Well, while the two were killing that buffalo they saw a large rattlesnake. They killed it and one of the men took the rattle off and carried it into his tipi. The next morning they woke up and were very much frightened by rattlesnakes that were lying around the tipi. It is said that whenever the rattle of a rattlesnake is taken into a tipi all the other rattlesnakes come at night and lie around.
After that the man who killed the buffalo took most of the meat and returned home to his village; the other went out to hunt some more and camped with his wife in another place. One day as he was making arrows in his tent he asked for some soup, so his wife put some in a cup and set it down by him. While the man was whittling an arrow he happened to look into the soup and there he saw the reflection of a man’s face in the grease that stood on top of the soup. The man was a medicine man and in some way he had got up on top of the tipi without making any noise and was looking down at him. He was a Crow man and a great enemy to the Sioux. The man told his wife not to look, but to hand his bow to him. When she handed it to him he made believe try[ing] the arrow into the bow, then looked up suddenly and shot the man in the head and killed him. They then scalped him and carried his scalp home, and had a great rejoicing in the village.3
The Story Teller, 1893
The picture here presented is from a sketch by one of our students, Harry Hand. The picture shows something that is very often seen among Indian homes.
In the evening, after supper, the men would get together, bring their pipes with their long stems and kinnikinick bags, sit in a circle and smoke; while one of the group would tell a story of war or hunting. When they have this, if there are any children present, the old Indian would say, “Now children, you listen, so that you will see what I ought to have done and what I ought not to have done, so that if you ever meet with the same thing you can remember what I said so that you can improve on them.” It is very interesting to listen to them. We have read of many adventures of white people among Indians, but we never read of adventures told by Indians among white people. Why? Because the Indians have no newspaper through which to let the reading public know their side of many stories.
They usually put the pipes and kinnikinick and some matches in the center of the circle so that whoever wishes can fill a pipe up and have a smoke. The true stories they tell are free for all but when they tell fairy stories the story teller has to be given something by some of the listeners. Only those who give something have the right to tell the stories; but they must not tell them unless something is given to them. We think if the Indian fairy stories were gathered and translated by a good translator and published in book form they would compare favorably with “Arabian Nights.”
On the right of the picture will be seen something hanging very much like washed clothes hung on clothesline. In olden times when there were plenty of buffaloes the Indians did not salt the meat they wanted to keep, like white people do at Chicago and other places, but they sliced the meat into thin pieces and then hung out in the sun or above the fire to dry. This way was very good as it kept [a] long time.4
The Adventures of a Strange Family, 1893
Once upon a time there was a man living with his five sons in a place by themselves. One of the sons was a rock, one a buffalo, one a bear, one an owl, and the fifth one, an eagle.
One day they wanted to select places to live in. They determined to scatter themselves so each one could select the place that he wanted. Well, they started out on their journey with their father. When they came to a high rocky hill, the eagle told his father that he wanted to live there. So the eagle stayed there while the others went on.
When they came to another hill that had trees on its side, the owl wanted that place, so he stayed there. One of the trees had a hole in it.
The others came to another hill that was not rough or rocky. The rock made up his mind to stay there on the hill. So the others kept on their journey. They came to a beautiful valley where there was plenty of grass and water. The buffalo determined to stay there, so he did.
The man and the bear went on their way. The bear selected his place on the side of a hill, where there was plenty of trees and a cave. His home was thus near a watering place of the animals that would come to drink there.
Last of all the father went alone on his journey. When he had gone quite a long distance, he saw a deer and he killed it with his bow and arrows. While he was dressing the meat an old woman came to him. The man asked her if she wanted the forelegs of the deer. She said she did not want them. Then the man asked her if she would like to have the hind legs. But she said she didn’t want them, the hind legs. Then the man told the woman to select the kind of meat that she did want. While the man was cutting up the meat the old woman all at once took the quiver and the bow, saying that she wanted those, and went off with them. It was so unexpectedly done that though the man ran after the old woman, she, being a swift runner, escaped and disappeared in the woods.
The man kept on looking for the old woman. After a while he came to a smoky lodge in the woods. The old woman was in that lodge. The man stood outside and asked her to give him his bow and quiver back, but she told him to get away or else she would cut off his head. Then the man turned himself into a mouse by magic and went inside the lodge and took his bow and the quiver. He then made himself a man again and ran off. The old woman took out her sword and said, “Where are you going? You have to die today.” She ran after the man.
When the man came back to the place where the bear was, he called to the bear to come out and help him. The bear came out and cut the sides of the woman with his claws. The old woman said, “You old rascal, you hurt me. What did you do that for?” Then she cut the bear’s head off. Meanwhile the man had gained quite a long distance. When the old woman was within a few yards of him, the man called to the buffalo for help as he had then reached the place where the buffalo lived. The buffalo came and hurled the woman in the air with its horns.
The old woman called the buffalo names and cut its head off. The man called for help again when he came back to the rock. The rock rolled itself down the hill and knocked the old woman down. The old woman got up and called the rock names and cut it into two parts with her sword.
He called for help again when he reached where the owl was. The owl flew up in the air and then swooped down. The old woman had a blue mark on her forehead. She would die even if the smallest insect touched it. The owl tried to hit that spot with its beak but missed it. The owl tried it again, but this time its head was cut off.
Last of all the eagle came out to help his father. If the eagle should fail to hit the mark on her forehead, he and his father would surely die. The eagle flew way up in the air and swooped down and hit right in the center of the blue round mark and cracked the old woman’s head. So she died; and the man and his son, the eagle, came back to their old home and lived there.5
Chapman Schanandoah (Oneida)
Chapman Schanandoah (born 1870) attended Hampton in 1888 and left a year later. He reentered the school in 1892 and stayed for two years. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1897, and in 1904 he served aboard the USS Raleigh. After leaving the navy in 1912 he moved to Buffalo. (Littlefield and Parins, Biobibliography: Supplement, 282).
How the Bear Lost His Tail: An Old Indian Story, 1893
It may seem rather strange, come to inquire about this story among the different tribes of Indians. We seem to know it so alike, even if we do speak different languages. This story must have happened when we spoke the same language.
As we know such as prairie dogs, rattlesnakes, and owls live together and don’t quarrel; so some of the animals first lived together and spoke the same language, until they got quarreling and cheating each other, when they parted for good.
The Bear and the Fox once lived together in the same place. Mr. Fox always depended on Mr. Bear very much. Especially when he got in trouble with someone else, he would call on Mr. Bear sure. So one winter Mr. Bear thought that he was so wise and strong, and
everybody was afraid of him that he would get Mr. Fox to support him all that winter.
Mr. Fox thought that he had to work very hard to get his own living and so he was not going to do all the work. Mr. Bear had brought home a nice fat deer one day; so he told Fox that he would not share with him anymore, as he used to. “Very well,” said Fox. All the more Mr. Fox would get such good things to eat that Bear could not get. One day he brought home a nice mess of fish. He had picked them up along the river. Mr. Bear wished very much to have a taste of those nice fishes. Mr. Fox told him that he might get all the fish he wanted if he would do what he did. Bear asked him very kindly just how he got them. He would be friends with him again. So Fox said, “You go with me some cold night and do what I did, you shall get all you want.” The night came and it was very cold. Mr. Bear was very anxious to go. They started at last and they came to the place where some fisherman had been through the day and there were nice holes to fish in. So Mr. Fox told Bear that he would have to wait some time before he could get a fish. Fox said, “You put your tail in that ice hole until it gets hard and you will see that you can get all the fish you want.” Bear did just as he was told, not to lift up his tail till Fox came back. Mr. Bear patiently waited nearly all night. At last Fox came back with a party of dogs to scare the bear. Bear had no more than heard the cries of the dogs, before he jumped with all his might, leaving his nice long tail in the frozen ice.
Mr. Fox never forgot this and he never went back home to see how his old friend Bear got along.6
Robert Placidus Higheagle (Standing Rock Sioux)
See the Essays section for a profile of Robert Placidus Higheagle (born ca. 1873).
The Brave Deaf and Dumb Boy, 1893
An Indian named Step made a feast and invited good many Indians, as he wished to tell them about this dangerous escape in a war long time ago. His first statement was that he would have been dead long ago if he had lived in a savage state as he did many years ago. He then began to tell them the following story. He stated that a long time ago some men and himself went to war with a deaf and dumb boy. They went on foot, as they expected to capture some horses from their enemies.
Thus they continued marching until they arrived at a very high hill which they named Dog’s Ears Hill. From this hill they could see a long distance off. Looking down they saw herds of buffaloes and wild horses in a forest. They were not only pleased, but were very much surprised when they saw these objects before their eyes. So they concluded that they would divide their party in such a way, so that they would surround them. Down in the forest they went and were having a pretty tough chase. But all at once they were yelling and began to climb the tallest trees. What was the matter? (Here I wish to say that he mentions a kind of animal which I don’t think is found in this continent. He described it and it seems as though it must be an animal that is found in Africa called gnu—an animal something like a horse with two horns. So I will call it a gnu). They saw a gnu right among the herd—been engaged in chasing the herd before the men did. The animal stopped chasing the herd and began to attack these poor fellows. About six of them climbed on a single tree. But the gnu came around and began shaking the tree with its horns and the men were in great fear. Every time they attempted to shoot the animal, it acted more furiously. By and by the animal shook the tree with all its might and one of the men fell off.
This was the deaf and dumb boy the youngest but bravest in the crowd. Before the animal had the chance to attack him he climbed up another tree that was near by. From the tree he made signs to the other fellows, which meant that as he does not expect to see a hundred years he would give up his life for the others, and he descended to the ground and began to shoot at the animal. He shot him in the brain, which made the animal senseless for a time. While this was taking place the men came down from the tree and ran away in full speed. The boy himself ran away with the others. They all ran in the same direction. But before they were gone some distance another gnu attacked him. The young fellow knew that he was going to die this time so as soon as the gnu attacked him he fell down to the ground. The animal caught him in his horns and threw him up in the air. When he fell to the ground he was not hurt, but he lay there pretending to be dead. The animal came around, pawing him. By and by [the animal] began to feel if [the boy’s heart was beating]. The boy, even if he was deaf and dumb, was very ticklish. It is said that he could laugh at any time he gets [tickled]. So when the animal came around to feel his heart beating, he got so tickled that he had to burst into a loud laugh. He tried very hard to resist but he could not. So when the animal found out that he pretended to be dead he caught him in his horns and did the same thing to him as before, only a little harder than before.
But the young fellow got the best of him and was saved. While he was having this tough time with the animal his companions had gone away from him. He found their tracks and followed them. He soon overtook them and was very glad to see them again. It is said that they made him a chief on account of his bravery.
The next day they had war with their enemies and it is said that they were victorious. After they had overcome their enemies they captured all of their horses. Thus they went home in a good style.
The reason why he told this true story was, he wished to impress upon their minds that a person, even if he is deaf and dumb, can accomplish much, just by patient endurance of suffering that may befall him.
The Indians drew good many morals from this story. One was that a person, even if he could not hear, could attempt to defend himself in the time of danger.7
The Legend of Owl River, 1895
“In the land of the Dakotas,” there is a certain river known as the Owl River, from the fact that a famous event had happened there concerning the above named bird.
It was customary among the Indians of old to do anything in their power to bring up their children as brave as themselves. One of the common punishments inflicted to remedy cowardice was that, when a male child cried over anything instead of acting like a man, he was sent out of the community until he could overcome his stubbornness.
One night, when the Indians camped out near the above mentioned river (which did not have a name at that time) a boy was crying over something. Owls were plentiful in the neighboring woods and were wide awake as usual. They were the means by which the mothers could pacify their children by telling them strange anecdotes about them. But this child did not care to hear anything concerning the owls but kept on crying. His mother told him that if he did not stop crying she would send him out where the owls would come and carry him away. It was a general belief at that time that owls had enormously large ears—so large as to enable them to carry away in them a young child with perfect ease. Of course the mother was just saying this in fun, as mothers would often do, in order to quiet the child, but her words were of no avail. Finally she sent him outdoors into the darkness of the night and told the owls to come and get him for she can’t make him mind. The owls seemed to have understood her request and were coming along and before anyone knew anything about it the child was carried off. The whole family went out when they heard no one crying and to their surprise, the child was gone. Just imagine how the parents felt! Word was sent through the village immediately announcing the trouble and nearly all the men even the women came out with their weapons to bring back the child. They searched all night and the next day till dark but all in vain. During the night they heard someone crying in the woods. Everyone rushed toward the place but nobody was to be found.
The next day the parents offered a reward of two fine ponies to anyone who found their child. Some boys went into the woods for game not intending to find the child, but they heard the same cry, which sent them to search. They heard the cry again in the hollow of an old oak. One of the boys climbed up and found that the child was there. They caught the owl in a true “cowboy fashion” and brought him to the ground. Of course the owl tried hard to get loose from the boy but was in the same fix as when a wild Texas steer is once c
aught by a skillful cowboy and there is no knowing as to its escape. The boys butchered the owl in such a manner as not to harm the child’s life and succeeded in restoring the child in good condition.
The act of the owl has been one of the greatest if not the greatest event that ever happened on that river and therefore the Indians named it the Owl River. Some Indians even count their time from that period. If you should ask any of those old time Indians the year of their birth etc., they will answer you that they were born ten years or so before the owl carried that child away. Of course this may not be a true story but the Indians of that section of the country believe it to be a fact just as much as the people of Sleepy Hollow believed in the incidents said to have occurred in that spot years ago.8
Samuel Baskin (Santee Sioux)
See the Essays section for a profile of Samuel Baskin (born 1870).
Ite Waste, or Fair Face, 1895
Ite Waste was the name of a young Indian woman. Among the different tribes of Indians, she was considered as the prettiest woman that ever walked the earth. Many Indians had lost their lives and many had failed trying to get her. But one succeeded in getting her. His name was Swift Star. He had seen the woman and had promised to marry her if it took his life.
Recovering Native American Writings in the Boarding School Press Page 11