Aw-Aw-Tam Indian Nights Part 20

And I spread the news when I got home, and set the doctor over it.

And there was the stump of the doctor's pipe standing there, and smoking itself, and I imbibed it, and smoked it toward the enemy, and the smoke changed into different colors of flowers, white, glittering, grey and yellow, and reached the edge of the earth, the land of the Apache, and circled around there.

And it softened the earth, and brought fresh gra.s.s, and fresh leaves on the trees, so that the Apaches would be gathered together.

And my western famous enemy went and told his son to go to his uncle, to see if it was so that there was plenty of gra.s.s and plenty of things to eat there.

And his son went and said: 'My father sent me to find out about these things,' and his uncle said: 'It is so what he has heard, that we have plenty of things to eat, and all kinds of game, and that is what I eat.

You go back and tell the old man to come, so that I will be with him here.'

So the boy went and told the old man this, and he got up and put on his nose-ring of turquoise, and took his cake of paint, and his locks of hair, and his pouch.

After he got everything together he started out and camped for one night, and arriving at his destination the next morning, after the sun rose, came to his brother and called him, 'Brother!' with a loud voice.

And the next morning the brother got up and went hunting, and found a dead deer, and brought it home, and called it fresh meat, and they ate it together.

But instead of eating deer they ate themselves up.

And their skins became like sick person's skin, and their hair became coa.r.s.e, and their eyes were sore, and they became lousy, and were so weak that they left their hands beneath their heads when they scratched themselves lying down.

And the brother's wife went and gathered seed to eat, and found it easy to gather, without husks, and thought to enjoy eating it, but when she ate it she ate her own lice, and her skin became as a sick person's skin, her hair became coa.r.s.e, her person lousy, her eyes sore.

And my enemy in the far east heard about food being so plenty to eat there, and sent his son to ask his uncle if these reports were so.

And his father got up and took his war-bonnet of eagle-feathers, and his moccasins, and, using his power, brought even his wind and his clouds and his rainbow with him, and all his crops, for tho he had plenty at home he thought to find more at his brother's place.

And, camping one night on the road, he came to his brother, after sunrise, and called him 'Brother' with a loud voice.

And everything happened to this enemy from the east, and his brother, and brother's wife, that had happened to the enemy from the west and his brother and brother's wife.

And I found the Apache enemy early in the morning, lying asleep, still needing his blanket, and covering himself up, and captured him without trouble.

And there I captured all his property, and took from him captives and many scalps, and my way coming back seemed to be down hill, and I strengthened myself and came to the level ground.

And when I came to the hollow where I drank, the water rippled from my moving it.

And I appointed messengers to go ahead and tell those at home, the old men and women waiting to hear of us, the good news of our victory.

And after sending on the messengers I went on, rejoicing, carrying the consciousness of my victory over the Apaches with me; and arriving home at evening I found the land filled with the news, even the tops of the hills covered.

And I told my people to send word to our western relatives, and to our southern relatives, and our eastern relatives, that the good news might be known to all."

After this he called the people together for war, and the first evening they camped a man prophesied, and said:

"Now we have heard our war-speech, and are on our way, and I foresee the way beautiful with flowers, even the big trees covered with flowers, and I can see that we come to the enemy and conquer them easily.

And the road to the east is lined with white flowers, and the Apaches, seeing it, rejoice also, with smiles, thinking it for their good, but really it is for their destruction, for it is made so by the power of our doctors.

And in the middle of the earth, between us and the enemy, stood the Cane-Tube Pipe and smoked itself.

I inhaled the smoke and blew it out toward the East, and saw the smoke rising till it reached the Vahahkkee of Light, and up still till it reached the Cane of Light.

And I took that cane and punched it at the corner of the Vahahkkee, and out came the White Water and the White Wasps, and the wasps flew around it four times and then they went down again.

And then in the South I saw the Blue Vahahkkee, and the Blue Cane, and I took the cane and punched it into the corner of the vahahkkee, and there came out Blue Water and Blue Wasps, and the wasps flew around four times, and then sank down again.

And in the West there stood the Black Vahahkkee, and the Black Cane, and I took the cane and punched at the corner, and there came out Black Water and Black Wasps, and the wasps flew around four times, and then went in again.

And in the North stood the Yellow Vahahkkee, and the Yellow Cane, and I took the cane and punched it at the corner, and there came out Yellow Water and Yellow Wasps, and the wasps flew around four times, and then went in again.

And on top of this vahahkkee was a Yellow Spider, and I asked him to help me, and he stretched his web four times, and there found my enemy.

And there he bound his heart with his web, and bound his arms, and bound his bow and his arrows, and left him there in the state of a woman, with nothing to defend himself with.

And he pushed me toward where he had left him, and I captured him very easily, and all his property, and all his children.

You, my relatives, may not like the noise of our rejoicing, but it is only for a short time that we rejoice over the enemy."

And they camped out another night, and another one spoke, and he said:

"I was lying in ashes, and praying the distant mountains for strength, and the far doctors for power.

And there was a Sun that rose from the east and followed the western road.

And all the four-footed animals met together and called themselves relatives, and all the birds met together and called themselves relatives, and in this order followed the Sun.

And the Sun rose again, and brought me the See-hee-vit-tah Feather, the Sunbeam, to wear on my head, and hugged me up to him.

And the Sun rose again, and brought the Blue Fog, and in the fog took me toward the enemy.

But instead of taking me to the enemy it took me up into the sky, to the Yellow Crow.

And the Yellow Crow, as a powerful mahkai, went down to the enemy and divided their land four times, and slew the human beings, and painted the rocks over beautifully with their blood.

And from there I went to the Yellow Spider, living on the back of the mound at the North, and asked him to help me.

And he stretched his web four times, and found my enemy, and bound him, and pushed me toward him, and I took him, and all his, captive, and came home rejoicing.

So, my relatives, think of this, that there will be victory. You may not like the noise of our rejoicing, but it is only for a short time that we rejoice over the enemy."

And they went toward the mountains where the Apaches live, and camped there, and there were empty Apache houses there, and one of them spoke using himself figuratively as a type of his people:

"Perhaps these Apaches have gone from here to my house, and have killed me and have dragged me thru the waters we pa.s.sed coming here, and have beaten me with all the sticks we saw on the road, and have thrown ashes over me, and maybe these are my bones that lie here, and this dry blood is my blood.

This has been done, my relatives, and there in the East is a Vahahkkee of Light, and within it there is a Butcher-bird of Light.

And I asked the Butcher-bird for power, and he followed his Road of Light, and touched the ground four times with his tail, and came to me.