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I
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• , •,• • • •• . r ••• • •• • •
Prairie S/aoke
(SECOND EDITION. REVISED)
BY
AELVIN RANDOLPH GILAORE
BIS/AARCK. NORTH DAKOTA
1921
A COLLECTION of LORE of the PRAIRIES
COPYRIGHT 1922
By f^ELVlN RANDOLPH GILMORE
f
%'>
c •
. * * • — *"
« A « 9 ^
« O O %
MAP TO SHOW THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE NATIVE
TRIBES IN WHAT IS NOW THE STATE OF NORTH DA-
KOTA AND ADJACENT STATES.
The native tribes of North Dakota are of three different linguistic
stocks or races. These are the Algonkian, Siouan and Caddoan. The Al-
gonkian race is represented in North Dakota by one nation, the Chippewa
or Ojibwa. The Siouan race is represented within our state boundaries
by three nations, the Dakota (sometimes called Sioux), the Mandan, and
the Hidatsa (who are also called Gros Ventre and Minnetari). The Cad-
doan race is represented by one nation, the Arikara. Other nations of the
Caddoan race are the Pawnees, the Wichita and the Waco farther south.
The domain of the Dakota nation comprised southern Minnesota,
northwest Iowa, almost all of South Dakota, part of northwest Nebraska,
eastern Wyoming, and the southern part of North Dakota.
The Chippewa domain was around the west end of Lake Superior in
northern Wisconsin, northern Minnesota, and part of northeastern North
Dakota.
The Mandans, Hidatsas and Arikaras were three nations allied to-
gether for mutual protection against the encroachments of their common
enemies who pressed upon them from all sides. The Mandan as an in-
dependent nation held domain along both sides of the Missouri River in
what is now the central part of North Dakota. The Hidatsa were to the
east of the Mandan. The Arikara were, some centuries ago, in nortliem
Nebraska, but migrated gradually up the river. Finally they were so
pressed by the incursion of the Dakotas from the east that they joined
forces with the Mandans, who allowed them place in their country in
exchange for the added strength which their numbers gave against the
common enemy. The Hidatsas and the Mandans had already, before this,
made alliance, so now the three nations were allied in the region of
the upper Missouri River within what is now North Dakota, extending
westward a little into what is now Montana.
The several domains of the various native tribes or nations within
North Dakota and adjacent states are represented on this map as follows:
Dakota by horizontal lines.
»
Chippewa by vertical lines
Mandan-Hidatsa-Arikara alliance
by oblique cross hatching.
Ponka by oblique lines slanting to
the left,
Omaha by oblique lines slanting to
the right.
Pawnee by horizontal and vertical
cross-hatching.
Oto by cross-hatching of lines hor-
izontal, oblique left and right.
[6]
488619
• •• • • • •• »
• • • • ."J ,••••♦ • • ' »
DEDICATION
To the Real Pioneers of the Great Plains: to those whose questing
spirit first sought out the wonders and the beauties of this land; — its
vast reaches, league upon league, of grassland, verdant in springtime,
sere and red and brown in autumn; its inviting valleys and its forbidding
buttes; — ^to those whose moccasined feet made the first human footprints
upon the turf of these prairies and upon the sands of these river mar-
gins; whose self-reliance made them the first to breast the current of
these streams; whose humble footpaths over the land have now become
the transcontinental highways of the world's travel and trade; to those
who first slaked thirst at these cool, clear watersprings, whose hunger
was first satisfied by the fruits of this land, and who, in eating and in
drinking, devoutly gave thanks to our tender Mother Earth for her boun-
ties, receiving them gratefully as sacred gifts to be prudently used and
thankfully enjoyed, and never to be wasted; who knew and loved this land
in all its spacious extent, east to west and south to north; who reverenced
its sacred places, the holy watersprings, the grand and silent hills, the
mysterious caves, the eery precipices, — all places where their fathers had
with prayer and fasting sought and obtained the favour of the gods, and
where the gods had granted revelations and given wisdom to their
fathers; to those whose eyes first beheld this land in its virgin beauty,
fresh and joyous, unscarred and unspoiled, clean and wholesome, ani-
mated with exuberance of life of many species of both plant and animal
in wonderful balance and adjustment, spontaneously replenished; and who
held it a form of sacrilege to violate or in any way endanger the over-
throw of that delicate balance of nature; — ^to those first inhabitants of
this land which we now inhabit;
That something of their appreciation, of their love and reverence
for the land and its native life, something of their respect for its sacred
places and holy associations; that something of their sense of its charm,
of its beauty and wonder, may come to us; that we may the more worthily
occupy and more sympathetically enjoy our tenure of this land.
To these ends and purposes this book is hopefully and earnestly
dedicated.
r6j
INTRODUCTION
Many persons are ever seeking outside of themselves and in some
distant place or time for interest and cheer.. They are always dis-
contented and complaining. They fancy if they were but in some other
place or other circumstances they would be happy. But this is a vain fancy.
Each of us carries with him the germs of happiness or of unhappiness.
Those of imhappy disposition will be unhappy wherever they may be.
Cheer is not in environment, but in the individual. One who is of a
cheerful, imderstanding disposition will find interest and cheer wherever
he may be.
Robert Louis Stevenson well said "The world is so full of p
number of things I think we should all be as happy as kings." When
there are so many interesting things in the world, so many in any given
place, so many more than one can ever fully know or enjoy in the short
span of human lifetime, how can one ever be overtaken by dullness ? If
dullness seem to enfold us, be sure it is we that are dull; it is because our
minds are lazy and our eyes unseeing. There is enough of interest
about us wherever we may be to engage our attention if we open our eyes
to it. If we have initiative and independence of mind we shall find inter-
est everywhere; but if we depend upon others or neglect what is about us
in desire for what is distant we shall never be content. One greater than
Robert Louis Stevenson said **The Kingdom of Heaven is within you."
It is with the purpose of calling attention to some of the many
fascinatingly interesting things which we have all about us on the
prairie plains and in the hills and valleys of our own state, and perhaps
in our own neighborhood, that this volume is produced. The myths
which pertain to the hills, valleys, springs and streams in our own state
and in our own neighborhood must be of interest to us when we look with
our own eyes upon the actual places to which these myths pertain. And
these myths of the country in which we live are at least equal in beauty
and interest to the myths of the Greeks, and to the old Teutonic myths of
Thor, Odin, and Freya; or even to our own old British myths which we
have from our Druidic ancestors. And however beautiful and interesting
in itself a native tree or flower or other plant may be, however engaging
to the attention may be a native bird or beast, how much more so
when we think of what this bird or beast or flower or tree has been in
the lives of generations of our fellow creatures who have lived here and
loved this land and its teeming native life long before we ever saw it.
So, it is with the purpose of directing the attention of our people to
the wealth of lore, of legend and story and myth, and of wonder and
beauty which lies all about us here if we but look and listen, that this
little volume is presented.
[7]
/
The title of this book is suggested by one of the popular names of the
flower which is the subject of one of the stories of this volume. This
flower, the earliest of all to bloom in springtime over all the northern
prairies, has a number of popular names, among which are Pasque
flower, Gosling flower, and Prairie Smoke flower. The latter name is
suggested by the nebulous appearance presented by a patch of the bluish
flowers blooming upon a prairie hillside in early spring, while all other
vegetation ie still brown and dead. At such a time, with all their blos-
soms tremulous in the spring wind, they appear to the view like a pulsing
cloud of grayish-blue smoke hovering low over the ground.
Besides the reference to this dearly-loved prevemal flower the term
''prairie smoke'* also connotes a number of other engaging conceptions.
To one who has lived upon the prairie this term will recall lively recollec-
tions of both sight and scent. It will recall to the imaginiation memories
of rolling billows of smoke which he has seen covering miles of advancing
lines of prairie fire; he will see again in memory the tiny blue spirals of
smoke showing where some solid particles still smoulder hours after the
line of fire has passed on leaving behind a vast blackened waste. It will
recall to him also the rare, intangible blue haze which for days after
such a fire lay like a veil over all the plain, and through which the sun
appeared like a great red disk hanging in the sky, while the air was
redolent with an indescribable tang. Again, it brings to mind the wisps
of smoke which once curled upward in the quiet summer air from stove-
pipes projecting from the roofs of prairie sodhouses, or which on
snowy winter mornings hung above them like thin white scarfs against a
vast background of blue overhanging a white world.
It will bring to mind also other days and other scenes of this same
prairie country, when there might be seen wreaths of smoke issuing
from the domes of the hemispherical-shaped houses of villages of Man-
dans, Pawnees, or Omahas, upon the hills and river terraces, their labor-
iously tilled cornfields and gardens in the fertile alluvial valleys near by.
Or, again, it will recall the scene of an encampment of some off these
people out upon the prairie on a buffalo hunt in quest of their meat
supply. The encampment is a circle of conical tents, a circle of perhaps
a half mile in diameter. Before each tent the evening fire is twinkling in
the dusk upon the green of the prairie, a circle of friendly lights, each the
centre of a family group, while a few stars begin to twinkle in the blue
of the sky above, and the sunset colours glow in the horizon.
Some or all of these sights and scents, and others also, will present
themselves according to the experience of the one who comprehends the
title "Prairie Smoke.*'
So it is hoped that to each one who reads this little volimie it may
indeed be as a 'Visp of prairie smoke," and shall bring a real savour of
the prairie and at least a slight realisation of what the Prairie was before
it was swept by the destructive Fires of Change.
[8]
•• :
^ • • • ^ •
Land and People
NATURE AND HEALTH
The philosophy of health and wholesomeness of the native AmericaBS,
the Indians^ was to live in accordance with nature and by coming as
much as i>ossible into direct physical contact with the elements in na-
ture, such as the sunshine, the rain and snow, the air and earth. They
felt the need and desire to be in frequent and immediate contact with
"Mother Earth/' to receive upon their persons the strong rays of the
sun, the restorative efficacy of the winds from the clean sky, and to
bathe daily in living streams.
The priest of a certain ritual of the Pawnee nation visited Washing-
ton. He admired the Washington monument as he viewed it from the
capitol. When he went over to visit the monument he measured the
dimensions of its base by pacing; then he stood up and gazed toward its
summit, noting its height. Then he went inside; but when he was asked
whether he would walk up the stairway or go on the lift, he said: "I
will not go up. White men like to pile up stones, and they may go to the
top of them; I will not. I have ascended the mountains made by Tirawa."
(Tirawa is the Pawnee name of God.)
Some years ago Mr. Louis J. Hill took a party of people of the
Blackfoot tribe to New York City as his guests. They were interested
in the sight of the great engineering feats as manifested in the g^reat
structures of the city. But they were unwilling to be cooped up in the
rooms of the hotel, so they made arrangements to be allowed to set up
their tents upon the hotel roof so that they might at least have the
natural sunlight and the outdoor air.
In an ancient Pawnee ritual there is a hymn which begins with the
words, "Now behold; hither comes the ray of our father Sun; it cometh
over all the land, passeth in the lodge, us to touch and give us strength."
And in another stanza of this hymn, referring to the passing of the
sun, it continues, "Now behold where has passed the ray of our father
Sun; around the lodge the ray has passed and left its blessing there,
touching us, each one of us."
So it was ever the aim to live in accord with nature, to commime
often with nature. A word of admonition from the wisdom lore of the
Menomini tribe sasrs, "Look often at the moon and the stars." And the
Winnebagoes have a wise sajning: "Holy Mother Earth, the trees and all
nature, are witnesses of your thoughts and deeds." Another admoni-
[9]
>
• » • > . _ .
• •* » » • ••
tion of Winnebago wisdom is: ''Reverence the Unseen Forces that are
always near you and are always trying to lead you right."
SPIRIT OF LIFE
In the following verses Dr. A. McG. Beede of Fort Yates, North
Dakota, has translated a prayer he once heard uttered by an old man of
the Dakota nation who had just come from bathing in the river and was
standing upon a hill giving expression to his feeling of adoration:
Spirit of Life in things above
Aiid lovelier in things below,
We pray to Thee, All-being-love,
Spontaneous in our hearts to grow.
Our Father Life, we live in Thee
And pray for glory which is Thine,
And by our living may we be
As Thou art in the Life divine.
The trees and flowers and watersprings
Are singing good old songs of mirth.
So may we sing while music brings
The good old joy o'er all the earth.
Spirit of Life, sing on, sing on;
Sing till our aching hearts find rest
And anxious fear is past and gone.
And like the rivers we are blest.
The earth is singing, hark the song;
The whispering breezes floating by.
The waterstreams gliding along.
Reflecting faces in the sky.
Spirit of Life, we worship Thee,
With waterstreams and trees and flowers;
So may our new-bom spirits be
As Thou art, and Thy glory ours.
ATTITUDE TOWARDS NATIVE LIFE
People of European race resident in America, (Americans we call
ourselves) have sentimental regard toward the plants and animals na-
tive to Europe, some of which, domesticated by our ancestors, we have
brought with us to America. But most of our people have not developed
such sentiments toward the plants and animals native to America.
Literary allusions, songs and stories refer to trees, flowers, birds and
other forms of life pertaining to our old home lands in Europe, but not
to those of America. People of our race have been inhabitants of
America now for three centuries, and still we have not made ourselves
at home here; we have not formed sentimental attachment to the land and
to its native forms of life.
It is a pity for a x>eople not to be so attached to the country in which
they live that their sentiments shall be first of all for the forms of life
[10]
that are native to their own country. Otherwise there is a disharmony
which lessens happiness and is harmful in many ways.
Lacking friendly feeling for the plants and animals native to Amer-
ica there has heen a tendency to destroy these things in a ruthless man-
ner; and this can hardly be prevented by law unless we can awaken
sentimental feelings for the native forms of life in America such as that
which our ancestors had for forms of life native in Europe.
Indians, the native Americans, have friendly sentiments, and even
feelings of reverence for the forms of life native to America.
I once asked an old Omaha what was the feeling of Indians when
they saw the white men wantonly killing buffaloes. As soon as he com-
pi«hended my question he dropped his head and was silent for a moment,
seeming to be overcome by sadness; and then in a tone as though he
were ashamed that such a thing could have been done by human beings,
he answered: 'It seemed to us a most wicked, awful thing."
Most white men can not comprehend the sense of pain experienced
by Indians at seeing the native forms of life in America ruthlessly and
wantonly destroyed with no compunction on the part of the destroyers.
And this destruction of the forms of native American life by white peo-
ple gave to Indians a sense of a fearful void in nature, coupled with a
feeling of grief, of horror, of distress and pain. It was not funda-
mentally the thought of the loss of their food supply, but the contem-
plation of the dislocation of the nice balance of nature, the destruction of
world symmetry.
White Horse, an old man of the Omaha tribe in Nebraska, said to me
in Aug^ist, 1913: "When I was a youth the country was beautiful. Along
the rivers were belts of timberland, where grew cottonwoods, maples,
elms, oaks, hickory and walnut trees, and many other kinds. Also there
were various vines and shrubs. And under all these grew many good
herbs and beautiful flowering plants. On the prairie was the waving
green grass and many other pleasant plants. In both the woodland and
the prairie I could see the trails of many kinds of animals and hear the
cheerful songs of birds. When I walked abroad I could see many forms
of life, beautifid living creatures of many kinds which the Master of
Life had placed here; and these were, after their manner walking, flying,
leaping, running, feeding, playing all about. Now the face of all the
land is changed and sad. The living creatures are gone. I see the land
desolate, and I suffer unspeakable sadness. Sometimes I wake in the
night and I feel as though I should suffocate from the pressure of this
awful feeling of loneliness."
Indians generally were shrewd and discerning observers of the life
and habits of plants and animals. The careful study of plants and ani-
mals was a considerble part of the courses of study in their system of
education, which included much more than is supposed by persons who
have not made themselves acquainted with Indian life. They were well
informed in plant and animal ecology, and in knowledge of range of
species. They took cognizance of the habits of animals in the animals*
dwelling places. An old Indian once told me how a muskrat lays up
stores of food in his house. He compared the appearance of the musk-
[11]
rat's stores to that of a grocer's goods on the shelves of his store. Many
old Indians have told me what kinds of food are stored hy different
species of animals which lay up stores. They often speak of such ani-
mals as lay up food stores as being civilized animal nations, and of those
which do not make such provision as being uncivilized.
They attribute great wisdom to certain species of animals. This dis-
position results from discerning observation of the animals' works and
ways. The beaver notably is reputed to be very wise and industrious.
Indians often sought to gain the favor and learn the wisdom of various
animal species by endeavoring to place themselves en rapport with the
guardian genius of the species.
INDIANS' APPRECIATION AND LOVE OF THEIR
HOMELAND
In the rituals of the various tribes may be found numerous expres-
sions of the love and reverence which the people had for Holy Mother
Earth in general and for their own homeland in particidar. And in
their thought of their homeland they did not regard it as a possession
which they owned, but they regarded themselves as possessed by their
homeland, their country, and that they owed her love and service and
reverence. The following song is found in an ancient ritual of the
Pawnee nation which is given entire in the Twenty-second Annual Re-
port of the Bureau of American Ethnology, Part 2. This song plainly
reflects the topography and the scenery of the country of the Pawnee
nation, that part of the Great Plains traversed by the Solomon, Repub-
lican, Platte, Loup, and Niobrara rivers.
SONG TO THE TREES AND STREAMS
I
Dark against the sky yonder distant line
Lies before us. Trees we see, long the line of trees.
Bending, swaying in the breeze.
II
Bright with flashing light yonder distant line
Runs before us, swiftly runs, swift the river runs.
Winding^ flowing o'er the land.
Ill
Hark! O hark! A sound, yonder distant sound
Comes to greet us, singing comes, soft the river's song,
Rippling gently 'neath the trees.
In the foregoing song one can hear the constant murmur of the
summer southwlnd as it blows in that country for days, and see the
broad stretch of the great level land, gently undulating in places, with
its eastward-flowing streams bordered by zones of trees, the timbered
zones along the stream courses being the only forest land in that country.
THRILLING ESCAPE OF A WAR PARTY OUTNUMBERED
AND SURROUNDED BY THEIR ENEMIES
A Pa/wnee Story
In the northwest part of Nebraska there is a high butte with per-
pendicular sides like the walls of a great building. Because of the
[12]
shape of this butte, and because it is composed mostly of a soft rock or
hardy firm day, it is called Court-House Rock by the white people. Of
course it has other names among the Indian tribes of that region.
This great butte stands out boldly upon the high plain and can be
seen for many miles in all directions overlooking the Platte River. The
top is almost flat and all sides but one are almost vertical, and are bare
of vegetation, worn smooth by rain and by wind, impossible to climb. But
there is a way on one side by which a strong man can make his way to
the top.
This high lonely butte stands on the borderland between the country
of the Pawnees and the country of the Dakotas. The Dakotas and the
Pawnees were almost always at war with each other. Many years ago a
Pawnee war party was camped near this butte when they were surprised
by a war party of Dakotas stronger in numbers than their own party.
In the fight which ensued the Pawnees were unable to drive their enemies
off, but were compelled to take refuge by climbing to the top of the
butte. The Dakotas were unable to follow the Pawnees upon the butte,
for the Pawnees were able to guard the single narrow path. But neither
could the Pawnees escape again upon the open plain for the Dakotas se^
cuxely guarded the descent and could easily kill one after another all who
might attempt to come down that way. So it seemed only a question
of time before all the Pawnees must die of hunger and thirst upon the top
of the rock, or come down and give themselves up to death at the hands
of their enemies. The camps of the Dakotas surrounded the butte, lay-
ing siege to it to starve the Pawnees out.
The Pawnees were in a woeful plight. As the sun rose and traveled
across the sky they could look away for miles and perhaps see flocks of
antelopes grazing upon the plain, while their own stomachs were pinched
with hunger; and some miles to the south they could see the flashing sun.
light gleaming upon the waters of the Platte River, while close at hand,
at the foot of the butte, they could see their enemies eating and drink-
ing, which could but serve to aggravate their own hunger and thirst. And
at night when the scorching sun had sunk in the west they might look
away to the eastward, in which direction their homes lay many days'
march distant in the beautiful and fruitful valley of the Loup River; and
as they looked the twinkling stars appearing one by one near the eastern
horizon must have made them think of the evening camp fires of their
home people. And at night the grim chill of the rare air of the high
butte gripped their bodies in its clutch. And all the while they must
be very vigilant against their enemies to prevent being overtaken. They
all suffered severely, but the captain of the company suffered most of all;
for added to the bodily sufferings which he endured in common with his
men, he also suffered extreme mental anguish, for he felt his responsibil-
ity on account of his men. Because they had trusted his leadership and
had put themselves under his orders it seemed that now they must all
die a horrible death. For himself he dreaded not death so much as to be
the cause of the loss of his brave men. To him this was far more bitter
than death. In the night-time he would go away from the others and
ri3]
cry out in fervent prayer to Tirawa, begging His help, begging that He
would show him some way to save his men and bring them off safe.
And while he was thus praying, he heard a voice saying, "Look care-
fully and see if you can find a place where you shall be able to climb
down from this rock and save your men and yourself/' So he prayed
earnestly all night, and when daylight came he went along the edges of
the butte looking carefully to see if there might be a place where some
way might be found by which to go down. At last he found a jutting
point of rock near the cliff edge, and standing above the level. Below this
point the cliff side was smooth and vertical. It occurred to him that this
point might be made a means of support from which the men might let
themselves down the face of the cliff by a rope. When night came again,
after he had posted the sentries to guard the place of ascent from the
enemy, he returned to the point of rock and with his knife he cut away
soft weathered rock at its base to make a secure place of fastening for
a rope. Then he gathered secretly all the lariats which the company had.
These he tied together and then, tying one end securely to the rock which
he had prepared, he carefully paid out the rope and found to his joy that it
reached the ground below. He made a loop in the rope for his foot and
then he let himself slowly down to the ground, then he climbed back
again. When night came again he posted his sentries so that the enemy
might see them at their posts on the side of the butte above the path,
but when darkness had fully come they were all gradually withdrawn.
Quietly calling his men about him he explained his plan and told them
how they might all save themselves. He sent his men down by the rope,
one after another, beginning with the youngest and least important of
the company, and so on up to the men of most importance. Last of all
the captain of the company himself came down. He and all his men
crept quietly in the darkness through the Dakota lines and escaped safely.
The Dakotas directed their vigilance mainly toward the other side of the
butte where lay the only path, and that a very rugged one, between the
base and the summit.
The Pawnees never knew how long the Dakotas kept watch about the
rock.
A MANDAN MONUMENT IN COMMEMORATION OF AN
ACT OF HEROISM
It is a common instinct among all nations of the human race to
preserve relics and record memorials of notable persons and events.
Such monuments vary with the different means and materials at hand.
Sometimes mounds of earth, sometimes boulders, sometimes cairns of
stones, sometimes hewn stones, and various other devices have been used
according to circumstances.
There exists a monument to the memory of a Mandan hero which
has never before been described and published. The following account
is from information given by several persons of the Mandan, Hidatsa
and Arikara tribes. The location of the monument is near the site of
"Fish-hook Village" on the north side of the Missouri River some twelve
or fifteen miles east of Elbowoods, North Dakota.
[14]
During the middle part of the 19th century the three tribes, Ankara,
Hidatsa and Mandan, lived together in alliance against their common
enemies. Their chief enemies were the Dakota. So these three tribes
built their three villages adjoining, making one compound village of three
wards. The village lay upon a well-drained terrace of the Missouri River,
while their farms were laid out in the fertile alluvial "bottom" along the
river both above and below the village. To the north of the village site
lies a range of hills.
The enemy many times made raids upon the village. They would
approach under cover of the hills to the north and then steal close upon
the village through the course of a ravine which skirted the northeast
and north sides of the village.
About sixty-six years ago such an attack was made by a war party
of Dakota. Of the defenders of the village, two young Mandans, brothers,
named Lefthand and Redleaf, had been dismounted and their retreat
cut off by the enemy. A brother of these two, Whitecrow by name, saw
the danger of Lefthand and Redleaf and rode out to their assistance.
Lefthand was killed and Redleaf was defending the body from a Dakota
who was trying to take the scalp. Redleaf shot at the Dakota and missed
him, the bullet going over the enemy's head and striking into the ground
beyond him, the enemy being crouched low at the time of the shot.
Whitecrow rode in a circuit beyond these combatants and held off the
attacking party of the enemy. He killed the Dakota who was engaged
in combat with his brother Redleaf. Then Whitecrow picked up Red-
leaf upon the horse with himself and carried him safely back to the
village.
After the enemy had been driven away the Mandans went out and
marked the course in which Whitecrow had ridden to his brother's rescue,
the spot where Lefthand had been killed, the spot where Redleaf had
made his stand, the spot where the Dakota was killed, and the spot
where Redleaf 's bullet fired at the Dakota, had struck the ground. The
method used for marking these places was by removal of the sod leaving
holes in the ground. To mark the course of WhitecroVs horse the sod
was removed in horse-track shaped sections consecutively from the point
of advance from the village round the place of combat and returning to
the village. The horse-track marks were made about two feet in
diameter. All these marks commemorating the entire action, which took
place about the year 1853 are still plainly evident, being renewed when-
ever they tend to become obliterated by weathering and by advancing
vegetation.
THE LEGEND OF STANDING ROCK
This story of Standing Rock is a legend of the Ankara who once had
their villages along the Missouri River between the Grand River and the
Cannonball River. Afterwards, being harrassed by hostile incursions of
the Dakotas they abandoned this country to their enemies and moved
farther up the Missouri River, joining themselves in alliance with the
Mandans.
One time there was a young girl in this tribe who was beautiful and
amiable but not given to heedless, chattering, idle amusement. She was
[15]
i
thoughtful and earnest and conversant with the ways of all the liying-
creatures, the birds and the small mammals, and the trees and shrubs
and flowers of the woodlands and of the prairies. She was in the habit
of going to walk by herself to visit and commune with all these living
creatures. She understood them better than most other people did, and
they all were her friends.
When she became of marriageable age she had many suitors, for
she was beautiful and lovely in disposition. But to the young men who
wooed her she answered, "I do not find it in my heart to marry any one.
I am at home with the bird people, the four-footed people of the woods
and prairies, with the people of the flower nations and the trees. I
love to work in the cornfields in summer, and the sacred squash blossoms
are my dear companions."
Finally her grandmother reasoned with her and told her that it
was her duty to marry and to rear children to maintain the strength of
the tribe. Because of filial duty she finally said, when her grand-^
mother continued to urge her to marry a certain young man of estimable
worth who desired her for his wife, ''Well grandmother, I will obey you^
but I tell you that good will not come of it. I am not as others are, and
Mother Nature did not intend me for marriage.''
So she was married and went to the house already prepared for her
by her husband. But three days later she came back to her mother's
house, appearing sad and downcast. She sat down without speaking.
Finally her grandmother said, ''What is it, my child? Is he not kind to
you?" The girl answered, "Oh, no, he is not unkind. He treated me
well." And with that she sped away into the forest. Her grandmother
followed her after a littie while, thinking that out among her beloved
trees and plants she might open her heart and tell her what was the
trouble. And this she did, explaining all the trouble to her grand-
mother. And she concluded her talk with her grandmother with these
words, saying: "And so you see, grandmother, it is as I said when you
urged me to marry. I was not intended for marriage. And now my
heart is so sad. I should not have married. My spirit is not suited to the
boxmds of ordinary human living, and my husband is not to be blamed.
He is honorable and kind. But I must go away and be with the children
of nature." So her grandmother left her there where she was sitting by
a clump of choke-cherries, having her sewing kit with her and her little
dog by her side.
She did not return home that night, so the next morning young men
were sent to search for her. At last she was found sitting upon a hill
out upon the prairie, and she was turned to stone from her feet to her
waist. The young men hastened back to the village and reported to the
officers who had sent them out.
Then the people were summoned by the herald and they all went
out to the place where the yoxmg woman was. Now they found she
had become stone as far up as her breasts.
Then the priests opened the sacred bundle and took the sacred pipe
which they filled and lighted and presented it to her lips so that thus
she and they in turn smoking from the same pipe might be put in com-
[16]
munion and accord with the spirit. But she refused the pipe, and said»
''Though I refuse the pipe it is not from disloyalty or because of un-
willingness to be at one with my people; but I am different by nature.
And you shall know my good will towards my people and my love and
remembrance of them always, for whoever in summer time places by this
stone a wild flower or a twig of a living tree in winter time or any such
token of living, wonderful Nature at any time, shall be glad in his heart,
and shall have his desire to be in communion with the heart of Nature."
And as she said these words she turned completely into stone, and her
little dog, sitting at her feet and leaning close against her was also turned
into stone with her. And this stone is still to be seen, and is revered by
the people. It is from this stone that the coimtry around Fort Yates,
North Dakota, is called Standing Rock.
THE HOLY HILL PAHUK
Each of the nations and tribes of Indians had certain places within
its own domain which they regarded as sacred, and to which they accord-
ingly paid becoming reverence. These places were sometimes water-
springs, sometimes peculiar hills, sometimes caves, sometimes rocky
precipices, sometimes dark, wooded bluffs. Within the ancient domain
of the Pawnee nation in Nebraska and northwest Kansas there is a cycle
of five such sacred places. The chief one of these five mystic places is
called Pahuk by the Pawnee. From its nature it is unique, being dis-
tinctly different from any other hill in all the Pawnee country. Pahuk
stands in a bend of the Platte River where the stream flows from
the west in a sweep abruptly turning toward the southeast. The head
of the hill juts out into the course of the river like a promontory or head-
land, which is the literal meaning of the Pawnee word "pahuk." The
north face of the bluff from the water's edge to the summit is heavily
wooded. Among the timber are many cedar trees, so that in winter,
when the deciduous trees are bare, the bluff is dark with the mass of
evergreen cedar. The cedar is a sacred tree, so its presence adds mystery
to the place. The Pawnee sometimes also speak of this hill as Nahura
Waruksti, which means Sacred or Mysterious Animals. This allu-
sion to the Sacred or Mysterious Animals has reference to the myth
which pertains to this place.
All the other tribes throughout the Great Plains region also knew
of the veneration in which this hill is held by the Pawnee, so they, too,
pay it great respect, and many individuals of the other tribes have per-
sonally made pilgrimages to this holy place. The people of the Da-
kota nation call it Paha Wakan, "the Holy Hill."
The Pawnee speak of the animal world collectively as Nahurak. It
was believed that the interrelations of all living beings, plants, animals
and human beings, are essentially harmonious, and that all species take
a wholesome interest in each other's welfare. It was believed also that
under certain conditions ability was given to different orders of living
creatures to commimicate with men for man's good.
[17]
The before-mentioned five sacred places of the Pawnee country
were Nahurak lodges. Within these mystic secret places the animals,
Nahurak, held coimcil. According to one version the names of the five
Nahurak lodges are Pahuk, Nakiskat, Tsuraspako, Kitsawitsak, and
Pahua. Pahuk is a bluff on the south side of the Platte River, a few
miles west of the city of Fremont, Nebraska; Nakiskat, (Black trees) is
an island in the Platte River near Central City, Nebraska, dark with
cedar trees; Tsuraspako (Girl Hill) is a hill on the south side of the
Platte River opposite Grand Island, Nebraska. It is called Girl Hill
because it was customary when a. buffalo surround was made in its vi-
cinity for the yoimg girls to stay upon this hill during the surround. The
hill is said to be in the f oTm of an earthlodge, even to the extended ves-
tibule. Kitsawitsak, which white people call Wakonda Springs, is not
far from the Solomon River near Beloit, Kansas. The name Kitsawitsak
means ''Water on the bank." Pahua is said to be a spring near the
Republican River in Nebraska. Of these five places Pahuk was chief,
and the Nahurak councils of the other lodges acknowledged the superior
authority of the council at Pahuk
There are many stories of the wonderful powers resident in these
sacred places. One of these tells of the restoration to life of a boy who had
been killed. The story is that a certain man of the Skidi tribe of the
Pawnee nation desired to gain the favour of Tirawa (Pawnee name of
Grod). He thought that if he sacrificed something which he valued most
highly that Tirawa might grant him some wonderful gift. There were
so many things in the world which he did not understand, and which
he wished very much to know. He hoped that Tirawa might grant him
revelations, that he might know and understand many things which
were hidden from the people. He strongly desired knowledge, and he
thought that if he sacrificed his yoimg son, who was dear to him, and
the pride of his heart, that Tirawa might take pity on him and grant him
his desire. He felt very sad to think of killing his son, and he meditated
a long time upon the matter. Finally he was convinced in his own mind
that Tirawa would be pleased with his sacrifice, and that then the good
'gifts he desired would be given to him, and that many things now dark
to his understanding would be made clear, and that he should have abil-
ity given him to do many things which were now beyond his power.
One day this man took his boy with him and walked out from the
village as though on some errand. They walked to the Platte River.
After they had gone a long distance from the village, as they were walk-
ing by the riverside, no other persons being near, the man drew out his
knife and stabbed the boy so that he was quickly dead. The man then
dropped the body of the dead boy over the bank. After a time he re-
turned to the village, and went into his own lodge and sat down. After
a while he asked his wife "Where is the boy?" She said "Why, he went
out with you." The man said "I was out of the village, but the boy was
not with me."
He went out and Inquired of his neighbors, and then all through the
village, but of course the boy could not be found. Then for some days a
general search was made for the boy, but no trace of him wits found.
[18]
After this the family mourned for the lost boy. It was now time for
the summer buffalo hunt, so in a few days the people set out for the
buffalo grounds, and the father and mother of the boy also went.
After the boy's body was dropped into the river it was carried away
downstream by the current, sometimes being rolled along in shallow
water at the edge of 'sandbars and again it would be turned over and
over in the whirlpool of some deep hole in the channel, for the Platte
River is a peculiar stream, having a swift current but a wide course with
deep holes and many sandbars.
After a time the body floated down nearly to Pahuk. Two buzzards
were sitting on the edge of a bluff, gazing over the water. So, sitting
there, one of the buzzards stretched out his neck and looked up the river.
He thought he saw something in the water floating downstream. He
stretched his neck again and looked, and turned to the other buzzard and
said "I see a body." Then they both looked towards the object in the
water, stretching out their necks and gazing intently. They saw that the
object was the body of the boy. The first one said ''What shall we do
about this?" The second one said "Let us carry the body down to
Pahuk, to the hill where Nahurak Waruksti is." So they both flew
down to the floating body and got under it and lifted it upon their
backs and carried it to the top of the bluff called Pahuk, over the secret
cave of the Nahurak Waruksti, and there they placed it upon the ground.
Then the two buzzards stood quietly gazing upon the body of the boy
where they had laid it down upon the ground.
This cave far under the hill was the council lodge of the animals.
There sat the councilmen of all kinds of animals and birds, great and
small, which were native to that country. There were the buffalo, the
beaver, elk, deer, antelope, otter, muskrat, wolf, bear, fox, wildcat,
badger, bean mice, and many other kinds of animals. And there were
the swan, the loon, goose, duck, wild turkey, prairie chicken, quail, heron,
bittern, crane, plover, kildeer, meadowlark, blackbird, owls, hawks, swal-
lows, crow, chickadee, woodpeckers, grackle, purple martin, and many
other kinds of birds. There were also snakes, turtles, toads and frogs.
These were the Nahurak people, the Nahurak Waruksti, the Sacred Ani-
mals. And the kingfisher was a messenger and errand man for the
Nahurak coimcil.
Now it happened when the buzzards brought the body of the young
man and laid it down on the top of Pahuk, the kingfisher, who was
flying about over the river on business for the Nahurak, was flying by.
He stopped and looked at the body. He already knew all that had hap-
pened, and he was moved with coihpassion for the boy. So he flew down
at once to the water at the foot of Pahuk and dived in at the entrance of
the Nahurak lodge. He spoke to the assembly of the Nahurak and told
them all that had happened, and said in conclusion, "And the poor boy
is up there on the hill. I hope you will have pity on him and will do
what you can for him. I wish you would bring him to life again."
When the kingfisher, the messenger, had finished speaking the Nahurak
held serious coimcil on the matter to decide what they should do. But
%fter they had meditated long on the question, and each had spoken, they
still could not decide the matter. The kingfisher lurged the matter, ask-
[19]
ing for a favourable decision, saying, ''Come, do take pity on him and
restore him to life." But they could not come to a decision. At last the
chief of the council said, ''No, messenger, we are unable to decide now.
You must go to the other Nahurak lodges and find out what they have
to say about it." The kingfisher said "I go," and flew swiftly out from
the lodge and up the river to Nakiskat, the Nahurak lodge near Lone
Tree. There he brought the matter before the council and pleaded for
the boy as he had done at Pahuk, and told them that he was sent from
Pahuk to ask the council at Nakiskat for their decision. So the Nahurak
here at Nakiskat talked over the matter, but at last they said to the
kingfisher "We are xmable to decide. We leave it to the council at
Pahuk."
Then the kingfisher flew to the lodge at Tsuraspako, then to Kit-
sawitsak, and at last to Pahua, and at each place the Nahurak council
considered the matter carefully and talked about it, but at each place the
same answer was given. They all said "It is too much for us. We can-
not decide what should be done. It is for the council at Pahuk to de-
cide."
After the messenger had visited all these lodges and had laid the
matter before all of them, receiving from each the same answer, he flew
as swiftly as he could back to the lodge at Pahuk and reported what the
other lodges had said. They all recognized the council at Pahuk as the
head council, and deferred the matter to them for decision. But it had
already been once considered by this coimcil, so the matter was now
brought before the supreme council of Pahuk. This was a council of
four chiefs of the Pahuk council who sat as judges to give final consid-
eration and decision. These judges now reconsidered the matter, and
finally, when they had talked it over, they said to the kingfisher, "Now,
messenger, we will not decide this question, but will leave it to you.
You shall make the decision."
The kingfisher very quickly gave his decision. He said "It is my
desire that this poor boy be restored to life. I hope you will all have
pity on him and do what you can for him."
Then all the Nahurak arose and went out from the council lodge and
went up to the top of Pahuk where the body of the boy lay. They formed
in order and stood around the boy and prayed to the Higher Powers, and
at last the boy drew breath, then after a time he breathed again, then
his breath began to be regular. Finally he opened his eyes and sat up
and looked aroimd in a confused manner. When he saw all the animals
standing around him he was puzzled and bewildered. He said to himself,
"Why, my father killed me by the riverside, but here I am in the midst
of this multitude of animals. What does it mean?"
Then the head chief of the Nahurak council spoke to him kindly
and reassured him. He was asked to rise and go with the animals into
the council lodge. When all had gone in and were seated the four judges
conferred together, then the chief of the four stood up and said, "My
people, we have restored this boy to life, but he is poor and forlorn and
needy. Let us do something for him. Let us teach him all we know, and
[20]
impart to him our mysterious powers." The Nahurak were all pleased at
this proposal and manifested their approval.
Then the Nahurak showed hospitality and kind attention to the poor
boy as their guest. He was shown a place to bathe and rest. When he
had rested, food was brought to him. So he was entertained and treated
kindly for the full season, and he was instructed by all the animals in
turn and they taught him their secret arts of healing and imparted to
him all their wonderful powers. So he remained with them at Pahuk till
autumn.
Autumn is a beautiful season at Pahuk, and in all the region of the
Platte, the Loup, the Republican, and the Solomon rivers in Nebraska
and Kansas embraced by the cycle of the five Nahurak lodges. At that
season in that country the sun casts a mellow golden light from the sky,
while the land is emblazed with the brilliance of the sunflowers and gold-
enrod. And then the air is quiet and restful.
So one day at this season the Nahurak said to the boy, "It is now
the time when the swallows, the blackbirds, the meadowlarks, and other
kinds of birds will be gathering into flocks to fly away to the southland
for the winter. The beavers are cutting trees and saplings to store the
branches imder water for their winter food supply of bark; they are also
gathering into their houses certain kinds of roots for food. The musk-
rats are repairing their houses and are storing in them the tubers of
the water-lilies and of the arrow-leaf and of other kinds of plants for
their winter supply. In the edge of the timber, where the ground beans
grow, the bean mice are making their storehouses and filling them with
ground beans and artichokes. And your people have returned from the
buffalo hunt with a good supply of dried meat and hides. They are now
busy at home gathering and storing their crops of com, of beans, and of
squashes and pumpkins. We have this past summer instructed you in
our arts of healing and other learning, and have imparted to you our
mysterious powers, and have taught you about our ways of living. You
are now competent to use for the good of your people the remedies and
perform the mysteries which were given to us by Tirawa, and which we
have now given to you. So you may now return to the village of your
people. Go to the chiefs of the village and tell them what the Nahurak
have done for you, and say to them that the people are to bring together
gifts of drief buffalo meat and dried com and dried choke-cherries, and
other kinds of food; of robes and leggings and moccasins embroidered
with porcupine quills; and of tobacco for incense. All these things the
people are to send by you as gifts to the Nahurak at Pahuk in recognition
of the favour which the Nahurak showed to you."
So the boy parted from his animal friends at Pahuk, and promised
to return and visit them, and to bring them presents to show his thank-
fulness and the thankfulness of his people for what the animals had done
for him. He traveled on up the Platte River and reached the village of
his people in the night. He went to his father's house. He found his
father and mother asleep and the fire had burned low. There was only a
little light from the coals. He went to his mother's bed and touched her
shoulder and spoke to her to waken her. He said "It is I. I have come
[21]
back." When his mother saw him and heard his voice she was surprised,
but she was glad-hearted to see her boy again. So she wakened the boy's
father and told him the boy had come back. When the father saw the
boy he thought it must be his ghost, and he was afraid. But the boy did
not mention anything that had happened nor say where he had been. He
said only '1 have come back again."
The next day some of the people saw him, and they were surprised.
They told their neighbors, and soon it was rumored all over the village
that the boy had returned. They came where he was and stood around
and looked at him and asked him questions, but he told them nothing.
But he went to the chiefs of the village and made his report to them.
Afterwards he gave accoimt to the people, saying, '1 have been away all
summer with friends, with people who have been very good to me. Now
I should like to take them a present of dried meat and other good things,
so that We can have a feast. I beg you to help me, my friends." So they
brought together a quantity of the articles required, and they chose some
young men to go with him to help carry the gifts to the people who had
befriended him.
So the boy and his companions w^it on the way towards the Nahurak
lodge at Pahuk. When they came near to the place the boy dismissed
the young men who had accompanied him, and they went back to the
village. Now the boy went on alone and met the kingfisher, the messen-
ger of the Nahurak, and sent word by him that he had come to visit the
Nahurak, and had brought presents from his people. So the boy was
invited into ;the lodge and all the Nahurak made sounds of gladness at
seeing him again. The boy brought in the presents which had been sent
by his people and they had a feast. After the feast they held a doctors'
ceremony. They reviewed all the things that the Nahurak had taught
him during the summer that he had spent with them. Then the boy was
made a doctor, and he was now able to do many wonderful things.
After this the time came for the young man to return again to the
village of his people. The animals were thankful and gave praise to
Tirawa for the gifts which the young man had brought to them. And the
yoxmg man was thankful to the animals and he praised Tirawa for what
the animals had done for him. Then he returned to the village of his
people. He never told the people what his father had done to him.
The young man lived a long and useful life among his people and
attained much honour. He did many wonderful things for his people and
healed them of their diseases and injuries. In time he gathered about him
a group of other young men, who, like himself, were of serious and
thoughtful mind, and who had desire toward the welfare of the people.
These young men became his disciples, and to them he taught the mys-
teries which had been imparted to him by the animals of the lodge at
Pahuk. These wise men in turn taught other worthy inquirers, and these
again others; and so these mysteries and learning and the healing arts
have come down from that long-ago time to the present among the
Pawnee people.
[22]
THE LODGE OF THE BLACK-TAIL DEER WHICH
TALKED WITH ITS CAPTOR
North Dakota has a number of places to which attach interesting
legends and myths. One such place is a butte not far from Schmitt on
the south side of the Missouri River on the road between Mandan and
Gannon Ball. It is west of Eagle-beak Butte.
The story of this butte is a Mandan myth. A long time ago the Man-
dans lived in a village which was on a level place just north of the Bad
Water Creek, which white people call Little Heart River. At the west
of this place there is a range of high hills. The Mandans lived at the
Bad Water Village in the time long before white men had come across
the great water, so there were no horses in the country. The people had
no animals except dogs to help them carry their burdens. And of course
they had never heard of the thunder-irons (guns) which strike and kill
the deer and other game at long distance. So it was hard work to ob-
tain their supplies of meat and to carry the same home to their houses.
A man who lived in the Bad Water village had dug a deer pit in a
place among the hills west of the village and cunningly covered it over to
appear not different from the ground about it. By this means he hoped
to capture a deer whose flesh would be food for his family, and whose
skin would be useful for making clothing; whose sinew would be used
for thread, some of its bones to be used for making awls and needles,
others for other useful implements and tools. Its horns would be used
to make garden rakes for working the ground of his family's garden.
One morning in autumn there had been a snowfall during the pre-
ceding night, the first snowfall of the season. The man went out early
in the morning into the hills to look at his trap to see if it might have
caught something during the night. As he approached the place he saw
that the cover was broken through, and when he came near and looked in
he was rejoiced to see that he had captured a fine large black-tail deer.
Now when he came to the edge of the pit and looked down at his
prize the deer looked up at him and spoke to him, saying, "O, man, do
not kill me, but let me go free from the pit. If you release me you will
do well." The man was surprised to hear the deer speak to him like
a man, and he was disappointed to think of losing his prize. But he
thought to himself, "This is something mysterious, I must give heed; I
must not defy the Mysterious Power, but listen to the message; for it
must be that some Mysterious Power wishes to impart something to me
through this animal as its messenger.'' So as he thus hesitated in doubt
the deer again made its plea and requested to be set free. But the man
spoke of his duty to his family, who looked to him for food and for
clothing. Again the deer spoke and said, 'indeed you do well to think of
your family, and your endeavor to provide for them as well as you can
is prompted both by your love and duty. But I say to you that you would
do well if you allow me to go. If you do so, I promise you that you
will have success in hunting; you shall find game abundant for the needs
of yourself and family. And when war comes upon your people you
shall be victorious over the enemy. So shall you be remembered among
your people for bravery."
[23]
/
The man gave heed to what the deer said to him, and he dared not
disobey the message which had come to him in this mysterious way.
So now he began to dig down the side of the pit so that the deer could
come out. When he had finished he said to the deer, "Now you may go."
Then the deer came up the incline from the pit and ran down across the
Bad Water Creek away toward the Eagle Beak Hill. As he ran the new
fallen snow flew behind him from his hoofs in a white cloud, and he sang
a song:
**1 was glad when I saw the first snow,
But I almost lost the sight of day."
The man watched the deer as it ran and observed that when it ap-
proached a conical butte west of Eagle-beak Butte that the butte opened
with a loud roaring sound and the deer entered and he saw it no more, and
then the butte closed again as before.
The man went home pondering these things in his mind. As time
passed events came true as they had been promised to him in the mes-
sage spoken to him by the deer. He became renowned among his people
for his skill and success in the chase, for his generosity to the old people
and to the sick and poor, and he attained many honors for his deeds of
valour in warfare against the enemies of his people.
Ever since that time the Mandans have called the butte into which
the deer disappeared after its release from the pit. The Lodge of the
Black-tail Deer.
THE WONDERFUL BASKET
A Mandan Story
Indians of all tribes held the thought of the brotherhood of all living
nature, of the trees and flowers and grasses, of the fishes in the waters,
of the living things which creep or walk or run on the land and of the birds
which fly above the earth, and of human beings. And they believed that
human beings often gained wisdom and useful information through
dreams and visions in which the guardian spirits of any of these other
living creatures talked to them, revealing to chosen, attentive and worthy
persons, secrets of nature which were hidden from the careless and
unworthy.
Among most tribes the cedar tree is considered to possess a property
of mystery and sacredness For this reason twigs of cedar were often
burned as incense in a sacred fire for the purpose of driving away evil
influences. And if a person reclined under the shelter of cedar trees the
healing power and strength of their spirit would come to him and his own
spirit would thus gain composure and strength to meet life's troubles.
Once in the old times a woman was resting under a cedar tree. She
was weary from her work, and as the gentle wind sighed among the
thick green branches above her she dropped to sleep. While she slept
the cedar tree spoke to her in a soft murmuring voice, and the woman
gave heed to the words of the cedar tree.
And this is what the cedar tree said to the woman: "Sister, if you
will dig down into the earth you will find there my slender, strong, pliant
roots. Take up some of these and weave them into a basket. You shall
[24]
-find thereafter that some good shall come of it. It shall bring good to
you and to all women/'
So the woman did as she was told by the cedar tree. She took up
the slender roots and wove of them a basket. The basket was light but
strong, and so pliant that it could be rolled into a small bundle when
empty, though it was large enough to hold many things when it was
opened out.
One day the woman took the basket with her and walked far out
upon the prairie where tipsin grew in abundance. She dug a quantity
of the sweet and wholesome roots to take home for food for herself and
her family. The tipsin roots grow so deep in the tough prairie sod that
it is hard work to dig them, so when she had filled her basket she was
very tired. She sat down to rest and sighed for very weariness, and the
tears came to her eyes. She said, ''Alas! now I must carry home this
heavy load although I am already weary and faint."
Then the basket whispered to her "Do not cry. Wipe away your
tears; bathe your hot cheeks with water at the brook; be glad, for I am
your friend."
Then the woman wiped away her tears and went and bathed her
cheeks and brushed her hair. When she returned the basket seemed to
smile. It said to her "You were troubled for nothing. You forget what
the cedar tree said to you in your dreams. You were told that good
would come to you if you made a basket as you were instructed. Now
you need not carry your load; but sing and be glad and walk on to the
village. I shall come with you, carrying your load."
So the woman went on her way home, singing from happiness, while
the basket kept by her side carrying the load of tipsin roots.
As she came near the village the women knew by her happy singing
voice that some good thing had happened to her. Then as they looked
up they saw her coming, and with her was coming the wonderful basket
carrying the load.
Then all her neighbors begged her to teach them how to make a
wonderful basket. So she taught them as she had been taught by the
holy cedar tree how to make a wonderful basket out of its tiny roots.
And so, from that time, whenever a woman went out to gather June
berries or wild cherries, or raspberries, or wild pliuns or pembinas or
tipsin, or wild rice; or to their cultivated fields to gather com or beans,
she was not obliged to carry the load home. When she was ready she
started towards the village singing, and the basket came with her cheer-
fully carrying the burden.
One day, long after this, a woman had found the winter storehouse
of the hintunka people, which they make under-ground, and into which
they gamer their store of food for the winter time. The hard-working
hintunka people put away in their store-houses quantities of wild groxmd
beans, various kinds of seeds and roots and tubers to provide themselves
food for the cold time when the ground is frozen and the earth is covered
with snow.
It happened that the woman who found this store-house of the
hintunka people was one who was not considerate of the rights of other
[25]
people. She thought only that here was a quantity of food which was
desirable and easy to o^btain. So she filled her basket with the wild
ground beans which are so delicious when cooked with bits of meat.
She cared not that it had cost the hintunka people many weary hours of
hard work to dig these beans and bring them together in this place, nor
did she care that without them the hintunka people, their old people and
their little ones, all would be left destitute of food and must perish from
famine.
While she was filling her basket a poor little hintunka woman cried
pitifully and said, "This is our food. We have worked hard for it. You
ought not to rob us of it. Without it we shall die miserably of hunger.
But the woman took the beans and heeded not the pitiful crying of the
hintunka woman. She had filled her basket, and was making ready to go
home but there was no song in her heart.
Then, while the filled basket sat there waiting a coyote standing near
by, laughed. At this the basket was vexed, and said, "You are rude.
Why do you laugh at me?** But the coyote only laughed all the more.
This annoyed the basket greatly, and made it feel very uneasy and dis»
tressed, for it knew something must be wrong. And it said to the coy-
ote, "Do tell me why you laugh. What is it which is strange?"
Then the coyote replied, "I laugh because you are so foolish. For a
long time you have been carrying burdens to the village while the women
go their way singing."
But the basket said, "I am not foolish, I have the good spirit of the
cedar tree. I am willing to carry burdens to help the women. I am
glad when I hear their joyful singing." The coyote said, "But what da
you get for it, friend? You work like a slave. You receive nothing for
it. No one offers you a mouthful of food. When you rest for a time
from your labor you are not covered with a robe made beautiful with
quill-work. When you have carried burdens for a woman she merely
hangs you upon a peg on the wall till the next time she wishes you to
carry something for her."
As the basket considered the things which the coyote said it began
to be discontented. It felt that it had been treated unfairly; that it had
no pay nor thanks for all it had done, and so the basket was sulky, and
refused to carry the load to the village, and the woman at last had to
take up the burden and carry it upon her back; and she felt aggrieved
and bitter because the basket would not carry it for her. She did not
consider that all the service she had ever had from the basket was from
kindness and good will and not from obligation.
And ever since that time the women have had to carry burdens upon
their backs, for the baskets no longer carried burdens for them.
CAUSE OF THE BREAKING UP OF THE ICE IN THE
MISSOURI RIVER IN SPRINGTIME
A Myth of the Dakota Nation
It is said that in the long ago there was a mysterious being within
the stream of the Missouri River. It was seldom seen by human beings,
[26]
and was most dreadful to see. It is said that sometimes it was seen within
the water in the middle of the stream, causing a redness shining like the
redness of fire as it passed up the stream against the current with a ter-
rific roaring soxmd.
And they say that if this dreadful being was seen by anyone in the
daytime anyone who thus saw it soon after became crazy and continued
restless and writhing as though in pain until he was relieved by death.
And it is said that one time not a very great many years ago this fright-
ful being was seen by a man, and he told how it appeared. He said that
it was of strange form and covered all over with hair like a buffalo, but
red in color; that it had only one eye in the middle of its forehead, and
above that a single horn. Its backbone stood out notched and jagged
like an enormous saw. As soon as the man beheld the awful sight
everything became dark to him, he said. He was just able to reach
home, but he lost his reason and soon after that he died.
It is said this mysterious "Miniwashitu" (water monster) still lives
in the Missouri River, and that in springtime, as it moves upstream
against the current it breaks up the ice of the river. This water mon-
ster was held in awe and dread by the people.
THE WATER-SPRING OF THE HOLY MAN
A Myth of the Dakota Nation
Long ago there was a village of people of the Dakota Nation,
which was situated on the east side of the great river which they call the
Muddy-water River, but which white people call the Missouri River. The
white people named it so from the Missouri nation of Indians on the
lower course of this great river.
This village we have just mentioned was on the east side of the
river nearly opposite to the mouth of the Cannonball River. The people
were happy in this village, for it was a pleasant place. There was plenty
of wood for their fires, and there was an abundance of buffalo berries,
wild plums, choke-cherries, Jxme berries, wild grapes, wild raspberries
and other fruit growing in the woods. Upon the high prairie there was
much tipsin, whose roots are so good when cooked with meat or with
dried green com. Moreover, in the timber were many boxelder trees,
whose sap was made into sugar in early spring time. Not far away were
some lakes where there were many wild ducks and geese and other water
fowl. The flesh of these fowl, and also their eggs were good food. Upon
the prairie were herds of buffalo and antelope and elk, and in the timber
along the river were many deer.
And below the hills, on the level ground of the river valley there was
fertile soil where they planted their fields of com and beans and
squashes. They also cultivated the great simflowers whose seeds are so
good for food.
And the people loved this place, for besides all the good things to
eat, and other comforts which it gave them, it was also pleasant to look
upon. There was the mysterious river coming down from the distant
mountains away in the west and flowing on towards the lands of other
[27]
nations of people in the south, and whose channel could be seen winding
its gleaming way among the dark trees on its shores. Upon the prairie
hills in early spring the courageous little pasque flowers appeared like
a gray-blue cloud let down upon the hill-tops where they nodded their
cheery greetings to the people who passed them. A little later in the
little vales were masses of deep blue violets. Still later the prairie was
bright with the colour and the air was sweet with the breath of the wild
rose of the prairie. The cheery meadowlark, which the people call the
bird of promise, flitted here and there and called his greetings and prom-
ised good things to his friends, the Dakota people.
And through the procession of the seasons there were spread out be-
fore their eyes on all sides scenes of beauty, changing with the change of
seasons and changing every day, indeed the beauties of colour and light
and shade were changing at every stage of the day from the rosy dawn
till the blue shades of evening came.
Yes, it was a delightful land and the people rejoiced in it. But a
strange thing happened which caused the people to move away to a far
distant place. And this is the way it happened:
There was living in this village an old man, a wise man, a man who
was held in great respect by the people, for he was a holy man, to whom
the Unseen Powers granted knowledge not given to all the people. And
these revelations came to the holy man in visions.
This holy man was now too old and feeble to till the soil and raise
crops of food plants, or to go on the chase for game, or to gather any of
the wild food plants. But because they held him in honor the yoimg men
were glad to provide for him, and the women cooked for him of the
best they had.
But one time he had a vision which made him very sad, so that he
could only cry and weep and could not speak of his vision for sadness of
heart. And the people besought him to tell them his vision, for, they
said, "if it is a vision of evil to come, we may as well know the worst.
We ought to be prepared for it." For a long time the old man could not
bring himself to tell them the evil foreboding which had come to him.
But at last, when they continued strongly urging him to tell them what
it was, he said: "Well, my children, I will tell you the vision, for it may
be that I shall not live long. This vision has come to me from the
Mysterious and Awfid Powers, and it is full of evil portent for our peo-
ple." But now he was again so overcome by sadness that he was imable
to tell it.
Again, after some days the people begged him to tell the vision, and
they pressed him so urgently that finally he said: "This is what I saw in
my vision, which has come to me repeatedly. I saw a great incursion of
human bdngs of strange appearance. They are coming from the direc-
tion of the rising sun and are moving toward this land in multitudes so
great that they cannot be counted. They move everywhere over the face
of the land like the restless fluctuations of heated air which are some-
times seen incessantly wavering over the heated prairie on a summer day.
They are moving on resistlessly toward us and nothing can stop them,
and they will take our land from us. They are a terrible people and of a
[28]
monstrous appearance. The skin of this people is not of a wholesome
color like the skin of our people who are bom of our holy mother earth.
Their skin is hideous and ghastly, and the men have hairy faces like the
face of a wolf. They are not kind like our people; they are savages,
cruel and unfeeling. They have no reverence for our holy places, nor
for our holy mother earth. And they kill and destroy all things and
make the land desolate. They have no ear for the voices of the trees and
the flowers, and no pity for the birds and the beasts of the field. And
they deface and spoil the beauty of the land and befoul the water
courses.
"And they have many dreadful customs. When a person dies the
body is not honorably laid upon a funeral scaffold on the prairie or in the
branches of a tree in the forest as we do, but they dig a hole in the
ground and put the body down into the hole and then fill the hole up
again, throwing the dirt down upon the body. And they have strange
and powerful weapons, so that when they come our people will not be
able to withstand them. It is this dreadful vision which has overcome
me with sadness."
Then the people were amazed and angry. They tried to have him
change his vision, but he could not. Again the same vision came to him.
The leading men now coimseled and gave the order that the people should
give him no more food for some days They said, "Perhaps he will have
a different vision." So he was left alone in his tent for four days. And
on the fourth day when they came to his tent they found him dead. They
had not intended to cause his death, but they hoped that if they let him
become very hungry he would change his vision.
Now when they found him dead they were shocked and astonished
and very angry. They said, "Now the evil which he foretold will come,
for he died without changing his vision." And they said "We will not
bury him honorably upon a scaffold according to our custom, but we will
bury him in a hole in the ground, as he said his Vandering people' bury
their dead." So they dug a hole and into this they put the body of the
old man and put the earth back again upon the body.
At evening some women were gazing out across the river in the twi-
light, and they saw a man come up out of the river and advance toward
the village. When he came nearer they saw it was the holy man who had
died and whose body had been buried in a hole in the ground. When he
died he had changed from this life to the life of those who dwell in "The
Land of Evening Mirage." From the place where they buried him he
had gone out under the ground and had come up out of the water of the
river. Now when he came up out from the water he was changed back
agaia to the life on earth. From this it was evident to all the people that
he was indeed a very holy man, and that his vision was true and must
come to pass. They gave him a good dwelling and provided for all his
needs, and the women cooked for him the best food they had, and every
one did homage to him and paid him reverence.
After a time he knew that the end of his life was approaching, and
as he was about to die he called the leading men about him and said,
"The vision which I had will truly come to pass in future time. Now I
[29]
am about to die. When I am dead let me be buried in the groimd again
at the place where I was buried before. You will see that some good
thing will come of it for our people at this place. And it shall be good
for all people at this place forever." When he said something good
would come they thought he meant that the people should be saved from
the cruel and savage, strange, pale-skinned people of his vision, but that
was not what he meant.
When the holy man was dead they would have preferred to give
him honorable scaffold burial as was customary, but they did as he had
directed and buried him in the ground where he had been buried before.
But this time, they dug out a roomy place, and made walls and a roof with
timbers, and in this place they put the body of the holy man after
dressing him in the best of garments decorated with porcupine quill
embroidery, and wrapped in a fine buffalo robe painted with beautiful de-
signs. And they placed with him his pipe and tobacco and food and valu-
able presents of all kinds. Then they covered it all over with earth
again and set the sod as it was before
At evening they watched the place in the river where he had re-
appeared the other time after his burial. They thought he might return
again out of the water of the river, but he did not come. And they
listened above the little house they had made for him imder the ground,
but they heard not the slightest sound of breathing or any movement.
Then they made a sacred fire by the grave from twigs of the cedar tree,
for this tree is holy and sacred to the Good Powers and the breath of
its fire will bring persons of good intention into commimion with those
Unseen Powers. But the holy man did not appear by the sacred fire and
he was never seen again by any of the people.
Now the people became so burdened with sadness that they could
not endure to remain at this place, so they moved far away, where they
found another good country. In this new place they stayed until all the
people who were grown at the time they left the village of the holy man's
grave, had become old and had died. And none had ever been back
there. Then, when all those who were but boys and girls when they
left the former village had now become old men and women, their tribe
began to suffer harrassment from an enemy people of another tribe.
Their enemies were too strong for them, so they had to think of mov-
ing to another place. And so it came into their minds to return to the
place by the Muddy- Water River, where they had lived at the time when
those of their people who were now old had been merry,. happy children.
So they came back, and before they had reached the place the old
men said, ''Let us go on ahead and see the grave of the holy man." And
when the old men came to the place where the holy man had been buried
they f oimd that a spring of good water issued from the place where the
holy man's grave had been. And that is why we call this spring "The
Holy Man's Waterspring."
And it is said that now a bright star is often seen shining over this
spring for a while and that it then goes down and disappears into the
water of the spring. And it is said that sometimes when the moon is
full and bright the holy man may be seen walking near the spring.
[30]
When one approaches to speak to him he disappears into the spring. Not
all persons can see these things, but only those whose hearts are kind and
gentle, and whose minds are in accord with Nature, and who have
reverence for holy things and for the beauties and mysteries in Nature.
THE SACRED SYMBOL OF THE CIRCLE
To the Dakotas the form of the circle is a sacred symbol because
Great Spirit caused everything in nature except stone to be round.
Stone is the implement of destruction. The sun, the earth and the moon
are round like a shield, and the sky is round like a bowl inverted over the
«arth. All breathing creatures are round like a human body. All things
growing out of the ground are round, as the trunk of a tree or the stem
of an herb. The edge of the world is a circle, hence the circle is a symbol
of the world and of the winds which travel to us from all points on the
edge of the world. The sim and the moon which mark the day and the
night travel in a circle above the sky; for this reason the circle is a
symbol of these divisions of time, and of the year, and so is the sjrmbol
for all time.
Raindrops are roiuid, and so are the drops of dew hanging like
strings of beads upon the grass blades. . Pellets of hail and of sleet are
round. Every snowflake has a centre from which lines radiate as from
the centre of a circle. The rainbow, which beautifies the sky after
showers, is round.
Because Great Spirit has caused almost all things to be round it is
for us a sacred symbol; it reminds us of the work of Great Spirit in the
imiverse. And for this reason Dakotas make their tipis round; and in
laying a camp the tipis are set in a circular line; and in all ceremonies
they sit in a circle.
The circle is a sjrmbol of the tipi and of shelter and comfort. In
decorative figures the imdivided circle is a symbol of the world and of
time. If the circle be filled with red it is a symbol of the sun; if filled
with blue it is a symbol of the sky. If the circle be divided into four
parts it is a sjrmbol of the four winds.
The mouthpiece of a pipe should always be passed about the circle
and offered to the four directions before it is formally smoked.
THE SACRED NUMBER FOUR
It appears that Great Spirit caused everything in the world to be in
fours; for this reason mankind's activities of all kinds should be gov-
erned by the number four out of respect to this sacred number and in
agreement with it.
We see that there are four directions: the north, the east, the south,
and the west; four divisions of time: the day, the night, the moon, and
the year; there are four seasons: the spring, the summer, the autumn, and
the winter; there are four parts to everjrthing that grows from the
ground: the roots, the stems, the leaves, and the fruits; four kinds of
things that breathe: those that crawl, those that fly, those that walk on
[31]
four legs, and those that walk on two legs; four things above the world:
the sun, the moon, the sky, and the stars; four kinds of gods: the great,
the associates of the great, the gods below them, and the spirit kind;
four periods of human life: infancy, youth, adulthood, and old age; man-
kind has four fingers on each hand, four toes on each foot, and the
thumbs and big toes of each taken together make four.
All these tokens of the works of Great Spirit should cause mankind
to order his ceremonies and all activities so far as possible by this sacred
number.
THE PRISTINE PRAIRIE
To obtain even an approximate appreciation of the conditions of life
as they presented themselves to the people of the nations which formerly
occupied the region drained by the Missouri River and its tributaries we
must bring ourselves to see it as it was in its natural condition, void
of all the countless changes and accessories which we have erected here
by our European culture and custom.
Imagine, then, a country of open prairie stretching away and away
beyond the range of vision over hill, valley, and plain, the skyline un-
broken by trees, except a fringe along the course of the streams. The
aspect of this landscape in summer was that of a boundless sea of shining
green, billowing imder the prevailing south wind, darkened here and
there by the swiftly marching shadows of clouds sailing high and white
in the brilliant blue sky. Toward the end of summer the sun appears to
have shed some of its lustre upon the plain below, for it now shines with
a paler light, while the ever restless, rustling, whispering sea of grass
waves in rolling billows of golden green, seeming to be forever flowing
on before the south wind into the mysterious North, changing again into
yellow and warm brown as autimin comes on.
Then it may happen some day that the whole aspect is suddenly
changed. Fire has escaped in the sea of dry grass. To the windward the
horizon is one long line of smoke, which, as it comes nearer, rolls up in
black masses shot through with darting tongues of angry red flames
leaping a hundred feet skyward, while the soimd of the conflagration is
like that of a rushing storm. Frightened animals are fleeing before it
in terror for their lives and birds are flying from the threatened destruc-
tion.
This scene passes, and now the whole visible earth is one vast stretch
of coal black, and the whole sky is a thick blue haze in which the sun
seems to hang like a great red ball, while an unbroken silence pervades
the land.
Then winter comes vnth days of leaden sky and blackened earth,
succeeded by clear days when the snow-covered earth appears like a vast
white bowl encrusted with frost-diamonds and inclosed by an over-
arching dome of most brilliant blue.
[32]
Ag-ain the season changes; warm airs blow from the south; soft
showers f≪ the sound of the first thunder wakens all Nature; the
blackened earth appears once more, soon showing color from the pale
green spears of tender young grass, and in a short time the form of
Mother Earth is once more clothed in a mantle of shining green.
And now as the biting winds of winter yield to the balmy breezes
from the south all the vernal flora is quickened into life and beauty. The
modest blue violets appear in such profuse abundance that they seem like
shreds of the sky wafted by the spring breezes over the land and drifted
into every swale and ravine. On the upland the purple flowers of the
buffalo pea show themselves; in sandy places of the Middle Great. Plains
the dainty lavender blue bonnets of the early wind-flower are trembling
in the breeze. In (the Northern Great Plains the snow is scarcely gone
before the pasque flowers, first gladsome harbingers of the lovely hosts
to follow, troop forth over the bleak hillsides, "very brave little flowers,"
the Cree Indians say, **which come while it is still so cold that they must
come wearing their fur coats." This is in allusion to the furry appear-
ance of , the pasque flower.
And as the floral life manifests itself all the native f aunal life is also
awakened to renewed activity. The migratory birds are seen and heard
flying northward by relays in hundreds of thousands. The course of the
Missouri River marks upon the earth the chart by which they direct their
northward flight toward their summer homing places. The Arkansas
River, the Kansas, the Platte, .the Niobrara and the White River are
relay stations of their journey, and the countless V-shaped flocks coming
northward in long lines wheel, circling down until tracts many acres in
extent are whitened by the great numbers of snow geese, while the
Canada geese in equal numbers darken other tracts; ducks in great num-
bers are swimming on all the ponds and quiet streams, and regiments
and brigades of tall gray cranes are continually marching and coimter-
marching on land or sailing like fleets of monoplanes far up in the clear
blue, whence float down to earth the vibrant notes of their bugle calls as
they travel on into the North. On the higher prairies at sunrise as the
long rays of the red morning sun slant brightly across the land the
booming, drum-like sound of hundreds of prairie chickens is heard at
their assemblies, for at this season they dance j the mating dance at the
sunrise hour. Soon the meadowlarks, "the birds of promise," appear,
singing their songs of promise of good things for their friends, the
human beings; and | they set about the duties of housekeeping, building
their lowly nests at the grass roots, and all about, are scenes of bright-
ness and sounds of gladness.
It was in such)a country as this, then, that the people of the several
different native nations who were here before us lived and took joy of the
good gifts of Mother Earth and from their own activities, and in all the
beautyfof this good land. And they loved this land for all its good gifts
and for its beauty, and for these and for its mystery and grandeur they
paid reverence.
[33]
ABORIGINAL AMERICAN AGRICULTURE
See Map, Vertical lines indicate region under agriculture hy natural
rainfall. Horizontal Unea indicate region farmed under irrigation. Both
regions were settled in permanent villages.
Most people of this country, of the now dominant European race,
seldom give a thought to the aboriginal economic conditions which pre-
vailed here before this country was Europeanised. They seldom think
of the precolumbian utilisation of the natural resources of this continent
by the people of the native American race. They do not consider the
myriad possible uses of plants and plant products by the people of the
native tribes. Most persons of our European race in arrogant self-
satisfaction have not been accustomed to think of those of the American
race as agriculturists at all, much less have we given thought to the
contributions made by that race to the world's agriculture. But according
to the United States crop report of 1916 the value of the crops in this
country alone, of plants which were first brought under cultivation by
Indians, is $3,000,000,000.
No doubt the beginnings of agriculture, with our own European race
and with every race, was simply the gathering and storing of supplies of
wild plant products, and proceeded by the stages of intentional dissemi-
nation and cultivation, selection and improvement of stock into myriad
varieties.
When European explorers first visited the Atlantic shores of America
they found the native tribes to be agriculturists, living in villages of
permanent houses, and with their cultivated fields stretching about the
villages. And as the explorers advanced into the interior of the con-
tinent they found similar conditions to prevail as far as to and including
the Missouri River valley. So it was found that in all the region from
the Gulf of Mexico to the St. Lawrence River, the Great Lakes and the
region of the upper Missouri river all the various Indian nations were
settled agriculturists. On the High Plains and in the western mountains
the tribes could not cultivate the soil because of the unfavorable condi-
tions.
The crops cultivated by the tribes in the region above defined con-
sisted of com, beans, squashes and pumpkins in many varieties, gourds,
stmflower, and tobacco. According to the testimony of some of the early
explorers it appears that in the southeastern part of the continent they also
cultivated sweet potatoes and peanuts. It may be said that the simflower
is native to the western plains and was there brought under cultivation
and improved to what we have as the cultivated simflower and was dis-
tributed throughout the region from the Great Plains to the Atlantic
coast. The other crops above named were introduced from the south
many centuries ago from Mexico. Their wild ancestors grow there,
which would indicate that there they were first brought into domestica-
tion by cultivation and improvement of the wild stock. All evidence from
every source seems to point to the plateau of southeast Mexico as the
place of origin of com. It seems to have been originally a large, coarse
wild grass with seeds which were at least large enough to furnish an
article of food when gathered in quantity. The botanical evidence would
[35]
indicate that it was a branched stalk and that all the branches and the
terminal alike bore loose panicles of seeds, not in compact ears as we
now know the com ear. But ages of cultivation and selection by obscure
and forgotten tribes of primitive farmers have produced a plant which
bears its staminate flowers generally on the terminal and its pistillate
flowers on side branches modified into what we know as the com ear.
Not only had the above-described modification taken place in the process
of long ages of cultivation and selection, but the five great types of com
had been formed and developed into innumerable varieties of each type
prior to the advent of white men on this continent. The five types to
which I have referred are dent com, flour com, flint com, sweet com, and
pop com. Dent com was obtained first by white men from the Indians
of Virginia in the beginning of the seventeenth century at the first
settlement of that colony by the English. The New England tribes had
flint corii, flour com, and sweet com, and pop com, but (not dent com.
The tribes of the upper Missouri River had flint com, flour com and
sweet com.
The Arikara and Mandan on the upper Missouri were the great agri-
cultural tribes of this region. Omaha legend credits the Arikara with
first having com and with having distributed to other tribes. And the
common pictograph to represent the Arikara among all the surrounding
tribes was a conventionalised ear of com. In the sign language also the
surrounding tribes designated the Arikara by a motion of the hands
depicting the act of shelling com, or by the motions of eating an ear of
com. Washington Matthews says: "There are some reasons for be-
lieving that the Arikara represent an older race of farmers than the
Mandan; for their religious ceremonies connected with the planting are
the more numerous, and they honor the com with a species of worship."
And it is the work of these northern tribes in past centuries in accli-
mating com to the fihort northern summer with its cool nights which has
made it possible for jthe states of North Dakota, Montana and Minnesota
now to be corn-producing states; for acclimation is a long and gradual
process and was accomplished during a northward migration from
Mexico which occupied many centuries of time.
In the arid region of what is now New Mexico and Arizona the work
of agriculture was carried on by means of irrigation ages before the
coming of white men, and the old irrigation ditches made by the primi-
tive Indian farmers of that region may still be traced — ^irrigation works
made without other power than human muscles and without the use of
iron; the shovels used being made of bone.
The world is indebted to the aboriginal American agriculturists not
only for all types of com which we now have, but also for all kinds of
beans, for pumpkins and squashes, cultivated sunflowers, sweet potatoes,
peanuts, and many other crops among our present day staples.
A great handicap to tiie primitive American farmer was the lack of
iron tools; for they had no iron before the coming of white men. Another
handicap was the absence of horses. The horse was not native to the
western hemisphere, and was first introduced by the Spaniards.
Previotisly the only beast of burden in North America was the dog. So
[36]
the cultivation of the gnc'ouBd was entirely handwork; and the tool most
in use was a hoe made from the shonlderblade of the buffalo or of ihe
elk. One may imagine the immense labor which was required to develop
and extend the above-named crops over the continent, acclimated and
ready to our hand when we arrived in the New World.
THE EARTHLODGE
As an example of the modifying power of geographic influence ex-
ercised upon the arts, we may consider the style of architecture or domi-
ciliary structure prevailing in the Plains region. In each geographic
province, which also constitutes a culture area, the style of housing is
different according to natural resources and; climatic conditions. In the
Plains area the permanent dwelling was the earth-covered structure;
while the temporary dwelling was the skin tent.
The earth-covered house seems to be an evolution from the thatched
house of the southern plains, exemplified in the dwellings of the Wichitas.
Farther north the exigencies of the climate suggested the addition of an
earth covering.
All the nations and tribes of the Missouri, of whatever racial stock,
emplo^^ed the same style of dwelling. In order to effect the construction
of an earth-covered house, a circle of the desired diameter was stripped
off from the surface soil. Four tall, strong forked posts were set in the
center about 8 or 10 feet apart in a quadrangle. Beams were laid on
these forks. Ouitside of the center posts a circle of shorter posts was
set and beams laid in their forks. Rafters were laid from the lower to
the upper beams. A wall of timbers was leaned up against the circle of
lower beams, the base of the leaning timbers resting upon ^the ground.
An opening was left at the east, and here was made a vestibule 6 to 14
feet long.
Timbers were laid upon the rafters, willow poles were laid upon the
timbers, and a thatch of dry grass upon these poles. A covering of earth
was now built up about the walls and over the roof to a total thickness
of about 2 feet, making, when complete, a dome-shaped structure.
All structural timbers and poles were fastened by tying with ropes
of raw hide or of basswood or elm fiber.
An opening of several feet in diameter was left at the top of the
dome for a skylight, ventilator, and smoke-escape. The fireplace was at
the center of the earth floor; the sleeping compartments were ranged
about next to the wall. The altar was at the west side, opposite the
doorway.
The diameter of the house varied, according to the needs of the
family which occupied it, from 30 to 50 or 60 feet; the height from 15 to
20 feet. This was a family domicile and not a commimity or tenement
house. Such family dwellings were clustered in villages. The evidences
of many such village sites may be seen throughout all the region of the
Missouri River drainage basin. Their fields of agricultural crops were
cultivated in alluvial valleys usually near the villages, although some-
CSV]
times, when suitable land was not nearby, their fields might be at some
distance.
The earth-covered house probably originated with the tribes of Cad-
doan stock, that is, the Pawnee and Arikara, and was adopted by the
tribes of other stocks upon their migration into the Missouri River region.
The Pawnee had very elaborate ceremonies and traditions connected
with the earth-lodge. The earlier star cult is recognized in the significa-
tion attached to the four central posts. Each stood for a star — the
Morning Star, and the Evening Star, symbols of the male and female
cosmic forces, and the North and South stars.
In the rituals of the Pawnee the earth-lodge is made typical of man's
abode on the earth; the floor is the plain, the, wall the horizon, the dome
the arching sky, the central opening the zenith, the dwelling-place of
Tirawa, the invisible power which gives life to all creatures.
In the poetic thought of the Pawnee the earth was regarded as
Mother and was so called because from the earth's bounty mankind is
fed. To their imagination the form of the earth-lodge suggests the figure
of speech by which these human dwellings symbolised the breasts of
Mother Earth; for here man is nourished and nurtured, he is fed and
sheltered and blessed with tenderness of life. Here he knows love and
warmth and gentleness.
Herewith is given a metrical translation of an ancient Pawnee ritual-
istic hymn. This hymn is extracted from the ritual of a ceremonial of
great age in the Pawnee nation, and there were similar ceremonials
among all the tribes and nations of the Plains area. The full ritual from
which this is taken is published in the Twenty-second Annual Report of
the Bureau of American Ethnology, part 2.
Having given the description of the structure of the earth-lodge, the
allusions in the following hymn will be readily imderstood:
HYMN TO THE SUN
I
Now behold: hither comes the ray of our father Sim; it cometh
over all the land, passeth in the lodge, us to touch,
and give us strength.
II
Now behold: where alights the ray of our father Sun; it touches
lightly on the rim, the place above the fire, whence the
smoke ascends on high.
m
Now behold: softly creeps the ray of our father Sun; now o'er
the rim it creeps to us, climbs down within the lodge;
climbing down, it comes to us.
IV
Now behold: nearer comes the ray of our father Sun; it reaches
now the floor and moves within the open space, walking there,
the lodge about.
V
Now behold where has passed the ray of our father Sun; around
the lodge the ray has passed and left its blessing there,
tending us, each one of us.
[38]
VI
Now behold: softly climbs the ray of our father Sun; it upward
climbs, and o'er the rim it passes from the place whence
the smoke ascends on high.
vn
Now behold on the hills the ray of our father Sun; it lingers
there as loath to go, while all the plain is dark. Now has
gone the ray from us.
vni
Now behold: lost to us the ray of our father Sun; beyond our
sight the ray has gone, returning to the place whence it
came to bring us strength.
DESCRIPTION OF THE TIPI
The temporary dwelling used for traveling was a conical tent made
from buffalo skins erected on a frame of poles. It commonly had about
twenty poles averaging twenty-five feet in length. The poles were set in
a circle about fifteen feet in diameter, held together above by a hide rope
wound roimd <the whole set of poles about four feet from the upper ends.
Three poles were first tied together, then the others were laid in the
forks of these, then the rope was passed round all of them and tied.
The cover was from fifteen to eighteen buffalo hides cut and fitted
so that when sewn together with sinew thread, they formed a single large
sheet nearly semi-circular in shape. This was lifted into place by a
special pole at the back of the structure, then the ends were brought
around to the front and fastened by means of eight or ten small wooden
pins at intervals from the door to the crossing of the poles. The bottom
was kept in place by pegs about two feet apart around the circle. The
door was usually a piece of skin stretched over an elliptical frame.
At the top an opening was left for ventilation and outlet for the
smoke of the fire. The draft was regulated by two flaps or wings sup-
ported each on a movable pole slanted alongside the tipi with its base on
the ground and its top fastened to the apex of the smoke-flap. This held
the draft open to the side away from the wind and was moved according
■to the changes of the wind so as always to be open to the lee side.
The beds were at the sides and the back of the tipi. Decorated cur-
tains above the beds kept off any drops of rain which might come through
the smoke-hole in rainy weather. The groimd was the floor, the part
near the beds sometimes cut off from the open space by a hedge of inter-
woven twigs.
In warm weather the bottom of the tipi was raised to allow the
breeze to pass through. In cold weather the bottom was banked with
grass to keep out the wind.
The camp was arranged in a circle, each band of the tribe having its
own proper segment of the circle, which was relatively the same through
immemorial generations, and each family in each band had its proper
place in the segment, so that one coming into camp after nightfall,
although he might not have been in camp before, could thus unfailingly
find his way to his own family.
[39]
On account of its exact adaptability to prairie life, the tipi was
taken as the model of the army tent which bears the name of General
Sibley, and is used now by our army.
AN OMAHA GHOST STORY
In the springtime a little child had died and was buried on the hill
southeast of the village. The hill was green with the prairie grass and
spangled with the beautiful wild flowers of the prairie. On 'the north
and east the forest ascends the slope from the Missouri River valley to
the crest of the hilly partly encircling the burial place with a rampart of
green trees in which were numbers of happy birds, busy with their nest-
building and tuneful with their jojrful songs.
Not long after the death of this little child the people went upon the
annual summer buffalo hunt to the Sand Hill region many miles away
to the west from the village. As the people drew away from the familiar
home scenes of the village the mother was strongly affected by a feeling
of sadness and grief for her little one which she had to leave alone in its
lone and narrow bed upon the hill. When the people made camp and the
evening meal was prepared l^is mother was so burdened with grief for
her child that she could not eat and went away -to grieve alone. When
she left the oamp she was so drawn by yearning for her little one that
she walked on and on all night toward the home village. In the morning,
weak and weary, she was back in the deserted village. All was still.
Not a person and not a dog was there. She went into her own house.
Then she went through the village to other houses. At some deserted
fireplace s'he happened to find some coals; so she was able to kindle a fire
and cook a bit of food. She sat in her house and wailed for her baby.
After a time she heard sounds. She listened and there seemed to be
whispers and murmurs all about her. And so it continued day after
day. At first she saw nothing, but heard the murmurs and whispers,
and gradually she could almost understand what the whispers said,
especially when she fasted. She made out enough to know that it was
the spirits of the departed, who, in the absence of the living, returned
to occupy the houses during the absence of the people.
After a time she became able to understand more of what the
ghosts said, and finally s:he could talk with them in their own manner.
Their speech was not like the speech of living people; there was no voice,
but slight whispering sounds, as one sometimes hears among the grass
on the prairie when all is still, or among the leaves of growing com, or
the light rustling of the cottonwood leaves on a quiet evening.
At first the woman saw nothing, though she could hear the whis-
pering speech like the breathing of those who sleep. Later she could
see, as it seemed, feet moving about on the floor, but nothing above the
feet. As she looked she could see nothing between herself and the
opposite walls of the house. Then, after a time, she semed to see not
only the moccasins but the leggins above them as far as the knees,
but she never saw any more. And thus it was with her during all the
[40]
time she dwelt there alone with the spirits until her people returned to
the village.
This time it happened the people did not return for a year. When
the woman bad disappeared from the camp on their first night out the
people supposed she had gone out somewhere to be alone to weep and
pray, but when she did not return they sought for her, and not being
able to find any trace of her they supposed «ome accident had befallen
her and that she was dead. They were much surprised to find her at
home when they returned to the village at the end of a year. But when
they spoke to her they found that she was mute; she moved her lips, but
no sound came. After some days she recovered speech and again took
up her accustomed life with her people.
During the year in which she lived alone in the deserted village she
had planted and harvested a crop and had lived by that and by what food
may have been left in the storage places and from the wild products
which she gathered.
AN OMAHA HERO SONG
All American tribes had many different classes of songs. One class
of songs was in praise of tribal heroes. There were also songs of
chivalry, celebrating brave and generous deeds. To this class belongs
the one given herewith. It must be said in explanation that all Indian
songs are very brief. They comprise only a line or two and the meaning
of the song is known by the story which is its foundation. To under-
stand this particular song it must be explained that a common military
custom among the tribes was to award certain honors for certain ex-
ploits, just as we see in our own armies the awarding of the Victoria
Ooss, the Distinguished Service Medal, the Military Medal, the Croix
de Guerre, etc. In the Omaha tribe the 'highest military honor was
awarded for getting near enough to the enemy to touch an enemy body,
either with a lance, a bow, or any object in the hand.
There was an old warrior of this tribe, named Yellow-wood Bow,
who had fought well and won many honors in his time. But he was now
old and no longer able to fight for his people. But one day when an
attack had been made on his people by the enemy and the young men
were fighting valorously, the old man went out walking feebly toward
the field of conflict to see the battle, for he was imable to sit quietly in
the village while the fighting was going one. It happened that as he
approached the battlefield two young men were just about to coimt
their honors by striking with a lance the body of a slain enemy when one
saw the old warrior, Yellow-wood Bow approaching. He held back and
spoke to his comrade in the words "Hold! Yellow-wood Bow is coming!"
So the yoimg men gave over the opportunity of coimting the honor for
themselves in order tMt the highly respected old warrior might have
this one more chance to gain an honor, one more honor to his long list
of honors. And the generosity of these two yoimg men is praised in the
song:
"Hold! Yellow-wood Bow is coming!"
[41]
In singing this song not only do the people award praise and glory
to bravery and courage, but the virtue of renunciation shown by the
young men also receives its measure of praise. The song has the pur-
pose to inculcate emulation of bravery and also of generosity and un-
selfishness of spirit.
[42J
stories of Plant People
SACRED TREES
A people living under natural conditions in communion with nature,
will carefully note the appearance of natural objects in their environ-
ment. They become acquainted with the various aspects of the land-
scape and of the living things, plants and animals in their changes
through the seasons, in storm and calm, in activity and in repose. Be-
coming thus intimately acquainted with the life about them the people
will come to regard some of the more notable forms with a feeling akin
to that which they have towards persons, and hence they come to have
place in folk stories, in reasoned discourse and in ceremonies of religion.
Commonly throughout the region of the Missouri River was to be seen
the Cottonwood, the willows of several species, and the cedar or juniper.
The appearance and habits of these trees impressed themselves power-
fully upon the mind and imagination of the Indian folk.
The cedar or jimiper was wonderful because it was ever green; unlike
other trees it appeared indifferent to frost and to heat, but alike in win-
ter and summer retained its leaves. Also it appeared to be withdrawn,
solitary and silent, standing dark and still, like an Indian standing upon
a hill with his robe drawn over his head in prayer and meditation. Thus
it gave the suggestion, and had the appearance of being in communion
with the High Powers.
Leaves and twigs of cedar were burned as incense in ceremonial rit-
uals in order that evil influences might be driven away.
Willows were always found growing along watercourses, as though
they had some duty or function in the world in connection with water,
the element so immediately and constantly needful to man and to all other
living things. Water was not only imperatively necessary for vivifying
and reanimating all living things, but was an active agent in processes
of change and transmutation. In cases of disease the evil influences
which plagued the body might be driven out and thus health might be
restored through the use of water transformed into vapor by means of
heat. So the vapor bath was used. Also if a man contemplated the
undertaking of any serious project, any dangerous mission, or any
solemn enterprise, it was important first to prepare himself by purifica-
tion, by means of the vapor bath, from all evil influences. The frame-
work of the vapor bath lodge was made of willow poles, bent and tied
with their bark.
[43]
The willow was also mystically connected with that grreatest change
of ally the departure of the spirit from the body, the change which we
call death. Willow twigs had certain uses in funeral rites.
The Cottonwood was found grrowing over a widely extended range,
under diverse climatic conditions, appearing always self-reliant, showing
prodigious fecxmdity, and having wonderful means of propagation. It
provided its seed, produced in enormous number, with a device by which
they traveled on the wind to far places and so became widely dissemin-
ated in all directions, traveling up-stream or down-stream, and even
across the plains and prairies to other streams where the new genera-
tion might establish itself. But besides this iEidmirable provision to
insure the perpetuation of its kind it had also another means of propa-
gation; though by this means it could move only down-stream. This
method of propagation is by the making of cuttings or planting slips
from its own twigs. It is well known that the gardener may make arti-
ficial cuttings of many kinds of trees and plants, and so increase his
stock. But the Cottonwood, alone among trees, performs this operation
itself. At the beginning of autumn the cottonwood trees form layers
of cork cells which gradually wedge off part of its twigs from the parent
branch, thus covering and healing the wound of separation and also
covering and healing the base of the separated twig so that it falls off
alive and protected from loss of sap.
Falling thus to the ground just about the time that autumn rains are
about to begin, they are ready to be carried away by the rising waters
of the streams and may be thus planted in a mud or sand bank further
down stream, ready to take root and grow in the springtime.
In the springtime the opening of the cottonwood buds and pushing
out of the young leaves, even when chilly nights follow the bright
breezy days and the rapid growth of these lustrous leaves, brightly
dancing in the spring winds, their brilliant sheen and active movement
reflecting the splendour of the sun like the dancing, glinting ripples of
a lake, suggest the joy and eagerness and energy of movement of all
returning life.
The foliage of the cottonwood is peculiar and remarkable so that it
may be said the air is never so still that there is not motion of cotton-
wood leaves. Even in still and sultry summer afternoons, and at night
when all else was still, ever they coiild hear the rustling of cottonwood
leaves by the passage of little vagrant currents of air. Secret messages
seemed ever to be passing in soft whispers among the cottonwood leaves.
And the winds themselves are the bearers of the messages and com-
mands of the Higher Powers, so there was constant reminder of the
mystic character of this tree.
The cottonwood was, among trees, the symbol of fidelity, one of the
four great virtues inculcated by the ethical code of the people of the
Dakota nation.
So from all these considerations, it might be expected that this tree
should have an important place in the rituals of the people for many
generations associated with it. And so it had.
[44]
The Sacred Pole of the Omaha nation was made of the Cottonwood.
The Sacred Pole was an object of the greatest veneration to the people
of that nation^ similarly as the Ark of the Covenant was sacred to the
Hebrew nation.
The Sacred Tree, the central object of the Sun Dance, the most mo-
mentous religious ritual of the Dakota nation, was a Cottonwood. The
tree which should be chosen to be felled and brought into camp and set
up in the lodge erected for the performance of this ritual, must be a
growing: cottonwood tree, the base of whose trunk is not less than two
spans in circumference. The tree must be straight and forked at a dis-
tance from the ground of about four times the measure of the outstretched
arms from hand to hand.
Twigs and bark of cottonwood were burned as incense to ward
against the scheming of Anog Ite, the spiteful malevolent being who
foments scandals, strife and infidelity.
Such then, were some of the relations in the philosophic thought,
the religious conceptions and the sentiments of the people of the Dakota
nation in regard to these three species of trees.
THE SONG OF THE PASQUE FLOWER
The pasque flower (Pulsatilla patens), has a very extensive range
upon the northern prairies, reaching from about latitude 43 degrees
north to the Great Slave Lake above 60 degrees north latitude. It is the
earliest flower to put forth its blossoms in the springtime, often appear-
ing before all the snow is gone. Its bluish purple flowers gladden the bare
brown hillsides with great profusion of bloom, an earnest of returning
life. For this reason it has a strong hold upon the affections of all the
native tribes throughout all its extended range. The plant is closely re-
lated to the anemone, which is sometimes called the wind flower.
The people of the Dakota nation have a number of pretty little folk
stories concerning the pasque flower. One story is that in the long ago,
whenever any of the people happened to pass by where these flowers were
blooming they tried to show the friendliness which they felt for himian
beings by nodding their heads in the chilly spring wind, showing their
smiling faces and saying, ''Good morning! Good morning!" But the
people passed them unheeding. They became abashed at this indiffer-
ence, so nowadays still feeling friendly towards the people in spite of
such rebuffs, they bashfully turn their heads to one side as they nod and
call their kindly greetings in their sweet low voice.
There is another pretty conceit connected with the pasque flower.
Indians generally are keenly observant of all things in nature, and rever-
ent towards them. They feel reverence for all living creatures, whether
plant or animal. They have songs and stories about most of the species
of plants and animals with which they are acquainted, the specific song
being the expression of the life or soul of the species to which it per-
tains. The song of the pasque flower, translated out of the Dakota
language into English runs something like this:
[45]
"I wish to encourage the children of other flower nations
Which are now appearing o'rer all the land;
So while thejr waken from sleep and rise from tlie bosom
Of Mother Earth, I stand here old and gray-headed."
The saying: "I wish to encourage the children of other flower na-
tions," refers to the very early prevemal blossoming of this plant and
its consequent ripening while the other flower species (nations) are joat
nap of Qeographical Distribution of Fasque Flower
peeping through the ground. The entire plant is hairy, and when ma-
ture its seed head is plumose and white, similar to the clematis head,
si^gesting the head of a very old man with long white hair. Thb ex-
plains the allusion in "I stand here old and gray-headed."
When in springtime an old man of the Dakota nation first finds
one of these flowers it reminds him of hia childhood, when he wandered
[46]
over the hills at play as free from sorrow and care as the birds and the
flowers. He sits down near the flower, upon the lap of Mother Earth,
takes out his pipe and fills it with tobacco. Then he reverently holds the
pipe towards the earth, then towards the sky, then towards the north,
the east, the south and the west. After this act of silent invocation and
thanksgiving, he smokes. Tobacco was sacred and was used ceremonially
as an incense. The pipe was therefore a sort of censer, and was accord-
ingly treated with respect and reverence. In smoking, Indians did not
fleize the pipestem in the teeth. Such an act would be sacrilegious. The
mouthpiece of the pipestem was gently presented to the lips and the
breath drawn through. By this inspiration the smoker united the
mystery of the tobacco, the mystery of fire and the mystery of the
breath of life.
While the old man sits by the flower and smokes he meditates upon
all the changing scenes of his lifetime; his joys and sorrows, his youth-
ful hopes, his accomplishments, his disappointments, and upon the guid-
ance of the Unseen Powers accorded to him thus far upon the journey
of life, and he is encouraged to believe that he will be guided to the end
of life's journey "beyond the fourth hilP' of life; as he has been guided
over the hill of childhood, the hill of youth, and the hill of manhood's
prime, that he will alsQ be guided over the last hill, the hill of old age.
After finishing his pipe he empties the ashes reverently upon the
ground near the pasque flower which he has been contemplating. Then
he rises and plucks the flower prayerfully and carries it carefidly home
to show to his grandchildren, singing as he goes, the song of the pasque
flower, which he learned as a child and which he now teaches to his
grandcMldren, commending to them the example of the flower in its
courage and endurance and its faithfulness.
THE SONG OF THE PASQUE FLOWER
By Rev. Ignatius Forster, O. S. B.
Mount Marty, Yankton, South Dakota.
February 1, 1921.
Lovely Pasque Flower, Slowly they waken.
Herald of Spring, Lowly they sigh:
Proclaiming the hour, "Wasn't that beckon
•Gladly to sing. Pasque Flower's cry?"
Gently thou greetest They rise in raiments
The wintry sun; Of colors bright;
Boldly thou peepest Pasque Flower's garments
If snow is gone. Are hoary white.
Callest thy playmates Noble thy preaching.
Who still do sleep: Pasque flower brave;
"Arise, lo, spring waits ! "Work," is thy teaching.
No longer weep." "Unto the grave."
Lovely Pasque Flower,
Herald of Spring
Proclaiming the hour
To work and sing.
Father Forster was moved to write this delightful little song upon
Teading one evening, (February 1, 1921), the foregoing prose account of
the Dakota (Sioux) Song of the Pasque Flower or Hoksi-Cekpa Wahca.
[47] .
THE PRAIRIE ROSE
The prairie was gray and drab, no beautiful flowers brightened it,
it had only dull greenish-giray herbs and grasses, and Mother E^arth's
heart. was sad because her robe was lacking in beauty and brightness.
Then the Holy Earth, our mother, sighed and said, ''Ah, my robe is not
beautiful, it is sombre and dull. I wish it might be bright and beautiful
with flowers and splendid with color. I have many beautiful, sweet and
dainty flowers in my heart. I wish to have them upon my robe. I wish
to have upon my robe flowers blue like the clear sky in fair weather.
I wish also to have flowers white like the pure snow of winter and
like the high white cloudlets of a quiet summer day. I wish also to
have brilliant yellow flowers like the splendor of the sun at noon of a
summer day. And I wish to have delicate pink flowers like the color of
the dawn light of a joyous day in springtime. I woiild also have flowers
red like the clouds at evening when the sun is going down below the
western edge of the world. All these beautiful flowers are in my heait,
but I am sad when I look upon my old dvll, gray and brown robe.
Then a sweet little pink flower said, "Do not grieve mother, I will go
up upon your robe and beautify it." So the little pink flower came up
from the heart of Mother Earth to be upon the sad prairie of her
mother's robe.
Now when the Wind Demon saw the pink flower there he said, '^Indeed
she is pretty, but I will not have her trespassing in my playground." So
the Wind Demon rushed at her shouting and roaring and blew out her
life, but her spirit returned to the heart of Mother Earth.
And when the other flowers ventured, one after another to come out
upon the prairie which was Mother Earth's robe, the Wind Demon de-
stroyed them also and their spirits returned to the heart of Holy Mother
Earth.
At last Prairie Rose offered to go and brighten the appearance of
Mother Earth's robe, the prairie. Mother Earth said fondly, "Yes, dear,
sweet child, I will let you go. You are so lovely and your breath is so
sweet, it may be that the Wind Demon will be charmed by you, and
that he will let you remain on his ground." And Prairie Rose said, "Yes,
dear mother, I will go, for I desire that my mother's robe shall be beau-
tiful. But if t^e Wind Demon should blow out my life my spirit shall
return home to the heart of my mother."
So Prairie Rose made the toilsome journey up through the dark ground
and came out upon the sad gray prairie. And as she was going Mother
Earth said in her heart, "Oh, I hope the Wind Demon will allow her to
live for I wish my robe to be beautiful!"
Now when the Wind Demon saw Prairie Rose he rushed at her shout-
ing and said, "Indeed, though she is pretty I shall not allow her to be
upon my ground. I will blow out her life." So he came on roaring and
drawing his breath in strong gusts. Just then he caught the fragrance
of the breath of Prairie Rose. "Ah," he said, "how sweet her breath is I
Why, I do not have it in my heart to blow out the life of such a beautiful
little maiden whose breatii is so sweet! I love her. She shall stay here
[48]
with me. And I must make my voice gentle and sing a melodioiis song,
for I wish not to frighten her with my awful noise."
So he became quiet and breathed gentle breezes which passed over
the prairie grasses whispering and humming little songs of gladness.
Then the other flowers also came up through the dark ground and
out upon the dull, gray prairie and made it bright and joyous with their
presence. And the wind came to love all the flowers and the grasses.
And so the robe of our Mother Earth became beautiful because of the
loveliness and the sweet breath of the Prairie Rose.
Sometimes the Wind forgets his gentle songs and becomes loud and
boisterous, but he does not harm a person whose robe is ornamented with
the color of Prairie Rose.
THE SONG OF THE WH,D ROSE
The following is a translation into English out of the Dakota
language by Dr. A. McG. Beede, of an old Dakota song. The people of
the Dakota nation, and other tribes also, think of the various plant and
animal species as having each their own songs. With these people music,
song, is an expression of the soul and not a mere artistic or artful
exercise.
Where the word "Mother" appears in the following song it refers to
"Mother Earth," a living, conscious, holy being in Indian thought. The
earth was truly venerated and loved by these people, who considered
themselves not as owners or potential owners of any part of the land,
but as being owned by the land which gave them birth and which supplied
their physical needs from her bounty and satisfied their love of the
beautiful by the beauty of her face in the landscape.
The trilled musical syllables at the close of the last two stanzas
express the spontaneous joy which comes to a person who has "life-appre-
ciation of Holy Earth."
The first stanza is an introduction by the narrator; not a part of
the "Song of the Wild Rose." The remaining stanzas are the song itself,
of the Wild Rose.
I will tell you of something I know.
And you can't half imagine how good;
It's the song of wild roses that grow
In the land the Dakota-folk love.
Prom the heart of the Mother we come.
The kind Mother of Life and of All;
And if ever you think she is dumb.
You should know that flowers are her songs.
And all creatures that live are her songs.
And all creatures that die are her songs.
And the winds blowing by are her songs.
And she wants you to sing all her songs.
Like the purple in Daydawn we come.
And our hearts are so brimful of joy
That whene'er we're not singing we hum
Ti-li-li-li-i, ta-la-la-loo, ta-la-la-loo!
[491
When a maiden is ready to wed
Pin wild roses all over her dress,
And a rose in the hair of her head;
Put new moccasins onto her feet.
Then the heart of the Mother will give
Her the songs of her own heart to sing;
And she'll sing all the moons she may live,
Ti-li-li-li-i, ta-la-la-loo, ta-la-la-loo!
USE OF THE GROUND BEAN BY INDIANS
There is a native wild bean found growing over an area of wide dis-
tribution in North America. The botanical name of this bean is Falcata
comosa. In the Dakota language it is called maka ta omnicha, which
means '^ean of the earth;" in the Pawnee language it is called ati-kuraru,
which means "earth bean." The plant grows in dense masses over
shrubbery and other vegetation in some places, especially along banks
and at the edge of timber.
It forms two kinds of branches, bearing two forms of flower, pro-
ducing two forms of fruits. Leafy branches climb up over the shrub-
bery, but under these, in the shade, prostrate on the earth, starting out
from the base of the main stem, are leafless, colorless branches, form-
ing a network on the surface of the ground. The tiny inconspicuous
blossoms borne on these prostrate branches are self-pollinated and push
into the leaf mold and soft soil, and there each produces a single large
bean closely clothed by a thin filmy pod or husk. These beans which
are formed in the earth are about the size of Lima beans. Upon the up-
per, leafy branches are borne showy, purplish flowers appearing like
small bean blossoms. From these blossoms are produced small bean pods
about a half inch to an inch in length. These pods contain each from
three to four or five small, hard, mottled beaVis about an eighth of an
inch long.
The large beans produced in the gn^ound are desirable for food. They
are of good flavor when cooked. The small beans of the upper branches
are also good for food, but they are so small and difficult to harvest that
not much use is made of them by the people. The large beans formed in
the earth would also be hard to gather but for the help of certain little
animals called voles, or wood mice, or bean mice. The voles dig the
large beans and store them in considerable quantities in storage places
which they hollow out in the grround and which they cover over with
sticks and leaves and earth. In these places the little animals put away
sometimes a peck or a half bushel of beans.
Through all the extensive range of Falcata comosa, the ground-bean,
it was sought by the people of the various Indian tribes to add to their
food supply. The people said they did not take away all the beans from
the voles as it wotdd be wicked to loot the animals' food stores and leave
the animals to starve after they had worked to gather them. But they
vould take a part of the store, in a manner making themselves beggars
to the little animals. The Omahas have a saying that "The bean mouse
is a very industrious fellow, he even helps human beings."
[50]
But in all accounts I have had from the people of the Dakota nation
the women have always said that they never took away any beans from
the voles without making some pa3rment in kind. They said it would be
wicked and unjust to take the beans from the animals and give nothing
in return. So they said they always put back some com, some suet,
or some other food material in exchange for the beans they took out. In
that way they said both they and the little animals obtained a variety
in their food supply. They said they thought it very wrong to deprive
the animals of their store without such payment, but that it was fair if
they gave a fair exchange.
The people of the Dakota nation speak of the wood-mice or voles
by the designation of "Hintunka people." In the Dakota theory of the
universe they personify the maternal power and spirit by the name
Hunka. Hunka is the mystic All-Mother in nature, the mother of all liv-
ing beings, plant or animal, which of course includes mankind. For
they do not think of mankind as being apart from nature and the com-
munity of life in the world.
The Dakotas have a moral story which is told as follows:
A certain woman went and plundered the store-house of some Hin-
tunka people. She robbed them of their entire food supply without even
giving them anything at all in return. The next night this woman who
had robbed the Hintunka people of all their food supply heard a woman
down in the woods crying and saying "Oh, what will my poor children
do?" It was the voice of one of the Hintunka women crying over her
hungry children.
The same night the woman who had done the wrong had a dream. In
her dreams Hunka appeared to her and said "You should not have taken
the food from the Hintunka people. Take back the food to them, or else
your own children shall cry for food."
The next morning the woman told her husband what Hunka had
said to her. Her husband said **You would better do as Hunka tells
you to do." But the woman was hard-hearted and perverse and would
not restore to the Hintunka people the food of which she had robbed
them, neither would she give them anything in exchange.
A short time after this a great prairie fire came, driven by a strong
wind, and swept over the place where this imjust woman and her family
were camping. The fire burned up her tipi and everything it contained,
and they barely escaped with their lives. They had no food nor shelter
and they had to wander on the prairie destitute.
The bean-mouse and its works are regarded with respect, admiration
and reverence by the people of the various Indian tribes which benefit
by its labor. They feel very resentful towards any seeming tendency
to meddle unwarrantedly with its winter store-houses. Upon hearing of
the desire of a white man to make a photograph of such a store-house an
old man of the Teton-Dakota on the Standing Rock Reservation ex-
pressed bitter resentment and declared himself ready to fight to prevent
such a thing from being done. He said "We have enough misfortune
already, counting the war and the epidemic of influenza, without inviting
further disaster by such sacrilege."
[61]
In the month of November, after the bean mice have harvested their
beans and laid thiem up in their store-houses for the winter, the people
often go out alone and sit near some such store-house in silent meditation
on the ways of Providence. At that time of the year the missionaries
and priests are often pained and puzzled because of the absence of some
of their church members from Sunday service or from mass on Sunday
morning. They do not know, and likely would not appreciate or under-
stand the feeling which has caused these people to go out at such a
time, not to the church but out to the quiet place imder the open heaven
where they sit upon the lap of Mother Earth to reverently and thank-
fully meditate upon the mysteries of nature and the wonderful provisions
of God in nature.
At such times they like to bring in to their homes or to their
churches some object connected with the bean mouse and his marvelous
ways and work. If they find some beans which the bean mouse has
spilled in transportation to his store-house, or a tree-leaf which they
suppose he has used as his sled for carrying his beans from field to store-
house, they will bring in such objects and lay them up reverently in the
home or in the church with devout regard for prayerful meditation. In-
dians say that the bean mouse uses a leaf of the boxelder tree, or some-
times another kind of leaf of suitable shape, as a sled for gathering his
stores.
At one time an old blind man of the Teton Dakota on the Standing
Rock Reservation on the upper Missouri River went out to the vicinity
of a vole's store-house to meditate and pray. A man saw him and
quietly approached within hearing distance. As the old man was
blind he did not perceive the approach of the observer. Thinking him-
self alone in the presence of the powers of nature, this devout old man,
gave expression to his religious feeling in the following prayer:
"Thou who art holy, pity me and help me I pray. Thou art small, but
thou art sufficiently large for thy place in the world. And thou art suf-
ficiently strong also for thy work, for Holy Wakantanka constantly
strengthens thee. Thou art wise, for the wisdom of holiness is wi^
Thee constantly.
"May I be wise in all my heart continually, for if an attitude of
holy wisdom leads me on, then this shadow-troubled life shall come into
constant light."
TIPSIN: AN IMPORTANT NATIVE FOOD PLANT
Over all the dry prairies of the Great Plains region there grows a
plant (Psoralea esculenta), which was an important item of the food
supplies of all the tribes of the region. It is a species which belongs
botanically to the Bean Family. The part used for food is the large root,
which is stored with proteid and starchy matter. The root is about the
size of a hen's egg. The stem of the plant is bushy and branched; the
leaves are trifoliate. The leaves and stems of the plant are hairy, giving
it a grayish-green appearance. The flowers are set in close racemes at
the ends of the branches, and are bluish in color and of bean blossom
shape.
[52]
In the journals of the early travellers mention of this plant is often
found under the name of "pomme blanche" or "pomme de prairie," the
name by which the French traders and trappers called it, for they
learned to live upon the native products of the land. English speaking
people coming later, and depending not so much on native products, did
not supply names for them, not considering them of enough importance.
The name which I have given it for a common English name is an ap-
proximation to, and an adaptation of the name of this plant in the Da-
kota language.
Tipsin roots are gathered in June or early July. They were used fresh
when gathered, and they were also gathered in quantity and peeled and
dried for future use. The women gathered them by the use of digging
sticks. They had their children with them to look for the plants while
they dug them. Because of the branching habit of the plant the mother
would say to her children, "See, they point to each other. Now here is
one, notice the directions in which its arms point and you will find
others." So the children would start, each in the direction of one of the
branches, and of course, if they followed in any direction and kept close
watch they would find another. The idea of the plants pointing to each
other kept the children's attention fixed.
HOW THE PEOPLE OBTAINED THE PRECIOUS
GIFT OF CORN
All the tribes which cultivated corn had legends accounting for its
acquisition. Many of these are very interesting and beautiful. In the
Sacred Legends of the Omaha, of which account is given in ''The Omaha
Tribe," Twenty-seventh Annual Report of the Bureau of American Eth-
nology, by Alice Fletcher and Francis La Flesche, occurs the following
legend of the finding of com:
"Then a man in wandering about found some kernels, blue, and red,
and white. He thought he had secured something of great value, so he
concealed them in a mound. One day he thought he would go to see if
they were safe. When he came to the mound he found it covered with
stalks having ears bearing kernels of these colours. He took an ear of each
kind and gave the rest to the people to experiment with. They tried it
for food, found it good, and ever since have called it their life. As soon
as the people found the com good, they thought to make moimds like
that in which the kernels had been hid. So they took the shoulder blade
of an elk and built mounds like the first and buried the com in them. So
the com grew and the people had abundant food."
While the legend does not designate what tribe it was which first
obtained com, it is probably to be identified with the following fuller
account which is also told in the Omaha Sacred Legends, and which re-
cites that they first learned of com and obtained seed of it from the
Arikara. The story tells how the Arikara first obtained com by divine
favour, and then how they gave it to other tribes, among these fortunate
ones being the Omaha. It should be remembered that at the time the
Omaha came to where they now reside and have resided for
[53]
some centuries, the Arikara were in the region of what is now northern
Nebraska, so they were then neighbors of the Omaha. No doubt the
declaration of the legend that the Omahas did first obtain com from
the Arikara is based on fact, in that com culture among the Omaha
had been borrowed from the Arikara, who later migrated farther north
along the upper Missouri River,
The story runs thus:
"The Arikara were the first to obtain the maize. A young man
went out hunting. He came to a high hill, and, looking down upon a
valley, he saw a buffalo bull standing in the middle of a bottom land
lying between two rivers at their confluence. As the young man
searched the surroundings to find how he might approach the buffalo he
was impressed with the beauty of the landscape. The banks of the two
rivers were low and well timbered. He observed that the buffalo stood
facing north; he saw also that he could not approach from any side with-
in bowshot. He thought that the only way to get a chance to shoot the
buffalo would be to wait until the animal moved close to the banks of
one of the rivers, or to the hills where there were ravines and shrubs. So
the young man waited. The sun went down and the buffalo had not
moved; the young man went home disappointed. He lay awake nearly all
night brooding over his disappointment, for food had become scarce and
the buffalo would have afforded a good supply. Before dawn the young
man arose and hastened to the place where he had discovered the buffalo
to see whether the animal might be somewhere near, if it had moved.
Just as he reached the summit of the hill, where he was the day before,
the Sim arose, and he saw that the buffalo was in the same spot. But
he noticed that it was now facing toward the east. Again the young
man waited for the animal to move, but again the sun went down while
the buffalo remained standing in the same spot. The hunter went home
and passed another restless night. He started out again before dawn and
came to the top of the hill just as the sun arose, and saw the buffalo in
the same place still, but it had now turned to face the south. The young
man waited and watched all day, but when darkness came he once
more had to go away disappointed. He passed another sleepless night.
His desire to secure game was mixed with curiosity to know why the
buffalo should so persistently remain in that one spot without eating or
drinking or lying down to rest. He rose upon the fourth morning before
dawn, his mind occupied with this curiosity, and made haste to reach
the hill to see if the buffalo still stood in the same place. Morning light
had come when he arrived at the hill, and he saw that the buffalo was
standing in exactly the same place, but had turned around to face the
west. He was determined now to know what the animal would do, so he
settled down to watch as he had throughout the three previous days. He
now began to think that the animal was acting in this manner under the
influence of some tmseen power for some mysterious purpose, and that
he, as well as the buffalo, was controlled by the same influence. Dark-
ness again came upon him and the animal was still standing in the same
position. The young man returned home, but he was kept awake all
night by his thoughts and wondering what would come of this strange
[54]
experience. He rose before dawn and hastened again to the mysterious
scene. As he reached the summit of the hill dawn spread across all the
land. Eagerly he looked. The buffalo was gone! But just where the
buffalo had been standing there appeared something like a small bush.
The young man now approached the spot with a feeling of curiosity and
of awe, but also something of disappointment. As soon as he came near
he saw that what had appeared from a distance like a small bush was
a strange unknown plant. He looked upon the grotmd and saw the
tracks of the buffalo; he observed that they turned from the north to
the east, and to the south, and to the west; and in the centre there was
but one buffalo track, and out of it had sprung this strange plant. He
examined the ground all around the plant to find where the buffalo had
left the place, but there were no other footprints except those he had
already seen near the plant. He made haste to reach his home village.
There he notified the chiefs and elders of his people concerning the
strange experience which he had had. Led by the young man they pro-
ceeded to the place of the buffalo and examined the ground with care, and
fotmd that what he had told them was true. They found the tracks of
the buffalo where he had stood and where he had turned, but could find
no trace of his coming to the place nor of his going from it. Now while
all these men believed that this plant had been given to the people in this
mysterious manner by Wakanda for their use, still they were not sure
what that use might be nor in what manner it should be used. The
people knew of other plants that were useful for food, and the season for
their ripening, and, believing that the fruit of this strange plant would
rii)en in its proper time, they arranged to guard and protect it carefully,
awaiting with patience the time of its ripening and further revelation
of its purpose.
''After a time a spike of flowers appeared at the top of the plant, but
from their knowledge of other plants they knew that the blossom was
but the flower and not the fruit. But while they watched this blossom,
expecting it to develop into fruit, as they expected it would, a new gn^owth
appeared from the joints of the plant. They now gave special attention
to the new gn^owth. It grew larger, and finally something appeared at
the top which looked like hair. This, in the course of time, turned from
pale green to dark brown, and after much discussion the people con-
cluded that this growth at the side of the plant was its fruit, and that it
had ripened. Until this time no one had dared to approach within touch of
the plant. Although they were anxious to know the uses to which the
plant could be put, or for which it was intended, no one dared to touch it.
While the people were assembled around the plant uncertain and unde-
termined how to approach the examination of it to learn its possible
use, a youth stepped forward and spoke:
" 'Every one knows how my life from childhood has been worse than
useless, that my life among you has been more evil than good. There-
fore, since no one would regret, should any evil befall me, let me be the
first to touch this plant and taste of its fruit, so that you may not suffer
any harm and that you may learn if the plant possesses qualities which
may be for our good.' When the people gave their assent the youth
[55]
stepped forward and placed his hands over the top of the plant and
brought them down by the sides of the plant to the roots in the manner
of giving thanks and blessing. He then grasped the fruit, and, turning
to the people, said, It is solid; it is ripe.' Very gently then he parted
the husks at the top, and again turning to the people, he said, 'The fruit
is red.* Then he took a few of the grains, showed them to the people,
then ate them, and replaced the husks. The youth suffered no ill effects,
and the people were convinced that this plant was given them for food.
In the autumn, when the prairie grass had turned brown, the stalks and
leaves of this plant turned brown also. The fruit was plucked and put
away with carefulness. The next spring the kernels were divided among
the people, four to each family. The people removed to the place where
the strange plant had appeared, and there they built their huts along
the banks of the two rivers. When the hills began to be green from the
new prairie gn^ass, the people planted the kernels of this strange plant,
having first built mounds like the one out of which the first plant grew.
To the great joy of the people the kernels sprouted and grew into strong
healthy plants. Through the summer they grew and developed, and the
fruit ripened as did that of the original plant. The fruit was gathered
and some was eaten, and was found to be good. In gathering the fruit
the people discovered that there were various colours — ^some ears were
white and others were blue, some were red, others were yellow.
"The next season the people gathered a rich harvest of this new plant.
In the autumn these people, the Arikara, sent invitations to a number of
different tribes to come and visit them. Six tribes came; one of these
was the Omaha. The Arikara were very generous in the distribution of
the fruit of this new plant among their guests, and in this manner a
knowledge of the plant came to the Omaha.'*
A GROUP OF PAWNEE HYMNS TO CORN
The Pawnee had migrated from the distant southwest into the
Plains region, finally arriving at the region drained by the Republican,
the Platte, and the Niobrara rivers. Com was native in Mexico, and had
been introduced into the Plains by gradual adaptation in cultivation
along the line of migration of the Pawnee nation. These hymns express
something of the high value which the people placed upon com as an
item of their daily sustenance. They also reflect something of the scen-
ery of the Plains landscape. These hymns are from an ancient Pawnee
ritual which is given entire in the Twenty-second Annual Report of the
Bureau of American Ethnology, Part 2.
MOTHER CORN
I
Mother with the life-giving power now comes, '
Stepping out of far-distant days she comes.
Days wherein to our fathers gave she food;
As to them, so now unto us she gives.
Thus she will to our children faithful be.
Mother with the life-giving power now comes!
[56]
n
Mother with the life-giving power is here.
Stepping out of far distant days she comes.
Now she forward moves, leading as we walk
Toward the future, where blessings she will give,
Gifts for which we have prayed granting to us.
Mother with the life-giving power is here!
LEADERSHIP OF MOTHER CORN
I
The Mother leads and we follow on,
Her devious pathway before us lies.
She leads us as were our fathers led
Down through the ages.
n
The Mother leads and we follow on.
Her pathway straight, where a stage each day
We forward walk, as our fathers walked
Down through the ages.
The two preceding hymns reflect the fact that com was introduced
by the Pawnee from their more ancient homeland in the faraway south-
west in remotely past time into the region of their later residence in the
plains. They also reflect the importance which com had in the everyday
life of this people.
The following hymn to Mother Com as Guide is expressive of the
flense of vastness and awesomeness of the great extent of the Plains,
and something of its grimness.
GUIDANCE OF MOTHER CORN
I
Looking o'er the prairie, naught our eyes discern there.
Wide the land stretches out before us;
Then we cry aloud to Mother Com: "Doth thy pathway lie here ?"
n
Heeding now our crying, while our eyes she opens,
Mother Com moveth out before us
On the lonely prairie, where we see straight the pathway lies
there!
* * *
The following hymn of thanks for the com shows something of the
religious feeling of the Pawnee and their gratitude to Providence for
the gift of com.
A HYMN OF THANKS TO MOTHER CORN
I
See! The Mother Com comes hither, making all hearts glad!
Making all hearts glad!
Give her thanks, she brings a blessing; now, behold! she is here!
n
Yonder Mother Com is coming, coming unto us!
Coming unto us!
Peace and plenty she is bringing; now, behold! she is here!
[67]
THE FORGOTTEN EAR OF CORN
A woman of the Arikara tribe was harvesting her crop of com,
making ready to store it away in a safe place where she might be able
to get it for use during the long cold winter. She went along gathering
the ears and placing them in convenient heaps so that she could gather
them up to carry to the storage place she had prepared. When she had
finished her work she started to go, but she heard a voice like the voice of
a little child, crying and calling pitifully: "Oh, do not leave me! Do not
go away without me."
The woman was astonished at what she supposed was the voice of
a lost child. She said to herself: "What is this? Can it be some child
has wandered and has been lost in my cornfield? I must go and look
for it."
So she laid down her burden of gathered com, and went back into
the field to make search. But she found no child anywhere in the field.
Then she started once more to take up her burden and leave the field.
But again she heard the plaintive little voice crying: "Oh, do not leave
me! Do not go away without me."
Then she went back into the field and searched again for a long time.
After diligent search she foimd one little ear of com which had been
covered by stalks and leaves. It was the little ear of com which had
been crj^ng, fearing to be left to die in the field. So all Indian women
are very careful in gathering their crops so that nothing shall be lost
or wasted of the good gifts of the Great Mystery, for they are accounted
sacred and holy, and it would be wicked to treat them with neglect or in-
difference.
HOW THE USEFULNESS OF WILD RICE WAS
DISCOVERED
A Chippewa Myth
Wenibozho and his grandmother, Nokomis, lived together in a
lodge by themselves. When he approached manhood his grandmother
exhorted him to exert himself, to learn to endure hardship, loneliness,
cold and hunger and thirst, for such experience is the proper training for
a young man. A young man needs such training so that when overtaken
by misfortune he shall be brave and resourcefid; so that he may be able
to take care of himself and of any who may be dependent upon him.
So, one day Wenibozho told his grandmother he was going away into
the wilderness where he had never been before, so that he could be cast
upon his own resources to try his strength and courage and wit.
He was gone many days and nights, wandering through the forest and
beside streams and lakes. He subsisted upon such fruits, seeds, roots and
tubers as he was able to find, and upon the flesh of animals he was
able to shoot with his bow and arrow which he had brought with him.
One day he came to a lake in which was growing a great quantity of
beautiful, feathery wild rice, swaying over the water in the gentle breeze.
From the bark of a birch tree he fashioned a canoe in which he rowed
out upon the lake and gathered a quantity of the wild rice. He did not
[58]
know the wild rice was useful for food, for he had never seen it before,
but he admired its beauty. He took the wild rice which he had gathered
to his grandmother. He told her of the beautiful plant which he had
found in the lake and that he had brought to her some of the seed of
the plant. This seed they sowed in another lake near the place where
he lived with his grandmother, for he hoped to have the beautiful plant
growing where he might often enjoy its beauty.
Again he went away into the forest so that he might become accus-
tomed to endure hardships and also that he might learn wisdom from the
living creatures, not only from the moving creatures, but also from those
other living creatures, the plants of all kinds. While walking he thought
he heard a voice saying, "Sometimes they eat us." He stopped and lis-
tened and again he heard the words "Sometimes they eat us." This time
he perceived that the words came from some bushes near which he was
passing. Finally he spoke, saying, "To whom are you talking?" He
was told that he was the one to whom the bush was speaking, so he dug
up the plant and found that it had a long root. He tasted the root and
it was pleasant to the taste, so he dug more, and ate a great many, so
many that he was made ill. He was too ill to travel, so he lay there three
days. Finally he was able to rise and move on, but he was hungry and
weak. As he passed along other plants spoke to him, but he was now
afraid to eat of them. Then. as he was walking along a stream he saw
some bunches of grass growing up out of the water which beckoned to
him and said, "Sometimes they eat us." He was so hungry, and the
graceful grass was so tempting, that he was constrained to gather some
seeds of it and eat. The taste was pleasing, and its effect upon his
hunger was so gratifjing that he said, "0, you are indeed good! What
are you called?" The Grass replied, "We are called manomin," which is
the name which the Chippewa people call this plant. Wenibozho waded
out into the water and gathered the grains by handf uls and ate it, and so
continued till his hunger was fully satisfied. From eating the manomin
he suffered no ill effects whatever, but was strengthened wonderfully.
Finally he remembered the grain which he had discovered on his former
journey and which he and his grandmother, Nokomis, had sown in the
lake near their home. When he returned and found it growing and
compared it with this grain which he had now found to be so good, he
perceived that it was the same sort. So he found that this beautiful grass
which he had growing in the lake near home was really manomin, as
pleasant to the taste and as satisfying to hunger as it was beautiful to
the eyes. Ever since that time the Chippewas have known how to value
the good gift of manomin.
A STORY OF THE SUNFLOWER
A Story from the Dakota Nation
Once on a time, long ago, a company of men were going upon a
war expedition. And now as they were within the country of the enemy
they were proceeding very cautiously. One morning very early they
heard what seemed to be the sound of someone singing in a tremulous
[59]
voice, coining from the direction toward which they were marching. They
stopped and stood still to listen.
As they stood thus listening it seemed to them that the singer, who-
ever he might be, must be a clown, for he was singing a clown song.
There was not light enough to see the singer. But they waited silently
and anxiously peering ahead in the direction from which came the sound
of the singing. At the first glimmer of the dawn light they were able to
make out the appearance of a man walking with an awkward shuffling
gait. His robe was ragged and his leggings drooped down slouchingly
in wrinkles about his ankles as he walked. He had great circles about his
eyes painted a bright yellow and he was singing a clown song in a husky
wheezy voice.
So they stood in wonder regarding the clown who was coming to-
ward them. He was coming toward the sun rising and as the daylight
grew brighter they were astonished to see the man suddenly changed to
a sunflower.
And ever since that time, it is said, the sunflower is inclined to face
toward the sun.
DAKOTA FOLKLORE OF THE SPmERWORT
The spiderwort (Tradescantia bracteata) and (Tradescantia ocd-
dentalis) is a beautiful native prairie flower which is known under nu-
merous popular names. It is called spiderwort, spider lily, ink flower,
king's crown, and various other names. It has been proposed to add to
the list another name, **flower-of -romance." This name is proposed from
the circumstance of a bit of pleasing sentiment connected with this
flower in the folklore of the Dakota nation of Indians.
It is a charmingly beautiful and delicate flower, deep blue in color,
with a tender-bodied plant of graceful lines. There is no more appeal-
ingly beautiful flower on the western prairies than this one when it is
sparkling with dewdrops in the first beams of the rising sun. There
is about it a suggestion of purity, freshness and daintiness.
When a young man of the Dakota nation is in love, and walking alone
on the prairie finds this flower blooming, he stops and sings to it a song
in which he personifies it with the qualities of his sweetheart's person-
ality as they are called to his mind by the appearance of the flower be-
fore him, its characteristics figuratively suggesting . the characteristics
of her whose image he carries romantically in his mind and heart. In
his mind the beauties of the flower and the charms of the girl are mu-
tually transmuted and flow together into one image.
The words of his song, translated from the Dakota language into the
English, are something like this:
"Tiny, gladsome flower.
So winsome and modest.
Thou art dainty and sweet.
For love of thee I'd die."
[60]
stories of the Four-Footed People
THE FAITHFUL DOG
The dog was the companion and servant of the people over all parts
of North America, and previous to the introduction of the horse into the
western hemisphere by the Spaniards, the dog was the only domestic an-
imal which the Indians had. After horses were introduced by the Span-
iards, they soon came into use by the Indians, and in a comparatively
short time they were widely spread over the continent.
But in former days the dog was the only beast of burden which the
Indians had. They served as watchers at night, as companions and
helpers in the chase, and as bearers of burdens in transportation service.
Once on a time a hunting party of men of the Dakota nation were
in the buffalo grazing country in the time of the winter hunt. Scouts
were sent out each day to look for a herd and to bring back report to
the officers. One day one of the scouts discovered a herd near a certain
lake. He came into camp in the evening, as soon as he could after he
foimd the herd. At once he went according to the law and rendered his
report to the proper officers. After reporting he went to his lodge and
had his evening meal and then lay down to rest from the weariness of the
day's scouting.
The officers held council and made the plans for the next days activ-
ities of the hunting field. Then they sent the herald around the camp
to announce the orders for the next day.
At the earliest light next morning every one in camp was up and
making preparations for the day's work. It was yet early in the day
when the hunters reached the lake where the scout had discovered the
buffalo herd the previous day. Here they found the buffaloes still feeding.
At the command of the officers the hunters and their dogs were deployed
to surround the herd for the slaughter, for the meat supply of the people
had become low, and at this opportunity they must replenish their pro-
vision.
The herd was feeding upon a strip of land which was surrounded
on three sides by a lake. The plan was to advance upon the herd from
the base of this strip of land and force them out into the lake where the
huge animals would be at a disadvantage upon the slippery ice.
The men and dogs charged upon the herd and soon the great mass of
shaggy beasts were forced out upon the treacherous ice where they were
struggling in great confusion. Many were killed before the herd finally
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reached the shore of the lake and scrambled up the steep bank and fled
away over the plain.
The sun was already past the middle of the sky and the bunters were
busy with the work of skinning the carcasses and dressing the beef,
making ready to carry back to camp their prize of meat, hides, and other
useful products, when suddenly they saw and felt a great change in the
sky and in the air. The threatening signs were evident of the swift ap-
proach of a blizzard, the dreadful and terrific winter storm of fierce,
roaring wind and driving snow and frightful cold which frequently sweeps
over the northern plains.
The hunters made haste to reach camp which had been made in the
shelter of the woods not far away. Here a certain number had been de-
tailed by the officers to make camp and to gather firewood, while the
others had been taking care of the meat. Now as the fearful storm
threatened, they gathered in the camp bringing in what they could carry
of the meat supply. Soon the hunters were refreshing themselves with
freshly broiled steaks which were much relished by the hungry men, who
had eaten nothing since the early morning just before they had broken
camp. The dogs too were given their share.
The storm was now upon them in its fury; and all about was a
smothering, dizzying swirl of whiteness as impenetrable as the blackness
of night. The gale of wind roared imceasingly; the myriad millions of
tiny snow particles ground upon each other in the swirl of the storm, each
infinitesimal impact adding to the aggregate of reverberation of sound,
while the skin tents hummed like enormous drums.
From time to time those who were already in camp shouted to guide
the later comers who gave answering shouts and came one after another
staggering into camp exhausted by the buffeting of the storm. At last
only one was missing. The herd scout, who had found and reported the
herd the day before; he and his faithful dog had not yet come in. The
fury of the storm throughout the night and the next day prevented the
possibility of going to look for the missing man.
Toward morning following the second night of the storm its fury
abated. As is usual, at the end of a blizzard, it was followed by an extra-
ordinary calm. The drifted plain lay as still and white as marble. The
stars glistened coldly like ice crystals in the sky. The air was so clear
that the least sound made by any moving creature was mag^nified in the
stillness.
The himting camp awoke. Suddenly the game call of the great gray
wolf was heard. And soon the hunters saw a great number of these
gaunt gray creatures out upon the ice of the lake and on the plain, dig-
ging out the white mounds which were the snowdrifts about the carcasses
of the buffaloes which the hunters had been obliged to leave when the
storm came upon them.
And now among the wolf cries another sound was heard, — ^tha defiant
barking of a dog! It was the scout's dog. The men hurried toward the
slaughter field to kill or drive away the wolves. Some wolves were
dragging away a buffalo carcass, and from among the snarling howling
pack about this carcass the hunters could distinctly hear the hoarse
[62]
barking of their missing friend's dog, and occasionally they could hear a
strangely muffled shout of a man sounding as though it came from under
the ice.
The hunters finally reached the place to which the carcass had been
dragged by the wolves. As the men came near the wolves ran away and
the men saw the dog standing by the carcass for a moment before he
fell dead as they reached the place. The men with their knives cut open
the abdominal cavity of the carcass and found the missing scout inside
wrapped in his robe in a bed of grass and buffalo hair.
When the storm had come upon him at his work he had seen that he
could not reach the camp so he had opened two of the carcasses and re-
moved the internal organs. In one he had made a bed for his dog, and
in the other for himself for protection from the fury of the storm. The
dog had kept an opening to his shelter, but the man had closed the en-
trance of his own after he was in, and the hide had frozen solid, making
him a prisoner. When the wolves came the dog was able to free himself
and tried to defend his imprisoned master, regardless of his own safety.
He had been mortally wounded before the hunters could save him.
As soon as the scout was released he inquired for the dog, his friend
and defender. When he saw that his loyal friend was dead, having given
up his life in defense of his master, the scout was deeply moved with
grief. He knelt down and stroked the head of the dead dog, and said,
''Ah, my friend; you were courageous and faithful unto death. And you
died like a brave warrior. You shall have the funeral of a dead war-
rior.**
So with all due ceremony the scout carried the body of the dog to
the top of a hill overlooking the lake where he had given up his life in
doing his duty. There the scout laid the body. Over it he built up a
tomb of boulders which he gathered from the hills. Then he laid upon
it offerings of red paint and of food according to the funeral custom of
his people, and they sang the farewell song for the dead.
Ever since that time this hill has been known to the Dakotas as the
Grave of the Dog.
HOW COYOTE CHIEF WAS PUNISHED
A Mandan Story
Coyote Chief was out hunting one day, and he came upon a buffalo
bull grazing. "Brother," he said, "You have nothing to do just now. Let
us run a race to see which of us is the swifter." "All right," said the
buffalo, "let us run."
"I shall first go and prepare a place for the race," Coyote Chief
said, "then I shall come back for you."
So Coyote Chief found a high steep bank and placed on the very
edge of it a small heap of stones. Then he returned to the buffalo and
said, "Everything is now ready. Let us race over to yonder heap of
stones which I have set up for a goal. When we are almost to the goal
let us shut our eyes and run as hard as we can." And so they ran toward
the heap of stones and the buffalo ran over the bank and was killed by
falling, just as Coyote Chief had planned.
[63]
But Coyote Chief had nothing with which to skin the buffalo and
cut up and prepare the meat. So he walked along a little way and came
to a small clump of timber. As he approached the timber he called out^
"Brothers, give me a knife." And they gave him a knife. Then he went
on to another clump of timber. Here he called out "Brothers, give me an
earthen pot." And they gave him an earthen pot. He went on again to*
another clump of timber, where he called out, "Brothers, give me a horn
spoon." And they gave him a horn spoon.
Then Coyote Chief went back to the place where the buffalo had fal-
len, and there he built a hunter's lodge of leafy branches of trees. Then
he skinned the buffalo and pegged out the skin upon the ground and
scraped it. Next he cut up the meat, and some of it he cut into strips
and hung it up to dry.
Coyote Chief had Fox for a servant, to run errands and to work
about the house. And he treated Fox badly and did not give him enough
to eat. Fox was hungry, as usual, and tried to help himself to some of
the buffalo meat, but Coyote Chief saw him and was angry. He seized a
brand from the fire and thrust it into Fox's face, burning him thereby. Fox
was hurt so badly that he decided to run away, but he wished first to be
revenged upon Coyote Chief. So he went around to all the other animals
and told them how badly he had been used by Coyote Chief. The animals
were sorry for him and seemed willing to help him to punish Coyote
Chief. So they held a meeting and talked over the matter to decide upon
the best way to do this. The decision of the council was that they should
all go over to his house that night and eat up all his meat while he was
asleep.
Coyote Chief had worked hard all day to take care of his meat, and
had not taken time to eat much. Being tired after his day's work he went
to bed early. But he was anxious lest some one might come and take
his meat while he slept, so before going to sleep he said, "Now my
members, you must watch for me while I sleep. My eyes, if anyone
peeps in you must stare hard at him. My ears, if you hear a sound, you
must wiggle. My arms, if anyone comes in you must thrash around. My
legs, if any one comes near, you must kick." Then he went to sleep.
That night all the animals gathered at Coyote Chief's house, but
they were afraid to touch anything till they were sure he was sound
asleep. So they sent Magpie first to peep in at the door. Magpie went
and peeped in and saw Coyote Chief's eyes staring hard at him, and he
went back and said, "He is not asleep, for his eyes stared at me."
After a time Crow was sent to find if Coyote Chief was not asleep.
Crow flew up and perched by the smoke-hole. When he looked in Coyote
Chief's ears began to wiggle. Crow went back and told the animals that
Coyote Chief could not be asleep, for as soon as he looked in Coyote
Chief's ears began to wiggle.
A little later Jack Rabbit was sent to look. Jack Rabbit pushed in
a little at the door, and Coyote Chief's arms began to move up and
down. So Jack Rabbit went back and reported that Coyote Chief must
still be awake.
[64]
The animals again waited, and then sent Fox. Fox went inside, and
then Coyote Chief's legs began to kick, so he ran out and told the others
that Coyote Chief was still awake.
Now, after waiting, quite a long time, the animals sent Mouse.
Mouse went in and saw that Coyote Chief seemed to be sound asleep.
He went up and ran over his legs and there was no motion; then he ran
over his chest and still Coyote Chief was not disturbed. At last he ran
over his face, and Coyote Chief did not stir. So Mouse went and told
the others that Coyote Chief was surely asleep. Then they came in and
ate up all the meat except a few scraps which dropped while they were
eating. When they had finished eating they went away without having
wakened Coyote Chief.
The next morning when Coyote Chief awoke, he was very hungry be-
cause he had eaten little the day before, and had worked hard; but he
found his meat was all gone, and he said to himself, '*0h, why did I not
eat the meat yesterday instead of waiting!" Then, because he was so
hungry, he searched about on the groimd and found some scraps of meat
and some small bits of fat. All these he gathered up on a robe. He
put fresh wood upon the fire, and then sat down by the fireplace with
the robe over his knees to eat the little he had. But just then a spark
shot out from the fire and lighted on his hand, which hurt him so that he
jumped up suddenly, spilling into the fire all the shreds of meat and fat
which he had so carefully gathered.
So Coyote Chief got none of his meat, and was punished for the bad
way he had treated Fox.
THE SKUNK AND THE BEAR
A Mandan Btory
One day a skunk was going somewhere, travelling quietly along a
trail, thinking of his own affairs. He did not know it, but a bear was
coming along the same trail towards him. Neither the bear nor the
skunk knew that the other was on the trail xmtil suddenly they met.
They both stopped. Then the skimk said to the bear, "You are on my
road. Turn out and let me pass !" The bear replied, "Not so. It is you
who are on my road. Get out of my way!" But the skunk said, **You,
yourself must turn aside." The bear then said, "Unless you do as I tell
you I shall eat you at once. I tell you that you are on my road and must
stand aside. I wonder how skunk meat would taste if I shotdd eat some."
The skunk said, "I wonder how bear flesh would taste if I should
eat some." Then suddenly the skunk threw up his brush and sprinkled
the bear full in the face with his dreadful scent. The bear tumbled out
of the path, howling in misery, and clawing at his nose and eyes. He
could not see, and was almost suffocated.
As for the skunk, he passed on his way as if nothing had happened.
THE SONG OF THE OLD WOLF
There is a story told among the people of the Dakota nation that
once on a time an old man went out to be alone upon a high hill above
[65]
the Missouri River to give himself to meditation and prayer. He chose
this situation because of the grrandeur and majesty of the view, of the
great sweep of the prairie plains and hills, one hill beyond ano^er away
and away to the far horizon. Below flowed the wonderful and mys-
terious river, whose waters came down from the mighty mountains at
the west and rolled on and on past the villages of many different nations,
finally reaching the great salt water.
As the old man thus sat meditating and considering all the manifes-
tations of life and power and mystery of earth and sky, he espied out
upon the prairie a group of wolves trotting toward the river. When
they reached the river they plunged in and swam across to the other
side; all but one old one who was now too enfeebled by age to dare try
his strength against the swift and powerful current of the river.
This old wolf sat down upon the bank of the river and watched his
companions as they swam across and trotted away out of sight on the
other side. When they had disappeared from sight he raised his muzzle
towards the sky and mournfully sang in a man's voice the following
song:
All o'er tiie earth I've roamed,
I've journeyed far and wide;
My spirit haste and go,
I'm nothing, nothing now,
I'm nothing, nothing now.
Missouri River, flow.
Thou sacred water flow;
My spirit haste and go,
I'm nothing, nothing now,
I'm nothing, nothing now.
After the old wolf had sung this song he wearily made his way to
the top of a hill and lay down in the warm sunshine, in the shelter of a
rock and there waited until his spirit went away.
And so now, when old men of the Dakota nation feel the infirmities
of age creeping upon them, and as though they had been left behind in
life's march, when they feel the depression of loneliness, will often go out
alone to the summit of some high hill overlooking the Missouri River,
and sitting there in solitude will muse upon their activities and note-
worthy deeds in the past, of their companions of former days now long
gone from them, and contrast all this with their present inactivity and
loneliness. Then l^ey will sadly and quaveringly sing this "Song of the
Old Wolf."
Note. — The English translation and rendering into verse is the work
of Dr. A. McG. Beede, of Fort Yates, North Dakota. The original song
in the Dakota language is as follows:
Maka takomni Mni-shoshe yayo
Tehan omawani ; Mni wakan yayo ;
Minagi yayayo, Minagi yayayo,
Wana matakuni, Wana matakuni,
Wana matakimi,
he-he-he!
[66]
stories of the People of the Air
FOLK SAYINGS ABOUT THE MEADOWLARK
The cheerful animation and lively manner of the meadowlark have
made it a favourite with all people who are acquainted with it, both
whites and Indians. And both whites and Indians attach words of their
several languagres to the notes of the bird. Among sayings in the Eng-
lish langusLge attributed to the notes of the meadowlark are some ex-
pressions of banter and raillery. Farmers say that early in springtime
the meadowlark perches jauntily upon the top of a fence-post and calls
mockingly to them "You sowed your wheat too soon! You sowed your
wheat too soon!" Another taunting expression fitted to the meadowlark's
notes is addressed to girls and young women; it is ''You think you're
pretty, don't you?"
These locutions in English are in accord with the tone of many say-
ings ascribed to the notes of the meadowlark by the Hidatsa tribe of
North Dakota, and with their name of the bird, wia-akumakihislie, which
means ''scolding or shrewish woman," for they say that the meadowlark
says such taunting, tormenting and aggravating things. One of these
taunting expressions is "Kitho karishtiditore," which is a most exasper-
ating saying. Kitho means "that insignificant one," and karishtiditore
means "good-for-nothing fellow."
The Omahas also put words of their lang^iage to the notes of the
meadowlark. One of these is Snite thingthi tegaze, which means "winter
will not come back." A little mixed-blood girl in the Omaha tribe was
named Marguerite. Now the Omaha language does not contain the sound
of the letter "r," so in trying to pronounce the foreign name of Mar-
guerite they make it Magathiche. One day a friend of this little girl's
father was at their house, and he was playfully teasing her because he
was very fond of her. He said, of course speaking in the Ohama lan-
guage, "Listen! do you hear that bird telling about you? He says:
'Magathiche hthitugthe!'" The word hthitugthe in the Omaha language
means "of a bad disposition," so her old friend was teasing her by putting
words to the bird notes which meant "Marguerite is of a bad disposition,"
or "Marguerite is naughty!"
One of the sayings which the Pawnees fit to the notes of the meadow-
lark in their language is "Kichikakikuridu!" which means "I am not
afraid!"
The meadowlark is a great favourite with the people of the Dakota
nation. An old man of that nation was asked if his people ever used
[67]
the meadowlark for food. He said they did not. . When it was said that
white men sometimes eat them, he said he knew that. Then, when asked
why Dakotas wotild not eat the meadowlark, he said, ''We think too
much of them. They are onr friends." They call the meadowlark "the
hird of promise," and 'the bird of many gifts," for they say it promises
good things to its friends, the Dakotas. They apply words of the Dakota
language to the songs of the bird. They say it calls to the people with
promises and with words of encouragement and good cheer, and that it
gives counsel and advice on all manner of subjects. One of the things
which it used to sing out to the i>eople was "Koda, pte kizhozho," i. e.,
"Friends, I whistle for the buffalo," that is to say, it would whistle to
call the buffalo in order that its friends, the Dakotas, might supply their
needs of meat and clothing.
A touch of Dakota humour is shown in one saying attributed to the
meadowlark's notes in these later times since the government has es-
tablished schools on the reservations to teach the Dakota children in the
ways of the white men. They say that ofter now the meadowlark is
to be seen flitting about the school grounds and singing, "One, two, three,
epedo! One, two, three, epedo!" The Dakota word epedo means "You
shall say."
The white people speak of the United States government as "Uncle
Sam," but the people of the Dakota nation call the government "Tunka-
shila," which means "Grandfather," a title of the highest respect. In
the summer of 1918, while the United States was at war with (Germany,
many of the Dakotas said they heard "the bird of promise" singing
"Tnnkashila ohiyelo!" The Dakota word "ohiyelo" means "will be vic-
torious" or "will have the victory;" so the meadowlark, "the bird of
promise," was singing to them "The United States will have the victory!"
HOW THE MEADOWLARK WON THE RACE
A young man named Piya had a beautiful and lovely young wife and
she was carried away by an evil monster who kept her hidden in his
dwelling. The young man's grandmother was a very wise old woman.
She had great knowledge of the birds and beasts and of the trees and
other plants, and she had mysterious powers and could do many wonder-
ful things. Also she had taught her grandson many things, so that he
too had uncommon knowledge and powers.
Now when the monster stole his wife away he came to his grand-
mother to ask her to help him recover his wife. Before he came to her
his grandmother knew he was in trouble, so when he came he found her
waiting for him. She said "I will prepare you for this quest; but first
bring to me a wolf, a turtle and a meadowlark." Then she brought him
food; and after he had eaten and rested he set out to find the wolf, the
turtle and the meadowlark. As he journeyed he found all of them, one
after another, and invited them to eat with him. Then he told of his
grandmother's wish to have them to aid him in his quest. They each
consented to help him provided the old woman would give him the thing
most desired. . The wolf said he wished to have a better fur coat so that
[68]
the cold breath of old Waziya, the Old Man Winter, would not chill him.
The turtle said, 'Insects bite me, but I will help you if I shall be given pro-
tection from insects which suck my blood." The meadowlark said ''My
voice is harsh and I can sing but one note and the magpie laughs at me.
I will help you if I may be given a pleasing voice so that I can make the
magpie ashamed.'' So the young man Piya, the wizard, together with
his three friends, the wolf, the turtle and the meadowlark came back to
the tipi of his grandmother.
She was waiting and expecting him, and said, "Grandson I knew you
would come and bring with you those whom I want/' She invited them
into her tipi and prepared food and set it before them. The next morn-
ing Piya told his grandmother that these friends he had brought had
promised to help him if they should each be given what he most de-
sired. Then she told them if they would help her grandson she would
give each one what he most wished. So they were all agreed. She told
the wolf she wished him to give her grandson the cunning by which
he could follow a hidden trail and find hidden things; she asked the
turtle to give him the sense by which he could locate water, so that he
should be able to avoid perishing of thirst in a desert land; and the
lark was to give him power to hide himself without covering in the
open prairie. In return for these gifts the wolf was to have for himself
and all his people warm fur clothing so that they could laugh at Waziya
when he would blow his cold breath upon them. The turtle was prom-
ised that he should have the hard tough covering which he asked, so
that insects could not bite him. The meadowlark was given a pleasing
voice so that his songs would make the magpie ashamed.
After the agreement was made the Old Woman told them that the
quest on which they had to go would take them into a country where
there would be no trees, nor much grass nor open trail, and but little
water in the hidden springs.
So the wizard, Piya, and his companions, the wolf, the turtle and the
meadowlark set out upon the quest after tiie Old Woman had instructed
them. The wolf taught him how to find hidden trails; the meadowlark
taught him how to be hidden without covering, and the turtle taught him
how to find hidden watersprings.
So the help of these friends, together with the powers he already
possessed, enabled Piya finally to discover where his wife was hidden by
the monster, and to rescue her.
So they all came back to the tipi of the Old Woman. They all re-
joiced; the young woman because she had been rescued from the power of
the monster; the young man Piya because he had found his wife; and the
wolf, the turtle and the meadowlark because they were to have the gifts
which they had most desired. The Old Woman prepared a feast and they
feasted until far into the night.
Next morning the Old Woman gave to the wolf, the turtle and the
meadowlark each the gift for which he had asked as a reward for helping
the young man, and they set out together on the trail to return to their
homes. As they journeyed they talked about the gifts which they had
received. As they talked they fell into argument, each claiming that his
[69]
gift was the best, and soon they were quarreling and were about to fight.
But just then a young man came along the trail and he asked them why
they were quarreling. They told him. He said that quarreling was
foolish and would decide nothing, but that the only way to determine
whose gift was the best was to find out which would help most in a trial
of skill. The wolf proposed a trial in hunting, but the meadowlark and
the turtle said they could not hunt. The turtle proposed a swimming
contest, but the wolf and the meadowlark said they cotdd not swim.
Then the meadowlark in his turn proposed a contest in singing, for he
was very proud of his gift, but the wolf and the turtle protested that
they cotdd not sing.
The young man suggested that they run a race. To this they all
agreed. The young man told them they must run past a plum thicket,
across a marsh and up to the top of a certain hill. There they would
find white clay and colored clay. The winner of the race would be the
one that first brought back to him some of the white clay. They set out
upon the race. The wolf and turtle were running side by side; but the
meadowlark fell far behind.
When he came near the plum thicket he saw a bundle laid up in the
forks of a plum bush. He paused and sniffed toward it and the scent of
it was strange to him, and he became curious about it, and wanted to
find out what was in the bundle. He asked the turtle to wait. The
turtle said he would wait for him at the marsh. The wolf walked all
round the bush and looked carefully at the bundle. Then he rose up
against the bush and sniffed at the bundle, but still he could not make
out what was in it. He could not quite reach the bundle, so be leaped to
try to pull it down. But as he did so the thorns pricked him. He jumped
again and missed the bundle, but was pricked again by the thorns. Now
he became angry and determined he would get the bundle. After jump-
ing many times and being always pricked by the thorns so tihat he had
many wounds on his sides and back he finally pulled down the bundle.
He was so angry that in his vexation he energetically shook it about so
that it was shaken open and its contents smeared his wounds. This made
bis wounds itch so severely that he had to scratch himself, but this
made him itch the more. He was in such torment that he scratched
madly and tore his fur coat and was bleeding, so he forgot the race.
The turtle ran on to the marsh and waited there as he had promised.
After he had waited a long time he concluded the wolf had deceived him
and had gone on to the hill. Then he saw a small white puffball. It
looked like a lump of white clay, so the thought came to him that he
cotdd deceive the young man with it and get even with the wolf for the
trick he supposed the wolf had played upon him. So he took the puffball
back and showed it to the young man. Neither the meadowlark nor the
wolf had returned yet, so the young man told the turtle he was the first
to return bringing something to show that he had been to the top of
the hill.
Now when the meadowlark ran by the plum thicket he saw the wolf
jumping about one of the bushes trying to reach something which was
there, so the meadowlark was encouraged to think he might still have
[70]
some chance in the race. He ran on to the marsh, and there he saw the
turtle waiting, so he was still more encouraged. He then ran on all the
way to the top of the hill. He was so anxious and flustered when he
reached there that instead of the white clay which the young man had
specified as the token of having been to the goal, he made a mistake and
picked up a lump of the yellow clay and turned to carry it back to the
young man. As he was crossing back over the marsh again he stumbled
and dropped the lump of clay into the black mud. He picked it up and
hurried on, not stopping to clean off the black mud. When he came near
to the young man he saw the turtle sitting there and smiling and look-
ing very satisfied. The meadowlark then thought he had lost the race.
He was so disappointed and discouraged that he wept. His tears washed
the black mud off from the lump of clay and made a black stripe, while
the yellow clay itself was washed down over the whole front of his
clothes.
At last the wolf came back scratching and howling in his misery.
Great patches of fur were torn from his clothes and his skin was raw and
sore. The turtle taunted the wolf for his crying. He swaggered about
and boasted that nothing could make him whimper and cry. The young
man said that the turtle was the first to return, but that he must make
good his boast that nothing could make him whimper if he should lose.
The turtle declared that he would prove all he said in any way the young
man should require. The young man then placed the puffball upon the
turtle's back. The puffball very quickly increased in size and weight
so that it was all the turtle could bear. It continued to increase in siae
until the turtle was borne down by it to the ground and his legs were
bent. Still the puffball continued to grow until the turtle's body was
pressed flat by it, and his breath was pressed out of his body and he
lay as if he were dead. Then the puffball became as light as a feather
and turned black. The turtle recovered his breath a little, but he was
unable to straighten his legs or to regain the form of his body, so he
was ashamed and drew in his head under his thick skin.
Then the young man laughed loud and long at the plight of the
wolf, the turtle and the meadowlark, and told them now who he really
was. He told them that he was Iktomi, the Trickster. He told them that
because they had foolishly quarreled about the good gifts which the Old
Woman had given to them, instead of making good use of them, they had
given him the opportunity to play this trick upon them, the marks of
which would be upon them, and upon their people forever. He said that
because the wolf had meddled with something which was none of his
affair he had brought upon himself the torments of the mange, and so
it would always be with his people whenever they should do as he had
done. He said that because the turtle had attempted to win by cheat-
ing, his legs and the legs of all his people should always be short and
bent and their bodies should be flattened, so they could never run in a
race. And because he had lied in saying the puffball was white clay,
therefore he and his people should never again foe able to speak, and they
should always hide their heads for shame. As for the meadowlark, the
young man said he had won the race, but because he had brought back
[71]
the yellow clay instead of the white, therefore his clothes and the clothes
of his people should always be yellow in front and there should be a
black stripe over the yellow.
INDIAN FOLKLORE OF THE HORNED LARK
The name of this little bird in the Dakota language is ishtaniche-
tanka (big eye-tufts) from the tuft of feathers which it has over each
eye. It is for the same reason that we call it '%>med" lark.
The Dakotas say that this little bird foretells the weather. They
say that when a hot dry time is coming in the summer the bird sounds
a single sharp little note; but when rain is coming the bird is glad and
continuously sings loudly and joyously, ''magazhu, magazhu, magazhn!"
In the Dakota language the word for rain is magazhu. Thus the bird is
singing its joy for the rain which is coming.
The name of this bird is hupa-hishe in the Hidatsa language. In that
language the word for moccasin is hupa, and the word hishe means
wrinkled. This bird is called "wrinkled moccasin" because of its appear-
ance in its characteristic habit of crouching upon the ground, where, by
its grayish-brown color and its black markings it is made inconspicuous
and hardly distinguishable, suggesting the appearance of a ragged, use-
less old moccasdn.
The Hidatsas have a story of this bird that it was once acting as a
spy in enemy country. So while it sat in its characteristic attitude of
inconspicuousness, two of the enemy were coming along, when one
thought he saw something. He stopped and said to his companion,
"Wait, what is that over there?" His companion glanced over and saw
what appeared to him like nothing but a ragged, rotten old fragment of
a worn out moccasin, and answered, "O, that is just an old wrinkled moc-
casin." So the bird escaped his enemies, and it is from that that the
people call him "hupa-hishe."
HOW IT CAME ABOUT THAT GEESE MIGRATE
The Teton-Dakota have a story which says that "Long, long time
ago" (Mia ehanna) the goose nation did not migrate to the south in the
autumn, but remained here throughout the winter time. Because of the
rigor of the winter most of the people of the goose nation perished so
that they were always a small and weak nation. At last one goose had
a dream of the south-land, that it was pleasant even in winter, that the
winter there was mild and that there was plenty of food there. So she
began teaching the other geese that they should practice flying more and
thus make their wings strong so they could fly to the south-land before
winter time. Some people of the goose natioJi believed the vision and
began to practice flying to make their wings strong for the autumn
journey. This caused discussion and dissension in the nation, and a law
was made which banished the goose which had the vision. So they drove
her out from among them. She practiced flying all summer and made
her wings strong so that in the autumn she was able to fly to the pleas-
ant south-land of which she had dreamed. The Mysterious Power which
[72]
liad given her the vision guided her on the long journey and she lived
pleasantly through the winter time. After the first thunder in the
spring-time she flew hack north to her nation. As always hefore, many
4of them had died during the cold winter-time from the fury of the
storms and the scarcity of food. But she told them how pleasantly she
had passed the time in the south-land, and they saw in what good health
she was, so many more of them now believed her vision and her teaching.
It was in this way that the geese learned to fly away to the south-land
in the autumn to escape the storms and cold of winter in this land.
THE CAPTIVE BIRD: A TRUE STORY OF CHILDHOOD
IN THE OMAHA TRIBE OF NEBRASKA
Indians in general have a close sympathy with nature and with all
living creatures and aspects of nature. And the term living creatures
includes plants as well as animals, all are living children of Mother Earth
and have their rights to life according to Indian thought. They do not
think of humankind as being above and separate from all other creatures,
1)ut as fellow creatures in a world of life.
The following incident, which took place about fifty years ago on the
prairies of Nebraska among a group of children of the Omaha tribe,
will serve to show the attitude quite commonly held by Indians toward
other forms of life. It might be well, also to mention in this connection
that Indian children were taught by their parents to be not wasteful and
•destructive of wild flowers, that they should not wantonly pluck them, for,
they were told, if they did so they would thus destroy the flower babies
and the flower nations would then be exterminated. Indians feel a fear-
ful dread of the consequences of interfering with the nice balance and
adjustment of nature.
It was a bright, warm summer afternoon in northern Nebraska. The
wild grass, waving in the summer breeze, was like a shimmering emerald
sea, flecked with varied colour of the many different tribes of wild
flowers. Overhead was a brilliantly blue sky with here and there slow-
sailing white clouds whose soft shadows came and passed, silent and en-
trancing, over the greenth of the prairie. And in all this scene the liv-
ing creatures were moving, intent upon affairs of their own; the crickets
and grasshoppers, and the small mammals among the grass, the butter-
fly flitting from flower to flower, the antelope grazing in groups, and
now and then a hawk might be seen circling high overhead.
Across the prairie came a caravan of people with their camp equi-
page. A band of Omahas was on the summer buffalo hunt. The men
were widely deployed in front and over a wide extent on both sides far in
advance of the moving column. They were on the lookout for signs of the
herd. When a herd should be sighted, the scouts who had found them
would at once report to the officers. When the camp was made the of-
ficers would confer and make plans for the surround and kill.
The boys were employed in looking after the herd of extra horses;
some of the women were with the train of pack animals looking after the
baggage and camp equipment, others were scattered over the prairie along
[731
the Mne of march, carrying digging sticks and bags to gather tipsia
roots for food.
Groups of small chUdren, too small to have any particular tasks as-
signed to them were playing along the way, observing the ways of beast
and bird and of insects, and admiring the brilliant wild flowers. One
such group found a fledgling meadowlark, not yet able to fly. They
captured it and brought it along with them when the band went into
camp for the night. As the famUies sat about their tents waiting the
preparation of the evening meal, the children showed their father the
captive bird and told him how they caught it. He listened to their
account and then told them something of the life and habits of the bird,
its nesting and home life, of its love of life and freedom, and of its
place in the world under the wise plans of the Master of life. He
brought the children to see the unhappiness and the terror which they
had unwittingly brought upon the captive and the anxiety the mother bird
would feel over its loss.
Then he said to them, "Now children, take the little bird back to the
place where you found it and set it down in the grass, end say 'O Master
of Life, here is thy little bird which we have set free again. We are sornr
that we took it away from its home and its people. We did not thinic
of the sorrow we should cause. We wish to restore it and have it
happy again with its people. May we be forgiven for our thoughtless-
ness and we will not do such wrong again.' **
The children carried out their father's instructions and placed the
little bird again as near as they could to the place where they had cap-
tured it and recited the prayer to the Master of life which their father
had admonished them to say. As they returned to the camp the quiet of
the summer evening lay over all the land, the after-glow of the sunset
was in the western sky, the white tents stood in a great circle upon the
prairie, now dusky-green in the twilight which lay upon the land, a
twinkling caihp-f ire before each tent. The children were thoughtfuL
They had had a glimpse of the unity of the universe. They never forgot
tXie lesson. Years passed, great changes came. The white people were
coming into the land. Old activities and industries of the Indians were
destroyed by the changes. The children of that little group went away
from their people to attend the white men's schools, to learn the white
men's ways and adapt themselves to those ways. But this did not cause
them to forget altogether the wisdom and grace of their parental teach-
ing. Long afterward they told this little story to the writer, who now
gives it to you, reader, and wishes that you, also may know that there be
those in all lands and among all i>eoples who "do justice, love kindness,
and walk humbly with God.'
n
THE CHICKADEE
The chickadee is a very popidar bird among all the Indian tribes
where it is known. They all have many stories and sayings about it.
They say of it that, though small, it is a very wise bird. It is like the
wise men, the doctors and teachers among the people, who are learned in
mysteries and the wonderful things of nature, who keep a calendar of
[74]
the cycle of the days, months and seasons through the year by cutting
marks upon a piece of wood which they have prepared for that purpose.
This wise little bird is said also to keep account of the months. It is
said that '4n the beginning" the task of keeping account of the months
was assigned to the chickadee. But instead of making notches In a
piece of wood as the wise men do this wise bird's method is to make
notches in its tongue; thus in September its tongue is single-pointed,
in October it has two points, in November three, and so on until Feb-
ruary, when it is said that its tongue has six points. Then in March its
tongue is again single-pointed and the count is begun again. So, it is
said, the chickadee has been keeping the count of the months since the
long ago, in the dim past, when the task was assigned to it in the
time of beginnings, in the time when evil powers and monsters struggled
mightily to overcome the good, and to destroy mankind by sending fierce
storms and heavy snowfalls and shuddering cold winds upon the face of
the earth. It was thus the evil powers sought to discourage and to over-
come mankind.
And so it is said that at one time the evil powers supposed that by
stress of a long siege of cold and storms they had reduced mankind to
famine. At this time they chose to send the chickadee as a messeng^
to find out the conditions and to bring back word to them.
Now when the diickadee came on his mission and appeared at the
dwellings of men he was invited to enter. He was courteously given
a place by the fireside to rest and warm himself. Then food was
brought to him. After he had eaten and refreshed himself he was
anointed with fat, which was a symbol of plenty; then he was painted
with red paint, which was for a symbol of tiie power and mystery of life.
After these ceremonies and marks of respect his hosts qalMy com-
posed themselves to give attention to whatever their visitor should have
to say as to the purpose of his visit. When he had stated his mission
his hosts held counsel and formulated a reply for the mesenger to take
back to those who had sent him. He was bidden to say to them that
mankind was still living and hopeful, and they ever would be; that they
could not be daunted by discouragement, nor defeated by storms and
stress, nor vanquished by hunger, nor overcome by any hardships; and
that there never would be a time when there should not be men upon the
earth. So this is the message which the chickadee brought to the evil
powers which had sought to overcome mankind.
THE SONG OF THE WREN
A Pawnee Story
The incident of this story occurred in the long ago in the country of
the Pawnee nation, in the broad expanse of the Platte River country in
what is now the State of Nebraska. The event was in the distant past
before the Pawnees had ever seen a white man, or any of his works or
strange devices. The people of the Pawnee nation lived in villages of
houses btiilt in the manner that the houses of Pawnees had been built for
[76]
generations. Near their villages lay their fields of com and other crops
which they cultivated to supply themselves with food.
It was a beautiful morning in early summer. The sky was clear and
bright, the dawn-light was showing in the eastern sky. All the land-
scape lay as though still sleeping. There was no movement anywhere*
A thoughtful priest had risen and had walked out upon the prairie away
from the village so that he might view and meditate upon the beauty and
mystery of the firmament of the heavens and of the plane of earth,
and of the living creatures thereon, both animal creatures and plant
creatures, for in his mind both were equally wonderful and equally in-
teresting, as showing the power and the wisdom of the Great Mystery.
So he walked and pondered upon all the beauty and mystery which lay
about him, while the face of Mother Earth was still moist with the dew
of sleep. In a moment the first rays of the sun shone across the land
touching into sparkling brilliance the msrriads of dewdrops, while a gentle
movement ran through all the g:rasses and the wild flowers as they
swayed to the rippling of the gentle morning breeze which pulsed over the
prairie at the first touch of the morning gleam.
Where a moment before all had been so still and so silent now there
was movement and sound. Birds of many kinds raised their tuneful
voices, showing their joy in life and in the beauty of the morning. The
priest, whose mind and heart were open to all this beauty and melody,
stood still and listened. In a moment, among all the other bird-songs, he
heard one which was clearer and more remarki^le than any of the
others. This song was a most joyous cheerful sound, like happy laughter.
As he approached he found that the joyous, laughing song came from a
very tiny brown bird, no larger than his thumb. It was a wren, so small,
so insignificant in comparison to the size and brilliant plumage of many
of the other birds, yet it appeared to be the most whole hearted in joy
and praise and delight in life, as the sweet stream of music welled from
its little throat.
The priest looked at the tiny bird, and wisely considered. He said
to himself: "The Great Mystery has shown me here a wise teaching for
my people. This bird is small and weak, but it has its proper place in
the world of life and it rejoices in it and gives thanks with gladness.
Everyone can be happy, for happiness is not from without, but from with-
in, in properly fitting and fulfilling each his own place. The humblest
can have a song of thanks in his own heart.''
So he made a song and a story to be sung in a great religious ritual
of his i>eople, which was to them like our Bible and prayer-book are to us.
And the song and story which that thoughtful priest put into the ritual,
was the story of the wren. And ever since that time so long ago, the
song has been sung by the Pawnees and has been handed down from
generation to generation tmtil this time.
THE WAR EAGLE AND THE JACK-RABBIT
A Mandaai 8tarp
One time a party of men went into a lonely place among the hills far
away from the village, to enter their eagle pits for the purpose of catch-
[76]
ing eagles to obtain their plumes. One of the men had made his pit far
out at some distance from any of the others. Another day, as he was
coming away from his eagle pit, returning to the village, he stopped and
sat down upon the top of a high hill from which he could enjoy a grand
view of the landscape. Thus he sat looking about over the quiet hills and
valleys, beyond the bright gleam which showed the course of the river
winding in and out among the green trees along its borders, far away
to the dim sky line. Far away on one side he saw a number of elks
feeding; on the other side he saw a band of graceful antelopes. A doe
and her fawn were browsing upon some bushes down near the river.
Aloft he saw the white clouds sailing in the bright blue sky; below
he saw their shadows moving over the earth, now up a hillside and over
its crest and then swiftly across a little valley and up the next hillside.
While he sat enjoying the beauty of the scene he observed a war eagle
chasing a jack-rabbit. The jack-rabbit continually dodged and circled,
trying to escape as the eagle swooped toward him. The eagle had several
times swooped and just missed striking the rabbit.
Gradually the chase came near to the place where the man was
seated. The eagle was closely pursuing the rabbit and made a tremend-
ous swoop towards him. But the rabbit escaped by leaping into the
man's robe as he sat with it loosely draped about his shoulders and
knees.
Then the eagle said "Put that rabbit away from you! He is my prey.
I intend to eat him.''
But now the rabbit appealed to the man and said, **I have thrown
myself upon your kindness. Do not turn me away. I beg of you. If you
save me you shall hereafter have success in your unde!rtakings and you
shall become a great man."
Then the eagle spoke again, saying, "His words are not true. Turn
him away. He can do nothing for you. I, myself will make you great
if you will do as I request. It is I who speak the truth. My feet are not
held to the earth and I can also fly in the air far above the earth. I am
successful in all the things I attempt."
Once more the jack-rabbit made his plea. "Believe him not, and do
not turn me away! Even though I must remain upon the ground, and
cannot fly like the eagle, still I have knowledge proper to my condi-
tions of life, and I know how to do many things suitably and success-
fully."
The man made his decision in favor of the jack-rabbit and saved him
from the eagle. And the jack-rabbit kept his promise to the man, for
he gave him of his own powers and made him successful in his under-
takings and helped him with good and wise counsel in times of trouble
and doubt and perplexity. So the man gained great renown and honor
and influence among his people.
[77]
INDEX
Page
Dedication 5
Introduction 7
LAND AND PEOPLE
Nature and Health 9
Spirit of Life 10
Attitude Towards Native Life 10
Indians' Appreciation and Love of Their Homeliuid. 12
Song to the Trees and Streams 12
Thrillnig Escape of a Besieged War Party 12
A Mandan Monument - 14
The Legend of Standing Rock 15
The Holy Hill Pahuk 17
The Lodge of the Black-tail Deer which Talked with Its Captor. 23
The Wonderful Basket 24
Cause of the Breaking-up of Ice in the Missouri River. 26
The Waterspring of the Holy Man 27
The Sacred Symbol of the Circle 31
The Sacred Number Four 31
The Pristine Prairie 32
Aboriginal American Agriculture 35
Description of an Earthlodge 37
Hymn to the Sun 38
Description of a Tipi 39
An Omaha Ghost Story 40
An Omaha Hero Song 41
STORIES OF THE PLANT PEOPLE
Sacred Trees 43
The Song of the Pasque Flower. 46
The Prairie Rose 48
The Song of the Wild Rose. 49
Use of the Ground Bean 50
Tipsin: An Important Native Food Plant 52
How the People Obtained the Precious Gift of Com 53
A Group of Pawnee Hymns to Com 56
The Forgotten Ear of Com 58
How the Usefulness of Wild Rice Was Discovered. 58
A Story of the Sunflower 59
Dakota Folklore of the Spiderwort ^ 60
STORIES OF THE FOUR-FOOTED PEOPLE
The Faithful Dog 61
How Coyote Chief Was Punished. 63
The Skunk and the Bear 65
The Song of the Old Wolf...^ 65
[79]
STORIES OP THE PEOPLE OP THE AIR
Folk Sayings About the Meadowlark 67
How the Meadowlark Won the Race 68
Folklore of the Homed Lark 72
How It Came About that Geese Migrate 72:
The Captive Bird 73
The Chickadee 74
The Song of the Wren 75^
The War Eagle and the Jack-rabbit. 76
MAPS
Map to Show Distribution of Tribes 4
Map to Show Aboriginal Agriculture 34
Map of Geographical Distribution of Pasque Flower 46-
>
Bismarck Tribune 'Print
[80]
I
THIS BOOK IS DXTE OK THE LAST DATE
STAMPED BEIiOW
AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS
WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN
THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTY
WILL INCREASE TO 80 CENTS ON THE FOURTH
DAY AND TO $1.00 ON THE SEVENTH DAY
OVERDUE.
FFB 1^^935
MAY 18 1956
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