The enemy never charged their village for a long time. The young man was never known as Rabbit-Man in the enemy’s camp. Every time he attacked the village he went through by way of the girl’s tipi. Each time, the girl came out of the tipi. The girl met the boy. At one of these times when the boy had attacked the village and killed a man, he ran by the tipi and saw the girl. The girl cheered him. The boy went on. In another of these attacks, the boy saw the girl. He knew that she must like him. He went on through the village and home.
The people in the boy’s village had scalp dances where all the women took part. The young man seldom took part, but his sisters took part. One night when Rabbit-Boy was lying on his bed the women came. They took him out and made him dance. He danced several times. Four or five women became fond of him and tried to marry him, but he would pay no attention to them. While all this dancing was going on, the girl in the enemy’s camp was making a pretty pair of moccasins, a pair of beaded bracelets and beaded armlets. She sent for a servant, a woman captive from the Arikara. The girl told the woman that she would help her to get back to her people if she would speak to a young man who was killing her people all the time. This servant woman said that she had no way of traveling. The girl said: “I shall give you two of my best ponies, and I want you to take these moccasins and bracelets to that young man, and tell him that he is a brave man; that I want him very badly; and that when he shall come to my tipi I shall have six tipi pegs drawn up on the north side of the tipi where my bed is; that when he shall reach in his hand I will feel for the bracelet, and if I find it upon his wrist I shall know that it is he.” So the girl took the servant woman out of the camp, caught two of her ponies, and they rode many miles. The girl then handed the bracelets, moccasins, and something to eat to the servant woman and told her to go to her people. The woman thanked the girl and went back to her people.
She came to the village of the Arikara. In the night she went to the dances. She asked one woman where Rabbit-Boy was. It happened that on this night the young man was dancing, so the woman went and danced with the young man, then whispered to him and told him that she wanted to see him. The young man thought that she wanted to marry him, but when they were away from the people the woman told Rabbit-Boy how the girl in the enemy’s camp had helped her to get away; that it was the girl who had her tipi in the center of the village every time he went through; that the girl wanted him; and that she had given him the moccasins and the bracelets for him to wear when he should go to her village. The young man said, “I will go.” So the young man started that night. He traveled all the next day and the next night before he reached the enemy’s camp. He went to the north side of the tipi. He felt for the pegs, and there were six of them drawn up. He then knew that the woman had told the truth. He put his hand in, and it was caught. The woman felt for the bracelet, and when she had found it she pulled Rabbit-Boy in. The young man crawled into the tipi and put his robe on top of hers, and crawled under it. There they lay together, although they could not talk. The young man stayed with the girl all night. In the morning, when the girl’s father, who was chief of the tribe, woke up, he saw the things that the boy wore in battle hanging down from a tipi pole. He looked down and there he saw Rabbit-Boy in bed with his daughter. He made a big fire and sent for the warriors. The warriors came, preparing to kill the young man. There was one man who did not come with the rest, but when he came he told the people to disperse to their homes; that although the young man had been killing their people, he, for one, was glad that he had come and married one of their girls; that now he would not kill any more, but that he would lead their people out to the enemy’s country and help kill the people. So the young man and the girl were told to rise and sit by the fireplace. The young man stayed in this village for several months. Now, the people at Rabbit-Boy’s home thought that he had died. But the woman who had returned from captivity told them that he would be coming after a while and that she knew where he was.
The old chief was much pleased to have Rabbit-Boy for a son-in-law, for now he would have scalps hanging on top of his tipi. The people got together one day and said they wanted to go on the war-path. The young man joined them. They went to his own country. The young man put his people at a certain place, while he himself went near to the village and found women who were working in their corn patches. There he found one woman whom the Arikara had captured from the people of his wife’s tribe. Rabbit-Boy killed this woman, took her scalp, and took it back to the people of her tribe. Then the people all went back to their camp and had war dances. The scalp was given to the old chief. He had it strung between his tipi poles, so the scalp hung high in the air. Every time a war-party went out this young man would go with it. He would manage to get the people to stay at a distance. He would then go to the fields, and whenever he found a captive from this tribe he would kill it, but he would not kill members of his own tribe. The young man led several war-parties, and always managed to kill captives, but never killed members of his own tribe. Finally the old chief asked that they might go to the young man’s home. This they did. The young man’s people gave him presents for his wife’s people. They then returned to their country. The Arikara visited them, and they made peace. They never made war on one another any more.
FOOTNOTES:
[34] Told by Elk.
34. THE MAN AND THE WATER-DOGS.[35]
Long ages ago there was a village with so many inhabitants that it had four medicine-lodges. There was one man who was so brave that his fame extended beyond the village. He committed some evil deeds among his own people, but his people were afraid to correct him. Thus he went on, committing more misdemeanors. He became so bad that the people undertook to take his life. They formed a plot to seize him. One family invited the man to a feast. When he entered the lodge many men gathered about the lodge and waited till he came out. The man came out and walked very slowly toward the river. He never paid no attention to the men nor even tried to fight back, but went on his way. Finally he stepped into the river, and some one cried out to the men to catch him, but it was too late. He sank down in the water and the people shouted for joy, because they thought he was drowned.
The man walked on down on the bottom of the river and he saw there a tipi. From its door came a Dog, and the Dog called to the man to come in. He went in, and he saw many Dogs. The leader of the Dogs raised his head and said that he was not hurt and that they never would injure him. The leader showed much mercy toward the man and told him not to be afraid of any man; and that if he should ever get hurt he was to come right to the water and the Dogs would be glad to receive him. So the man went out of the tipi and came up out of the water. When it was night he went to the village.
He entered his house and saw his wife. He sat down and told her that he regarded as nothing all the wounds he had received from the men who tried to kill him. The woman was surprised, and was much afraid of him. The man ordered his wife to go after some tobacco from one of the councils that was being held in the village. She went at once and entered one of the councils. She asked the head men for some tobacco for her husband. The men were much agitated and afraid, so they gave her some tobacco. The woman returned and the man was much pleased. The men in the council decided to send a messenger to see if the man had returned. One young man went and peeped in and saw the man, all naked, sitting in his tipi. He returned to the council and told what he had seen. The men were more afraid. From that time on, the man committed worse crimes than before, yet the people were afraid to make another attempt to kill him. The man’s relatives gathered with the woman’s relatives and they separated from the village, to return no more. They went in the night, and before morning they camped. Some young men and the famous one came to the village and killed a man and a woman. The people knew who it was and yet they did not dare to fight them. This was a separation where the people never meet again, which happened because the man did the bad deeds.