FOOTNOTES:
[40] Told by Hawk.
40. THE POWER OF THE BLOODY SCALPED-MAN.[41]
There was a young man in the Arikara village who wanted to have some mysterious power. He went through the different places, over high mountains, and steep banks. He had heard of a place to the west of the village where young men had been scared away. He went to the place and stood upon a hill which was close to the Missouri River. He stood there for three days and nights, and during the third night he heard a mysterious noise from the Missouri River. He looked, and saw a man coming. The man approached, and said, “You will please leave at once, for you make too much noise around this place.” The man had a war-club in his right hand. His body was daubed all over with white clay; his head was red with blood and the blood was dripping from his forehead. The boy became scared, and he ran home. He told one of his friends what had happened to him and his friend laughed at him for running away from the place where he had gone to get some power.
The young man’s friend made up his mind that he would go to the hill. He went to the hill, and there he stood and cried for three days and three nights. On the fourth night a being came up, and sure enough, it was the very same being that the first young man had seen. The boy became scared, but he closed his eyes and thought, “Well, I came here to see this being, and if he wants to kill me he can do so.” The young man made up his mind not to run. He looked at the man as he approached. Drops of fresh blood were dripping from his head, so that he looked as if he had just been scalped. The young man closed his eyes and the man came up to him, and said, “If you do not run, I will hit you with this club!” The boy did not move, but the man did not strike him with his club. At last the man said: “Come with me. I am the errand man of the men who live under this hill.” So the man took the boy down towards the Missouri River, and there, under the bank, was an entrance. They went into this entrance, and there they found a long passageway along which they traveled, and finally they came to a cave. There the men were seated around in a circle; but not one of them was scalped. The man who took the young man into this place now took off the headdress that he had on, and his hair fell over his shoulders. He placed his war-club and the bloody headdress that he had had on his head, before the leading man. The man took his seat at the entrance, and the young man was given a seat in the lodge. The leader of the men in the lodge said: “You are the first young man who has not run from our errand man, and now we will give you the power that we possess. When you want to perform the same thing that you saw that man do, take wild sage, put it on hot coals, and smoke yourself over your body. Then take this sweet grass and spread it all over yourself. Then take this paint and put it in the water and after putting this skin over your head, place this paint, mixed in water, on your head, so that you will look like a scalped-man. This war-club you shall take. This root you shall put into your mouth, so that you can run swiftly. When you have killed an enemy and taken his scalp, bring that scalp to us.” The young man took the things and went home. The next morning, the people found a war-club hanging over the young man’s head, and the young man was lying upon his bed.
Many days after this there was a cry in the camp, “The enemy is coming to take the village!” The young man sent all the people out of his lodge, and told them to tell the people not to be in a certain pathway that he had to go through, for he wanted to go that way. The young man took up some coals from the fireplace and placed them west of the fireplace. On these he placed the sage, and let the smoke pass over his body. He took the white clay and put it all over his body. Then he twisted his hair, put the skin over his head, then took the red paint and put it in water. He dipped his hands into the water and put it on top of his head. He took the war-club and ran out of the lodge, and some of the people were scared when they saw him, for he looked like a man that had just been scalped. He ran to where the battle was going on, and the people saw him on the west side of the battlefield. He ran towards the enemy and killed one. He went around his own people, and went on the west side again and attacked the enemy, killing another one with his war-club. He scattered the enemy, because he looked so fierce on account of the blood which was dripping from his head. As soon as the enemy retreated and his people ran after them, he went back to his lodge, took the skin off from his head, put some medicine upon the fire and smoked all over his body. He then went to a creek and washed. He came back into his own lodge, and by this time the people had returned. The scalp which he had taken he put upon a long pole and placed it outside of the lodge. In the night he disappeared, for he went to the place where he had received his power.
The people did not know who he was, but after several battles they found out. They also learned that he had great powers. He became a great man through attacking the enemy, for he had power to go out on the war-path and bring home many scalps. They were not really scalps, but were pieces of scalps which he had made himself. He would not be a chief, but became a great medicine-man.