bodies +of the animals formed a barrier higher than the first, and the armies +retired in confusion. + +"But reinforcements were at hand. The rain fell in torrents; the beavers +had dammed all the rivers and there was a great flood. The besieged all +retreated into the innermost lodge, but the water poured in through +the burrows made by the badgers and gophers, and rose until Stone Boy's +mother and his ten uncles were all drowned. Stone Boy himself could not +be entirely destroyed, but he was overcome by his enemies and left half +buried in the earth, condemned never to walk again, and there we find +him to this day. + +"This was because he abused his strength, and destroyed for mere +amusement the lives of the creatures given him for use only." + + + + +VI. EVENING IN THE LODGE + + + + +I: 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 Foot-print, 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 grey 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 warwhoop 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. + +"O, 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. "O, what nice claws he +has, uncle!" I exclaimed eagerly. "Can I have them for my necklace?" + +"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-claws 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 warparty 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 reinforcements. + +"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 snowshoes. 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. + + + + +II. Adventures of My Uncle + +IT was a beautiful fall day--'a gopher's last look back,' as we used to +say of the last warm days of the late autumn. We were encamped beside +a wild rice lake, where two months before we had harvested our watery +fields of grain, and where we had now returned for the duck-hunting. +All was well with us. Ducks were killed in countless numbers, and in the +evenings the men hunted deer in canoes by torchlight along the shores of +the lake. But alas! life is made up of good times and bad times, and it +is when we are perfectly happy that we should expect some overwhelming +misfortune. + +"So it was that upon this peaceful and still morning, all of a sudden a +harsh and terrible war-cry was heard! Your father was then quite a young +man, and a very ambitious warrior, so that I was always frightened on +his account whenever there was a chance of fighting. But I did not think +of your uncle, Mysterious Medicine, for he was not over fifteen at the +time; besides, he had never shown any taste for the field. + +"Our camp was thrown into great excitement; and as the warriors advanced +to meet the enemy, I was almost overcome by the sight of your uncle +among them! It was of no use for me to call him back--I think I prayed +in that moment to the Great Mystery to bring my boy safely home. + +"I shall never forget, as long as I live, the events of that day. Many +brave men were killed; among them two of your uncle's intimate friends. +But when the battle was over, my boy came back; only his face was +blackened in mourning for his friends, and he bore several wounds in his +body. I knew that he had proved himself a true warrior. + +"This was the beginning of your uncle's career, He has surpassed your +father and your grandfather; yes, all his ancestors except Jingling +Thunder, in daring and skill." + +Such was my grandmother's account of the maiden battle of her third +son, Mysterious Medicine. He achieved many other names; among them Big +Hunter, Long Rifle and White Footprint. He had a favorite Kentucky rifle +which he carried for many years. The stock was several times broken, +but he always made another. With this gun he excelled most of +his contemporaries in accuracy of aim. He used to call the weapon +Ishtahbopopa--a literal translation would be "Pops-the-eye." + +My uncle, who was a father to me for ten years of my life, was almost a +giant in his proportions, very symmetrical and "straight as an arrow." +His face was not at all handsome. He had very quiet and reserved manners +and was a man of action rather than of unnecessary words. Behind the +veil of Indian reticence he had an inexhaustible fund of wit and humor; +but this part of his character only appeared before his family and very +intimate friends. Few men know nature more thoroughly than he. Nothing +irritated him more than to hear some natural fact misrepresented. I +have often thought that with education he might have made a Darwin or an +Agassiz. + +He was always modest and unconscious of self in relating his adventures. +"I have often been forced to realize my danger," he used to say, "but +not in such a way as to overwhelm me. Only twice in my life have I been +really frightened, and for an instant lost my presence of mind. + +"Once I was in full pursuit of a large buck deer that I had wounded. +It was winter, and there was a very heavy fall of fresh snow upon the +ground. All at once I came upon the body of the deer lying dead on the +snow. I began to make a hasty examination, but before I had made any +discoveries, I spied the tips of two ears peeping just above the surface +of the snow about twenty feet from me. I made a feint of not seeing +anything at all, but moved quickly in the direction of my gun, which was +leaning against a tree. Feeling, somehow, that I was about to be taken +advantage of, I snatched at the same moment my knife from my belt. + +"The panther (for such it was) made a sudden and desperate spring. +I tried to dodge, but he was too quick for me. He caught me by the +shoulder with his great paw, and threw me down. Somehow, he did not +retain his hold, but made another leap and again concealed himself in +the snow. Evidently he was preparing to make a fresh attack. + +"I was partially stunned and greatly confused by the blow; therefore I +should have been an easy prey for him at the moment. But when he left +me, I came to my senses; and I had been thrown near my gun! I arose and +aimed between the tips of his ears--all that was visible of him--and +fired. I saw the fresh snow fly from the spot. The panther leaped about +six feet straight up into the air, and fell motionless. I gave two good +warwhoops, because I had conquered a very formidable enemy. I sat down +on the dead body to rest, and my heart beat as if it would knock out all +my ribs. I had not been expecting any danger, and that was why I was so +taken by surprise. + +"The other time was on the plains, in summer. I was accustomed to +hunting in the woods, and never before had hunted buffalo on horseback. +Being a young man, of course I was eager to do whatever other men did. +Therefore I saddled my pony for the hunt. I had a swift pony and a good +gun, but on this occasion I preferred a bow and arrows. + +"It was the time of year when the buffalo go in large herds and the +bulls are vicious. But this did not trouble me at all; indeed, I thought +of nothing but the excitement and honor of the chase. + +"A vast plain near the Souris river was literally covered with an +immense herd. The day was fair, and we came up with them very easily. I +had a quiver full of arrows, with a sinew-backed bow. + +"My pony carried me in far ahead of all the others. I found myself in +the midst of the bulls first, for they are slow. They threw toward +me vicious glances, so I hastened my pony on to the cows. Soon I was +enveloped in a thick cloud of dust, and completely surrounded by the +herd, who were by this time in the act of fleeing, their hoofs making a +noise like thunder. + +"I could not think of anything but my own situation, which confused me +for the moment. It seemed to me to be a desperate one. If my pony, which +was going at full speed, should step into a badger hole, I should be +thrown to the ground and trampled under foot in an instant. If I were to +stop, they would knock me over, pony and all. Again, it seemed as if my +horse must fall from sheer exhaustion; and then what would become of me? + +"At last I awoke to a calm realization of my own power. I uttered a yell +and began to shoot right and left. Very soon there were only a few old +bulls who remained near me. The herd had scattered, and I was miles away +from my companions. + +"It is when we think of our personal danger that we are apt to be at +a loss to do the best thing under the circumstances. One should be +unconscious of self in order to do his duty. We are very apt to think +ourselves brave, when we are most timid. I have discovered that half our +young men give the war-whoop when they are frightened, because they fear +lest their silence may betray their state of mind. I think we are really +bravest when most calm and slow to action." + +I urged my uncle to tell me more of his adventures. + +"Once," said he, "I had a somewhat peculiar experience, which I think +I never related to you before. It was at the time of the fall hunt. One +afternoon when I was alone I discovered that I was too far away to reach +the camp before dark, so I looked about for a good place to spend the +night. This was on the Upper Missouri, before there were any white +people there, and when we were in constant danger from wild beasts as +well as from hostile Indians. It was necessary to use every precaution +and the utmost vigilance. + +"I selected a spot which appeared to be well adapted to defense. I had +killed two deer, and I hung up pieces of the meat at certain distances +in various directions. I knew that any wolf would stop for the meat, A +grizzly bear would sometimes stop, but not a mountain lion or a panther. +Therefore I made a fire. Such an animal would be apt to attack a +solitary fire. There was a full moon that night, which was much in my +favor. + +"Having cooked and eaten some of the venison, I rolled myself in my +blanket and lay down by the fire, taking my Ishtahbopopa for a bed +fellow. I hugged it very closely, for I felt that I should need it +during the night. I had scarcely settled myself when I heard what seemed +to be ten or twelve coyotes set up such a howling that I was quite sure +of a visit from them. Immediately after-. ward I heard another sound, +which was like the screaming of a small child. This was a porcupine, +which had doubtless smelled the meat. + +"I watched until a coyote appeared upon a flat rock fifty yards away. +He sniffed the air in every direction; then, sitting partly upon his +haunches, swung round in a circle with his hind legs sawing the air, and +howled and barked in many different keys. It was a great feat! I could +not help wondering whether I should be able to imitate him. What had +seemed to be the voices of many coyotes was in reality only one animal. +His mate soon appeared and then they both seemed satisfied, and showed +no signs of a wish to invite another to join them. Presently they both +suddenly and quietly disappeared. + +"At this moment a slight noise attracted my attention, and I saw that +the porcupine had arrived. He had climbed up to the piece of meat +nearest me, and was helping himself without any ceremony. I thought it +was fortunate that he came, for he would make a good watch dog for me. +Very soon, in fact, he interrupted his meal, and caused all his quills +to stand out in defiance. I glanced about me and saw the two coyotes +slyly approaching my open camp from two different directions. + +"I took the part of the porcupine! I rose in a sitting posture, and sent +a swift arrow to each of my unwelcome visitors. They both ran away with +howls of surprise and pain. + +"The porcupine saw the whole from his perch, but his meal was not at all +disturbed, for he began eating again with apparent relish. Indeed, I was +soon furnished with another of these unconscious protectors. This one +came from the opposite direction to a point where I had hung a splendid +ham of venison. He cared to go no further, but seated himself at once on +a convenient branch and began his supper. + +"The canon above me was full of rocks and trees. From this direction +came a startling noise, which caused me more concern than anything I had +thus far heard. It sounded much like a huge animal stretching himself, +and giving a great yawn which ended in a scream. I knew this for the +voice of a mountain lion, and it decided me to perch upon a limb for the +rest of the night. + +"I got up and climbed into the nearest large tree, taking my weapons +with me; but first I rolled a short log of wood in my blanket and laid +it in my place by the fire. + +"As I got up, the two porcupines began to descend, but I paid no +attention to them, and they soon returned to their former positions. +Very soon I heard a hissing sound from one of them, and knew that an +intruder was near. Two grey wolves appeared. + +"I had hung the hams by the ham strings, and they were fully eight +feet from the ground. At first the wolves came boldly forward, but the +warning of the porcupines caused them to stop, and hesitate to jump for +the meat. However, they were hungry, and began to leap savagely for the +hams, although evidently they proved good targets for the quills of the +prickly ones, for occasionally one of them would squeal and rub his nose +desperately against the tree. + +"At last one of the wolves buried his teeth too deeply in a tough +portion of the flesh, and having jumped to reach it, his own weight +made it impossible for him to loosen his upper jaw. There the grey wolf +dangled, kicking and yelping, until the tendon of the ham gave way, and +both fell heavily to the ground. From my hiding-place I sent two arrows +into his body, which ended his life. The other one ran away to a little +distance and remained there a long time, as if waiting for her mate. + +"I was now very weary, but I had seen many grizzly bears' tracks in the +vicinity, and besides, I had not forgotten the dreadful scream of the +mountain lion. I determined to continue my watch. + +"As I had half expected, there came presently a sudden heavy fall, and +at the same time the burning embers were scattered about and the fire +almost extinguished. My blanket with the log in it was rolled over +several times, amid snarls and growls. Then the assailant of my camp--a +panther--leaped back into the thick underbrush, but not before my arrow +had penetrated his side. He snarled and tried to bite off the shaft, but +after a time became exhausted and lay still. + +"I could now distinguish the grey dawn in the east. I was exceedingly +drowsy, so I fastened myself by a rope of raw-hide to the trunk of the +tree against which I leaned. I was seated on a large limb, and soon fell +asleep. + +"I was rudely awakened by the report of a gun directly under me. At +the same time, I thought some one was trying to shake me off the tree, +Instantly I reached for my gun. Alas! it was gone! At the first shake +of the tree by my visitor, a grizzly bear, the gun had fallen, and as it +was cocked, it went off. + +"The bear picked up the weapon and threw it violently away; then he +again shook the tree with all his strength. I shouted: + +"'I have still a bow and a quiver full of arrows; you had better let me +alone.' + +"He replied to this with a rough growl. I sent an arrow into his side, +and he groaned like a man as he tried hard to pull it out. I had to give +him several more before he went a short distance away, and died. It was +now daylight, so I came down from my perch. I was stiff, and scarcely +able to walk. I found that the bear had killed both of my little +friends, the porcupines, and eaten most of the meat. + +"Perhaps you wonder, Ohiyesa, why I did not use my gun in the beginning; +but I had learned that if I once missed my aim with it, I had no second +chance. I have told of this particular adventure, because it was an +unusual experience to see so many different animals in one night. I have +often been in similar places, and killed one or two. Once a common black +bear stole a whole deer from me without waking me. But all this life is +fast disappearing, and the world is becoming different." + + + + +VII. THE END OF THE BEAR DANCE + +IT was one of the superstitions of the Santee Sioux to treat disease +from the standpoint of some animal or inanimate thing. That person who, +according to their belief, had been commissioned to become a medicine +man or a war chief, must not disobey the bear or other creature or +thing which gave him his commission. If he ever ventured to do so, the +offender must pay for his insubordination with his life, or that of his +own child or dearest friend. It was supposed to be necessary that the +supernatural orders be carried into effect at a particular age and a +certain season of the year. Occasionally a very young man, who excused +himself on the ground of youth and modesty, might be forgiven. + +One of my intimate friends had been a sufferer from what, I suppose, +must have been consumption. He, like myself, had a grandmother in whom +he had unlimited faith. But she was a very ambitious and pretentious +woman. Among her many claims was that of being a great "medicine woman," +and many were deceived by it; but really she was a fraud, for she did +not give any medicine, but "conjured" the sick exclusively. + +At this time my little friend was fast losing ground, in spite of +his grandmother's great pretensions. At last I hinted to him that my +grandmother was a herbalist, and a skilful one. But he hinted back to me +that 'most any old woman who could dig roots could be a herbalist, and +that without a supernatural commission there was no power that could +cope with disease. I defended my ideal on the ground that there are +supernatural powers in the herbs themselves; hence those who understand +them have these powers at their command. + +"But," insisted my friend, "one must get his knowledge from the Great +Mystery!" + +This completely silenced my argument, but did not shake my faith in my +grandmother's ability. + +Redhorn was a good boy, and I loved him. I visited him often, and found +him growing weaker day by day. + +"Ohiyesa," he said to me one day, "my grandmother has discovered the +cause of my sickness." + +I eagerly interrupted him by shouting: "And can she cure you now, +Redhorn?" + +"Of course," he replied, "she cannot until I have fulfilled the +commandment. I have confessed to her that two years ago I received my +commission, and I should have made a Bear Dance and proclaimed myself a +medicine man last spring, when I had seen thirteen winters. You see, I +was ashamed to proclaim myself a medicine man, being so young; and for +this I am punished. However, my grandmother says it is not yet too late. +But, Ohiyesa, I am as weak now as a rheumatic old man. I can scarcely +stand up. They say that I can appoint some one else to act for me. He +will be the active bear--I shall have to remain in the hole. Would you, +Ohiyesa, be willing to act the bear for me? You know he has to chase the +dancers away from his den." + +"Redhorn," I replied with much embarrassment, "I should be happy to do +anything that I could for you, but I cannot be a bear. I feel that I +am not fit. I am not large enough; I am not strong enough; and I don't +understand the habits of the animal well enough. I do not think you +would be pleased with me as your substitute." + +Redhorn finally decided that he would engage a larger boy to perform +for him. A few days later, it was announced by the herald that my friend +would give a Bear Dance, at which he was to be publicly proclaimed a +medicine man. It would be the great event of his short existence, for +the disease had already exhausted his strength and vitality. Of course, +we all understood that there would be an active youth to exhibit the +ferocious nature of the beast after which the dance is named. + +The Bear Dance was an entertainment, a religious rite, a method of +treating disease--all in one. A strange thing about it was that no woman +was allowed to participate in the orgies, unless she was herself the +bear. + +The den was usually dug about two hundred yards from the camp, on some +conspicuous plain. It was about two feet deep and six feet square and +over it was constructed an arbor of boughs with four openings. When the +bear man sang, all the men and boys would gather and dance about the +den; and when he came out and pursued them there was a hasty retreat. It +was supposed that whoever touched the bear without being touched by him +would overcome a foe in the field. If one was touched, the reverse was +to be expected. The thing which caused most anxiety among the dancers +was the superstition that if one of them should accidentally trip and +fall while pursued by the bear, a sudden death would visit him or his +nearest relative. + +Boys of my age were disposed to run some risk in this dance; they would +take every opportunity to strike at the bear man with a short switch, +while the older men shot him with powder. It may as well be admitted +that one reason for my declining the honor offered me by my friend +Redhorn was that I was afraid of powder, and I much preferred to be +one of the dancers and take my chances of touching the bear man without +being touched. + +It was a beautiful summer's day. The forest behind our camp was sweet +with the breath of blossoming flowers. The teepees faced a large lake, +which we called Bedatanka. Its gentle waves cooled the atmosphere. +The water-fowl disported themselves over its surface, and the birds of +passage overhead noisily expressed their surprise at the excitement and +confusion in our midst. + +The herald, with his brassy voice, again went the rounds, announcing the +day's event and the tardy fulfillment of the boy's commission. Then +came the bustle of preparation. The out-door toilet of the people +was performed with care. I cannot describe just how I was attired or +painted, but I am under the impression that there was but little of my +brown skin that was not uncovered. The others were similarly dressed in +feathers, paint and tinkling ornaments. + +I soon heard the tom-tom's doleful sound from the direction of the +bear's den, and a few warwhoops from the throats of the youthful +warriors. As I joined the motley assembly, I noticed that the bear man's +drum was going in earnest, and soon after he began to sing. This was the +invitation to the dance. + +An old warrior gave the signal and we all started for the den, very much +like a group of dogs attacking a stranger. Frantically we yelled and +whooped, running around the sheltering arbor in a hop, skip and jump +fashion. In spite of the apparent confusion, however, every participant +was on the alert for the slightest movement of the bear man. + +All of a sudden, a brave gave the warning, and we scattered in an +instant over the little plain between the den and our village. Everybody +seemed to be running for dear life, and I soon found myself some yards +behind the rest. I had gone in boldly, partly because of conversations +with certain boys who proposed to participate, and whom I usually +outdistanced in foot races. But it seemed that they had not carried +out their intentions and I was left alone. I looked back once or twice, +although I was pretty busy with my legs, and I imagined that my pursuer, +the bear man, looked twice as fearful as a real bear. He was dressed and +painted up with a view to terrify the crowd. I did not want the others +to guess that I was at all dismayed, so I tried to give the war-whoop; +but my throat was so dry at the moment that I am sure I must have given +it very poorly. + +Just as it seemed that I was about to be overtaken, the dancers who +had deserted me suddenly slackened their speed, and entered upon the +amusement of tormenting the bear man with gunpowder and switches, with +which they touched him far from gently upon his naked body. They now +chased him in turn, and he again retreated to his den. + +We rested until we heard the tom-tom and the song once more, and then +we rushed forth with fresh eagerness to the mimic attack. This time I +observed all necessary precautions for my own safety. I started in +my flight even before the warning was given, for I saw the bear man +gathering himself up to spring upon the dancers. Thus I had plenty of +leeway to observe what occurred. The bear man again pursued the yelling +and retreating mob, and was dealt with unmercifully by the swift-footed. +He became much excited as he desperately chased a middle-aged man, who +occasionally turned and fired off his gun, but was suddenly tripped by +an ant-hill and fell to the ground, with the other on top of him. The +excitement was intense. The bear man returned to his companion, and the +dancers gathered in little knots to exchange whispers. + +"Is it not a misfortune?" "The most surefooted of us all!" "Will he +die?" "Must his beautiful daughter be sacrificed?" + +The man who was the subject of all this comment did not speak a word. +His head hung down. Finally he raised it and said in a resolute voice: + +"We all have our time to go, and when the Great Mystery calls us we must +answer as cheerfully as at the call of one of our own war-chiefs here +on earth. I am not sad for myself, but my heart is not willing that my +Winona (first-born daughter) should be called." + +No one replied. Presently the last tom-tom was heard and the dancers +rallied once more. The man who had fallen did not join them, but turned +to the council lodge, where the wise old men were leisurely enjoying the +calumet. They beheld him enter with some surprise; but he threw himself +upon a buffalo robe, and resting his head upon his right hand, related +what had happened to him. Thereupon the aged men exclaimed as with one +voice: "It never fails!" After this, he spoke no more. + +Meanwhile, we were hilariously engaged in our last dance, and when the +bear man finally retired, we gathered about the arbor to congratulate +the sick bear man. But, to our surprise, his companion did not re-enter +the den. "He is dead! Redhorn, the bear man, is dead!" We all rushed to +the spot. My poor friend, Redhorn, lay dead in the den. + +At this instant there was another commotion in the camp. Everybody was +running toward the council lodge. A well-known medicine man was loudly +summoned thither. But, alas! the man who fell in the dance had suddenly +dropped dead. + +To the people, another Indian superstition had been verified. + + + + +VIII. THE MAIDENS' FEAST + +THERE were many peculiar customs among the Indians of an earlier period, +some of which tended to strengthen the character of the people and +preserve their purity. Perhaps the most unique of these was the annual +"feast of maidens." The casual observer would scarcely understand the +full force and meaning of this ceremony. + +The last one that I ever witnessed was given at Fort Ellis, Manitoba, +about the year 1871. Upon the table land just back of the old trading +post and fully a thousand feet above the Assiniboine river, surrounded +by groves, there was a natural amphitheatre. At one end stood the old +fort where since 1830 the northern tribes had come to replenish their +powder horns and lead sacks and to dispose of their pelts. + +In this spot there was a reunion of all the renegade Sioux on the one +hand and of the Assiniboines and Crees, the Canadian tribes, on the +other. They were friendly. The matter was not formally arranged, but it +was usual for all the tribes to meet here in the month of July. + +The Hudson Bay Company always had a good supply of red, blue, green and +white blankets, also cloth of brilliant dye, so that when their summer +festival occurred the Indians did not lack gayly colored garments. +Paints were bought by them at pleasure. Short sleeves were the fashion +in their buckskin dresses, and beads and porcupine quills were the +principal decorations. + +When circumstances are favorable, the Indians are the happiest people in +the world. There were entertainments every single day, which everybody +had the fullest opportunity to see and enjoy. If anything, the poorest +profited the most by these occasions, because a feature in each case was +the giving away of savage wealth to the needy in honor of the event. At +any public affair, involving the pride and honor of a prominent family, +there must always be a distribution of valuable presents. + +One bright summer morning, while we were still at our meal of jerked +buffalo meat, we heard the herald of the Wahpeton band upon his calico +pony as he rode around our circle. + + +"White Eagle's daughter, the maiden Red Star, invites all the maidens +of all the tribes to come and partake of her feast. It will be in the +Wahpeton camp, before the sun reaches the middle of the sky. All pure +maidens are invited. Red Star also invites the young men to be present, +to see that no unworthy maiden should join in the feast." + +The herald soon completed the rounds of the different camps, and it was +not long before the girls began to gather in great numbers. The fort +was fully alive to the interest of these savage entertainments. This +particular feast was looked upon as a semi-sacred affair. It would be +desecration for any to attend who was not perfectly virtuous. Hence +it was regarded as an opportune time for the young men to satisfy +themselves as to who were the virtuous maids of the tribe. + +There were apt to be surprises before the end of the day. Any young man +was permitted to challenge any maiden whom he knew to be unworthy. But +woe to him who could not prove his case. It meant little short of death +to the man who endeavored to disgrace a woman without cause. + +The youths had a similar feast of their own, in which the eligibles were +those who had never spoken to a girl in the way of courtship. It was +considered ridiculous so to do before attaining some honor as a warrior, +and the novices prided themselves greatly upon their self control. + +From the various camps the girls came singly or in groups, dressed in +bright-colored calicoes or in heavily fringed and beaded buckskin. Their +smooth cheeks and the central part of their glossy hair was touched with +vermilion. All brought with them wooden basins to eat from. Some who +came from a considerable distance were mounted upon ponies; a few, for +company or novelty's sake, rode double. + +The maidens' circle was formed about a coneshaped rock which stood upon +its base. This was painted red. Beside it two new arrows were lightly +stuck into the ground. This is a sort of altar, to which each maiden +comes before taking her assigned place in the circle, and lightly +touches first the stone and then the arrows. By this oath she declares +her purity. Whenever a girl approaches the altar there is a stir among +the spectators, and sometimes a rude youth would call out: + +"Take care! You will overturn the rock, or pull out the arrows!" + +Such a remark makes the girls nervous, and especially one who is not +sure of her composure. + +Immediately behind the maidens' circle is the old women's or chaperons' +circle. This second circle is almost as interesting to look at as the +inner one. The old women watched every movement of their respective +charges with the utmost concern, having previously instructed them how +they should conduct themselves in any event. + +There was never a more gorgeous assembly of the kind than this one. +The day was perfect. The Crees, displaying their characteristic +horsemanship, came in groups; the Assiniboines, with their curious +pompadour well covered with red paint. The various bands of Sioux all +carefully observed the traditional peculiarities of dress and behavior. +The attaches of the fort were fully represented at the entertainment, +and it was not unusual to see a pale-face maiden take part in the feast. + +The whole population of the region had assembled, and the maidens came +shyly into the circle. The simple ceremonies observed prior to the +serving of the food were in progress, when among a group of Wahpeton +Sioux young men there was a stir of excitement. All the maidens glanced +nervously toward the scene of the disturbance. Soon a tall youth emerged +from the throng of spectators and advanced toward the circle. Every one +of the chaperons glared at him as if to deter him from his purpose. But +with a steady step he passed them by and approached the maidens' circle. + +At last he stopped behind a pretty Assiniboine maiden of good family and +said: + +"I am sorry, but, according to custom, you should not be here." + +The girl arose in confusion, but she soon recovered her self-control. + +"What do you mean?" she demanded, indignantly. "Three times you have +come to court me, but each time I have refused to listen to you. I +turned my back upon you. Twice I was with Mashtinna. She can tell the +people that this is true. The third time I had gone for water when you +intercepted me and begged me to stop and listen. I refused because I did +not know you. My chaperon, Makatopawee, knows that I was gone but a few +minutes. I never saw you anywhere else." + +The young man was unable to answer this unmistakable statement of facts, +and it became apparent that he had sought to revenge himself for her +repulse. + +"Woo! woo! Carry him out!" was the order of the chief of the Indian +police, and the audacious youth was hurried away into the nearest ravine +to be chastised. + +The young woman who had thus established her good name returned to the +circle, and the feast was served. The "maidens' song" was sung, and four +times they danced in a ring around the altar. Each maid as she departed +once more took her oath to remain pure until she should meet her +husband. + + + + +IX. MORE LEGENDS + + + + +I: A Legend of Devil's Lake + +AFTER the death of Smoky Day, old Weyuha was regarded as the greatest +story-teller among the Wahpeton Sioux. + +"Tell me, good Weyuha, a legend of your father's country," I said to him +one evening, for I knew the country which is now known as North Dakota +and Southern Manitoba was their ancient hunting-ground. I was prompted +by Uncheedah to make this request, after the old man had eaten in our +lodge. + +"Many years ago," he began, as he passed the pipe to uncle, "we traveled +from the Otter-tail to Minnewakan (Devil's Lake). At that time the +mound was very distinct where Chotanka lies buried. The people of his +immediate band had taken care to preserve it. + +"This mound under which lies the great medicine man is upon the summit +of Minnewakan Chantay, the highest hill in all that region. It is shaped +like an animal's heart placed on its base, with the apex upward. + +"The reason why this hill is called Minnewakan Chantay, or the Heart of +the Mysterious Land, I will now tell you. It has been handed down +from generation to generation, far beyond the memory of our +great-grandparents. It was in Chotanka's line of descent that these +legends were originally kept, but when he died the stories became +everybody's, and then no one believed in them. It was told in this way." + +I sat facing him, wholly wrapped in the words of the story-teller, and +now I took a deep breath and settled myself so that I might not disturb +him by the slightest movement while he was reciting his tale. We were +taught this courtesy to our elders, but I was impulsive and sometimes +forgot. + +"A long time ago," resumed Weyuha, "the red people were many in number, +and they inhabited all the land from the coldest place to the region of +perpetual summer time. It seemed that they were all of one tongue, and +all were friends. + +"All the animals were considered people in those days. The buffalo, the +elk, the antelope, were tribes of considerable importance. The bears +were a smaller band, but they obeyed the mandates of the Great Mystery +and were his favorites, and for this reason they have always known more +about the secrets of medicine. So they were held in much honor. The +wolves, too, were highly regarded at one time. But the buffalo, elk, +moose, deer and antelope were the ruling people. + +"These soon became conceited and considered themselves very important, +and thought no one could withstand them. The buffalo made war upon the +smaller tribes, and destroyed many. So one day the Great Mystery thought +it best to change the people in form and in language. + +"He made a great tent and kept it dark for ten days. Into this tent he +invited the different bands, and when they came out they were greatly +changed, and some could not talk at all after that. However, there is +a sign language given to all the animals that no man knows except some +medicine men, and they are under a heavy penalty if they should tell it. + +"The buffalo came out of the darkened tent the clumsiest of all +the animals. The elk and moose were burdened with their heavy and +many-branched horns, while the antelope and deer were made the most +defenseless of animals, only that they are fleet of foot. The bear and +the wolf were made to prey upon all the others. + +"Man was alone then. When the change came, the Great Mystery allowed him +to keep his own shape and language. He was king over all the animals, +but they did not obey him. From that day, man's spirit may live with the +beasts before he is born a man. He will then know the animal language +but he cannot tell it in human speech. He always retains his sympathy +with them, and can converse with them in dreams. + +"I must not forget to tell you that the Great Mystery pitched his tent +in this very region. Some legends say that the Minnewakan Chantay was +the tent itself, which afterward became earth and stones. Many of +the animals were washed and changed in this lake, the Minnewakan, or +Mysterious Water. It is the only inland water we know that is salt. No +animal has ever swum in this lake and lived." + +"Tell me," I eagerly asked, "is it dangerous to man also?" + +"Yes," he replied, "we think so; and no Indian has ever ventured in that +lake to my knowledge. That is why the lake is called Mysterious," he +repeated. + +"I shall now tell you of Chotanka. He was the greatest of medicine +men. He declared that he was a grizzly bear before he was born in human +form." Weyuha seemed to become very earnest when he reached this point +in his story. "Listen to Chotanka's life as a grizzly bear." + +"'As a bear,' he used to say, 'my home was in sight of the Minnewakan +Chantay. I lived with my mother only one winter, and I only saw my +father when I was a baby. Then we lived a little way from the Chantay +to the north, among scattered oak upon a hillside overlooking the +Minnewakan. + +"'When I first remember anything, I was playing outside of our home with +a buffalo skull that I had found near by. I saw something that looked +strange. It walked upon two legs, and it carried a crooked stick, and +some red willows with feathers tied to them. It threw one of the willows +at me, and I showed my teeth and retreated within our den. + +"'Just then my father and mother came home with a buffalo calf. They +threw down the dead calf, and ran after the queer thing. He had long +hair upon a round head. His face was round, too. He ran and climbed up +into a small oak tree. + +"'My father and mother shook him down, but not before he had shot some +of his red willows into their sides. Mother was very sick, but she +dug some roots and ate them and she was well again.' It was thus that +Chotanka was first taught the use of certain roots for curing wounds and +sickness," Weyuha added. + +"'One day'"--he resumed the grizzly's story--"'when I was out hunting +with my mother-my father had gone away and never came back--we found +a buffalo cow with her calf in a ravine. She advised me to follow her +closely, and we crawled along on our knees. All at once mother crouched +down under the grass, and I did the same. We saw some of those queer +beings that we called "two legs," riding upon big-tail deer (ponies). +They yelled as they rode toward us. Mother growled terribly and rushed +upon them. She caught one, but many more came with their dogs and drove +us into a thicket. They sent the red willows singing after us, and two +of them stuck in mother's side. When we got away at last she tried to +pull them out, but they hurt her terribly. She pulled them both out at +last, but soon after she lay down and died. + +"'I stayed in the woods alone for two days then I went around the +Minnewakan Chantay on the south side and there made my lonely den. There +I found plenty of hazel nuts, acorns and wild plums. Upon the plains the +teepsinna were abundant, and I saw nothing of my enemies. + +"'One day I found a footprint not unlike my own. I followed it to +see who the stranger might be. Upon the bluffs among the oak groves +I discovered a beautiful young female gathering acorns. She was of a +different band from mine, for she wore a jet black dress. + +"'At first she was disposed to resent my intrusion; but when I told her +of my lonely life she agreed to share it with me. We came back to my +home on the south side of the hill. There we lived happy for a whole +year. When the autumn came again Woshepee, for this was her name, said +that she must make a warm nest for the winter, and I was left alone +again.' + +"Now," said Weyuha, "I have come to a part of my story that few people +understand. All the long winter Chotanka slept in his den, and with +the early spring there came a great thunder storm. He was aroused by a +frightful crash that seemed to shake the hills; and lo! a handsome young +man stood at his door. He looked, but was not afraid, for he saw that +the stranger carried none of those red willows with feathered tips. He +was unarmed and smiling. + +"'I come,' said he, 'with a challenge to run a race. Whoever wins will +be the hero of his kind, and the defeated must do as the winner says +thereafter. This is a rare honor that I have brought you. The whole +world will see the race. The animal world will shout for you, and the +spirits will cheer me on. You are not a coward, and therefore you will +not refuse my challenge.' + +"'No,' replied Chotanka, after a short hesitation. The young man was +fine-looking, but lightly built. + +"'We shall start from the Chantay, and that will be our goal. Come, let +us go, for the universe is waiting!' impatiently exclaimed the stranger. + +"He passed on in advance, and just then an old, old wrinkled man came to +Chotanka's door. He leaned forward upon his staff. + +"'My son,' he said to him, 'I don't want to make you a coward, but +this young man is the greatest gambler of the universe. He has powerful +medicine. He gambles for life; be careful! My brothers and I are the +only ones who have ever beaten him. But he is safe, for if he is killed +he can resurrect himself--I tell you he is great medicine. + +"'However, I think that I can save you--listen! He will run behind you +all the way until you are within a short distance of the goal. Then he +will pass you by in a flash, for his name is ZigZag Fire! (lightning). +Here is my medicine.' So speaking, he gave me a rabbit skin and the gum +of a certain plant. 'When you come near the goal, rub yourself with the +gum, and throw the rabbit skin between you. He cannot pass you.' + +"'And who are you, grandfather?' Chotanka inquired. + +"'I am the medicine turtle,' the old man replied. 'The gambler is a +spirit from heaven, and those whom he outruns must shortly die. You have +heard, no doubt, that all animals know beforehand when they are to be +killed; and any man who understands these mysteries may also know when +he is to die.' + +"The race was announced to the world. The buffalo, elk, wolves and all +the animals came to look on. All the spirits of the air came also to +cheer for their comrade. In the sky the trumpet was sounded--the great +medicine drum was struck. It was the signal for a start. The course +was around the Minnewakan. (That means around the earth or the ocean.) +Everywhere the multitude cheered as the two sped by. + +"The young man kept behind Chotanka all the time until they came once +more in sight of the Chantay. Then he felt a slight shock and he threw +his rabbit skin back. The stranger tripped and fell. Chotanka rubbed +himself with the gum, and ran on until he reached the goal. There was +a great shout that echoed over the earth, but in the heavens there was +muttering and grumbling. The referee declared that the winner would live +to a good old age, and Zig-Zag Fire promised to come at his call. He was +indeed great medicine," Weyuha concluded. + +"But you have not told me how Chotanka became a man," I said. + +"One night a beautiful woman came to him in his sleep. She enticed him +into her white teepee to see what she had there. Then she shut the door +of the teepee and Chotanka could not get out. But the woman was kind +and petted him so that he loved to stay in the white teepee. Then it was +that he became a human born. This is a long story, but I think, Ohiyesa, +that you will remember it," said Weyuha, and so I did. + + + + +II. Manitoshaw's Hunting + +IT was in the winter, in the Moon of Difficulty (January). We had eaten +our venison roast for supper, and the embers were burning brightly. +Our teepee was especially cheerful. Uncheedah sat near the entrance, my +uncle and his wife upon the opposite side, while I with my pets occupied +the remaining space. + +Wabeda, the dog, lay near the fire in a half doze, watching out of the +corners of his eyes the tame raccoon, which snuggled back against +the walls of the teepee, his shrewd brain, doubtless, concocting some +mischief for the hours of darkness. I had already recited a legend of +our people. All agreed that I had done well. Having been generously +praised, I was eager to earn some more compliments by learning a new +one, so I begged my uncle to tell me a story. Musingly he replied: + +"I can give you a Sioux-Cree tradition," and immediately began: + +"Many winters ago, there were six teepees standing on the southern slope +of Moose mountain in the Moon of Wild Cherries (September). The men to +whom these teepees belonged had been attacked by the Sioux while hunting +buffalo, and nearly all killed. Two or three who managed to get home +to tell their sad story were mortally wounded, and died soon afterward. +There was only one old man and several small boys left to hunt and +provide for this unfortunate little band of women and children. + +"They lived upon teepsinna (wild turnips) and berries for many days. +They were almost famished for meat. The old man was too feeble to hunt +successfully. One day in this desolate camp a young Cree maiden--for +such they were--declared that she could no longer sit still and see her +people suffer. She took down her dead father's second bow and quiver +full of arrows, and begged her old grandmother to accompany her to Lake +Wanagiska, where she knew that moose had oftentimes been found. I forgot +to tell you that her name was Manitoshaw. + +"This Manitoshaw and her old grandmother, Nawakewee, took each a pony +and went far up into the woods on the side of the mountain. They pitched +their wigwam just out of sight of the lake, and hobbled their ponies. +Then the old woman said to Manitoshaw: + +"'Go, my granddaughter, to the outlet of the Wanagiska, and see if there +are any moose tracks there. When I was a young woman, I came here with +your father's father, and we pitched our tent near this spot. In the +night there came three different moose. Bring me leaves of the birch and +cedar twigs; I will make medicine for moose,' she added. + +"Manitoshaw obediently disappeared in the woods. It was a grove of +birch and willow, with two good springs. Down below was a marshy place. +Nawakewee had bidden the maiden look for nibbled birch and willow twigs, +for the moose loves to eat them, and to have her arrow ready upon the +bow-string. 'I have seen this very place many a time,' added my uncle, +and this simple remark gave to the story an air of reality. + +"The Cree maiden went first to the spring, and there found fresh tracks +of the animal she sought. She gathered some cedar berries and chewed +them, and rubbed some of them on her garments so that the moose might +not scent her. The sun was already set, and she felt she must return to +Nawakewee. + +"Just then Hinhankaga, the hooting owl, gave his doleful night call. The +girl stopped and listened attentively. + +"'I thought it was a lover's call,' she whispered to herself. A singular +challenge pealed across the lake. She recognized the alarm call of the +loon, and fancied that the bird might have caught a glimpse of her game. + +"Soon she was within a few paces of the temporary lodge of pine boughs +and ferns which the grandmother had constructed. The old woman met her +on the trail. + +"'Ah, my child, you have returned none too soon. I feared you had +ventured too far away; for the Sioux often come to this place to hunt. +You must not expose yourself carelessly on the shore.' + +"As the two women lay down to sleep they could hear the ponies munch +the rich grass in an open spot near by. Through the smoke hole of the +pine-bough wigwam Manitoshaw gazed up into the starry sky, and dreamed +of what she would do on the morrow when she should surprise the wily +moose. Her grandmother was already sleeping so noisily that it was +enough to scare away the game. At last the maiden, too, lost herself in +sleep. + +"Old Nawakewee awoke early. First of all she made a fire and burned +cedar and birch so that the moose might not detect the human smell. Then +she quickly prepared a meal of wild turnips and berries, and awoke the +maiden, who was surprised to see that the sun was already up. She ran +down to the spring and hastily splashed handsful of the cold water in +her face; then she looked for a moment in its mirror-like surface. +There was the reflection of two moose by the open shore and beyond them +Manitoshaw seemed to see a young man standing. In another moment all +three had disappeared. + +"'What is the matter with my eyes? I am not fully awake yet, and I +imagine things. Ugh, it is all in my eyes,' the maiden repeated to +herself. She hastened back to Nawakewee. The vision was so unexpected +and so startling that she could not believe in its truth, and she said +nothing to the old woman. + +"Breakfast eaten, Manitoshaw threw off her robe and appeared in her +scantily cut gown of buckskin with long fringes, and moccasins and +leggings trimmed with quills of the porcupine. Her father's bow and +quiver were thrown over one shoulder, and the knife dangled from her +belt in its handsome sheath. She ran breathlessly along the shore toward +the outlet. + +"Way off near the island Medoza the loon swam with his mate, +occasionally uttering a cry of joy. Here and there the playful Hogan, +the trout, sprang gracefully out of the water, in a shower of falling +dew. As the maiden hastened along she scared up Wadawasee, the +kingfisher, who screamed loudly. + +"'Stop, Wadawasee, stop--you will frighten my game!' + +"At last she had reached the outlet. She saw at once that the moose +had been there during the night. They had torn up the ground and broken +birch and willow twigs in a most disorderly way." + +"Ah!" I exclaimed, "I wish I had been with Manitoshaw then!" + +"Hush, my boy; never interrupt a storyteller." + +I took a stick and began to level off the ashes in front of me, and to +draw a map of the lake, the outlet, the moose and Manitoshaw. Away off +to one side was the solitary wigwam, Nawakewee and the ponies. + +"Manitoshaw's heart was beating so loud that she could not hear +anything," resumed my uncle. "She took some leaves of the wintergreen +and chewed them to calm herself. She did not forget to throw in passing +a pinch of pulverized tobacco and paint into the spring for Manitou, the +spirit. + +"Among the twinkling leaves of the birch her eye was caught by a moving +form, and then another. She stood motionless, grasping her heavy bow. +The moose, not suspecting any danger, walked leisurely toward the +spring. One was a large female moose; the other a yearling. + +"As they passed Manitoshaw, moving so naturally and looking so harmless, +she almost forgot to let fly an arrow. The mother moose seemed to +look in her direction, but did not see her. They had fairly passed her +hiding-place when she stepped forth and sent a swift arrow into the side +of the larger moose. Both dashed into the thick woods, but it was too +late. The Cree maiden had already loosened her second arrow. Both fell +dead before reaching the shore." + +"Uncle, she must have had a splendid aim, for in the woods the many +little twigs make an arrow bound off to one side," I interrupted in +great excitement. + +"Yes, but you must remember she was very near the moose." + +"It seems to me, then, uncle, that they must have scented her, for +you have told me that they possess the keenest nose of any animal," I +persisted. + +"Doubtless the wind was blowing the other way. But, nephew, you must let +me finish my story. + +"Overjoyed by her success, the maiden hastened back to Nawakawee, but she +was gone! The ponies were gone, too, and the wigwam of branches had been +demolished. While Manitoshaw stood there, frightened and undecided what +to do, a soft voice came from behind a neighboring thicket: + +"'Manitoshaw! Manitoshaw! I am here!' + +"She at once recognized, the voice and found it to be Nawakeewee, who +told a strange story. That morning a canoe had crossed the Wanagiska +carrying two men. They were Sioux. The old grandmother had seen them +coming, and to deceive them she at once pulled down her temporary +wigwam, and drove the ponies off toward home. Then she hid herself in +the bushes near by, for she knew that Manitoshaw must return there. + +"'Come, my granddaughter, we must hasten home by another way,' cried the +old woman. + +"But the maiden said, 'No, let us go first to my two moose that I killed +this morning and take some meat with us.' + +"'No, no, my child; the Sioux are cruel. They have killed many of +our people. If we stay here they will find us. I fear, I fear them, +Manitoshaw!' + +"At last the brave maid convinced her grandmother, and the more easily +as she too was hungry for meat. They went to where the big game lay +among the bushes, and began to dress the moose." + +"I think, if I were they, I would hide all day. I would wait until the +Sioux had gone; then I would go back to my moose," I interrupted for the +third time. + +"I will finish the story first; then you may tell us what you would do," +said my uncle reprovingly. + +"The two Sioux were father and son. They too had come to the lake for +moose; but as the game usually retreated to the island, Chatansapa had +landed his son Kangiska to hunt them on the shore while he returned in +his canoe to intercept their flight. The young man sped along the sandy +beach and soon discovered their tracks. He followed them up and found +blood on the trail. This astonished him. Cautiously he followed on until +he found them both lying dead. He examined them and found that in each +moose there was a single Cree arrow. Wishing to surprise the hunter if +possible, Kangiska lay hidden in the bushes. + +"After a little while the two women returned to the spot. They passed +him as close as the moose had passed the maiden in the morning. He saw +at once that the maiden had arrows in her quiver like those that had +slain the big moose. He lay still. + +"Kangiska looked upon the beautiful Cree maiden and loved her. Finally +he forgot himself and made a slight motion. Manitoshaw's quick eye +caught the little stir among the bushes, but she immediately looked the +other way and Kangiska believed that she had not seen anything, At last +her eyes met his, and something told both that all was well. Then the +maiden smiled, and the young man could not remain still any longer. +He arose suddenly and the old woman nearly fainted from fright. But +Manitoshaw said: + +"'Fear not, grandmother; we are two and he is only one.' + +"While the two women continued to cut up the meat, Kangiska made a fire +by rubbing cedar chips together, and they all ate of the moose meat. +Then the old woman finished her work, while the young people sat down +upon a log in the shade, and told each other all their minds. + +"Kangiska declared by signs that he would go home with Manitoshaw to the +Cree camp, for he loved her. They went home, and the young man hunted +for the unfortunate Cree band during the rest of his life. + +"His father waited a long time on the island and afterward searched the +shore, but never saw him again. He supposed that those footprints he saw +were made by Crees who had killed his son." + +"Is that story true, uncle?" I asked eagerly. + +"'Yes, the facts are well known. There are some Sioux mixed bloods among +the Crees to this day who are descendants of Kangiska." + + + + +X. INDIAN LIFE AND ADVENTURE + + + + +I: Life in the Woods + +THE month of September recalls to every Indian's mind the season of the +fall hunt. I remember one such expedition which is typical of many. Our +party appeared on the northwestern side of Turtle mountain; for we had +been hunting buffaloes all summer, in the region of the Mouse river, +between that mountain and the upper Missouri. + +As our cone-shaped teepees rose in clusters along the outskirts of the +heavy forest that clothes the sloping side of the mountain, the scene +below was gratifying to a savage eye. The rolling yellow plains were +checkered with herds of buffaloes. Along the banks of the streams that +ran down from the mountains were also many elk, which usually appear +at morning and evening, and disappear into the forest during the warmer +part of the day. Deer, too, were plenty, and the brooks were alive with +trout. Here and there the streams were dammed by the industrious beaver. + +In the interior of the forest there were lakes with many islands, where +moose, elk, deer and bears were abundant. The water-fowl were wont to +gather here in great numbers, among them the crane, the swan, the loon, +and many of the smaller kinds. The forest also was filled with a great +variety of birds. Here the partridge drummed his loudest, while the +whippoorwill sang with spirit, and the hooting owl reigned in the night. + +To me, as a boy, this wilderness was a paradise. It was a land of +plenty. To be sure, we did not have any of the luxuries of civilization, +but we had every convenience and opportunity and luxury of Nature. We +had also the gift of enjoying our good fortune, whatever dangers might +lurk about us; and the truth is that we lived in blessed ignorance of +any life that was better than our own. + +As soon as hunting in the woods began, the customs regulating it were +established. The council teepee no longer existed. A hunting bonfire was +kindled every morning at day-break, at which each brave must appear and +report. The man who failed to do this before the party set out on the +day's hunt was harassed by ridicule. As a rule, the hunters started +before sunrise, and the brave who was announced throughout the camp as +the first one to return with a deer on his back, was a man to be envied. + +The legend-teller, old Smoky Day, was chosen herald of the camp, and it +was he who made the announcements. After supper was ended, we heard his +powerful voice resound among the teepees in the forest. He would then +name a man to kindle the bonfire the next morning. His suit of fringed +buckskin set off his splendid physique to advantage. + +Scarcely had the men disappeared in the woods each morning than all the +boys sallied forth, apparently engrossed in their games and sports, +but in reality competing actively with one another in quickness of +observation. As the day advanced, they all kept the sharpest possible +lookout. Suddenly there would come the shrill "Woo-coohoo!" at the top +of a boy's voice, announcing the bringing in of a deer. Immediately all +the other boys took up the cry, each one bent on getting ahead of the +rest. Now we all saw the brave Wacoota fairly bent over by his burden, a +large deer which he carried on his shoulders. His fringed buckskin shirt +was besprinkled with blood. He threw down the deer at the door of his +wife's mother's home, according to custom, and then walked proudly +to his own. At the door of his father's teepee he stood for a moment +straight as a pine-tree, and then entered. + +When a bear was brought in, a hundred or more of these urchins were wont +to make the woods resound with their voices: "Wah! wah! wah! Wah! wah! +wah! The brave White Rabbit brings a bear! Wah! wah! wah!" + +All day these sing-song cheers were kept up, as the game was brought +in. At last, toward the close of the afternoon, all the hunters had +returned, and happiness and contentment reigned absolute, in a fashion +which I have never observed among the white people, even in the best +of circumstances. The men were lounging and smoking; the women actively +engaged in the preparation of the evening meal, and the care of the +meat. The choicest of the game was cooked and offered to the Great +Mystery, with all the accompanying ceremonies. This we called the +"medicine feast." Even the women, as they lowered the boiling pot, +or the fragrant roast of venison ready to serve, would first whisper: +"Great Mystery, do thou partake of this venison, and still be gracious!" +This was the commonly said "grace." + +Everything went smoothly with us, on this occasion, when we first +entered the woods. Nothing was wanting to our old way of living. The +killing of deer and elk and moose had to be stopped for a time, since +meat was so abundant that we had no use for them any longer. Only the +hunting for pelts, such as those of the bear, beaver, marten, and otter +was continued. But whenever we lived in blessed abundance, our braves +were wont to turn their thoughts to other occupations--especially the +hot-blooded youths whose ambition it was to do something noteworthy. + +At just such moments as this there are always a number of priests in +readiness, whose vocation it is to see into the future, and each of whom +consults his particular interpreter of the Great Mystery. (This ceremony +is called by the white people "making medicine.") To the priests the +youthful braves hint their impatience for the war-path. Soon comes the +desired dream or prophecy or vision to favor their departure. + +Our young men presently received their sign, and for a few days all was +hurry and excitement. On the appointed morning we heard the songs of the +warriors and the wailing of the women, by which they bade adieu to +each other, and the eligible braves, headed by an experienced man--old +Hotanka or Loud-Voiced Raven--set out for the Gros Ventre country. + +Our older heads, to be sure, had expressed some disapproval of the +undertaking, for the country in which we were roaming was not our own, +and we were likely at any time to be taken to task by its rightful +owners. The plain truth of the matter was that we were intruders. Hence +the more thoughtful among us preferred to be at home, and to achieve +what renown they could get by defending their homes and families. The +young men, however, were so eager for action and excitement that they +must needs go off in search of it. + +From the early morning when these braves left us, led by the old +war-priest, Loud-Voiced Raven, the anxious mothers, sisters and +sweethearts counted the days. Old Smoky Day would occasionally get up +early in the morning, and sing a "strong-heart" song for his absent +grandson. I still seem to hear the hoarse, cracked voice of the ancient +singer as it resounded among the woods. For a long time our roving +community enjoyed unbroken peace, and we were spared any trouble or +disturbance. Our hunters often brought in a deer or elk or bear for +fresh meat. The beautiful lakes furnished us with fish and wild-fowl +for variety. Their placid waters, as the autumn advanced, reflected the +variegated colors of the changing foliage. + +It is my recollection that we were at this time encamped in the vicinity +of the "Turtle Mountain's Heart." It is to the highest cone-shaped peak +that the Indians aptly give this appellation. Our camping-ground for two +months was within a short distance of the peak, and the men made it a +point to often send one of their number to the top. It was understood +between them and the war party that we were to remain near this spot; +and on their return trip the latter were to give the "smoke sign," which +we would answer from the top of the hill. + +One day, as we were camping on the shore of a large lake with several +islands, signs of moose were discovered, and the men went off to them on +rafts, carrying their flint-lock guns in anticipation of finding two or +three of the animals. We little fellows, as usual, were playing down by +the sandy shore, when we spied what seemed like the root of a great tree +floating toward us. But on a closer scrutiny we discovered our error. +It was the head of a huge moose, swimming for his life! Fortunately for +him, none of the men had remained at home. + +According to our habit, we little urchins disappeared in an instant, +like young prairie chickens, in the long grass. I was not more than +eight years old, yet I tested the strength of my bowstring and adjusted +my sharpest and best arrow for immediate service. My heart leaped +violently as the homely but imposing animal neared the shore. I was +undecided for a moment whether I would not leave my hiding-place and +give a war-whoop as soon as he touched the sand. Then I thought I would +keep still and let him have my boy weapon; and the only regret that +I had was that he would, in all probability, take it with him, and I +should be minus one good arrow. + +"Still," I thought, "I shall claim to be the smallest boy whose arrow +was ever carried away by a moose." That was enough. I gathered myself +into a bunch, all ready to spring. As the long-legged beast pulled +himself dripping out of the water, and shook off the drops from his long +hair, I sprang to my feet. I felt some of the water in my face! I gave +him my sharpest arrow with all the force I could master, right among the +floating ribs. Then I uttered my warwhoop. + +The moose did not seem to mind the miniature weapon, but he was very +much frightened by our shrill yelling. He took to his long legs, and in +a minute was out of sight. + +The leaves had now begun to fall, and the heavy frosts made the nights +very cold. We were forced to realize that the short summer of that +region had said adieu! Still we were gay and lighthearted, for we had +plenty of provisions, and no misfortune had yet overtaken us in our +wanderings over the country for nearly three months. + +One day old Smoky Day returned from the daily hunt with an alarm. He had +seen a sign-a "smoke sign." This had not appeared in the quarter that +they were anxiously watching--it came from the east. After a long +consultation among the men, it was concluded from the nature and +duration of the smoke that it proceeded from an accidental fire. It was +further surmised that the fire was not made by Sioux, since it was out +of their country, but by a war-party of Ojibways, who were accustomed +to use matches when lighting their pipes, and to throw them carelessly +away. It was thought that a little time had been spent in an attempt to +put it out. + +The council decreed that a strict look-out should be established in +behalf of our party. Every day a scout was appointed to reconnoitre in +the direction of the smoke. It was agreed that no gun should be fired +for twelve days. All our signals were freshly rehearsed among the men. +The women and old men went so far as to dig little convenient holes +around their lodges, for defense in case of a sudden attack. And yet an +Ojibway scout would not have suspected, from the ordinary appearance of +the camp, that the Sioux had become aware of their neighborhood! Scouts +were stationed just outside of the village at night. They had been so +trained as to rival an owl or a cat in their ability to see in the dark. + +The twelve days passed by, however, without bringing any evidence of +the nearness of the supposed Ojibway war-party, and the "lookout" +established for purposes of protection was abandoned. Soon after this, +one morning at dawn, we were aroused by the sound of the unwelcome +warwhoop. Although only a child, I sprang up and was about to rush out, +as I had been taught to do; but my good grandmother pulled me down, and +gave me a sign to lay flat on the ground. I sharpened my ears and lay +still. + +All was quiet in camp, but at some little distance from us there was a +lively encounter. I could distinctly hear the old herald, shouting and +yelling in exasperation. "Whoo! whoo!" was the signal of distress, and I +could almost hear the pulse of my own blood-vessels. + +Closer and closer the struggle came, and still the women appeared to +grow more and more calm. At last a tremendous charge by the Sioux put +the enemy to flight; there was a burst of yelling; alas! my friend and +teacher, old Smoky Day, was silent. He had been pierced to the heart by +an arrow from the Ojibways. + +Although successful, we had lost two of our men, Smoky Day and White +Crane, and this incident, although hardly unexpected, darkened our +peaceful sky. The camp was filled with songs of victory, mingled with +the wailing of the relatives of the slain. The mothers of the youths who +were absent on the war-path could no longer conceal their anxiety. + +One frosty morning--for it was then near the end of October--the weird +song of a solitary brave was heard. In an instant the camp was thrown +into indescribable confusion. The meaning of this was clear as day to +everybody--all of our war-party were killed, save the one whose mournful +song announced the fate of his companions. The lonely warrior was Bald +Eagle. + +The village was convulsed with grief; for in sorrow, as in joy, every +Indian shares with all the others. The old women stood still, wherever +they might be, and wailed dismally, at intervals chanting the praises +of the departed warriors. The wives went a little way from their teepees +and there audibly mourned; but the young maidens wandered further away +from the camp, where no one could witness their grief. The old men +joined in the crying and singing. To all appearances the most unmoved of +all were the warriors, whose tears must be poured forth in the country +of the enemy to embitter their vengeance. These sat silently within +their lodges, and strove to conceal their feelings behind a stoical +countenance; but they would probably have failed had not the soothing +weed come to their relief. + +The first sad shock over, then came the change of habiliments. In +savage usage, the outward expression of mourning surpasses that of +civilization. The Indian mourner gives up all his good clothing, and +contents himself with scanty and miserable garments. Blankets are cut in +two, and the hair is cropped short. Often a devoted mother would +scarify her arms or legs; a sister or a young wife would cut off all her +beautiful hair and disfigure herself by undergoing hardships. Fathers +and brothers blackened their faces, and wore only the shabbiest +garments. Such was the spectacle that our people presented when the +bright autumn was gone and the cold shadow of winter and misfortune +had fallen upon us. "We must suffer," said they--"the Great Mystery is +offended." + + + + +II. A Winter Camp + +WHEN I was about twelve years old we wintered upon the Mouse river, west +of Turtle mountain. It was one of the coldest winters I ever knew, and +was so regarded by the old men of the tribe. The summer before there had +been plenty of buffalo upon that side of the Missouri, and our people +had made many packs of dried buffalo meat and cached them in different +places, so that they could get them in case of need. There were many +black-tailed deer and elk along the river, and grizzlies were to be +found in the open country. Apparently there was no danger of starvation, +so our people thought to winter there; but it proved to be a hard +winter. + +There was a great snow-fall, and the cold was intense. The snow was +too deep for hunting, and the main body of the buffalo had crossed the +Missouri, where it was too far to go after them. But there were some +smaller herds of the animals scattered about in our vicinity, therefore +there was still fresh meat to be had, but it was not secured without a +great deal of difficulty. + +No ponies could be used. The men hunted on snow-shoes until after the +Moon of Sore Eyes (March), when after a heavy thaw a crust was formed +on the snow which would scarcely hold a man. It was then that our people +hunted buffalo with dogs--an unusual expedient. + +Sleds were made of buffalo ribs and hickory saplings, the runners bound +with rawhide with the hair side down. These slipped smoothly over the +icy crust. Only small men rode on the sleds. When buffalo were reported +by the hunting-scouts, everybody had his dog team ready. All went under +orders from the police, and approached the herd under cover until they +came within charging distance. + +The men had their bows and arrows, and a few had guns. The huge animals +could not run fast in the deep snow. They all followed a leader, +trampling out a narrow path. The dogs with their drivers soon caught up +with them on each side, and the hunters brought many of them down. + +I remember when the party returned, late in the night. The men came +in single file, well loaded, and each dog following his master with an +equally heavy load. Both men and animals were white with frost. + +We boys had waited impatiently for their arrival. As soon as we spied +them coming a buffalo hunting whistle was started, and every urchin in +the village added his voice to the weird sound, while the dogs who had +been left at home joined with us in the chorus. The men, wearing their +buffalo moccasins with the hair inside and robes of the same, came home +hungry and exhausted. + +It is often supposed that the dog in the Indian camp is a useless member +of society, but it is not so in the wild life. We found him one of the +most useful of domestic animals, especially in an emergency. + +While at this camp a ludicrous incident occurred that is still told +about the camp-fires of the Sioux. One day the men were hunting on +snow-shoes, and contrived to get within a short distance of the buffalo +before they made the attack. It was impossible to run fast, but the huge +animals were equally unable to get away. Many were killed. Just as the +herd reached an open plain one of the buffaloes stopped and finally lay +down. Three of the men who were pursuing him shortly came up. The animal +was severely wounded, but not dead. + +"I shall crawl up to him from behind and stab him," said Wamedee; "we +cannot wait here for him to die." The others agreed. Wamedee was not +considered especially brave; but he took out his knife and held it +between his teeth. He then approached the buffalo from behind and +suddenly jumped astride his back. + +The animal was dreadfully frightened and struggled to his feet. +Wamedee's knife fell to the ground, but he held on by the long shaggy +hair. He had a bad seat, for he was upon the buffalo's hump. There was +no chance to jump off; he had to stay on as well as he could. + +"Hurry! hurry! shoot! shoot!" he screamed, as the creature plunged and +kicked madly in the deep snow. Wamedee's face looked deathly, they said; +but his two friends could not help laughing. He was still calling upon +them to shoot, but when the others took aim he would cry: "Don't shoot! +don't shoot! you will kill me!" At last the animal fell down with him; +but Wamedee's two friends also fell down exhausted with laughter. He was +ridiculed as a coward thereafter. + +It was on this very hunt that the chief Mato was killed by a buffalo. It +happened in this way. He had wounded the animal, but not fatally; so +he shot two more arrows at him from a distance. Then the buffalo became +desperate and charged upon him. In his flight Mato was tripped by +sticking one of his snow-shoes into a snowdrift, from which he could not +extricate himself in time. The bull gored him to death. The creek upon +which this happened is now called Mato creek. + +A little way from our camp there was a log village of French Canadian +half-breeds, but the two villages did not intermingle. About the Moon of +Difficulty (January) we were initiated into some of the peculiar customs +of our neighbors. In the middle of the night there was a firing of +guns throughout their village. Some of the people thought they had been +attacked, and went over to assist them, but to their surprise they were +told that this was the celebration of the birth of the new year! + +Our men were treated to minnewakan or "spirit water," and they came home +crazy and foolish. They talked loud and sang all the rest of the night. +Finally our head chief ordered his young men to tie these men up and put +them in a lodge by themselves. He gave orders to untie them "when the +evil spirit had gone away." + +During the next day all our people were invited to attend the +half-breeds' dance. I never knew before that a new year begins in +mid-winter. We had always counted that the year ends when the winter +ends, and a new year begins with the new life in the springtime. + +I was now taken for the first time to a white man's dance in a log +house. I thought it was the dizziest thing I ever saw. One man sat in +a corner, sawing away at a stringed board, and all the while he was +stamping the floor with his foot and giving an occasional shout. When he +called out, the dancers seemed to move faster. + +The men danced with women--something that we Indians never do--and when +the man in the corner shouted they would swing the women around. It +looked very rude to me, as I stood outside with the other boys and +peeped through the chinks in the logs. At one time a young man and woman +facing each other danced in the middle of the floor. I thought they +would surely wear their moccasins out against the rough boards; but +after a few minutes they were relieved by another couple. + +Then an old man with long curly hair and a fox-skin cap danced alone in +the middle of the room, slapping the floor with his moccasined foot in +a lightning fashion that I have never seen equalled. He seemed to be +a leader among them. When he had finished, the old man invited our +principal chief into the middle of the floor, and after the Indian had +given a great whoop, the two drank in company. After this, there was so +much drinking and loud talking among the men, that it was thought best +to send us children back to the camp. + +It was at this place that we found many sand boulders like a big "white +man's house." There were holes in them like rooms, and we played in +these cave-like holes. One day, in the midst of our game, we found the +skeleton of a great bear. Evidently he had been wounded and came there +to die, for there were several arrows on the floor of the cave. + +The most exciting event of this year was the attack that the Gros +Ventres made upon us just as we moved our camp upon the table land back +of the river in the spring. We had plenty of meat then and everybody was +happy. The grass was beginning to appear and the ponies to grow fat. + +One night there was a war dance. A few of our young men had planned to +invade the Gros Ventres country, but it seemed that they too had been +thinking of us. Everybody was interested in the proposed war party. + +"Uncle, are you going too?" I eagerly asked him. + +"No," he replied, with a long sigh. "It is the worst time of year to go +on the war-path. We shall have plenty of fighting this summer, as we are +going to trench upon their territory in our hunts," he added. + +The night was clear and pleasant. The war drum was answered by the howls +of coyotes on the opposite side of the Mouse river. I was in the throng, +watching the braves who were about to go out in search of glory. "I wish +I were old enough; I would surely go with this party," I thought. My +friend Tatanka was to go. He was several years older than I, and a +hero in my eyes. I watched him as he danced with the rest until nearly +midnight. Then I came back to our teepee and rolled myself in my buffalo +robe and was soon lost in sleep. + +Suddenly I was aroused by loud war cries. "'Woo! woo! hay-ay! hay-ay! U +we do! U we do!'" I jumped upon my feet, snatched my bow and arrows and +rushed out of the teepee, frantically yelling as I went. + +"Stop! stop!" screamed Uncheedah, and caught me by my long hair. + +By this time the Gros Ventres had encircled our camp, sending volleys +of arrows and bullets into our midst. The women were digging ditches in +which to put their children. + +My uncle was foremost in the battle. The Sioux bravely withstood the +assault, although several of our men had already fallen. Many of the +enemy were killed in the field around our teepees. The Sioux at last got +their ponies and made a counter charge, led by Oyemakasan (my uncle). +They cut the Gros Ventre party in two, and drove them off. + +My friend Tatanka was killed. I took one of his eagle feathers, thinking +I would wear it the first time that I ever went upon the war-path. I +thought I would give anything for the opportunity to go against the Gros +Ventres, because they killed my friend. The war songs, the wailing for +the dead, the howling of the dogs was intolerable to me. Soon after this +we broke up our camp and departed for new scenes. + + + + +III. Wild Harvests + +WHEN our people lived in Minnesota, a good part of their natural +subsistence was furnished by the wild rice, which grew abundantly in all +of that region. Around the shores and all over some of the innumerable +lakes of the "Land of Sky-blue Water" was this wild cereal found. +Indeed, some of the watery fields in those days might be compared +in extent and fruitfulness with the fields of wheat on Minnesota's +magnificent farms to-day. + +The wild rice harvesters came in groups of fifteen to twenty families +to a lake, depending upon the size of the harvest. Some of the Indians +hunted buffalo upon the prairie at this season, but there were more who +preferred to go to the lakes to gather wild rice, fish, gather berries +and hunt the deer. There was an abundance of water-fowls among the +grain; and really no season of the year was happier than this. + +The camping-ground was usually an attractive spot, with shade and cool +breezes off the water. The people, while they pitched their teepees upon +the heights, if possible, for the sake of a good outlook, actually lived +in their canoes upon the placid waters. The happiest of all, perhaps, +were the young maidens, who were all day long in their canoes, in twos +or threes, and when tired of gathering the wild cereal, would sit in the +boats doing their needle-work. + +These maidens learned to imitate the calls of the different water-fowls +as a sort of signal to the members of a group. Even the old women and +the boys adopted signals, so that while the population of the village +was lost to sight in a thick field of wild rice, a meeting could be +arranged without calling any one by his or her own name. It was a great +convenience for those young men who sought opportunity to meet certain +maidens, for there were many canoe paths through the rice. + +August is the harvest month. There were many preliminary feasts of fish, +ducks and venison, and offerings in honor of the "Water Chief," so +that there might not be any drowning accident during the harvest. The +preparation consisted of a series of feasts and offerings for many days, +while women and men were making birch canoes, for nearly every member +of the family must be provided with one for this occasion. The blueberry +and huckleberry-picking also preceded the rice-gathering. + +There were social events which enlivened the camp of the harvesters; +such as maidens' feasts, dances and a canoe regatta or two, in which not +only the men were participants, but women and young girls as well. + +On the appointed day all the canoes were carried to the shore and placed +upon the water with prayer and propitiatory offerings. Each family took +possession of the allotted field, and tied all the grain in bundles of +convenient size, allowing it to stand for a few days. Then they again +entered the lake, assigning two persons to each canoe. One manipulated +the paddle, while the foremost one gently drew the heads of each bundle +toward him and gave it a few strokes with a light rod. This caused the +rice to fall into the bottom of the craft. The field was traversed in +this manner back and forth until finished. + +This was the pleasantest and easiest part of the harvest toil. The real +work was when they prepared the rice for use. First of all, it must be +made perfectly dry. They would spread it upon buffalo robes and mats, +and sometimes upon layers of coarse swamp grass, and dry it in the sun. +If the time was short, they would make a scaffold and spread upon it a +certain thickness of the green grass and afterward the rice. Under this +a fire was made, taking care that the grass did not catch fire. + +When all the rice is gathered and dried, the hulling begins. A round +hole is dug about two feet deep and the same in diameter. Then the rice +is heated over a fire-place, and emptied into the hole while it is hot. +A young man, having washed his feet and put on a new pair of moccasins, +treads upon it until all is hulled. The women then pour it upon a robe +and begin to shake it so that the chaff will be separated by the wind. +Some of the rice is browned before being hulled. + +During the hulling time there were prizes offered to the young men who +can hull quickest and best. There were sometimes from twenty to fifty +youths dancing with their feet in these holes. + +Pretty moccasins were brought by shy maidens to the youths of their +choice, asking them to hull rice. There were daily entertainments which +deserved some such name as "hulling bee"--at any rate, we all enjoyed +them hugely. The girls brought with them plenty of good things to eat. + +When all the rice was prepared for the table, the matter of storing it +must be determined. Caches were dug by each family in a concealed +spot, and carefully lined with dry grass and bark. Here they left their +surplus stores for a time of need. Our people were very ingenious in +covering up all traces of the hidden food. A common trick was to build +a fire on top of the mound. As much of the rice as could be carried +conveniently was packed in par-fleches, or cases made of rawhide, and +brought back with us to our village. + +After all, the wild Indians could not be justly termed improvident, when +their manner of life is taken into consideration. They let nothing go +to waste, and labored incessantly during the summer and fall to lay +up provision for the inclement season. Berries of all kinds were +industriously gathered, and dried in the sun. Even the wild cherries +were pounded up, stones and all, made into small cakes and dried for use +in soups and for mixing with the pounded jerked meat and fat to form a +much-prized Indian delicacy. + +Out on the prairie in July and August the women were wont to dig +teepsinna with sharpened sticks, and many a bag full was dried and put +away. This teepsinna is the root of a certain plant growing mostly upon +high sandy soil. It is starchy but solid, with a sweetish taste, and is +very fattening. The fully grown teepsinna is two or three inches long, +and has a dark-brown bark not unlike the bark of a young tree. It can be +eaten raw or stewed, and is always kept in a dried state, except when it +is first dug. + +There was another root that our people gathered in small quantities. It +is a wild sweet potato, found in bottom lands or river beds. + +The primitive housekeeper exerted herself much to secure a variety of +appetizing dishes; she even robbed the field mouse and the muskrat to +accomplish her end. The tiny mouse gathers for her winter use several +excellent kinds of food. Among these is a wild bean which equals in +flavor any domestic bean that I have ever tasted. Her storehouse is +usually under a peculiar mound, which the untrained eye would be unable +to distinguish from an ant-hill. There are many pockets underneath, into +which she industriously gathers the harvest of the summer. + +She is fortunate if the quick eye of a native woman does not detect her +hiding-place. About the month of September, while traveling over the +prairie, a woman is occasionally observed to halt suddenly and waltz +around a suspected mound. Finally the pressure of her heel causes a +place to give way, and she settles contentedly down to rob the poor +mouse of the fruits of her labor. + +The different kinds of beans are put away in different pockets, but +it is the oomenechah she wants. The field mouse loves this savory +vegetable, for she always gathers it more than any other. There is also +some of the white star-like manakcahkcah, the root of the wild lily. +This is a good medicine and good to eat. + +When our people were gathering the wild rice, they always watched for +another plant that grows in the muddy bottom of lakes and ponds. It is +a white bulb about the size of an ordinary onion. This is stored away +by the muskrats in their houses by the waterside, and there is often a +bushel or more of the psinchinchah to be found within. It seemed as if +everybody was good to the wild Indian; at least we thought so then. + +I have referred to the opportunities for courting upon the wild rice +fields. Indian courtship is very peculiar in many respects; but when you +study their daily life you will see the philosophy of their etiquette +of love-making. There was no parlor courtship; the life was largely +out-of-doors, which was very favorable to the young men + +In a nomadic life where the female members of the family have entire +control of domestic affairs, the work is divided among them all. Very +often the bringing of the wood and water devolves upon the young maids, +and the spring or the woods become the battle-ground of love's warfare. +The nearest water may be some distance from the camp, which is all the +better. Sometimes, too, there is no wood to be had; and in that case, +one would see the young women scattered all over the prairie, gathering +buffalo chips for fuel. + +This is the way the red men go about to induce the aboriginal maids +to listen to their suit. As soon as the youth has returned from the +war-path or the chase, he puts on his porcupine-quill embroidered +moccasins and leggings, and folds his best robe about him. He brushes +his long, glossy hair with a brush made from the tail of the porcupine, +perfumes it with scented grass or leaves, then arranges it in two plaits +with an otter skin or some other ornament. If he is a warrior, he adds +an eagle feather or two. + +If he chooses to ride, he takes his best pony. He jumps upon its bare +back, simply throwing a part of his robe under him to serve as a saddle, +and holding the end of a lariat tied about the animal's neck. He guides +him altogether by the motions of his body. These wily ponies seem to +enter into the spirit of the occasion, and very often capture the eyes +of the maid by their graceful movements, in perfect obedience to their +master. + +The general custom is for the young men to pull their robes over their +heads, leaving only a slit to look through. Sometimes the same is done +by the maiden--especially in public courtship. + +He approaches the girl while she is coming from the spring. He takes up +his position directly in her path. If she is in a hurry or does not care +to stop, she goes around him; but if she is willing to stop and listen +she puts down on the ground the vessel of water she is carrying. + +Very often at the first meeting the maiden does not know who her lover +is. He does not introduce himself immediately, but waits until a second +meeting. Sometimes she does not see his face at all; and then she will +try to find out who he is and what he looks like before they meet again. +If he is not a desirable suitor, she will go with her chaperon and end +the affair there. + +There are times when maidens go in twos, and then there must be two +young men to meet them. + +There is some courtship in the night time; either in the early part of +the evening, on the outskirts of dances and other public affairs, or +after everybody is supposed to be asleep. This is the secret courtship. +The youth may pull up the tentpins just back of his sweetheart and +speak with her during the night. He must be a smart young man to do that +undetected, for the grandmother, her chaperon, is usually "all ears." + +Elopements are common. There are many reasons for a girl or a youth to +defer their wedding. It may be from personal pride of one or both. The +well-born are married publicly, and many things are given away in their +honor. The maiden may desire to attend a certain number of maidens' +feasts before marrying. The youth may be poor, or he may wish to achieve +another honor before surrendering to a woman. + +Sometimes a youth is so infatuated with a maiden that he will follow +her to any part of the country, even after their respective bands have +separated for the season. I knew of one such case. Patah Tankah had +courted a distant relative of my uncle for a long time. There seemed to +be some objection to him on the part of the girl's parents, although the +girl herself was willing. + +The large camp had been broken up for the fall hunt, and my uncle's band +went one way, while the young man's family went in the other direction. +After three days' travelling, we came to a good hunting-ground, and made +camp. One evening somebody saw the young man. He had been following his +sweetheart and sleeping out-of-doors all that time, although the nights +were already frosty and cold. He met her every day in secret and she +brought him food, but he would not come near the teepee. Finally her +people yielded, and she went back with him to his band. + +When we lived our natural life, there was much singing of war songs, +medicine, hunting and love songs. Sometimes there were few words or +none, but everything was understood by the inflection. From this I have +often thought that there must be a language of dumb beasts. + +The crude musical instrument of the Sioux, the flute, was made to appeal +to the susceptible ears of the maidens late into the night. There comes +to me now the picture of two young men with their robes over their +heads, and only a portion of the hand-made and carved chotanka, the +flute, protruding from its folds. I can see all the maidens slyly turn +their heads to listen. Now I hear one of the youths begin to sing a +plaintive serenade as in days gone by: + + + "Hay-ay-ay! Hay-ay-ay! a-ahay-ay!" (This + "Listen! you will hear of him-- + Maiden, you will hear of him-- + Listen! he will shortly go + +Wasula feels that she must come out, but she has no good excuse, so she +stirs up the embers of the fire and causes an unnecessary smoke in the +teepee. Then she has an excuse to come out and fix up the tent flaps. +She takes a long time to adjust these pointed ears of the teepee, with +their long poles, for the wind seems to be unsettled. + +Finally Chotanka ceases to be heard. In a moment a young man appears +ghost-like at the maiden's side. + +"So it is you, is it?" she asks. + +"Is your grandmother in?" he inquires. + +"What a brave man you are, to fear an old woman! We are free; the +country is wide. We can go away, and come back when the storm is over." + +"Ho," he replies. "It is not that I fear her, or the consequences of an +elopement. I fear nothing except that we may be separated!" + +The girl goes into the lodge for a moment, then slips out once more. +"Now," she exclaims, "to the wood or the prairie! I am yours!" They +disappear in the darkness. + + + + +IV. A Meeting on the Plains + +WE were encamped at one time on the Souris or Mouse river, a tributary +of the Assiniboine. The buffaloes were still plenty; hence we were +living on the "fat of the land." One afternoon a scout came in with the +announcement that a body of United States troops was approaching! This +report, of course, caused much uneasiness among our people. + +A council was held immediately, in the course of which the scout was put +through a rigid examination. Before a decision had been reached, another +scout came in from the field. He declared that the moving train reported +as a body of troops was in reality a train of Canadian carts. + +The two reports differed so widely that it was deemed wise to send +out more runners to observe this moving body closely, and ascertain +definitely its character. These soon returned with the positive +information that the Canadians were at hand, "for," said they, "there +are no bright metals in the moving train to send forth flashes of light. +The separate bodies are short, like carts with ponies, and not like the +long, four-wheeled wagon drawn by four or six mules, that the soldiers +use. They are not buffaloes, and they cannot be mounted troops, with +pack-mules, because the individual bodies are too long for that. +Besides, the soldiers usually have their chief, with his guards, leading +the train; and the little chiefs are also separated from the main body +and ride at one side!" + +From these observations it was concluded that we were soon to meet with +the bois brules, as the French call their mixed-bloods, presumably from +the color of their complexions. Some say that they are named from the +"burned forests" which, as wood-cutters, they are accustomed to leave +behind them. Two or three hours later, at about sunset, our ears began +to distinguish the peculiar music that always accompanied a moving train +of their carts. It is like the grunting and squealing of many animals, +and is due to the fact that the wheels and all other parts of these +vehicles are made of wood. Our dogs gleefully augmented the volume of +inharmonious sound. + +They stopped a little way from our camp, upon a grassy plain, and the +ponies were made to wheel their clumsy burdens into a perfect +circle, the shafts being turned inward. Thus was formed a sort of +barricade--quite a usual and necessary precaution in their nomadic and +adventurous life. Within this circle the tents were pitched, and many +cheerful fires were soon kindled. The garcons were hurriedly driving +the ponies to water, with much cracking of whips and outbursting of +impatient oaths. + +Our chief and his principal warriors briefly conferred with the +strangers, and it was understood by both parties that no thought of +hostilities lurked in the minds of either. + +After having observed the exchange of presents that always follows +a "peace council," there were friendly and hospitable feasts in both +camps. The bois brules had been long away from any fort or trading-post, +and it so happened that their inevitable whiskey keg was almost empty. +They had diluted the few gills remaining with several large kettles full +of water. In order to have any sort of offensive taste, it was necessary +to add cayenne pepper and a little gentian. + +Our men were treated to this concoction; and seeing that two or three +of the half-breeds pretended to become intoxicated, our braves followed +their example. They made night intolerable with their shouts and singing +until past midnight, when gradually all disturbance ceased, and both +camps appeared to be wrapped in deep slumber. + +Suddenly the loud report of a gun stirred the sleepers. Many more +reports were heard in quick succession, all coming from the camp of the +bois brules. Every man among the Sioux sprang to his feet, weapon in +hand, and many ran towards their ponies. But there was one significant +point about the untimely firing of the guns--they were all directed +heavenward! One of our old men, who understood better than any one else +the manners of the half-breeds, thus proclaimed at the top of his voice: + +"Let the people sleep! This that we have heard is the announcement of +a boy's advent into the world! It is their custom to introduce with +gunpowder a new-born boy!" + +Again quiet was restored in the neighboring camps, and for a time the +night reigned undisturbed. But scarcely had we fallen into a sound sleep +when we were for the second time rudely aroused by the firing of guns +and the yelling of warriors. This time it was discovered that almost all +the ponies, including those of our neighbors, had been stealthily driven +off by horse-thieves of another tribe. + +These miscreants were adepts in their profession, for they had +accomplished their purpose with much skill, almost under the very eyes +of the foe, and had it not been for the invincible superstition of Slow +Dog, they would have met with complete success. As it was, they caused +us no little trouble and anxiety, but after a hot pursuit of a whole +day, with the assistance of the halfbreeds our horses were recaptured. + +Slow Dog was one of those Indians who are filled with conceit, and +boasting loudly their pretensions as medicine men, without any success, +only bring upon themselves an unnecessary amount of embarrassment and +ridicule. Yet there is one quality always possessed by such persons, +among a savage people as elsewhere--namely, great perseverance and +tenacity in their self-assertion. So the blessing of ignorance kept Slow +Dog always cheerful; and he seemed, if anything, to derive some pleasure +from the endless insinuations and ridicule of the people! + +Now Slow Dog had loudly proclaimed, on the night before this event, that +he had received the warning of a bad dream, in which he had seen all the +ponies belonging to the tribe stampeded and driven westward. + +"But who cares for Slow Dog's dream?" said everybody; "none of the +really great medicine men have had any such visions!" + +Therefore our little community, given as they were to superstition, +anticipated no special danger. It is true that when the first scout +reported the approach of troops some of the people had weakened, and +said to one another: + +"After all, perhaps poor Slow Dog may be right; but we are always too +ready to laugh at him!" + +However, this feeling quickly passed away when the jovial Canadians +arrived, and the old man was left alone to brood upon his warning. + +He was faithful to his dream. During all the hilarity of the feast and +the drinking of the mock whiskey, be acted as self-constituted sentinel. +Finally, when everybody else had succumbed to sleep, he gathered +together several broken and discarded lariats of various +materials--leather, buffalo's hair and horse's hair. Having lengthened +this variegated rope with innumerable knots, he fastened one end of it +around the neck of his old war-horse, and tied the other to his wrist. +Instead of sleeping inside the tent as usual, he rolled himself in a +buffalo robe and lay down in its shadow. From this place he watched +until the moon had disappeared behind the western horizon; and just as +the grey dawn began to appear in the east his eyes were attracted to +what seemed to be a dog moving among the picketed ponies. Upon a closer +scrutiny, he saw that its actions were unnatural. + +"Toka abe do! toka abe do!" (the enemy! the enemy!) exclaimed Slow Dog. +With a warwhoop he sprang toward the intruder, who rose up and leaped +upon the back of Slow Dog's warsteed. He had cut the hobble, as well as +the device of the old medicine man. + +The Sioux now bent his bow to shoot, but it was too late. The other +quickly dodged behind the animal, and from under its chest he sent a +deadly arrow to Slow Dog's bosom. Then he remounted the pony and set off +at full speed after his comrades, who had already started. + +As the Sioux braves responded to the alarm, and passed by the daring old +warrior in pursuit of their enemies, who had stampeded most of the loose +ponies, the old man cried out: + +"I, brave Slow Dog, who have so often made a path for you on the field +of battle, am now about to make one to the land of spirits!" + +So speaking, the old man died. The Sioux were joined in the chase by the +friendly mixedbloods, and in the end the Blackfeet were compelled to pay +dearly for the blood of the poor old man. + +On that beautiful morning all Nature seemed brilliant and smiling, but +the Sioux were mourning and wailing for the death of one who had been +an object of ridicule during most of his life. They appreciated the part +that Slow Dog had played in this last event, and his memory was honored +by all the tribe. + + + + +V. An Adventurous Journey + +IT must now be about thirty years since our long journey in search of +new hunting-grounds, from the Assiniboine river to the Upper Missouri. +The buffalo, formerly so abundant between the two rivers, had begun to +shun their usual haunts, on account of the great numbers of Canadian +halfbreeds in that part of the country. There was also the first influx +of English sportsmen, whose wholesale methods of destruction wrought +such havoc with the herds. These seemingly intelligent animals correctly +prophesied to the natives the approach of the pale-face. + +As we had anticipated, we found game very scarce as we travelled slowly +across the vast plains. There were only herds of antelope and sometimes +flocks of waterfowl, with here and there a lonely bull straggling +aimlessly along. At first our party was small, but as we proceeded +on our way we fell in with some of the western bands of Sioux and +Assiniboines, who are close connections. + +Each day the camp was raised and marched from ten to twenty miles. +One might wonder how such a cavalcade would look in motion. The only +vehicles were the primitive travaux drawn by ponies and large Esquimaux +dogs. These are merely a pair of shafts fastened on either side of the +animal, and trailing on the ground behind. A large basket suspended +between the poles, just above the ground, supplied a place for goods and +a safe nest for the babies, or an occasional helpless old woman. Most of +our effects were carried by pack ponies; and an Indian packer excels all +others in quickness and dexterity. + +The train was nearly a mile long, headed by a number of old warriors on +foot, who carried the filled pipe, and decided when and where to stop. +A very warm day made much trouble for the women who had charge of the +moving household. The pack dogs were especially unmanageable. They +would become very thirsty and run into the water with their loads. The +scolding of the women, the singing of the old men and the yelps of the +Indian dudes made our progress a noisy one, and like that of a town in +motion rather than an ordinary company of travelers. + +This journey of ours was not without its exciting episodes. My uncle had +left the main body and gone off to the south with a small party, as he +was accustomed to do every summer, to seek revenge of some sort on the +whites for all the injuries that they had inflicted upon our family. +This time he met with a company of soldiers between Fort Totten and Fort +Berthold, in North Dakota. Somehow, these seven Indians surprised the +troopers in broad daylight, while eating their dinner, and captured the +whole outfit, including nearly all their mules and one white horse, with +such of their provisions as they cared to carry back with them. No doubt +these soldiers reported at the fort that they had been attacked by a +large party of Indians, and I dare say some promotions rewarded their +tale of a brave defense! However, the facts are just as I have stated +them. My uncle brought home the white horse, and the fine Spanish mules +were taken by the others. Among the things they brought back with them +were several loaves of raised bread, the first I had ever seen, and a +great curiosity. We called it aguyape tachangu, or lung bread, from its +spongy consistency. + +Although when a successful war-party returns with so many trophies, +there is usually much dancing and hilarity, there was almost nothing +of the kind on this occasion. The reason was that the enemy made little +resistance; and then there was our old tradition with regard to the +whites that there is no honor in conquering them, as they fight only +under compulsion. Had there really been a battle, and some of our men +been killed, there would have been some enthusiasm. + +It was upon this journey that a hunter performed the feat of shooting +an arrow through three antelopes. This statement may perhaps be doubted, +yet I can vouch for its authenticity. He was not alone at the time, and +those who were with him are reliable witnesses. The animals were driven +upon a marshy peninsula, where they were crowded together and almost +helpless. Many were despatched with knives and arrows; and a man by the +name of Grey-foot, who was large and tall and an extraordinarily fine +hunter, actually sent his arrow through three of them. This feat was not +accomplished by mere strength, for it requires a great deal of skill as +well. + +A misfortune occurred near the river which deprived us of one of our +best young men. There was no other man, except my own uncle, for whom I +had at that time so great an admiration. Very strangely, as it appeared +to me, he bore a Christian name. He was commonly called Jacob. I did not +discover how he came by such a curious and apparently meaningless name +until after I had returned to the United States. His father had been +converted by one of the early missionaries, before the Minnesota +massacre in 1862, and the boy had been baptized Jacob. He was an ideal +woodsman and hunter and really a hero in my eyes. He was one of the +party of seven who had attacked and put to rout the white soldiers. + +The trouble arose thus. Jacob had taken from the soldiers two good +mules, and soon afterward we fell in with some Canadian half-breeds +who were desirous of trading for them. However, the young man would not +trade; he was not at all disposed to part with his fine mules. A certain +one of the mixed-bloods was intent upon getting possession of these +animals by fair or unfair means. He invited Jacob to dinner, and treated +him to whiskey; but the Indian youth declined the liquor. The half-breed +pretended to take this refusal to drink as an insult. He seized his gun +and shot his guest dead. + +In a few minutes the scene was one of almost unprecedented excitement. +Every adult Indian, female as well as male, was bent upon invading the +camp of the bois brules, to destroy the murderer. The confusion was +made yet more intolerable by the wailing of the women and the singing of +death-songs. + +Our number was now ten to one of the halfbreeds. Within the circle +formed by their carts they prepared for a desperate resistance. The +hills about their little encampment were covered with warriors, ready to +pounce upon them at the signal of their chief. + +The older men, however, were discussing in council what should be +demanded of the halfbreeds. It was determined that the murderer must be +given up to us, to be punished according to the laws of the plains. If, +however, they should refuse to give him up, the mode of attack decided +upon was to build a fire around the offenders and thus stampede their +horses, or at the least divide their attention. Meanwhile, the braves +were to make a sudden onset. + +Just then a piece of white, newly-tanned deerskin was hoisted up in +the center of the bois brule encampment. It was a flag of truce. One of +their number approached the council lodge, unarmed and making the sign +for a peaceful communication. He was admitted to the council, which +was still in session, and offered to give up the murderer. It was also +proposed, as an alternative, that he be compelled to give everything he +had to the parents of the murdered man. + +The parents were allowed no voice whatever in the discussion which +followed, for they were regarded as incompetent judges, under the +circumstances. It was finally decreed by the council that the man's +life should be spared, but that he must be exposed to the indignity of +a public whipping, and resign all his earthly possessions to the parents +of his victim. This sentence was carried into effect. + +In our nomadic life there were a few unwritten laws by which our people +were governed. There was a council, a police force, and an executive +officer, who was not always the chief, but a member of the tribe +appointed to this position for a given number of days. There were also +the wise old men who were constantly in attendance at the council lodge, +and acted as judges in the rare event of the commission of a crime. + +This simple government of ours was supported by the issue of little +sticks about five inches long. There were a hundred or so of these, and +they were distributed every few days by the police or soldiers, who kept +account of them. Whoever received one of these sticks must return it +within five or ten days, with a load of provisions. If one was held +beyond the stipulated time the police would call the delinquent warrior +to account. In case he did not respond, they could come and destroy his +tent or take away his weapons. When all the sticks had been returned, +they were reissued to other men; and so the council lodge was supported. + +It was the custom that no man who had not distinguished himself upon +the war-path could destroy the home of another. This was a necessary +qualification for the office of an Indian policeman. These policemen +must also oversee the hunt, lest some individuals should be well +provided with food while others were in want. No man might hunt +independently. The game must be carefully watched by the game scouts, +and the discovery of a herd reported at once to the council, after which +the time and manner of the hunt were publicly announced. + +I well recall how the herald announced the near approach of buffaloes. +It was supposed that if the little boys could trip up the old man while +going his rounds, the success of the hunt was assured. The oftener he +was tripped, the more successful it would be! The signal or call for +buffaloes was a peculiar whistle. As soon as the herald appeared, all +the boys would give the whistle and follow in crowds after the poor old +man. Of course he tried to avoid them, but they were generally too quick +for him. + +There were two kinds of scouts, for hunting and for war. In one sense +every Indian was a scout; but there were some especially appointed to +serve for a certain length of time. An Indian might hunt every day, +besides the regularly organized hunt; but he was liable to punishment at +any time. If he could kill a solitary buffalo or deer without disturbing +the herd, it was allowed. He might also hunt small game. + +In the movable town under such a government as this, there was apt to +be inconvenience and actual suffering, since a great body of people were +supported only by the daily hunt. Hence there was a constant disposition +to break up into smaller parties, in order to obtain food more easily +and freely. Yet the wise men of the Dakotas would occasionally form +large bands of from two to five thousand people, who camped and moved +about together for a period of some months. It is apparent that so large +a body could not be easily supplied with the necessaries of life; but, +on the other hand, our enemies respected such a gathering! Of course +the nomadic government would do its utmost to hold together as long as +possible. The police did all they could to keep in check those parties +who were intent upon stealing away. + +There were many times, however, when individual bands and even families +were justified in seeking to separate themselves from the rest, in order +to gain a better support. It was chiefly by reason of this food +question that the Indians never established permanent towns or organized +themselves into a more formidable nation. + +There was a sad misfortune which, although it happened many generations +ago, was familiarly quoted among us. A certain band became very +independent and unruly; they went so far as to wilfully disobey the +orders of the general government. The police were directed to punish +the leader severely; whereupon the rest defended him and resisted the +police. But the latter were competent to enforce their authority, and as +a result the entire band was annihilated. + +One day, as we were following along the bank of the Upper Missouri, +there appeared to be a great disturbance at the head of the +cavalcade--so much so that we thought our people had been attacked by a +war-party of the Crows or some of the hostile tribes of that region. In +spite of the danger, even the women and children hurried forward to join +the men--that is to say, as many as were not upon the hunt. Most of the +warriors were out, as usual, and only the large boys and the old men +were travelling with the women and their domestic effects and little +ones. + +As we approached the scene of action, we heard loud shouts and +the report of fire-arms; but our party was scattered along for a +considerable distance, and all was over before we could reach the +spot. It was a great grizzly bear who had been bold enough to oppose, +single-handed, the progress of several hundred Indians. The council-men, +who usually walked a little in advance of the train, were the first to +meet the bear, and he was probably deceived by the sight of this advance +body, and thus audaciously defied them. + +Among these council-men--all retired chiefs and warriors whose ardent +zeal for the display of courage had long been cooled, and whose present +duties were those of calm deliberation for their people's welfare--there +were two old, distinguished war-chiefs. Each of these men still carried +his war-lance, wrapped up in decorated buckskin. As the bear advanced +boldly toward them, the two old men promptly threw off their robes--an +evidence that there still lurked within their breasts the spirit of +chivalry and ready courage. Spear in hand, they both sprang forward to +combat with the ferocious animal, taking up their positions about ten +feet apart. + +As they had expected, the fearful beast, after getting up on his +haunches and growling savagely, came forward with widely opened jaws. +He fixed his eyes upon the left-hand man, who was ready to meet him with +uplifted spear, but with one stroke of his powerful paw the weapon was +sent to the ground. At the same moment the right-hand man dealt him a +stab that penetrated the grizzly's side. + +The bear uttered a groan not unlike that of a man, and seized the spear +so violently that its owner was thrown to the ground. As the animal +drew the lance from its body, the first man, having recovered his own, +stabbed him with it on the other side. Upon this, he turned and knocked +the old man down, and again endeavored to extract the spear. + +By this time all the dogs and men were at hand. Many arrows and balls +were sent into the tough hide of the bear. Yet he would probably have +killed both his assailants, had it not been for the active small dogs +who were constantly upon his heels and annoying him. A deadly rifle shot +at last brought him down. + +The old men were badly bruised and torn, but both of them recovered, +to bear from that day the high-sounding titles of "Fought-the-Bear" and +"Conquered-the-Grizzly." + + + + +XI. The Laughing Philosopher + +THERE is scarcely anything so exasperating to me as the idea that the +natives of this country have no sense of humor and no faculty for mirth. +This phase of their character is well understood by those whose fortune +or misfortune it has been to live among them day in and day out at their +homes. I don't believe I ever heard a real hearty laugh away from the +Indians' fireside. I have often spent an entire evening in laughing with +them until I could laugh no more. There are evenings when the recognized +wit or story-teller of the village gives a free entertainment which +keeps the rest of the community in a convulsive state until he leaves +them. However, Indian humor consists as much in the gestures and +inflections of the voice as in words, and is really untranslatable. + +Matogee (Yellow Bear) was a natural humorous speaker, and a very +diffident man at other times. He usually said little, but when he was +in the mood he could keep a large company in a roar. This was especially +the case whenever he met his brother-in-law, Tamedokah. + +It was a custom with us Indians to joke more particularly with our +brothers- and sisters-in-law. But no one ever complained, or resented +any of these jokes, however personal they might be. That would be an +unpardonable breach of etiquette. + +"Tamedokah, I heard that you tried to capture a buck by holding on +to his tail," said Matogee, laughing. "I believe that feat cannot be +performed any more; at least, it never has been since the pale-face +brought us the knife, the 'mysterious iron,' and the pulverized coal +that makes bullets fly. Since our ancestors hunted with stone knives and +hatchets, I say, that has never been done." + +The fact was that Tamedokah had stunned a buck that day while hunting, +and as he was about to dress him the animal got up and attempted to +run, whereupon the Indian launched forth to secure his game. He only +succeeded in grasping the tail of the deer, and was pulled about all +over the meadows and the adjacent woods until the tail came off in his +hands. Matogee thought this too good a joke to be lost. + +I sat near the door of the tent, and thoroughly enjoyed the story of the +comical accident. + +"Yes," Tamedokah quietly replied, "I thought I would do something to +beat the story of the man who rode a young elk, and yelled frantically +for help, crying like a woman." + +"Ugh! that was only a legend," retorted Matogee, for it was he who was +the hero of this tale in his younger days. "But this is a fresh feat of +to-day. Chankpayuhah said he could not tell which was the most scared, +the buck or you," he continued. "He said the deer's eyes were bulging +out of their sockets, while Tamedokah's mouth was constantly enlarging +toward his ears, and his hair floated on the wind, shaking among the +branches of the trees. That will go down with the traditions of our +fathers," he concluded with an air of satisfaction. + +"It was a singular mishap," admitted Tamedokah. + +The pipe had been filled by Matogee and passed to Tamedokah +good-naturedly, still with a broad smile on his face. "It must be +acknowledged," he resumed, "that you have the strongest kind of a grip, +for no one else could hold on as long as you did, and secure such a +trophy besides. That tail will do for an eagle feather holder." + +By this time the teepee was packed to overflowing. Loud laughter had +been heard issuing from the lodge of Matogee, and everybody suspected +that he had something good, so many had come to listen. + +"I think we should hear the whole matter," said one of the late comers. + +The teepee was brightly lit by the burning embers, and all the men were +sitting with their knees up against their chests, held in that position +by wrapping their robes tightly around loins and knees. This fixed them +something in the fashion of a rocking-chair. + +"Well, no one saw him except Chankpayuhah," Matogee remarked. + +"Yes, yes, he must tell us about it," exclaimed a chorus of voices. + +"This is what I saw," the witness began. "I was tracking a buck and a +doe. As I approached a small opening at the creek side 'boom!' came a +report of the mysterious iron. I remained in a stooping position, hoping +to see a deer cross the opening. In this I was not disappointed, for +immediately after the report a fine buck dashed forth with Tamedokah +close behind him. The latter was holding on to the deer's tail with +both hands and his knife was in his mouth, but it soon dropped out. +'Tamedokah,' I shouted, 'haven't you got hold of the wrong animal?' but +as I spoke they disappeared into the woods. + +"In a minute they both appeared again, and then it was that I began +to laugh. I could not stop. It almost killed me. The deer jumped the +longest jumps I ever saw. Tamedokah walked the longest paces and was +very swift. His hair was whipping the trees as they went by. Water +poured down his face. I stood bent forward because I could not +straighten my back-bone, and was ready to fall when they again +disappeared. + +"When they came out for the third time it seemed as if the woods and the +meadow were moving too. Tamedokah skipped across the opening as if he +were a grasshopper learning to hop. I fell down. + +"When I came to he was putting water on my face and head, but when I +looked at him I fell again, and did not know anything until the sun had +passed the mid-sky. + +"The company was kept roaring all the way through this account, while +Tamedokah himself heartily joined in the mirth. + +"Ho, ho, ho!" they said; "he has made his name famous in our annals. +This will be told of him henceforth." + +"It reminds me of Chadozee's bear story," said one. + +"His was more thrilling, because it was really dangerous," interposed +another. + +"You can tell it to us, Bobdoo," remarked a third. + +The man thus addressed made no immediate reply. He was smoking +contentedly. At last he silently returned the pipe to Matogee, with whom +it had begun its rounds. Deliberately he tightened his robe around him, +saying as he did so: + +"Ho (Yes). I was with him. It was by a very little that he saved his +life. I will tell you how it happened. + +"I was hunting with these two men, Nageedah and Chadozee. We came to +some wild cherry bushes. I began to eat of the fruit when I saw a large +silver-tip crawling toward us. 'Look out! there is a grizzly here,' I +shouted, and I ran my pony out on to the prairie; but the others had +already dismounted. + +"Nageedah had just time to jump upon his pony and get out of the way, +but the bear seized hold of his robe and pulled it off. Chadozee +stood upon the verge of a steep bank, below which there ran a deep and +swift-flowing stream. The bear rushed upon him so suddenly that when he +took a step backward, they both fell into the creek together. It was a +fall of about twice the height of a man." + +"Did they go out of sight?" some one inquired. + +"Yes, both fell headlong. In his excitement Chadozee laid hold of the +bear in the water, and I never saw a bear try so hard to get away from a +man as this one did." + +"Ha, ha, ha! ha, ha, ha!" they all laughed. + +"When they came to the surface again they were both so eager to get to +the shore that each let go, and they swam as quickly as they could to +opposite sides. Chadozee could not get any further, so he clung to a +stray root, still keeping a close watch of the bear, who was forced to +do the same. There they both hung, regarding each other with looks of +contempt and defiance." + +"Ha, ha, ha! ha, ha, ha!" they all laughed again. + +"At last the bear swam along the edge to a lower place, and we pulled +Chadozee up by means of our lariats. All this time he had been groaning +so loud that we supposed he was badly torn; but when I looked for his +wounds I found a mere scratch." + +Again the chorus of appreciation from his hearers. + +"The strangest thing about this affair of mine," spoke up Tamedokah, "is +that I dreamed the whole thing the night before." + +"There are some dreams come true, and I am a believer in dreams," one +remarked. + +"Yes, certainly, so are we all. You know Hachah almost lost his life by +believing in dreams," commented Matogee. + +"Let us hear that story," was the general request. + +"You have all heard of Hachah, the great medicine man, who did many +wonderful things. He once dreamed four nights in succession of flying +from a high cliff over the Minnesota river. He recollected every +particular of the scene, and it made a great impression upon his mind. + +"The next day after he had dreamed it for the fourth time, he proposed +to his wife that they go down to the river to swim, but his real purpose +was to see the place of his dream. + +"He did find the place, and it seemed to Hachah exactly like. A crooked +tree grew out of the top of the cliff, and the water below was very +deep." + +"Did he really fly?" I called impatiently from the doorway, where I had +been listening and laughing with the rest. + +"Ugh, that is what I shall tell you. He was swimming about with his +wife, who was a fine swimmer; but all at once Hachah disappeared. +Presently he stood upon the very tree that he had seen in his dream, +and gazed out over the water. The tree was very springy, and Hachah felt +sure that he could fly; so before long he launched bravely forth from +the cliff. He kicked out vigorously and swung both arms as he did so, +but nevertheless he came down to the bottom of the water like a crow +that had been shot on the wing." + +"Ho, ho, ho! Ho, ho, ho!" and the whole company laughed unreservedly. + +"His wife screamed loudly as Hachah whirled downward and went out +of sight like a blue heron after a fish. Then she feared he might be +stunned, so she swam to him and dragged him to the shore. He could not +speak, but the woman overwhelmed him with reproaches. + +"'What are you trying to do, you old idiot? Do you want to kill +yourself?' she screamed again and again. + +"'Woman, be silent,' he replied, and he said nothing more. He did not +tell his dream for many years afterward. Not until he was a very old man +and about to die, did Hachah tell any one how he thought he could fly." + +And at this they all laughed louder than ever. + + + + +XII. FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF CIVILIZATION + +I WAS scarcely old enough to know anything definite about the "Big +Knives," as we called the white men, when the terrible Minnesota +massacre broke up our home and I was carried into exile. I have already +told how I was adopted into the family of my father's younger brother, +when my father was betrayed and imprisoned. We all supposed that he had +shared the fate of those who were executed at Mankato, Minnesota. + +Now the savage philosophers looked upon vengeance in the field of battle +as a lofty virtue. To avenge the death of a relative or of a dear friend +was considered a great deed. My uncle, accordingly, had spared no pains +to instill into my young mind the obligation to avenge the death of my +father and my older brothers. Already I looked eagerly forward to +the day when I should find an opportunity to carry out his teachings. +Meanwhile, he himself went upon the war-path and returned with scalps +every summer. So it may be imagined how I felt toward the Big Knives! + +On the other hand, I had heard marvelous things of this people. In +some things we despised them; in others we regarded them as wakan +(mysterious), a race whose power bordered upon the supernatural. I +learned that they had made a "fireboat." I could not understand how +they could unite two elements which cannot exist together. I thought the +water would put out the fire, and the fire would consume the boat if +it had the shadow of a chance. This was to me a preposterous +thing! But when I was told that the Big Knives had created a +"fire-boat-walks-on-mountains" (a locomotive) it was too much to +believe. + +"Why," declared my informant, "those who saw this monster move said that +it flew from mountain to mountain when it seemed to be excited. They +said also that they believed it carried a thunder-bird, for they +frequently heard his usual war-whoop as the creature sped along!" + +Several warriors had observed from a distance one of the first trains +on the Northern Pacific, and had gained an exaggerated impression of the +wonders of the pale-face. They had seen it go over a bridge that spanned +a deep ravine and it seemed to them that it jumped from one bank to the +other. I confess that the story almost quenched my ardor and bravery. + +Two or three young men were talking together about this fearful +invention. + +"However," said one, "I understand that this +fire-boat-walks-on-mountains cannot move except on the track made for +it." + +Although a boy is not expected to join in the conversation of his +elders, I ventured to ask: "Then it cannot chase us into any rough +country?" + +"No, it cannot do that," was the reply, which I heard with a great deal +of relief. + +I had seen guns and various other things brought to us by the French +Canadians, so that I had already some notion of the supernatural gifts +of the white man; but I had never before heard such tales as I listened +to that morning. It was said that they had bridged the Missouri and +Mississippi rivers, and that they made immense houses of stone and +brick, piled on top of one another until they were as high as high +hills. My brain was puzzled with these things for many a day. Finally +I asked my uncle why the Great Mystery gave such power to the Washechu +(the rich)-sometimes we called them by this name--and not to us Dakotas. + +"For the same reason," he answered, "that he gave to Duta the skill to +make fine bows and arrows, and to Wachesne no skill to make anything." + +"And why do the Big Knives increase so much more in number than the +Dakotas?" I continued. + +"It has been said, and I think it must be true, that they have larger +families than we do. I went into the house of an Eashecha (a German), +and I counted no less than nine children. The eldest of them could not +have been over fifteen. When my grandfather first visited them, down +at the mouth of the Mississippi, they were comparatively few; later my +father visited their Great Father at Washington, and they had already +spread over the whole country." + +"Certainly they are a heartless nation. They have made some of their +people servants--yes, slaves! We have never believed in keeping slaves, +but it seems that these Washechu do! It is our belief that they painted +their servants black a long time ago, to tell them from the rest, and +now the slaves have children born to them of the same color! + +"The greatest object of their lives seems to be to acquire +possessions--to be rich. They desire to possess the whole world. For +thirty years they were trying to entice us to sell them our land. +Finally the outbreak gave them all, and we have been driven away from +our beautiful country. + +"They are a wonderful people. They have divided the day into hours, like +the moons of the year. In fact, they measure everything. Not one of them +would let so much as a turnip go from his field unless he received full +value for it. I understand that their great men make a feast and invite +many, but when the feast is over the guests are required to pay for what +they have eaten before leaving the house. I myself saw at White Cliff +(the name given to St. Paul, Minnesota) a man who kept a brass drum and +a bell to call people to his table; but when he got them in he would +make them pay for the food! + +"I am also informed," said my uncle, "but this I hardly believe, that +their Great Chief (President) compels every man to pay him for the +land he lives upon and all his personal goods--even for his own +existence--every year!" (This was his idea of taxation.) "I am sure we +could not live under such a law. + +"When the outbreak occurred, we thought that our opportunity had come, +for we had learned that the Big Knives were fighting among themselves, +on account of a dispute over their slaves. It was said that the Great +Chief had allowed slaves in one part of the country and not in another, +so there was jealousy, and they had to fight it out. We don't know how +true this was. + +"There were some praying-men who came to us some time before the trouble +arose. They observed every seventh day as a holy day. On that day they +met in a house that they had built for that purpose, to sing, pray, and +speak of their Great Mystery. I was never in one of these meetings. +I understand that they had a large book from which they read. By all +accounts they were very different from all other white men we have +known, for these never observed any such day, and we never knew them to +pray, neither did they ever tell us of their Great Mystery. + +"In war they have leaders and war-chiefs of different grades. The common +warriors are driven forward like a herd of antelopes to face the foe. It +is on account of this manner of fighting--from compulsion and not from +personal bravery--that we count no coup on them. A lone warrior can do +much harm to a large army of them in a bad country." + +It was this talk with my uncle that gave me my first clear idea of the +white man. + +I was almost fifteen years old when my uncle presented me with a +flint-lock gun. The possession of the "mysterious iron," and the +explosive dirt, or "pulverized coal," as it is called, filled me with +new thoughts. All the war-songs that I had ever heard from childhood +came back to me with their heroes. It seemed as if I were an entirely +new being--the boy had become a man! + +"I am now old enough," said I to myself, "and I must beg my uncle to +take me with him on his next war-path. I shall soon be able to go among +the whites whenever I wish, and to avenge the blood of my father and my +brothers." + +I had already begun to invoke the blessing of the Great Mystery. +Scarcely a day passed that I did not offer up some of my game, so that +he might not be displeased with me. My people saw very little of me +during the day, for in solitude I found the strength I needed. I groped +about in the wilderness, and determined to assume my position as a man. +My boyish ways were departing, and a sullen dignity and composure was +taking their place. + +The thought of love did not hinder my ambitions. I had a vague dream of +some day courting a pretty maiden, after I had made my reputation, and +won the eagle feathers. + +One day, when I was away on the daily hunt, two strangers from the +United States visited our camp. They had boldly ventured across +the northern border. They were Indians, but clad in the white man's +garments. It was as well that I was absent with my gun. + +My father, accompanied by an Indian guide, after many days' searching +had found us at last. He had been imprisoned at Davenport, Iowa, with +those who took part in the massacre or in the battles following, and +he was taught in prison and converted by the pioneer missionaries, Drs. +Williamson and Riggs. He was under sentence of death, but was among the +number against whom no direct evidence was found, and who were finally +pardoned by President Lincoln. + +When he was released, and returned to the new reservation upon the +Missouri river, he soon became convinced that life on a government +reservation meant physical and moral degradation. Therefore he +determined, with several others, to try the white man's way of gaining a +livelihood. They accordingly left the agency against the persuasions of +the agent, renounced all government assistance, and took land under the +United States Homestead law, on the Big Sioux river. After he had +made his home there, he desired to seek his lost child. It was then a +dangerous undertaking to cross the line, but his Christian love prompted +him to do it. He secured a good guide, and found his way in time through +the vast wilderness. + +As for me, I little dreamed of anything unusual to happen on my return. +As I approached our camp with my game on my shoulder, I had not the +slightest premonition that I was suddenly to be hurled from my savage +life into a life unknown to me hitherto. + +When I appeared in sight my father, who had patiently listened to my +uncle's long account of my early life and training, became very much +excited. He was eager to embrace the child who, as he had just been +informed, made it already the object of his life to avenge his father's +blood. The loving father could not remain in the teepee and watch the +boy coming, so he started to meet him. My uncle arose to go with his +brother to insure his safety. + +My face burned with the unusual excitement caused by the sight of a man +wearing the Big Knives' clothing and coming toward me with my uncle. + +"What does this mean, uncle?" + +"My boy, this is your father, my brother, whom we mourned as dead. He +has come for you." + +My father added: "I am glad that my son is strong and brave. Your +brothers have adopted the white man's way; I came for you to learn this +new way, too; and I want you to grow up a good man." + +He had brought me some civilized clothing, At first, I disliked very +much to wear garments made by the people I had hated so bitterly. But +the thought that, after all, they had not killed my father and brothers, +reconciled me, and I put on the clothes. + +In a few days we started for the States. I felt as if I were dead and +traveling to the Spirit Land; for now all my old ideas were to give +place to new ones, and my life was to be entirely different from that of +the past. + +Still, I was eager to see some of the wonderful inventions of the +white people. When we reached Fort Totten, I gazed about me with lively +interest and a quick imagination. + +My father had forgotten to tell me that the fire-boat-walks-on-mountains +had its track at Jamestown, and might appear at any moment. As I was +watering the ponies, a peculiar shrilling noise pealed forth from just +beyond the hills. The ponies threw back their heads and listened; then +they ran snorting over the prairie. Meanwhile, I too had taken alarm. I +leaped on the back of one of the ponies, and dashed off at full +speed. It was a clear day; I could not imagine what had caused such an +unearthly noise. It seemed as if the world were about to burst in two! + +I got upon a hill as the train appeared. "O!" I said to myself, "that is +the fire-boat-walkson-mountains that I have heard about!" Then I drove +back the ponies. + +My father was accustomed every morning to read from his Bible, and +sing a stanza of a hymn. I was about very early with my gun for several +mornings; but at last he stopped me as I was preparing to go out, and +bade me wait. + +I listened with much astonishment. The hymn contained the word Jesus. +I did not comprehend what this meant; and my father then told me that +Jesus was the Son of God who came on earth to save sinners, and that it +was because of him that he had sought me. This conversation made a deep +impression upon my mind. + +Late in the fall we reached the citizen settlement at Flandreau, South +Dakota, where my father and some others dwelt among the whites. Here my +wild life came to an end, and my school days began. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Indian Boyhood, by +[AKA Ohiyesa], Charles A. 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