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A long time ago
the Blackfeet were camped on Backfat Creek. There was in
the camp a man who had but one wife, and he thought a
great deal of her. He never wanted to have two wives. As
time passed they had a child, a little girl. Along
toward the end of the summer, this man's wife wanted to
get some berries, and she asked her husband to take her
to a certain place where berries grew, so that she could
get some. The man said to his wife: "At this time of the
year, I do not like to go to that place to pick berries.
There are always Snake or Crow war parties traveling
about there." The woman wanted very much to go, and she
coaxed her husband about it a great deal; and at last he
said he would go, and they started, and many women
followed them.
When they came to where the berries
grew, the man said to his wife: "There are the berries
down in that ravine. You may go down there and pick
them, and I will go up on this hill and stand guard. If
I see any one coming, I will call out to you, and you
must all get on your horses and run." So the women went
down to pick berries.
The man went up on the hill and sat
down and looked over the country. After a little time,
he looked down into another ravine not far off, and saw
that it was full of horsemen coming. They started to
gallop up towards him, and he called out in a loud
voice, "Run, run, the enemy is rushing on us." The women
started to run, and he jumped on his horse and followed
them. The enemy rushed after them, and he drew his bow
and arrows, and got ready to fight and defend the women.
After they had gone a little way, the enemy had gained
so much that they were shooting at the Blackfeet with
their arrows, and the man was riding back and forth
behind the women, and whipping up the horses, now of
one, now of another, to make them go faster. The enemy
kept getting closer, and at last they were so near that
they were beginning to thrust at him with their lances,
and he was dodging them and throwing himself down, now
on one side of his horse, and then on the other.
At length he found that he could no
longer defend all the women, so he made up his mind to
leave those that had the slowest horses to the mercy of
the enemy, while he would go on with those that had the
faster ones. When he found that he must leave the women,
he was excited and rode on ahead; but as he passed, he
heard some one call out to him, "Don't leave me," and he
looked to one side, and saw that he was leaving his
wife. When he heard his wife call out thus to him, he
said to her: "There is no life for me here. You are a
fine-looking woman. They will not kill you, but there is
no life for me." She answered: "No, take pity on me. Do
not leave me. My horse is giving out. Let us both get on
one horse and then, if we are caught, we will die
together." When he heard this, his heart was touched and
he said: "No, wife, I will not leave you. Run up beside
my horse and jump on behind me." The enemy were now so
near that they had killed or captured some of the women,
and they had come up close enough to the man so that
they got ready to hit at him with their war clubs. His
horse was now wounded in places with arrows, but it was
a good, strong, fast horse.
His wife rode up close to him, and
jumped on his horse behind him. When he started to run
with her, the enemy had come up on either side of him,
and some were behind him, but they were afraid to shoot
their arrows for fear of hitting their own people, so
they struck at the man with their war clubs. But they
did not want to kill the woman, and they did not hurt
him. They reached out with their hands to try to pull
the woman off the horse; but she had put her arms around
her husband and held on tight, and they could not get
her off, but they tore her clothing off her. As she held
her husband, he could not use his arrows, and could not
fight to defend himself. His horse was now going very
slowly, and all the enemy had caught up to them, and
were all around them.
The man said to his wife: "Never
mind, let them take you: they will not kill you. You are
too handsome a woman for them to kill you." His wife
said, "No, it is no harm for us both to die together."
When he saw that his wife would not get off the horse
and that he could not fight, he said to her: "Here, look
out! You are crowding me on to the neck of the horse.
Sit further back." He began to edge himself back, and at
last, when he got his wife pretty far back on the horse,
he gave a great push and shoved her off behind. When she
fell off, his horse had more speed and began to run away
from the enemy, and he would shoot back his arrows; and
now, when they would ride up to strike him with their
hatchets, he would shoot them and kill them, and they
began to be afraid of him, and to edge away from him.
His horse was very long-winded; and now, as he was
drawing away from the enemy, there were only two who
were yet able to keep up with him. The rest were being
left behind, and they stopped, and went back to where
the others had killed or captured the women; and now
only two men were pursuing.
After a little while, the Blackfoot
jumped off his horse to fight on foot, and the two
enemies rode up on either side of him, but a long way
off, and jumped off their horses. When he saw the two on
either side of him, he took a sheaf of arrows in his
hand and began to rush, first toward the one on the
right, and then toward the one on the left. As he did
this, he saw that one of the men, when he ran toward him
and threatened to shoot, would draw away from him, while
the other would stand still. Then he knew that one of
them was a coward and the other a brave man. But all the
time they were closing in on him. When he saw that they
were closing in on him, he made a rush at the brave man.
This one was shooting arrows all the time; but the
Blackfoot did not shoot until he got close to him, and
then he shot an arrow into him and ran up to him and hit
him with his stone axe and killed him. Then he turned to
the cowardly one and ran at him. The man turned to run,
but the Blackfoot caught him and hit him with his axe
and killed him.
After he had killed them, he scalped
them and took their arrows, their horses, and the stone
knives that they had. Then he went home, and when he
rode into the camp he was crying over the loss of his
wife. When he came to his lodge and got off his horse,
his friends went up to him and asked what was the
matter. He told them how all the women had been killed,
and how he had been pursued by two enemies, and had
fought with them and killed them both, and he showed
them the arrows and the horses and the scalps. He told
the women's relations that they had all been killed; and
all were in great sorrow, and crying over the loss of
their friends.
The next morning they held a
council, and it was decided that a party should go out
and see where the battle had been, and find out what had
become of the women. When they got to the place, they
found all the women there dead, except this man's wife.
Her they could not find. They also found the two Indians
that the man had said that he had killed, and, besides,
many others that he had killed when he was running away.
When he got back to the camp, this
Blackfoot picked up his child and put it on his back,
and walked round the camp mourning and crying, and the
child crying, for four days and four nights, until he
was exhausted and worn out, and then he fell asleep.
When the rest of the people saw him walking about
mourning, and that he would not eat nor drink, their
hearts were very sore, and they felt very sorry for him
and for the child, for he was a man greatly thought of
by the people.
While he lay there asleep, the chief
of the camp came to him and woke him, and said: "Well,
friend, what have you decided on? What is your mind?
What are you going to do?" The man answered: "My child
is lonely. It will not eat. It is crying for its mother.
It will not notice any one. I am going to look for my
wife." The chief said, "I cannot say anything." He went
about to all the lodges and told the people that this
man was going away to seek his wife.
Now there was in the camp a strong
medicine man, who was not married and would not marry at
all. He had said, "When I had my dream, it told me that
I must never have a wife." The man who had lost his wife
had a very beautiful sister, who had never married. She
was very proud and very handsome. Many men had wanted to
marry her, but she would not have anything to do with
any man. The medicine man secretly loved this handsome
girl, the sister of the poor man. When he heard of this
poor man's misfortune, the medicine man was in great
sorrow, and cried over it. He sent word to the poor man,
saying: "Go and tell this man that I have promised never
to take a wife, but that if he will give me his
beautiful sister, he need not go to look for his wife. I
will send my secret helper in search of her."
When the young girl heard what this
medicine man had said, she sent word to him, saying,
"Yes, if you bring my brother's wife home, and I see her
sitting here by his side, I will marry you, but not
before." But she did not mean what she said. She
intended to deceive him in some way, and not to marry
him at all. When the girl sent this message to him, the
medicine man sent for her and her brother to come to his
lodge. When they had come, he spoke to the poor man and
said, "If I bring your wife here, are you willing to
give me your sister for my wife?" The poor man answered,
"Yes." But the young girl kept quiet in his presence,
and had nothing to say. Then the medicine man said to
them: "Go. To-night in the middle of the night you will
hear me sing." He sent everybody out of his lodge, and
said to the people: "I will close the door of my lodge,
and I do not want any one to come in to-night, nor to
look through the door. A spirit will come to me
to-night." He made the people know, by a sign put out
before the door of his lodge, that no one must enter it,
until such time as he was through making his medicine.
Then he built a fire, and began to get out all his
medicine. He unwrapped his bundle and took out his pipe
and his rattles and his other things. After a time, the
fire burned down until it was only coals and his lodge
was dark, and on the fire he threw sweet-scented herbs,
sweet grass, and sweet pine, so as to draw his
dream-helper to him.
Now in the middle of the night he
was in the lodge singing, when suddenly the people heard
a strange voice in the lodge say: "Well, my chief, I
have come. What is it?" The medicine man said, "I want
you to help me." The voice said, "Yes, I know it, and I
know what you want me to do." The medicine man asked,
"What is it?" The voice said, "You want me to go and get
a woman." The medicine man answered: "That is what I
want. I want you to go and get a woman--the lost woman."
The voice said to him, "Did I not tell you never to call
me, unless you were in great need of my help?" The
medicine man answered, "Yes, but that girl that was
never going to be married is going to be given to me
through your help." Then the voice said, "Oh!" and it
was silent for a little while. Then it went on and said:
"Well, we have a good feeling for you, and you have been
a long time not married; so we will help you to get that
girl, and you will have her. Yes, we have great pity on
you. We will go and look for this woman, and will try to
find her, but I cannot promise you that we will bring
her; but we will try. We will go, and in four nights I
will be back here again at this same time, and I think
that I can bring the woman; but I will not promise.
While I am gone, I will let you know how I get on. Now I
am going away." And then the people heard in the lodge a
sound like a strong wind, and nothing more. He was gone.
Some people went and told the sister
what the medicine man and the voice had been saying, and
the girl was very down-hearted, and cried over the idea
that she must be married, and that she had been forced
into it in this way.
When the dream person went away, he
came late at night to the camp of the Snakes, the enemy.
The woman who had been captured was always crying over
the loss of her man and her child. She had another
husband now. The man who had captured her had taken her
for his wife. As she was lying there, in her husband's
lodge, crying for sorrow for her loss, the dream person
came to her. Her husband was asleep. The dream-helper
touched her and pushed her a little, and she looked up
and saw a person standing by her side; but she did not
know who it was. The person whispered in her ear, "Get
up, I want to take you home." She began to edge away
from her husband, and at length got up, and all the time
the person was moving toward the door. She followed him
out, and saw him walk away from the lodge, and she went
after. The person kept ahead, and the woman followed
him, and they went away, traveling very fast. After they
had travelled some distance, she called out to the dream
person to stop, for she was getting tired. Then the
person stopped, and when he saw the woman sitting, he
would sit down, but he would not talk to her.
As they travelled on, the woman,
when she got tired, would sit down, and because she was
very tired, she would fall asleep; and when she awoke
and looked up, she always saw the person walking away
from her, and she would get up and follow him. When day
came, the shape would be far ahead of her, but at night
it would keep closer. When she spoke to this person, the
woman would call him "young man." At one time she said
to him, "Young man, my moccasins are all worn out, and
my feet are getting very sore, and I am very tired and
hungry." When she had said this, she sat down and fell
asleep, and as she was falling asleep, she saw the
person going away from her. He went back to the lodge of
the medicine man.
During this night the camp heard the
medicine man singing his song, and they knew that the
dream person must be back again, or that his chief must
be calling him. The medicine man had unwrapped his
bundle, and had taken out all his things, and again had
a fire of coals, on which he burned sweet pine and sweet
grass. Those who were listening heard a voice say:
"Well, my chief, I am back again, and I am here to tell
you something. I am bringing the woman you sent me
after. She is very hungry and has no moccasins. Get me
those things, and I will take them back to her." The
medicine man went out of the lodge, and called to the
poor man, who was mourning for his wife, that he wanted
to see him. The man came, carrying the child on his
back, to hear what the medicine man had to say. He said
to him: "Get some moccasins and something to eat for
your wife. I want to send them to her. She is coming."
The poor man went to his sister, and told her to give
him some moccasins and some pemmican. She made a bundle
of these things, and the man took them to the medicine
man, who gave them to the dream person; and again he
disappeared out of the lodge like a wind.
When the woman awoke in the morning
and started to get up, she hit her face against a bundle
lying by her, and when she opened it, she found in it
moccasins and some pemmican; and she put on the
moccasins and ate, and while she was putting on the
moccasins and eating, she looked over to where she had
last seen the person, and he was sitting there with his
back toward her. She could never see his face. When she
had finished eating, he got up and went on, and she rose
and followed. They went on, and the woman thought, "Now
I have travelled two days and two nights with this young
man, and I wonder what kind of a man he is. He seems to
take no notice of me." So she made up her mind to walk
fast and to try to overtake him, and see what sort of a
man he was. She started to do so, but however fast she
walked, it made no difference. She could not overtake
him. Whether she walked fast, or whether she walked
slow, he was always the same distance from her. They
travelled on until night, and then she lay down again
and fell asleep. She dreamed that the young man had left
her again.
The dream person had really left
her, and had gone back to the medicine man's lodge, and
said to him: "Well, my chief, I am back again. I am
bringing the woman. You must tell this poor man to get
on his horse, and ride back toward Milk River (the
Teton). Let him go in among the high hills on this side
of the Muddy, and let him wait there until daylight, and
look toward the hills of Milk River; and after the sun
is up a little way, he will see a band of antelope
running toward him, along the trail that the Blackfeet
travel. It will be his wife who has frightened these
antelope. Let him wait there for a while, and he will
see a person coming. This will be his wife. Then let him
go to meet her, for she has no moccasins. She will be
glad to see him, for she is crying all the time."
The medicine man told the poor man
this, and he got on his horse and started, as he had
been told. He could not believe that it was true. But he
went. At last he got to the place, and a little while
after the sun had risen, as he was lying on a hill
looking toward the hills of the Milk River, he saw a
band of antelope running toward him, as he had been told
he would see. He lay there for a long time, but saw
nothing else come in sight; and finally he got angry and
thought that what had been told him was a lie, and he
got up to mount his horse and ride back. Just then he
saw, away down, far off on the prairie, a small black
speck, but he did not think it was moving, it was so far
off,--barely to be seen. He thought maybe it was a rock.
He lay down again and took sight on the speck by a straw
of grass in front of him, and looked for a long time,
and after a while he saw the speck pass the straw, and
then he knew it was something. He got on his horse and
started to ride up and find out what it was, riding way
around it, through the hills and ravines, so that he
would not be seen. He rode up in a ravine behind it,
pretty near to it, and then he could see it was a person
on foot. He got out his bow and arrows and held them
ready to use, and then started to ride up to it. He rode
toward the person, and at last he got near enough to see
that it was his wife. When he saw this, he could not
help crying; and as he rode up, the woman looked back,
and knew first the horse, and then her husband, and she
was so glad that she fell down and knew nothing.
After she had come to herself and
they had talked together, they got on the horse and rode
off toward camp. When he came over the hill in sight of
camp, all the people began to say, "Here comes the man";
and at last they could see from a distance that he had
some one on the horse behind him, and they knew that it
must be his wife, and they were glad to see him bringing
her back, for he was a man thought a great deal of, and
everybody liked him and liked his wife and the way he
was kind to her.
Then the handsome girl was given to
the medicine man and became his wife.
Blackfoot Mythology |
