Traditions of the Arikara

by George A. Dorsey

When No-Tongue saw the strange man he did not know what to do. He was not the same man who had taken his tongue. This man looked white, because he was the Moon. The Moon asked No-Tongue why he had given away his tongue and to whom he had given it. No-Tongue answered, “How can I talk without a tongue?” The Moon said, “Speak, and tell me.” So the boy spoke, and he found that he was able to talk. So he began to tell what the man looked like. The Moon said he was sure that the man was the Sun. Then the Moon spoke to No-Tongue, and said: “The Sun was trying to kill you. No-Tongue, hereafter you shall be my son; but let your other father, the Sun, come after you first. I must tell you what to say. You will not be killed by the Sun. The Sun is coming for you to-morrow morning, and when you go up to our dwelling place (the heavens) he is going to show you some things that he has. You must now be careful not to take the new things that he has, but you shall take the old things. Take the old weapons. The Sun thinks a great deal of these old weapons.” This is all that the Moon said. The Moon then disappeared.

In the morning, the Sun came to No-Tongue and took him up into the sky to his home, and said, “Now, my son, I want you to choose of these things that I have here.” No-Tongue took the oldest things. When the Sun saw that No-Tongue took the best things—the oldest ones—he came out from his lodge crying, because this would give No-Tongue a long life, and would also make him become great, and this was what the Sun did not want of No-Tongue. He had thought that No-Tongue would surely take the new things. But if No-Tongue had taken the new things, that would have shortened his life and made it impossible for No-Tongue to become great. Then the Sun began to think of some way to kill No-Tongue, but he never could take back the things No-Tongue had taken, having promised them to him. As they came out from the Sun’s lodge the Sun said: “My son, look. There is your home. Look all around you. You can see everything plainly. When you go home, after two days have passed, you must go on the war-path, and you will conquer old enemies. You will have all you want. You are to be great. But when you, my son, go home, give to me a white buffalo robe.” So the Sun went away.

When night came, the Moon came out and spoke to No-Tongue, and asked what the Sun had said to him. No-Tongue told the Moon all that the Sun had told him, and the Moon said, “Do not give him the white buffalo robe, but give that to me, and get a dark-brown robe for the Sun.” The Moon then began to tell No-Tongue what to do. He told him to get some white clay and make powder out of it, and then pour the white powder all over the robe, so that it would look white. So No-Tongue did as he was told to do.

When the Sun received the white buffalo robe, which really was not white, he was proud of it; furthermore, he was proud that his son had obtained it for him. One day he hung the robe out, and the wind was blowing hard. The wind shook all the white clay out of the robe, so that the robe turned to a dark-brownish color. Then the Sun saw that it was not a real white buffalo robe, and did not like it.

When the Moon and the Sun got together, the Sun said, “I am sorry for what my son has done to me, and now my dear son is going to kill him.” The Sun had a son who belonged to another tribe, and this was the son who was to kill No-Tongue. So the Moon heard all that the Sun had to say.

One night the Moon saw No-Tongue, and told the young man all that the Sun had said. The Moon said that the Sun could not do anything to kill him. The Moon said: “The man that you are to fight with is going to try to shake hands with you, because he is your cousin,—not a real cousin, but because you are the son of the Sun and so is he,—so he is your cousin. He is the one who has been selected to kill you. But do not be afraid; I shall be with you and will help you all I can. Do not shake hands with the young man, your cousin, and if you must shake hands, do not shake with your right hand. Be very careful not to let him strike you first. If you should shake hands with him, strike him. You must not let him strike you first; and when you have killed him, cut his head off and put it under a big stone that shall be near you, so that the Sun will not make him live again. By placing the head under the stone the Sun will be prevented from bringing him to life.” The Moon also said, “Be careful to do what I have told you to do.” No-Tongue was glad. The Moon also told No-Tongue that the young man he was to fight with was named Little-Sun.

Two days after this some warriors went out on the war-path. Before they had gone far the Sun went to No-Tongue, and said: “My son, I am glad you are going on the war-path; I want you to kill a man for me. He is coming. He thinks he is great, but he is not. So kill him for me.” The Sun said all of this, not meaning it, for he was planning that Little-Sun might kill No-Tongue. So the warriors started on the war-path, and in a few days they came to the place which they thought would be a good place to remain for a while. The leaders selected scouts to go out and look over the country. The scouts went up a high hill, and there they met the spies of the enemy coming up from the other side. These did not stop, but turned straight back again, and went and told the enemy, and of course the other scouts turned back and told their leaders that the enemy was coming. So in the morning, the two sets of people came together, and they fought a battle; but before starting the battle there was a man who stood in front of the enemy’s line, and said, “No-Tongue, I want you to come and shake hands with me, for you are amongst those people.” No-Tongue went to him, and when they were nearly together, everybody saw that the two were dressed so as to look very much alike, but they did not know that they were to fight each other; but the two knew that they were to fight, and that they were both sons of the Sun. No-Tongue did what the Moon had told him to do. He killed Little-Sun. Then No-Tongue’s people defeated the enemy. They took many scalps, and returned home.

The Sun became mad at No-Tongue, because he had killed Little-Sun, for the Sun had expected No-Tongue to be killed. The Sun had tried three times to kill No-Tongue; so the fourth time, the Sun himself was going to scalp No-Tongue, so that the people would make fun of him. Then the Sun told his other son, Big-Sun, to try and kill No-Tongue. No-Tongue was the only one living. He was the one who had not treated his father, the Sun, right, for the Sun had not treated No-Tongue right in the first place. But No-Tongue had been assisted by the Moon.

The third time the Sun tried to kill No-Tongue, he changed himself into a Buffalo, so that the Buffalo ran after No-Tongue, but the young man, No-Tongue, ran into a mud-hole, and the Buffalo fell in too. No-Tongue got out of the muddy place, but the Buffalo could not come out, because he was so heavy. No-Tongue told a lot of men to get some dried willows and to place them upon the back of the Buffalo. This they did. They set the wood on fire, so that the Buffalo burned up.