"So many moons ago it happened, that the Indians cannot count them now," she said, poking the ashes with a long stick. "The Sun Spirit, angered because the Thunder Bird had flown across the sky day after day, made a trap and caught him. So the Sun held the Thunder Bird captive that it might not fly across the sky and make shadows with its great black wings. Because of this there was no rain and the earth grew thirsty. Then the grass died and the young corn shrivelled away.
"The ponies grew thin and weak, the streams shrank to small threads of water and many of them became dry sand. The antelopes moved away or died because there was no grass, and though the Medicine Man planted his prayer-sticks and begged the Great Spirit to help his children, the Great Spirit did not listen to his voice.
"Then a young man of the Quahadas, and his wife, knowing that their people would starve, wandered away together, hand in hand, to seek the Great Spirit and offer him their own lives for the sake of their people with whom the Great Spirit was angry.
"For three days before they started neither of them had eaten even a mouthful of maize, nor had they taken any water, so that there might be more left for the others who were not so strong as they were.
"Across the desert of hot sand that burned like fire against their bare feet, they two wandered alone. For many days they found nothing but heat, thirst, and hunger, and often they lay down on the scorching sand, too weak to go farther. But when they had rested a few minutes, they remembered their people, and so they rose wearily and continued their search for the Great Spirit.
"And one day the Great Spirit, who had been watching them all the time, appeared before them and said that because he had seen their great love and pity and knew that their own sufferings had not made them weaken in their search for him, their prayers would be answered, and the sacrifice of their lives was not desired by him. He touched the dry sand, and a stream of clear water ran past their feet, so they fell upon the sand and thanked the Great Spirit. Then they laid their lips in the cool ripples, and drank their fill.
"As they arose they saw food before them and many strange beautiful fruits, which the Great Spirit bade them eat. Then he told them of the Sun Dance and how the big Sun Lodge must be built, and how the chiefs and the Medicine Men could vanquish the Spirit of the Sun when it held the Thunder Bird captive.
"After they had eaten and had thanked the Great Spirit, they promised to do as he bade them. Then the man and the woman returned rejoicing of their people and gave the message to them.
"And the Quahadas obeyed the Great Spirit, and made a prisoner of the Sun, so the Thunder Bird was free. Then it stretched its broad wings and flew swiftly over the land. The rain fell from the black feather tips until the land was flooded and the grass leaped up, the flowers bloomed, the antelopes returned, the ponies of the Quahadas grew fat and strong and the whole tribe rejoiced because the Great Spirit smiled upon them and their children.
"One day they saw a great black mass like a thunder cloud sweeping across the prairie close to the ground. As it drew nearer they saw that it was not a cloud, but a vast herd of strange, big, black animals, such as none of them had ever seen before, and of which no one had ever told them or their forefathers. Then the Quahadas hid their faces, for they heard the voice of the Great Spirit speaking from the sky.