VII. THE THUNDER-BIRD OF THE DAKOTAS
(Sioux, 1895)
hat is thunder?” a white man asked a Sioux or Dakota Indian.
“Thunder is a big bird flying in the air. It makes tracks like fire. You can hear it clap its wings. It is the young thunder-birds that hurt the Sioux. The old birds will not touch us. They are our friends.”
“Did you ever see a thunder-bird?” was asked by the white man.
“I never did, but my father’s brother, Little Crow, saw one fall dead out of the sky. It had wings wide as a white man’s house, and it had lightning on its wings. It had a face like a man; its nose was like an eagle’s bill.”
“Who else ever saw one?” was the next question.
“One fall our tribe was out hunting, and a thunder-bird flew down on the ground just a little way from them. It did not hurt them; they saw that it had on [[242]]snowshoes. They found the track of the shoes when it flew away. Our tribe had good hunting that winter. They killed many bears.”
“We have only one God; why do you have so many?” was next asked.