The Buffaloes' Ward
There once lived an orphan boy, who was raised by his grandfather
and grandmother. One day his grandmother packed her travois,
strapped the boy to the frame, and went to fetch wood. The dog gave
chase to a jack-rabbit, and ran away with the baby. After a long
while, he returned, but the child had fallen off. The old woman came
home crying and told her husband what had happened. The old man
asked the herald to announce that he wished some one to help him in
searching for the child, and that he would reward those who aided
him. Several young men came to his assistance, but their search was
in vain.
The same evening a buffalo-bull was grazing with three cows and
several calves. They found the lost baby. The bull picked it up,
pitying it, and carried it the first day on their westward route.
The next day a cow carried the infant, and nursed it. They took
turns at carrying it. At last they arrived at a large lodge, the
home of the buffaloes. There they brought up the foundling. When the
boy was large enough to run about, one buffalo asked him, "Do you
remember where you came from?" "No." Then the buffalo told him that
he was different from them, not having any fur or hoofs. He pointed
at the pemmican and berries they had kept for him, saying, "This is
the food we raised you with, but we eat grass." He told him that he
was born among the Indians, that this mother had died soon after,
how his granny had strapped him to the travois, how he had been lost
and found, and that he ought to see his own people. The boy did not
know what "people" meant, so they explained it to him. They
encouraged him to go through several ceremonies and promised to take
him home. He answered, "I don't like to leave you, but if you take
me to my own tribe, I shall be willing to go." They traveled with
him for several days. When close to the camp, they halted. "Beyond
that hill your grandfather is still living." A man walking on the
outskirts of the camp discovered the boy. He offered to take him
home. When the boy's grandparents heard a boy had been found, they
thought this might be their lost grandson. They remembered cases
where babies had been raised by foreign tribes and had ultimately
returned. They went to the boy and questioned him, and he told the
whole story. "The buffalo told me I had grandparents here." Then
they made themselves known to him, and took him home.
At night, while the boy was resting, a voice was heard exhorting him
to do what he had been told. In the morning, the old woman would ask
what had happened. One day he made the following announcement. "I am
going to call my grandfathers, and I want the people to aid me. I am
going to call four buffaloes. Let a lodge be erected in the middle
of the camp-circle. Let all that wish to help me bring new feathers,
and beads, and shells and calico." The lodge was erected, and the
gifts were heaped up inside. Then the boy started out over the hill
and called four buffaloes from the herd that had raised him. They
appeared in the distance. The boy went back to camp, and bade all
the people tie up their dogs. Then four buffaloes came nearer in
single file. They went right to the lodge. All the people looked at
them. The boy entered also, put flannel around their necks, tied
feathers to their hair, and divided the other gifts among them,
telling them this was their reward for rescuing him.
The buffaloes went away. The boy told the people his friends would
come the next morning. Early the next morning the buffalo occupied
the entire camp-circle. So far as anyone could look, nothing but
buffalo were to be seen. The people were scared. They entreated the
boy to save them and not have the buffalo trample them down. He
replied, "They will not hurt you, they are only coming as visitors.
Don't chase them now." He took what goods had remained, and
distributed them among the buffalo. That night all the herd
disappeared. The boy also vanished. He was not seen any more.
The Buffalo Boy
A Blood Indian dug a hole in the ground; in it he
left meat to bait eagles, which he caught by the legs and killed.
Thus he killed a great many, and brought them to camp. When he was
about to go again, his father warned him. "You have enough, don't go
back for more." The youth disregarded the warning. He went back,
erected a four-post frame near the hole, and tied himself thereto in
order not to be carried away by the birds. He heard a noise in the
air, and noticed a big red eagle descending. He tried to catch him
in the usual way, but the bird seized his hands and carried him to a
mountain, where he left him astride on a saddle-shaped crag. For
four days he was left there without food or drink. At last the eagle
came and took him back to the earth again. Before leaving, he gave
him some of his wing-feathers. He bade him go home with them,
leaving the feathers on the ground while he was sleeping. Every
morning they would indicate the direction in whish he was to travel.
On the fourth day he was to get to a hole in the ground, enter, and
offer the feathers to whatever being he might
meet.
The boy obeyed. On the fourth day he went into a pit, and met a
large buffalo, to whom he presented a feather. The buffalo did not
hurt him, but said, "When you meet another buffalo, present him also
with a feather." He met the second buffalo, and gave him a feather
and also some sweet-grass obtained from the eagle. He got to a
buffalo wallow. Following the bird's directions, he pulled out some
moss. He saw the buffalo in their camp. To each he gave a portion of
sweet-grass, and a feather. One old buffalo said, "I will give you
my blanket; when you get to the hill, put it on. Then lie on the
ground, turn over, and shake yourself." He did, and turned into a
buffalo.
After a while he returned home. His parents thought he had died.
They had cut their hair, and were lamenting his loss. He came upon
them and asked, "Why are you crying?" They recognized him. They
erected a lodge for him, and placed some grass within. He ate the
grass like a buffalo. His father noticed it and bade his wife cut
more grass for their son to eat. The young man's wife was
frightened. She thought her husband also snorted like a buffalo, but
he quieted her. For four days he continued to eat grass, then he ate
the food of ordinary men.1
The Grizzly And His
Ward.2
The people were hunting. One boy was sent for meat,
but did not return. For several days they were looking for him, but
could not find him. The boy had lost his way and could not get back.
He walked along crying. After some time he met a grizzly bear. The
bear asked, "Why are you crying?" "I have lost my way." "Stay with
me." He stayed with the bear all summer, feeding on berries. In the
fall the Bear said, "We ought to look for some place to hibernate
in." They went into a cave and spent the winter there. At the end of
the winter, the Bear said, "Spring is coming. Your parents are
lonesome, I shall give your father my blanket."
One day the Bear and the boy heard a man coming. He stopped near the
cave, heard the Bear moving within, and reported the fact to his
people, saying, "Let us try to kill the bear." The Bear knew what he
was saying and instructed the boy not to be frightened when they
would shoot him. Many Indians were heard coming. The Bear hid the
boy in one corner of the cave. Then he lay down with his arms before
his face. One man shot the Bear through the head. The frightened boy
screamed aloud. They pierced the Bear's cheeks and inserted a rope
to pull him out with, but he was too heavy. Then one man went inside
to push from the rear. -He found the boy covering his face with his
arms. He addressed him, but the boy would not answer, for he loved
the dead Bear. At last, the boy's father said, "This is the boy I
lost."
1 A Stoney tale presents a
combination of 'elements found in this and the preceding story. A
baby boy, strapped to a travois, is lost, raised by a buffalo and
ultimately recaptured by the Indians. He puts on a buffalo-robe with
a horn headdress, eats grass for a long time, and expresses his
preference for a buffalo life. In another Stoney version, the
buffalo present the boy with a buffalo-scalp and a medicine pipe.
The pipe would turn every night so as to indicate the direction he
was to follow for his next' day's journey. By putting on the scalp
and rolling on the ground he could transform himself into a buffalo
and thus flee from enemies. Returning to his parents, he eats grass
in the night. He becomes chief of the buffalo-pen, and his
descend-ants inherit the office.
2 Cf. Wissler and Duvall, p. 93 (Blackfoot).
Assiniboin Mythology
This site includes
some historical materials that may imply negative stereotypes
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These items are presented as part of the historical record and
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Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural
History, 1909
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