When the tree flowered

by John G. Neihardt

“They were all looking up at the little dog, and she was howling that queer way again, with her nose to the sky. The little girl understood again, and she began to cry, because she was scared and nobody could understand. Then the mother said, ‘Why are you crying like this?’ And the little girl answered, ‘The dog is telling us it is going to be terrible. My father and brothers are coming and enemies are coming too. It is going to be terrible. We must run away now, for it is going to be terrible. My dog is saying it!’ Then she cried harder than ever. And the mother said, ‘You must stop crying. We must wait until your father and brothers come back and they will know what to do.’ So they waited. And the little girl cried, and the little dog mourned on the hill.

“It was just before dark, and the three men came back. Loud Woman told Good Buffalo about the little girl and what the dog said. But Good Buffalo was tired from hunting all day, also he was hungry, and he said: ‘Of course we will go away from here when we are ready. We are camping here now.’

“Just then the little girl heard the dog talking up there again, and the dog said, ‘They are here! Wahoo-oo-oo! They are here! You have no ears, so I am running away! Wahoo-oo-oo!’ Then the dog was gone from the hill, and her howling was getting dimmer.

“Now the little girl was crying so hard she could hardly talk, and she said, ‘They are here! Enemies are here! My dog said it and she has run away!’

“So Good Buffalo said to his sons, ‘Let us go and see what all this is about. We can eat when we get back.’ But they did not go, for just then there were shots from out in the dark. The camp was surrounded. The women raised the tremolo. Good Buffalo began a death-song, and the sons sang with him as they ran out to meet the enemies. They did not sing long, for they were killed. Then Loud Woman beat her breast and grasped a butcher knife and went out yelling after the men. And after her the sons’ wives ran with butcher knives to help their men. Soon there was only a galloping of horses, and then it was still out in the night.

“Good Buffalo’s sister and her little niece hid under a buffalo robe inside the tepee. They thought soon they would be killed and scalped. But nothing more happened. All the enemies wanted was the horses, and maybe they thought a big camp was near.

“When it was morning, Good Buffalo’s sister and her little niece went to find the others. It was terrible—the way the dog said it was going to be. The three men and the three women were scattered around, all dead. The sister was shot in the leg—but it was not in the bone, so she was strong enough to drag the six dead people into the tepee and to place them side by side. She thought, the enemies may come back and it will be just as well to lie dead here with the others. And there she mourned, waiting for death, and the little girl cried and cried.

“When the little dog quit trying to make the people understand, and ran away, she went straight for the village. When she got there, the people were sleeping, but she ran around and around among the lodges yelping and howling, and that set all the other dogs barking. So the people awoke and ran out of their lodges to see what was happening. The little dog ran up to some relatives she knew and leaped up on them, whining and yawning, and making queer noises in her throat. And the relatives said, ‘This dog belongs to Good Buffalo’s little daughter, and he is gone hunting with his family. Something bad must have happened to them. We must go and find them.’

“It was past the middle of the night, but they did not wait until morning. They formed a war party and started in the direction Good Buffalo had gone hunting. One of them was carrying the little dog, and when they had been riding awhile, they put her on the ground. She whined and whimpered and ran ahead, and the war party followed.

“When it was getting day, they could see that the little dog was limping and could hardly carry her tail. So one of them picked her up and let her ride in front of him. Afterwhile, they came to the bottom of a hill. The little dog leaped down and limped off up the hill, howling all the way. The party followed her; and when they were at the top, they saw three tepees in the valley and no smoke coming out. It was where Good Buffalo’s sister and little daughter were waiting for death with the six who were dead.”