Pawnee Hero Stories and Folk-Tales Part 11

The boy said to her, "What are you doing?"

She answered, "I am going to boil our last piece of robe. After we have eaten this there will be nothing left, and we can then only die."

The boy said nothing, but watched her for a little while, and then stood up and went out of the lodge. The door had hardly fallen behind him, when the woman heard a buffalo coughing, and then the breaking of the crisp snow, as if a heavy weight was settling on it. In a moment the boy lifted the lodge door, and came in, and sat down by the fire, and said to the woman, "Go out and bring in some meat." The woman looked at him, for she was astonished, but he said nothing, so she went out, and there in the snow by the side of the lodge was a fat buffalo cow. Then the woman's heart was glad. She skinned the cow, and brought some of the meat into the lodge and cooked it, and they all ate and were satisfied. The woman was good, so she sent her son to the lodges of all her relations, and all her friends, and told them all to come next morning to her lodge to a feast, "for," she said, "I have plenty of meat."

So the next morning all her relations and all her friends came, so many that they could not all get into the lodge, but some had to stand outside, and they ate with her, and she cooked the meat of the cow for them, and they ate until it was all gone, and they were satisfied. And after they had done eating, they lighted their pipes and prayed, saying, "_A-ti'-us, we'-tus kit-tah-we_--Father, you are the ruler."

While they were smoking the poor boy called the woman's son to him, and pointed to a high hill near the camp, and said, "_Looah, suks-kus-sis-pah ti-rah hah-tur_--Run hard to the top of that hill, and tell me what you see." So the boy threw off his robe, and smoothed back his hair, and started, and ran as hard as he could over the snow to the top of the hill. When he got there he shaded his eyes with his hand, for the sun shone bright on the snow and blinded him, and he looked east, and west, and north, and south, but he could see nothing but the shining white snow on the prairie. After he had looked all ways, he ran back as hard as he could to the village. When he came to the lodge, he went to the poor boy, and said to him, "I don't see anything but the snow." The poor boy said, "You don't look good. Go again." So the boy started again, and ran as hard as he could to the hilltop, and when he got there, panting, he looked all ways, long and carefully, but still he could see nothing but the snow. So he turned and ran back to the village, and told the poor boy again that he saw nothing. The boy said, "You don't look good." Then he took his bow in his hand, and put his quiver on his back, and drew his robe up under his arm so that he could run well, and started, himself, and ran as hard as he could to the top of the hill, and when he got there he looked off to the south, and there, as far as he could see, the plain was black with buffalo struggling in the deep snow. And he turned to the village, and signaled them with his robe that buffalo were in sight. In a few minutes all the p.a.w.nees had seized their bows and arrows, and were running toward him, and the women fixed the _travois_, and took their knives, and followed. The boy waited on the hilltop until the warriors came up, and then they went down to the buffalo, running on the snow. The buffalo could not get away on account of the deep snow, and the p.a.w.nees made a great killing.

Plenty of fat meat they got, enough to last them until the summer hunt, and plenty of warm winter robes. They did not have to move any further, but stayed right here, killing meat and drying it until they were all fat and strong again.

And the poor boy became a great doctor in the tribe, and got rich.

Before this the p.a.w.nees had always had a woman chief, but when the woman who was chief died, she named the poor boy as her successor, and the people made him head chief of the tribe.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIRE-STICK.]

HOW THE DEER LOST HIS GALL.

A long time ago, the deer and the antelope met upon the prairie. At that time both of them had dew-claws, and both had galls. After they had talked for a little while, each one of them began to boast about how fast he could run. Each one, the deer and the antelope, claimed that he could run faster than any other animal, and at length they became very angry in their dispute, and determined that they would have a race.

They staked their galls on the race, and it was run on the prairie.

The antelope ran the faster, and won, and took the deer's gall. The deer felt very badly that he had lost it, and he seemed so miserable that the antelope felt sorry for him, and to cheer him up, he took off his dew-claws and gave them to him.

Since that time the deer has had no gall, and the antelope no dew-claws.

Note.--A story somewhat similar to this is current among the Blackfeet tribes of the northern country. In this tale the antelope won the deer's gall, as in the p.a.w.nee story. Then the deer said, "You have won, but that race was not a fair one, for it was over the prairie alone. We ought to run another race in the timber to decide which is really the faster." They agreed to run this second race, and on it they bet their dew-claws. The deer ran the faster through the thick timber and over the logs, and beat the antelope, and took his dew-claws. Since then the antelope has had no dew-claws, and the deer no gall.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BOW AND ARROWS.]

YELLOW FOX.

A long time ago, while the p.a.w.nees were on their winter hunt, a young boy, _Kiwuk-u lah'-kahta_ (Yellow Fox), went out alone to hunt, to see if he could kill a deer. When he left the camp in the morning, it was warm and pleasant, but in the middle of the day a great storm of wind and snow came up, and the flying snow hid everything, and it grew very cold. By and by the ground was covered with snow, and the whole look of the prairie was changed, and the boy became lost, and did not know where he was, nor what way to go to get to the camp. All day he walked, but he saw nothing of the camp, nor of any trail and as it became colder and colder, he thought that he would surely freeze to death. He thought that he must die, and that there was no hope of his ever seeing his people again. As he was wandering along, numbed and stiffened by the cold, and stumbling through the deep snow, he heard behind him a curious singing sound, and in time with the singing was the noise made by some heavy animal, running. The sounds came nearer, and at last, close by the boy, ran a great big buffalo bull. And as he ran near the boy, he sang a song, and as he sang, the sound of his hoofs on the ground kept time to the measure of the song. This is what he sang:

_A-ti-us ti-wa-ko Ru-ru! Teh-wah-hwa'-ko,_ My Father says, Go on! He keeps saying,

_Ru-ru-hwa'-hwa', Wi-ruh-re._ Keep going on. It will be well.

The boy's heart became strong when he heard that the Father had sent the bull, and he followed him, and the bull led him straight to the camp.

_NOTES ON THE p.a.w.nEES._

NOTE.

The notes on the origin, customs and character of the p.a.w.nees, which follow, have been gathered during twenty years' acquaintance with this people. They are what they profess to be; not a history of the people, but a series of notes bearing on their mode of life in the old wild days, an attempt to give some clues to their habits of thought, and thus to indicate the character of the people. Such notes may be of use to some future historian who shall have the time and the inclination to trace out more fully the history of the p.a.w.nees, and to tell, as it ought to be told, the story of a people who once were great. I could wish that it might be my privilege to undertake this congenial task, but the constantly increasing pressure of other duties forbids me to hope that I shall be able to do so. I feel satisfaction, however, in being able to record the observations here set down.

In the collection of this material I had for years the a.s.sistance and cooperation of the late Major Frank North, who always placed at my disposal his great store of p.a.w.nee lore. Luther H. North, his brother, has given me a vast deal of a.s.sistance, and last spring accompanied me to the p.a.w.nee reservation. Without his aid this book would never have been written. Mr. John B. Dunbar has been most kind in reading over the chapter on the p.a.w.nees, and has aided me with many suggestions, besides giving me help on certain linguistic points.

Nothing is said in this volume about the p.a.w.nee language--a subject which is sufficiently important to deserve a volume by itself.

To every intelligent student of North American aborigines it must be a matter of keen regret that nothing is known of the language of this people. That a distinct linguistic stock like the p.a.w.nee should pa.s.s away unrecorded would be a serious misfortune, and the Bureau of Ethnology of the Smithsonian Inst.i.tution ought certainly to take some steps to preserve a record of the p.a.w.nee language.

Major Frank North was undoubtedly more conversant with the spoken p.a.w.nee tongue than any other white man has ever been. Since his death, there is no one who is so familiar with the language as Mr. John B.

Dunbar, who has devoted much time to its study, and has made himself acquainted not only with its vocabulary, but also with its grammar.

Born and reared among the p.a.w.nees, familiar with them until early manhood, a frequent visitor to the tribe in later years, he is well fitted by interest and a.s.sociation to undertake the task of recording in permanent form the unwritten speech of this people. Add to this a long training as a student of language and history and a keen logical mind, and we have in Mr. Dunbar the man more than all others best fitted to undertake this difficult but most delightful task. The Director of the Bureau of Ethnology could not easily perform a greater service to aboriginal linguistics than to intrust to Mr. Dunbar the labor of preparing an extended work on the p.a.w.nee language.

THE p.a.w.nEES.

I. RELATIONSHIPS.

Until within a few years the home of the p.a.w.nees was in southern Nebraska and northern Kansas. This group of tribes may be called the main stock of the family; from them it took its name; they are its best and longest known members. In the earlier accounts of this people, the p.a.w.nee Picts or Wichitas are often confounded with their more northern relatives.

The p.a.w.nees proper consisted at one time of three bands or tribes, federated under a single head chief. These bands, in the order of their importance, were: The Chau-i, the Kit-ke-hahk'-i and the Pita-hau-erat. To these three was subsequently added--after the northern migration of the tribes, and their settlement in northern Kansas and Nebraska, but probably long anterior to the advent of the whites, and by conquest--the large, powerful and intelligent allied tribe, known as the Skidi or p.a.w.nee Loups. These four have always been known in the writings of the earlier explorers in the West as respectively the Grand, the Republican, the Tapage and the Wolf p.a.w.nees, and they const.i.tuted the p.a.w.nee Nation.

The three tribes first named have always been together, and their p.a.w.nee names, according to Major North, denoted the relative situations of the three villages. Thus Kit-ke-hahk'-i means "on a hill;" Chau-i, "in the middle;" Pita-hau-erat, "down the stream," or east; and in the olden times these were the relative positions of the different villages when the three bands were camping together. The Kit-ke-hahk'-i village was always the westernmost of the three, the Chau-i were next to them, and the Pita-hau-erat were furthest east.

After the incorporation of the Skidi with the p.a.w.nees, the village of that tribe was always placed furthest to the west, and it was spoken of as the Upper Village, while the other bands were termed the Lower Village Tribes.

[Ill.u.s.tration: GOOD CHIEF--KIT-KE-HAHK'-I.]

Of the three original bands, the Chau-i has always been first in importance, and the head chief has been chosen from it. The Kit-ke-hahk'-i band in numbers, importance and intelligence appear to rank about with the Chau-i, while, on the other hand, the Pita-hau-erat are regarded as less intelligent, responsible and worthy than the other bands.

The Skidi are usually looked upon as more intelligent than the p.a.w.nees, and also as fiercer in their nature, and as making better soldiers. The Skidi traditions, though such testimony, of course, is not of much value, speak rather contemptuously of the prowess of the other bands in war, and the superiority of the Skidi is grudgingly acknowledged by the others. This is contrary to the view held by Mr.

J. B. Dunbar, who speaks of the Skidi as more intelligent than the other bands, but as not being so good as warriors.

Besides this main group of tribes, the members of the p.a.w.nee family, as given by Mr. Dunbar, are the Arickaras, known also as the Arickarees, Ricarees or Rees, the Caddos, the Huecos or Wacos, the Keechies, the Tawaconies, and the Wichitas or p.a.w.nee Picts. To these may be added with some confidence the Tonkaways and the Lipans. The Caddos, Huecos, Keechies and Tawaconies are regarded by the p.a.w.nees as closely connected with the Wichitas. They had but one name, _Kiri-ku'ruks_, for all these tribes, and knew no distinction between them. There is no doubt that the Arickaras were recently--perhaps within a century--either a band of the Skidi tribe, or at least allied to them as closely as the Chau-i have always been to the Kit-ke-hahk'-i and the Pita-hau-erat. The relationship of the Tonkaways and the Lipans has only recently been discovered, and has come to light through the removal of the p.a.w.nees from their home in Nebraska to their present reservation in the Indian Territory.

In a note appended to his article on the p.a.w.nees, published in the _Magazine of American History_ for November, 1880, Mr. Dunbar says, "A friend, who has had much experience with the Indians of the Southwest, informs me that he is inclined to believe that the Lipans of Mexico are of p.a.w.nee stock. They have, in times past, exchanged frequent hospitalities with the Wichitas, or p.a.w.nee Picts, and the two understand each other's dialects readily. The name Lipans he explains as _li'panis_, that is, _the_ p.a.w.nees." While this suggestion is very interesting, so far as it goes, it scarcely furnishes sufficient ground on which to base a genetic connection of the Lipans with the p.a.w.nee family. I have recently secured additional and more satisfactory evidence of such a connection.