FOOTNOTES:
[25] Told by Strike-Enemy.
25. THE END OF THE ELK POWER.[26]
There were once four strong young brothers. Only the oldest one was married. He had a wife and child. One day the men went to their traps to lie in wait for eagles. The woman stayed at home, where she was busy preparing a hide for clothing. Toward evening the young men returned home, one by one.
The wife of the eldest brother was missing. They looked all around. There was no sign of the woman. The baby was found on the ground, crying, and the tools which the woman had used were there, but the woman was gone. The men believed that the woman had been taken away captive, and they grieved for her as lost. The baby was hungry and cried so piteously that it brought tears to his father’s and uncles’ eyes. The father tried to comfort him by feeding him deer brain broth, which would quiet him for only a little time. The oldest of the unmarried brothers was so filled with pity for the young one that he cried from eve till morn, trusting that the chief would hearken to his cry and help him and his brothers. He went out to cry near a strip of timber where he had seen an old dry skull of a buck elk. For two nights the young man cried near the skull. On the second night the Elk heard his cry and before sunrise the young man heard a voice saying: “I am well pleased with your earnest manner of pleading for your loss. I will help you. First, I will say that your brother’s wife is alive, but captured by a Bear who has already captured three other women. You may think that the Bear is mightier than I, but that is a mistake, as you will see. Go home with the assurance that I have given you all power that the chief gave me. Tell your brothers to go home at once, and in a day or two come by yourself and I will give you all instructions.”
The brother started home. By the time of his arrival at the village the news of the woman’s disappearance had spread. It caused great sadness and wailing. Pretty-Voice (this was the name of the eldest unmarried brother) stayed one night, then started to where the Elk had spoken to him. All night Pretty-Voice traveled, and by daylight he reached the place. “I am glad that you have come, and I am prepared to carry out my promise,” said the Elk. Sitting down, Pretty-Voice learned the ceremony of the Elks. “Go at once,” said the Elk. “Carry out my instructions in full. When the sun has risen full blow your whistle. No matter where the females are, they will be attracted and come to you. At the end of this strip of timber you will see the rough bluff, and at about the middle you will see a little scattering brush. There is the home of the Bear, and there you will find the woman.” Pretty-Voice went to the end of the timber as he had been directed. As instructed, he whistled, one—two—three times. The women in the Bear’s den heard the whistle and all rushed outside to listen. At the fourth whistle they could not restrain themselves. They rushed toward the sound. They saw a handsome young man standing with his robe wrong side out. Two mid-tail eagle feathers were on his head and a long whistle was in his hand.
Pretty-Voice was surprised to see his brother’s wife and three young women who had been missed for a long time. Pretty-Voice said, “Nawa, we will lose no time, but prepare yourselves to run. Understand we are bound for home.” They started at a fast pace. When they had gone many miles one turned her head and yelled, “He is coming!” and they began to cry. When the Bear came up too close Pretty-Voice ordered the party to stop. The Bear stopped and sat up on his hind legs, heaving heavily. The Bear was first to speak. He said, “Young man, you will live if you let me have my women.” “No, I have captured these women and I claim them. I will not let them go to you. I will defend these women if you are intending to fight,” said Pretty-Voice. “Very well,” said the Bear, “you will begin the fight if you have any faith in yourself.” “That I have,” said Pretty-Voice. Throwing off his robe and other things he made his attack with his bow and arrow. The Bear sat up, not minding the arrows. Pretty-Voice had shot all his arrows and the Bear was still looking at him. “Now,” said the Bear, “I gave you a chance to live, but you gave no heed to my warning. Now you will die.” Pretty-Voice threw himself on the ground and sprang on his feet in the form of a full grown Elk, with antlers like branches of a cottonwood tree. The Bear made a rush and the Elk threw his head down and struck the Bear, picking him up from the earth. The Bear’s claws lacked a little of hitting the Elk’s head. The women stopped wailing when they saw that Pretty-Voice was their savior. “My friend,” said the Bear, “you are true to your faith, and I will admit that you have overcome me and I will say that the women are yours and I beg to be free; but I know that I am going to die.” Pretty-Voice pulled up his head with a quick jerk and set the Bear free. After throwing himself on the ground as before, he sprang up a man. He picked up his clothing and started on.
When he arrived at the village the news of his capture of the women spread. There was great rejoicing and the young women were taken to their homes. Pretty-Voice won great honor. He lived among his people, being received in their homes with great respect. He was not yet a warrior, but knew he would have no difficulty in getting a wife.
As he had received all the powers of an Elk, he thought he would use them. One night he painted himself according to the instructions the Elk had given him. Ille, dum summo tumulo terreno stat, pulchram puellam vidit quam habere volebat. Itaque tibia magica canebat, et brevi tempore puellam habebat. Hoc faciebat dum puellas pulcherrimas omnes, quæ eum vicum incolebant, habuisset. Deinde matrones illicere incepit. This caused bad feeling among the majority of the men, but a few paid no attention to his doings, thinking that nothing could be done to stop him. The Indians held a large council, and in this council they, including his three brothers, planned and agreed to make an attack and kill him. One day he prepared to practice his power. He stood on an earth-lodge. The people began to flock into the lodge he was standing on, with their robes around them to hide their weapons. Pretty-Voice knew what was coming and gave no heed to them, trusting in his power. All at once the men rushed out and began to shoot at him. A few who favored Pretty-Voice called out that they were foolish, as Pretty-Voice had caused no one bodily pain. The shooting went on and on, but Pretty-Voice stood still. Once in a while he shook his robe and threw off the bullets and arrows. At last the men gave up, seeing that nothing could harm the young man.
One day the village was attacked by a large party of Sioux. The inhabitants were being defeated on every side. Pretty-Voice was tardy in coming to the fight, and the men made remarks about his not making use of his power to fight. He came in his own time, went into the enemy’s field, with nothing to defend himself with but his whistle. The Sioux saw that no arrow or bullet could harm him, and knew that he was powerful. They began to retreat. They were thrown back, scalped and stripped of their weapons and ponies. They attempted a second attack, but were again thrown back. When they had been driven back the second time they knew that nothing could be done to destroy the people while Pretty-Voice was living, for he had made himself famous. They gave up trying to fight, but came there on a friendly visit.
During their visit, Pretty-Voice saw a pretty Sioux girl whom he thought he would take for his wife. So he went through his ceremony and secured the girl. He kept her for his wife. When they had lived together for a long time, loving each other in their lodge, the girl began to question Pretty-Voice about his great power. She said she wanted to know how he could destroy, and she said that if she could be trusted to perform some duty for him she would be glad to do so. Pretty-Voice told all that had happened to him, and said that he could be killed by scraping off a little elk horn and elk hair and making a little incense for arrows and bullets. “When this is done,” he said, “the bullets will go through me.” The Sioux girl began to get ready to desert her husband and to stir up her people to make another attack and kill Pretty-Voice. When Pretty-Voice had gone off somewhere she started out toward her country.
On her arrival she told her story and stirred up her people to make war and kill Pretty-Voice, saying that she knew his secret. She collected the necessary things and started out at the head of a war-party. The people of Pretty-Voice were moving for their future welfare when they heard that Pretty-Voice’s wife was missing. Pretty-Voice knew what was going to happen. He had told his mother long before when in trouble with his own tribe, that if anything should happen to him, even if he should be torn to pieces, she must collect his flesh and throw him into a stream near some timber and then she would see him again.
The girl camped near the village and there prepared the arrows and bullets as she had learned. A fierce battle began. The inhabitants of the village were defeated, and in a short time Pretty-Voice appeared. “There he comes! To-day you are lost!” cried the enemy. Pretty-Voice started after them as usual and drove the enemy a great distance, but his body looked like a porcupine tail with arrows. The bullets and arrows had so loaded him that he fell. The enemy turned around and scalped many of them. They mutilated the body of Pretty-Voice. The battle ended. The people went out to bury their dead, and especially Pretty-Voice. His poor mother, crying for her son, came out with a robe to collect his flesh and do as she had been told. The men noticed what she was intending to do. They asked her what she was going to do. She told all that Pretty-Voice had said, but the men would not hear of his coming again, as he had done enough mischief. The old mother insisted, but the men would not let her. As the brothers disapproved of her plan she gave in, and instead of burying his body they made a big fire and destroyed the body entirely. A number of days after his body had been burned to ashes a pure white fog was seen to arise daily from that place.