When the tree flowered

by John G. Neihardt

“When they understood what was said, the two Arapahoes stood up and raised their hands, thanking the Great Spirit; then they stooped and touched earth, the mother of all!

“So on the fifth day, when the morning star had seen the sun below and was getting dim, the horse-guards had all the Arapahoe ponies bunched near the village, and it was a big herd. Also, the thirty warriors were ready with the chief and his woman and his son. So were Sharp Nose and Little Bear, all dressed in the fine new clothing the Crow chiefs had given them.

“And as they started towards the new sun yonder, people sang.

“The weather was still warm, although it was winter. The snows had melted in the valleys and on the slopes that faced the day, so that there was good grazing for the horses; and every evening there was feasting in the camp, for the hunting was good and the hunters many.

“When they came to the Powder River, they had a last big feast, and then the thirty Crow warriors turned back towards their homes; for beyond that was the hunting country of the Lakota, Arapahoe, and Cheyenne, and it was safe. So Sharp Nose, Little Bear and the Crow chief with his son moved the herd onward a little every day, and every evening the chief’s woman fed her family well from a full pot. And afterwhile they were getting near to Hide Butte and the village of the Arapahoe. Then Sharp Nose said to the others, ‘You will camp here and watch the horses, for I must go and tell the people to be ready.’ So that is what they did.

“All the people were happy when Sharp Nose came back to the Arapahoe village, for his story traveled fast among the lodges. The first thing he did after he had seen his father, was to tell the head chief all that had happened; and then he said, I have done a good thing for the people, but to do it I did a very bad thing. I lied, although I had taken the pipe; for I said that you made the sacred bundle and sent us with it as a gift to the Crows, that it might plead for our horses. And now I ask you to do a bad thing also for the good of the people. When the Crow chief comes, tell him that you made the bundle and sent it.’

“When the head chief had smoked and passed the pipe to Sharp Nose, he sat silent for a while and thought. Then at last he spoke. ‘This is a hard thing you ask me to do; it is a very hard thing.’ Then he sat a long while and looked at the ground. And afterwhile he said, ‘If the pipe speak with a forked tongue, who can be trusted?’ And after that again he sat a long while without speaking. Then he spoke again. ‘It is a great thing you and the boy have done. Alone you went forth into the country of the enemy to die, and it was not for honors that you went, but for the people. If you had died, it would have been a great thing. If you had died, the people would have a great story to tell, but how could they live to tell it without horses? Now they shall live and have both the horses and the story. It is a bad thing, this that you ask me to do; but it is a good thing also, being for the people. Am I greater than the people? I will do it.’

“So while the Arapahoes were getting ready to receive the Crow chief and his family, and to celebrate the strange victory without a scalp, Sharp Nose went back to the little camp where the big herd was waiting, and with him went many Arapahoe warriors to help in bringing the horses back home.

“When the party with the whole herd, and not a colt missing, came near to the Arapahoe village, the Arapahoe chiefs and councilors came forth to meet the visitors, singing welcome as they came. And when these had surrounded the friendly strangers, three softly tanned robes, ringed round with only chiefs and councilors to carry them, were stretched that the visitors might be carried therein. Thus the Crow chief and his woman and his son entered the village of their old enemies that now were friends, all singing welcome with one great voice.

“Four days there was feasting and dancing; but the Crows were too happy to go home yet. Four more days there was feasting and dancing; then they spoke of going home, but the people were too happy to let them go. And when on the twelfth day the Crow chief said he and his family had stayed long enough, they did not go with empty hands nor alone. Twelve pack horses carried the gifts they had received; and not thirty warriors, but sixty, rode with them, not to the Powder, but all the way back.