One day it was noised through the camp that the people were going on the war-path. Village-Boy then told his friend that if after they had been gone for three days the scouts should kill any Buffalo, he should get some of the knee-caps of the Buffalo and keep them for him, as he would follow close after them.
The war-party started out, and after they had been gone three days Village-Boy told his father that he was going to start out to overtake the war-party. He also told his sisters to make him some moccasins. So the young man started out on the journey; but before this happened the Wolf had been coming to visit the young man, and had taught the young man the secret powers of the Wolf. So the young man started out, and when he had come to a ravine he rolled himself upon the ground, and when he got up he was a Wolf.
The Wolf followed the trail of the warriors. Some time in the night he came to their camp. He did not go right into the camp, but stayed behind, and some time in the night he barked like a Wolf. His friend said, “There is my friend, Village-Boy.” He took up the burned bones and took them to him. When he got there it was the Village-Boy. He threw the bones at the boy. The boy gnawed at the bones, just like a Wolf. When Village-Boy got through eating, he told his friend to go back to the camp where the others were and to watch out, for the next day he should see him, and that then he should tell the people that it was Village-Boy. The boy went to the camp, while Village-Boy went on ahead.
The next day Village-Boy was seen coming. Village-Boy’s friend told the other warriors that he was Village-Boy. So he ran up to Village-Boy. Village-Boy then told his friend that the enemy’s camp was a short distance away. The warriors then stopped and sang some songs for Village-Boy. Village-Boy departed. The next day they saw him again, driving many ponies. He brought them to the people. Then he led the warriors into camp. The war-party then attacked the enemy’s village. Village-Boy was in the lead. He killed one enemy and took his scalp. He left, and hid out while the battle was going on. After a time the warriors came back where the horses were, and Village-Boy came there. He gave the scalp to the leader of the war-party, also all the ponies, telling him that he was going ahead of them.
Village-Boy now returned to his home. Not a word was spoken by him, nor was anything said by him about the battle. He just lay upon his bed.
A few days afterward the war-party returned home and near the village had a sham battle. The people went out to meet them. It was announced by the leader of the war-party that Village-Boy had done all the killing, and capturing of the ponies. Village-Boy’s father thought that the warriors were making fun of his son because he had come back several days before without anything. But when the warriors came into the village and showed the scalp that Village-Boy had taken and given to the leader, and also when the ponies he had captured were brought to the village, then all the old men believed. Village-Boy’s father scolded him because he had said nothing. Scalp dances were made throughout the village. The young man’s sisters now danced the scalp-dance without fear of ridicule. Whenever the young man went out to dance the women surrounded him. He married and became one of the great men of the village.
One day he took several warriors and went east. He came to a village that was known as the “Village-of-the-Dumb-People.” He left the war-party behind and went into the village by himself. He killed their medicine-man, cut his throat, and carried the head away. As he carried the head away it kept mumbling. The people became excited when they found out that their prophet was dead. They began to talk in a peculiar language. These warriors were followed by the Dumb-People, who did not catch up with them.
The head of the medicine-man was placed in the village. When the head dried it turned into a kind of wood. The people used this head for medicinal purposes. When they wanted to give it to a patient they scraped a portion from the head and gave it to the person for certain sicknesses. It cured many people. The same head is still among our people, only it is about the size of a hen’s egg now.