When the tree flowered

by John G. Neihardt

“Yes, Moves Walking was with us when the thirty were killed, and I will tell you how that was. After our fall hunt when we made our winter camp on Powder River with plenty of papa and wasna, High Horse and Kicking Bear came back from Pa Sapa [the Black Hills] and the hunting with their people yonder. We had talked, the way I told you, about great deeds that we would do that winter; and so they came. It was when the Moon of Falling Leaves was young that they came, and there was not yet any snow.

“Charging Cat was going along with us again, for he had helped us when we drove off all those Crow horses. Nobody ever noticed him much, and he did not talk until he had to do it, like saying, ‘Yes,’ or, ‘No,’ maybe, or ‘We can do that.’ He had a long jaw, and he looked sad, like an old horse. But whatever we would say, he wanted to do that. The four of us were going alone, maka mani like the last time. It would be braver that way, and if we found deep snow, there would be no horses to starve—until we got some from the enemy.

“When we were getting ready, people noticed us because we had made names for ourselves. Young men came to us, and said, ‘We are men too, and we are going with you.’ So when we started, there were many of us. Some were hardly more than boys and some had sons, and some had scars from many fights.

“So when we were all ready, we started southwest, for we were going against the Shoshonis over where the mountains are. We called them snake men, because that was their sign-language name. When we had slept twice, there was a creek with plenty of wood and good water and signs of game, and there we camped to hunt and rest and eat fresh meat.

“We were camping there one sleep, and the sun was just going down again. There was no wind in the brush. Our fires were warm. Meat was boiling in the paunches of deer. They were set up, each with four sticks, and hot rocks made the water boil in them. The soup was smelling good already, along with ribs and entrails roasting over coals. It was not enemy country yet, and we felt safe there.

“All at once somebody was yelling; and when we looked, it was Last Dog running fast towards us down a little hill. He was saying, ‘They are coming! Get ready to die here! Enemies are coming!’ He was all out of breath when he came to us. ‘I was creeping up to the top of a ridge,’ he said, and he was panting hard; ‘A deer went that way, and I was creeping up, but there was no deer. There were men in the brush! I do not know how many, but there were many. Many! They were peeking out at me, and I came here to tell you. That is why I did not fight and die there. I am a man, and I will die here protecting my brothers.’ Then he began singing a death-song.

“Nobody liked Last Dog very much, because he was always talking about how brave he was. Sometimes we called him Big Mouth. But some Crows might be roving around there, so we got ready to fight right where we were. Anyway, the meat smelled good and we were hungry. There were more than fifty of us, and was not one Lakota better than two Crows? We could eat while we were waiting to fight, and that is what we did.

“It was beginning to get dark along the creek when Last Dog jumped up and said, ‘Look! They are crawling over the hilltop yonder!’ We looked and it was so. They were crawling out of the sky there, and all at once many were charging down upon us, yelling. But they were saying, ‘Hoka hey, Kola! Hoka hey, Kola!’

“They were Lakotas from our village, all maka mani like us. When we were gone two sleeps, some others thought they would follow, and others followed after them; and they had camped where we had camped. Moves Walking was with them. I think they saw Last Dog coming and wanted to watch him run. Also they were having fun with us.

“So there were about a hundred mouths around the boiling paunches and the fires, eating and laughing that night. Some of the youngsters joked Last Dog about his enemies, and one of them asked when he was going to begin dying. That made Last Dog angry, and he shouted, ‘You shall see who is a man around here!’ Then his brother-in-law He Crow, who was a good warrior and a quiet man, said, ‘Look around you, brother, and count us. We are all men around here.’ And Last Dog looked down his nose.