Traditions of the Arikara

by George A. Dorsey

While all this was going on the Coyote had one eye open. After the girl was through with the performance she told the Coyote to come out. She went out with the Coyote and they skinned the buffalo. They brought the meat into the lodge, and left the hides outside. Every day the girl and the Coyote jerked the meat. The Coyote laid the bones around the fireplace and roasted them. When the Coyote ate the roast meat that was cooked he would think of his hungry children far away. At last he decided to steal the windpipe that contained the young men and to take it far away into his country, so that he could call the buffalo and have the young men to kill them. He said to himself: “If I find the enemy’s camp I will attack them. I will turn that windpipe upside down and those brothers will come out, and they will fight for me. The people will think that I am a wonderful man.” One day the Coyote asked the girl if her seven brothers in the windpipe were the only ones there. She said, “No, for, if I am attacked, I turn that windpipe upside down and there will be many young men, and my seven brothers will lead them out and they will fight for me.” The Coyote said to himself, “That is good; I will steal it.” So the Coyote made up his mind to steal the windpipe that night. The girl knew what the Coyote was planning all the time, but she allowed him to steal it. The Coyote went up to the windpipe, took it down and went out of the lodge, to the north. He traveled far. He thought, “I am now far away from the girl; I will lie down by the side of this log and sleep.” The girl knew just where the Coyote had lain down, and so she had her brothers bring the Coyote back and place him at the ridge just before the entrance of the lodge, on the north side. In the morning the girl got up, went to the Coyote and waked him. When the Coyote awoke he found himself in the lodge. He said: “My niece, I thought the enemy were coming, so I took this thing down, so that I could put the brothers outside so that they could fight for us. I must have gone to sleep here. Put it back.” Again the Coyote thought, “Well, I will stay, and I will yet steal this windpipe.” So one night he took the windpipe down again and went off. He went until he came to a place where there were some ashes where timber had been burned. He lay down to rest. The girl told her brothers to bring him back and place him outside of the lodge, where there was a pile of ashes. She went out in the morning, waked him, and the Coyote, when he awoke, found himself by the lodge. “My niece,” he said, “I took this thing down, for there was a war-party coming to attack us. I went to meet the war-party and they ran away, and I came back and lay down here, for I was tired.” The third time he tried to steal the windpipe, but again he failed. The fourth time, the girl let the Coyote carry the thing off. So the Coyote went off, and the girl did not have him brought back. He became hungry, and as he saw a village he thought to himself, “If I do this wonderful thing to these people they will find out that I am wonderful and they will take me from one lodge to another to feed me.” So the Coyote went up on the hill. He commenced to howl at the people in the village to come and kick with him. He thought that if he could get them to kick with him he would turn the windpipe upside down and the young men would run. The young men in the village said: “That fellow is howling for us to come and kick with him. Let us go up and kick with him.” So several young men went up on the hill where the Coyote was. The Coyote took the windpipe and turned it upside down, but instead of dust and the boys coming out, a swarm of bumblebees came out, and they commenced to sting the Coyote all over. The boys continued to kick him. The Coyote began to beg them not to kick. The young men ran into the timber and the bees left the Coyote and went up into a hollow tree. There they stayed. The Coyote went off as a coyote. The bees stayed in the timber, as bees.

FOOTNOTES:

[29] Told by Antelope.

29. THE BUFFALO-WIFE AND THE JAVELIN GAME.[30]

A long time ago there was a village upon the Missouri River. In this village was a young man who was well-to-do. He was handsome, but did not care for women. He seemed to be successful in all his undertakings. In hunting he killed many deer and antelope. He dug holes upon high hills and covered them with willows and placed carcasses of rabbits or some fresh meat on them. Magpies would come there and eat of the meat, then eagles would light there, so that he dragged them in. People got to calling him “Man-Who-Kills-Game-Easily.”

One day he went hunting, and as he climbed up on a high hill he saw somebody coming. The boy lay down upon the hill and went to sleep. When he awoke the sun had gone down, and it was night. He lay down again and went to sleep. He saw a buffalo cow sitting upon a prairie and two bulls were standing back of her, and each bull was saying, “I will ring her.” The boy thought that he was standing by looking on. When the bulls ran to where the buffalo cow was sitting they turned into sticks and the boy also saw that the cow had turned to a ring. The boy, in his dream, picked up each stick and examined it, so that he knew just how they were made. He also thought he picked up the ring and examined it. The next morning he woke up. He looked where he had seen a person the day before and he saw something there. This time it was not a person, but a buffalo cow. The cow came and stopped on a prairie. She sat down. The boy went down from the hill, for the cow was by it. The boy could see no other cow. Bovi appropinquavit quacum, cum benigna videretur, concubuit. When he stood back the cow disappeared. The boy looked into the grass and there was the ring he had dreamed of. He picked up the ring and went home. He wore it upon his wrist. Every night he dreamed about the sticks, so he went out one day and cut ash timber and made the sticks. Every morning the young man used to go outside the village and call out, “I have sticks here to play with!” The young men of the village came out and played the game. Some of them would rather play the game than eat. This particular man was skillful in playing the game. He seemed to be the only one who could catch the ring. He won many things, such as eagle feathers, wampum, beads and many other things. The game became very popular. Men came from their homes and played all day with the sticks.

One day the boy took his bow and arrows and went hunting for game. The game generally was plentiful, but on this hunt the boy failed to find any game. He kept on going south until he came to a valley where there was a large stream of water. There in the valley he saw a person. He approached and saw that the person was an old woman. The young man spoke to the old woman, and she said: “My grandson, I am weak. Take pity on me. Carry me across the river, that I may go out to the village.” The young man told her to walk and that he would hold her while she crossed the river. But the old woman said: “No, my grandson; put me upon your back, take me across, and set me upon that nice grass on the other side.” The young man gave in, and he put the old woman upon his back and waded the river. After the boy had crossed the river he said, “Well, you had better get off.” The old woman said, “My grandson, take me a little further.” So the boy went on. When the boy stopped to put the old woman down she laughed, and said: “No, my grandson; you cannot put me down; I am your wife now.” The boy became furious and tried to throw the old woman off, but she was fast to his back. The boy stuck her with his knife and tried hard to get her off, but the old woman stuck on and laughed at the boy. The old woman said: “Grandson, you might as well go home, for I am to stay with you always. Let the young men see you carry an old woman. You are so proud that you do not look at the women.” The young man made up his mind to go home. So he went home with the old woman upon his back.

People looked at the young man coming into camp with an old woman upon his back. Children crowded about him and followed the boy through the village. He went into his lodge and told his friends what had happened to him. The people placed the young man in the lodge and medicine-men were sent for. All the medicine-men failed to get the old woman off the young man’s back. While the people crowded around, a poor boy came and stood with the people. He spoke out and said, “I can take the old woman from that young man’s back.” Then he disappeared. The people heard the poor boy speak, and the people told the relatives what the poor boy said. The poor boy was living in a shelter with his grandmother. The boy spoke to his grandmother, and said: “Grandmother, the people are coming after me to take the woman off from the boy. I can take her off.” The old woman felt sorry for her grandson, not knowing that the boy had powers to take the old woman off. The relatives of the boy came and brought with them the medicine-men’s pipe. The men stood before the boy, holding the pipe before him. The boy reached and took it. The people thanked the boy for taking it. The boy then took his bow and four arrows of different colors. He put his old robe on, holding his bow and arrows in his left hand. He went into the lodge of the young man with the old woman upon his back.