[11] Told by Hawk.
11. HOW THE PEOPLE ESCAPED THE BUFFALO.[12]
A long time ago, when the people came out through the ground, a woman led them through the country. This woman was known as “Mother.” The people were human beings, and they had among them all kinds of animals, except the buffalo. The people traveled over the land, and as they went by a large lake a monster came out from the lake, which looked like a buffalo, for it had horns.
The people ran, crying that this animal was coming. They said this animal was what they called “Cut-Nose”. The animal kept coming, and at the same time there seemed to come out from under him buffalo. The buffalo caught up with them and they killed some of the people. The people made canyons behind, so that the buffalo could not cross, and thus they escaped the buffalo at this time.
While they were going on, a Whirlwind came. The people prayed to Mother to help them, and she turned around and told them to give presents and smoke to the Whirlwind. The Whirlwind scattered some of the people over the country. The crowd went on again.
While they were going on, again a noise was heard from behind and the people said, “The buffalo are coming after us again, and Cut-Nose is in the lead.” The people ran until they came to a big timber, which was very thick. The Owl came, and tried to make a path for the people through the timber, but he failed. The people cried for help. The Badger worked a little, digging through the ground, but it also failed. The people then looked around for help. The Coyote and the Dog came, and they opened a way through the timber.
These people went on, and again they looked around, and they saw the buffalo coming on again. The buffalo ran after the people, Cut-Nose with them, and they began to kill the people. The people came to deep water. There was no crossing, and the buffalo were killing them. They called on the Mother for help. The Dogs came, and said, “We will try to make a pathway through this water for the people,” but the Dogs failed. The Loons came. They made an opening through the waters, and the people passed through, and the buffalo were left on the other side.
The people after crossing this big water went on, and again they looked, and there was Cut-Nose coming with the buffalo. The people ran. They came to a canyon. The people prayed to Mother to make a pathway. She called on the Kingfisher, who struck the bank on each side, but failed. The Mole came, struck the bank, and failed. The Badger then came and dug on each side of the bank. The banks fell, and thus a pathway was formed for the people. They went across, and by this canyon they made their village.
There Mother held ceremonies for the different bundles. Other people had also received bundles, but no ceremony. The Awaho bundle people were the last to come, and they were the last to receive all the ceremonies from Mother, so that these people understood all the ceremonies. They were known as “Awaho” (Left-Behind), for these people, it seems, had been left behind when the people had come out from the ground. So, as the Awaho people went west, following up the trail, they found, when they reached the camp sites of the other people, meat offerings to the different gods. There was nothing left behind by the other people that the Awaho people were afraid to pick up, for they claimed to be under the protection of the gods, and therefore had a right to all the things that are offered to the gods. So the word “Awaho” means “Left-Behind.” Also, it means that they may take and cook again, and eat any meat offering to the gods that has been left behind. Other people who had bundles could not do this. They were afraid to touch meat that had already been offered to the gods.