FOOTNOTES:
[38] Told by Many-Fox.
38. THE MAN WHO TURNED INTO A STONE.[39]
Once upon a time there was a big village on a prairie. In the village there was an old man who was respected by all. Because he was well-known as a medicine-man he had one of the sacred bundles, and he used to call councils and many other meetings. If there was sacrifice to be offered to some of the gods it was brought before this old man, because the gods seemed always to make returns for all his offerings. For this reason, he was above all other medicine-men in the village.
At one time a very large party went out from the village on a buffalo hunt. A few were left in the village. For many days one young man kept coming and reporting that the people were coming not very far away. The next day they saw them coming, but away in the distance. It was the custom for these people to go out to meet them before they reached the village, so many, including the old medicine-man, went out to meet them. The old man came to a hill, and there he sat down. The people traveled on foot in those days. As the party came to the old man they only saluted him. There was another custom of bringing some dried meat to some medicine-men, especially to this famous old man, and offering up sacrifices to the gods. This was the old man’s reason for going up there. Finally most of them passed toward the village, but none of the young men had any dried meat to present to the old man for him to give thanks to his sacred bundle. They all passed, save one young man who came last. When he saw the old man sitting there he saluted him and gave him a dried buffalo tongue. The old man did not seem thankful for it, but sat there with his head down.
When they all reached the village they made many feasts, and councils were held in many places. The next day it was noticed that the old medicine-man was missing. They looked for him, but could not find him. One young man told that he had seen him sitting on the hill. So they went to the hill and asked the old man to come down, but he would not. One medicine-man took a sacred pipe from his bundle and offered it to the old man to smoke, so that he might forget his sorrows. The old man would not accept it, because, he said, it was too late. The people begged him to come, but still he sat there with his head cast downward. After a while he raised his head and said to all, that it was too late to get up, that he was to sit there always. He removed his blanket, and the people saw that his legs had already turned to stone. The people all wept and went away. They came the next day, and they saw a rock in the form of a man, and they all cried again for the loss of the old medicine-man, because there had been no one to give him any dry meat to offer up as sacrifice to the gods.