When the tree flowered

by John G. Neihardt

“So that is what he did; only he did not ride back very far. He dodged into a side draw and came around some hills until he was far ahead of his people; and there was the tepee with the dead man in it.

“He did not go in there right away, because that was not the way it was in his big thought. He went down to the creek and tied his horse in the brush. Then he stripped naked and covered himself all over with mud, and made streaks in the mud with his finger. After that he painted his face with the mud to make it look terrible. Last of all, he emptied out the fresh cow’s bladder and pulled it over his hair and his head and his ears, right down to his eyes. He almost scared himself when he looked into the water.

“By now the sun was going down, and he went into the tepee where the dead man was lying all dressed up with five big plugs of tobacco beside him. The wild young man wanted to smoke right away; but he knew if he did that, the old people would come and he would not get all the tobacco for himself. So he hid under his blanket over against the tepee wall and waited.

“Afterwhile when the day was just getting half-dark, he could hear the four old people coming. Then he heard his grandfather say: ‘Soon our grandson will be coming back, and while we are waiting we may as well make an offering and get the tobacco.’ So they came into the tepee and sat down at the feet of the dead young man. The grandfather then filled his pipe with red willow bark and made an offering to the spirit. ‘Young man,’ he said, ‘whoever you are and wherever your spirit is now, here is an offering. We ask the favor of you that no harm shall come to us for taking your tobacco. We will always remember you when our days are ripe.’

“Just then the wild young man put his head out from under the blanket and yelled: ‘How!’

“When Charger got to this place he always quit talking awhile; but you could see the story going on. You could see how terrible the ghost looked, the way grandmother waddled as she ran, the way grandfather hopped with a lame leg, how mother covered her head with her blanket, running and falling, getting up and running some more. And you could see the father away out ahead going like a man in a foot race with his braids standing flat out behind his head because he was getting out of there so fast. You could see grandmother look back at the ghost and faint because it was so terrible. Then grandfather looked and fainted. Then mother looked and fainted. And then there was a big foot race between father and the ghost. You could watch Charger and see it—father puffing and grunting with his eyes almost popping out of his head, the ghost puffing and grunting and looking terrible. By the time the ghost caught up and father fainted, everybody was laughing so hard that Charger would have to wait before he could finish his story. And it was not easy to quit laughing, because Charger kept on looking so sorry and surprised, as though he thought it wasn’t funny to be chased by a ghost like that.

“Then the wild young man went back to the creek and washed himself all clean, and threw the cow’s bladder away. And when he was dressed, he got on his horse and rode around so that he could come galloping from where he said he had lost something and had to go back for it.

“So he did that, and when he came to where the four old people were huddled together waiting for him, he heard all about it, and he was so brave that his father and mother and his grandfather and grandmother were very proud of him. He said: ‘I will go and get that tobacco, and if the ghost tries to chase me I will fight him.’ They begged him not to do that because the ghost was so terrible. But he said: ‘Make a fire here and I will get the tobacco and bring the drag and the ponies so that we can eat and smoke. Maybe that ghost can chase old people; but if he tries to chase me, there is going to be a dead ghost around here.’

“They tried to hold him, but he went anyway; and afterwhile he came back with the tobacco and the horses and the drag. Then grandmother said: ‘We are safe now, for I think the ghost is afraid of our brave young grandson.’ But when they had eaten, the old people would not even touch the tobacco.

“So the wild young man had enough for once.”