Traditions of the Arikara

by George A. Dorsey

The old woman then told the boy that he must go into the timber and cut a good-sized ash and some dogwood. The boy went and brought back the ash and the dogwood to the old woman. The old woman scraped on the ash wood, cutting it the right length for the bow and the right length for the arrow sticks. She then told the boy to go west of her lodge and to throw the arrows into a pond that he would come to. The old woman told the boy that when he should throw these sticks into the water he should say, “Grandfather, I want the strongest bow that you can give me, and I want wonderful arrows with it.” So the boy took up the sticks and went west from the lodge. He came to the pond. He threw the sticks into the water, and said, “Grandfather, give me the strongest bow that you can give me, and wonderful arrows.” Then the boy returned into the lodge. The next morning, the boy went down to the pond, and there he found a black bow and four black arrows. These he picked up, then he went home.

The boy went to hunt every day, for now he had a good bow and good arrows. One day the boy saw the old woman place a bowl of mush behind the buffalo curtain. When she went out to her field, the boy wanted to see what made the old woman place the mush behind the curtain, for each time she pulled out the wooden bowl that had held the mush, the mush was gone. The boy went to the curtain, lifted it up, and there he saw a serpent, with its big eyes looking at him. The boy then said: “Ah! I see now! You are the one that eats all my grandmother’s mush.” The boy took his bow and arrows and shot the serpent in the head and killed it. The serpent made one great, big noise, fell back, then slipped down into the pond. After the serpent had slipped down into the pond the water spread out and formed a lake.

When the old woman came home, the boy said, “Grandmother, I have killed the big monster that was lying behind the curtain, for he was eating all your mush.” The old woman said: “My grandson, you did right. I am glad you killed him. He has gone back into the lake, where he will always remain.” The old woman really was not glad, but mad, in her heart, for she now saw that the boy had supernatural powers. She wanted the boy killed. She did not let this be known, for she decided that she would send him to the place where her wild animals were stationed. When the boy was gone the old woman cried and mourned for her husband, who was the serpent. She said (without the boy hearing), “My grandson, you have killed your grandfather.”

The next day, when the old woman was ready to go to her cornfield, she told the boy that he must not go to a certain place, for the place was dangerous. After the old woman had gone into the field the boy went to the place where the old woman told him not to go, and there he went around looking for the dangerous place. He finally saw a mountain-lion coming towards him, ready to leap upon him, but he gave a command for the mountain-lion to stop, and the mountain-lion obeyed. The boy went and led the mountain-lion to the old woman’s lodge. He told the old woman to come out, that he had an animal for her which she could ride when she went off to her field. She told the boy she was glad he had brought the animal, but she whispered to herself, “Well, you must be a wonderful boy, but you shall be killed.” She then took the animal into the brush and told it to go away, for the boy was wonderful and might kill him. As the old woman was going towards the lodge she whispered to herself, “You must be a wonderful boy, but I will send you to a place where you can not kill my animals.”

The old woman then told the boy that he must not go to a certain mountainous place, for the place was dangerous. The boy went, notwithstanding. There he found the cinnamon bear coming to attack him. He commanded the bear to stand still and do nothing. The bear obeyed. The boy then caught the bear by the ear and led it into the old woman’s lodge. He said: “Grandmother, I have an animal for you that is very tame. You can ride it, and you can have it to help you clear your field.” The old woman appeared to be glad, but she was not. She took the bear, led it into the timber, and told it to go away, for the boy was wonderful and might kill it.

The old woman then told the boy that he must not go into the southwest country; that there were four wonderful men there. The boy went, though, and he saw the four wonderful men killing buffalo. These men looked up, and said: “Here comes Old-Woman’s-Grandson. He is a wonderful boy.” The boy got to where the men were skinning a buffalo cow, and, as the entrails were taken out, the boy saw that the cow had a calf in her and that the men were taking it out. The youngest man picked the calf up, and said, “Old-Woman’s-Grandson, take this to your grandmother.” The boy jumped away from it, for he was scared. When the youngest of the men found out that the boy was afraid of the calf he kept on trying to get it near him. Old-Woman’s-Grandson kept running from the calf, until he came to a tree. He climbed the tree. The young man placed the calf on the forks of the tree, so that the boy could not get down. The men then went home with their meat. The boy stayed in the tree many days, and nearly starved, when one of the men came, and said, “Old-Woman’s-Grandson, if you will promise your grandmother to us, I will take this calf down.” The boy said, “I promise.” So the man took the fœtus down.

The boy came down from the tree and went home. The old woman, when she saw the boy coming back, said that she was glad to see him again, for she thought that he had been killed. She asked the boy where he had been, and what had kept him so long. He told her that the men had tried to kill him by placing the fœtus next to him. He also said that he had had to promise the men that they could have her if they would remove the fœtus from the tree; that he had promised and they had removed the fœtus. The old woman said that it was well, but that she had one thing to ask of them, and that was, that they should give the boy something in return for his grandmother. So the boy went and visited these men in their lodge. He said to the men: “What is it that you are to give me in return for my grandmother? My grandmother has consented to marry you men.” The men said, “We are to give you a bow and arrows.” The boy went home and told his grandmother that they were to give him a bow and arrows. The old woman said: “That is good. That is what I wanted you to have. Go to the lodge of the wonderful men, and as you enter the lodge, rush around to the south side of the lodge, where there are five bows set up. The middle bow you shall take up, and say, ‘This I shall take in return for my grandmother.’” So the boy went into the lodge with the men. He ran to the south side of the lodge, and there the bows were, leaning up against the wall of the lodge. He picked up the middle bow and arrows. The men were all sorry that the boy had picked out the middle bow and arrows. The boy then told the men they could go to the home of his grandmother and be with her. Itaque hi ad anus domicilium venerunt ibique cum ea sicut cum uxore concubuerunt.

After they had left the lodge the old woman called the boy, and said, “Take this flute and play around the lodge of these wonderful men.” Her grandson took the flute and went to the lodge of the wonderful men and there he played the flute, circling around the lodge. When the wonderful men heard the flute they were scared. They closed up their lodge with earth. The boy kept on whistling, for he was now taking revenge on them for trying to put the fœtus next to him. The men lived on the meat they had in their lodge, but this soon gave out. These wonderful men died of hunger, and were never to be known again upon the earth.

The young man went home and told the old woman that the men had died; that the earth had closed in on them. The old woman was satisfied. Then she thought, “Now is the time to send my grandson to dangerous places, so that he may be killed, and I shall be freed from him.” The grandmother told the boy he must not go upon a certain hill, for the place was very dangerous. The boy went upon the hill, and there he found a den. He entered this den. He found that it was a den of Snakes. Before the boy entered the den he picked up a little rock and took it with him, and when he sat down in the lodge in the den of Snakes he placed the stone upon the ground and sat upon it as upon a stool. The Snakes were glad to see the boy. The boy said: “Well, you people are here in a den, trying to catch eagles. It seems to me that you people ought to welcome a stranger to your den. It seems that I am not welcome.” The Snakes all spoke up, and said: “Old-Woman’s-Grandson, you have spoken the truth. We will now give you something to eat.” So one of the Snakes spread out hot coals and placed a long gut for the boy to eat. This was rolled in the hot coals until it was burned a little, then it was taken off and given to the boy to eat. The boy took up the gut by each end and placed the ends together. He commenced to tell the Snakes that he had come a long way and was very hungry; that he would very much like to eat that, but as he saw that the gut was not well done he could not eat it. He twisted the ends, and the Snakes whispered to one another, “Why, he knows that this is a Snake, for he has twisted the head off.” As he twisted the head off he saw plainly that it was a Snake. He threw the head into the fire and placed the gut upon the hot coals again and roasted it some more. He left the Snake burning until it was burned so that he could not eat it. Once in a while he would hear the Snakes say, “What are you waiting for?” Then some Snake would disappear in the ground and would come up and try to get into the boy’s rectum, and they would hit the rock and tell the rest of the Snakes that they could do nothing, that the boy was sitting upon a rock.