Boy Who Befriended the Thunderbird & the Serpent (Arikara)
The great father gave the seeds of all growing things to Snake-Woman. He taught her how to plant the seeds and how to care for the green things that grew from them until they were ripe, and then how to prepare them for food. One time, when Snake-Woman had more seeds than she could possibly care for, she decided to give some to the people. She called her two sons and asked them to help her carry the seeds. Each put a big bag full of seeds on his back and then they traveled all over the world, giving six seeds of each kind of plant to every person. As Snake-Woman gave each person the seeds she told him that he must plant them, and must care for the plants that grew from them, but must allow no one, especially children, to touch them or even point to them as they grow. She said that until the seeds were ripe they belonged to her, and if anyone gathered them too soon she would send a poisonous snake to bite him. Parents always tell their children what Snake-Woman said, and so they are afraid to touch or go near any growing plants for fear a snake will come and bite them.
When the world was new there lived among the people a man and his wife and one child, a boy of about twelve years. The people called the man “Medicine-Man.” Now and then he went out on the hunt, and never was known to come home without killing a deer, and almost every time he came home with a big buck. One time when he was out hunting he killed a deer and then started back for home, and when he reached home he found his little boy there alone and not as usual, for he looked weary and frightened. When his father asked him where his mother was he began to cry and said he did not know; that all he knew was that she took a water bucket and went down toward the creek. He said that he had run over there two or three times calling his mother, but no answer came. Then both the little boy and Medicine Man went down to the place where the woman usually went to get water, but they could not find her. They found foot-prints at the edge of the water, and then the Medicine Man knew that his wife and the mother of his only child was dead and gone; that something had taken her life; so they came back to their home and mourned for her six days. They built a fire and watched it and stayed by it for six days and nights.
The seventh day Medicine-Man told his son that he was going hunting, for their meat was about out. He went out to hunt and a little boy stayed home alone. While his father was gone the boy would play around the house, shooting with his bow and arrows. When Medicine-Man came home he found his little son there waiting for him. Medicine man went out to hunt the second and the third time and found the boy safe on his return. The fourth time he went out. While he was gone the little boy went out to play. While he was shooting with his bow and arrows he saw someone coming toward him. He was not a man, but a boy of his own size, and had with him a bow and arrows. Medicine-Man’s boy was afraid of him, and was about to run and cry when the unknown boy spoke to him, saying:“Don't be afraid of me, brother; I know you don't know me. I am your elder brother." The unknown boy looked queer to him. He had a rather long nose and very long hair, but Medicine-Man’s boy was not afraid of him since he had spoken. He continued: "I know you are lonely; that is why I thought of coming down here to see you. Every time our father goes out for a hunt I will come to see you, but you must not tell him that I came to see you while he is gone. Say nothing to him about me. Now, brother, let us see who is the best shot with the bow and arrows.” They began to play. Finally he said to his brother, “Father is coming and I must go," and he ran back to the woods. Medicine-Man was far from home when the boys saw him coming, and when he came the boy was gone, and his son did not say anything about his having been there.
Again Medicine-Man went to hunt, the second time and the third and the fourth time. When he came home in the evening after he had been out the fourth time the boys seemed troubled. They ate and then went to bed. About midnight the boy woke up and thought of his secret brother, and he thought at once that he must tell his father about his brother. He woke his father and said; “Father, I have something to tell you, although I was told not to say anything about it to you.” Medicine-Man gave very close attention. “Father, somebody comes here every time you go out to hunt and he is not very big; he is about my size. When he first came he frightened me and I started to run, but did not know where to go, and I began to cry and the boy told me not to be afraid of him, for he was my brother. He has a long nose and wears long hair and has a bow and arrows, and we always play around here every time you go out to hunt and he treats me kindly. He seems to see you, no matter where you are, and when you start home he knows when you are coming, and then runs for the woods, and when you get here he is gone." “Well, my boy," said Medicine-Man,n “We must capture the boy some way. You must go out there and play just as if I had gone away again, and whenever he asks you where I am, tell him I am out hunting. I will turn into a very small insect and stay behind the door."
The little boy ran out next morning with the bow and arrows and began to play at the usual place. Finally the other boy came, but before he came near he spoke and asked Medicine-Man's boy where their father was, and the boy said that he had gone out hunting again. The boy began to look around, and finally he said: “Who is that man behind the door?” at the same time running back to the woods.
Again the next day the boy went out to play; this time Medicine-Man placed himself at the edge of the roof of the grass house. When the boy came he asked his brother where their father was. He answered that he had gone out hunting, but the boy would not come near. He began to look around, and finally he said: "Who is that man under the roof?" and he ran back into the woods again. Then Medicine-Man said: "We must catch him some way. When he sits down near to you, tell him that something is crawling in his hair, and then he will let you look in his hair. Then catch hold of a small bunch of his hair and tie it up four times; then call me and I will be there just as soon as I can. You must not let him go until I get there.” The little boy understood.
The other boy had already run away twice and this was the third attempt. This time Medicine-Man placed himself in the middle of the fire. The boy went out and began to play. Soon the other boy came. He asked the boy where their father was and he told them he went out to hunt. The unknown boy began to look around, and finally said: "Who is that man in the fire?" and then he ran back to the woods. The next day the boy went out and began to play and the unknown boy came again, and asked the boy the same question. The boy answered that their father had gone out to hunt. This time Medicine-Man placed himself behind another door, and the unknown boy found him again and went back to the woods. And so the fifth time came, and this time the Medicine-Man placed himself in the air, and when the unknown boy came he found him again and went back to the woods.
Medicine-Man tried once more. If he failed the sixth time he could do nothing more, for he would have used all his powers. He told his boy to go out again to play as usual, and this time his own boy did not see which way he had gone. Finally the other boy came and asked where their father was, and he told him that he was out hunting. This time the unknown boy believed him, and so he came near and sat down by him and the little boy got hold of his hair and said: "There is something crawling up in your hair, brother," and then the boy told him to get the bug out of his hair; and the boy began to do so as he had been told, and when he got through he called out, "All ready, father." Medicine-Man jumped out from the grass house, and then they captured the boy and took him into the grass house and held him there for six days. At the end of the six days the little boy boiled some water and they washed the other boy, and Medicine-Man cut his nose off and made it look like a human nose. Medicine-Man said: "You have been coming here when I am absent and have been playing with my son and you call him brother. Now you may be his brother and stay with him and go out and play with him." The boys went out to play, and before Medicine-Man went to hunt again he went over to see the boys and told them he was going to hunt, and told them to stay at home and not to go to a certain place in the timber, where some very large squirrels lived, for they often killed little children. After their father was gone the unknown boy told his young brother they would go there and see the squirrels, and so they started. They could not find the place for a while, but finally they did, and they stood there for a good while watching the big hole in the tree.
After a while one of the big squirrels came out, and sticking his tongue out like a snake, took the younger brother into the tree. The other boy stood there watching the squirrel take the brother into the hole. He did not try to help his brother, for he knew he could get him out of the hole whenever he wanted to. After the boy had disappeared he went back to their home, and when he got there he found their father already returned from the hunt. The father asked him where his son was, and the boy told him that his brother and he were making lots of arrows, and that he came home after fire to dry the arrows with it. He took the fire and carried it to the timber, where he placed it near the tree where the large squirrel was. Then he brought some hard, red stones and put them in the fire, and when the stones were very hot he took one of them and threw it into the hole and then another one. While he was standing there watching the whole he saw the large squirrel come out from the hole and drop down on the ground dead. Then he went over and cut the squirrel's stomach open and found his brother in there, still alive. He took him down to the river and washed him and then they both went home.
Sometimes these two boys would go out to make arrows. One time when they went out the unknown boy made two arrows for his young brother; one he painted black and the other he painted blue. They made a small wheel out of bark of the elm tree. One of the boys would stand about fifty yards away from the other, and they would roll this little wheel to each other and would shoot the wheel with the arrows. They played with the wheel every day until finally Medicine-Man's boy failed to hit the wheel, and the wheel kept rolling and did not stop until it went a long way from them, and they never found it again. The boy felt very bad, and he wanted to get the wheel back, and so the unknown boy said: "Don't worry, brother, for we can get the wheel back again." And so they started out, and they did not let their father know where they were going, nor how long they would be away from home. They went a long way and they could see the trace of the wheel all the way. Finally the unknown boy said: "Well, brother, we are about halfway now, and we must stop for a rest. They began praying to the spirits to help them. The unknown boy had two pecan nuts, and he told his brother to watch, that he was going to put one of the nuts in the ground. Then they began to pray again, and while they were praying the pecan nut began to sprout, and it grew taller and larger. Findly the tree grew so tall that it went clear up into the sky, and then the unknown boy told his brother that he was going up on this tree, and that he must sit near to the tree, but must never look up to the sky, but down on the Earth, and that he was going to be gone for a good while, until he dropped all the bones that he had in his body; that at the last he would drop his head, and then the boy must gather all the bones up, put them on a pile, cover them with buffalo calf’s hide, take the black arrow and shoot it up just as hard as he could and when he heard the arrow coming down to tell him to get out of the way, that the arrow was coming right on him, and that the pile of bones would get out of the way. Then he started climbing up the tree and the little boy sat on the ground looking down. After quite a while he saw one of the bones drop, and then another and another, and so on until all the bones had dropped, and then he gathered them up and piled them together and covered them with the buffalo calf’s hide. Then he shot the black arrow just as he was told, and when he heard the arrow coming down he cried out: "Look out, brother, the arrow is coming down right on you. Get out of the way." His brother jumped out from the buffalo calf’s hide, and the arrow struck right where the hide was. He said, "My father gave me very dangerous power, and so, brother, you must climb up the tree and he will give you power, too." The little boy climbed the tree, and went clear up as far as the other boy had gone. He did not know where he was, and it seemed like a dream to him, and when the bones began to fall from his body he did not know it. All he remembered was that there was someone talking to him, but he did not see who it was, and the next thing he heard was, "Look out, brother, the arrow is coming right down on you. Get out of the way." He jumped out of the way and saw his brother standing there. His brother asked him what kind of power he had received, and he told him that it was a great power. The boy told his brother to show him what kind of power he had received, and then the little boy began making a loud noise that sounded like thunder when it rains, and then the unknown boy let his tongue out and it looked like a flash of lightning.
They went on until they came to a large lake, and when they looked near to the edge of the water they saw the trace where the wheel had passed into the water, but they could not find any place to cross. They sat down on the bank of the lake and began to pray again, and the boy planted another pecan nut, and soon a large tree spring up; but this time the tree did not grow upward, but bent over across the lake to the opposite bank, and so made a bridge for them to cross upon. They went across the lake and when they got across they saw the trace of the wheel, and a little way from the landing place they saw a narrow road leading toward the east, and a little way from the end of the road they saw that the trace of the wheel was gone. A little way from there they saw an old man going toward the lake, and then the boy who had the power of lightning said: "We must kill this man, because we know he is a bad man; he is a cannibal." When they met this old man Lightning boy said to Thunder boy: "This is the old man who took our wheel, and he has it with him now, and it is in his right side." They killed the old man and found the wheel and took it, and then they went on and they saw, a long distance from them, a smoke, and they went there and found many people. The people did not know who they were at first; they thought they were the old man, for this old man whom they had killed was their head man; and so these two brothers killed all the rest of the people. They began to look all around and finally they came to a pile of human bones. They found the bones of the wife of Medicine-Man. Only one little finger was missing. They piled the bones together and covered them with the buffalo calf’s hide, and Lightning boy shot the black arrow up, and when they heard the arrow coming down they said: "Look out, mother, the black arrow is coming right on you. Get out of the way," and the woman jumped out of the way. The boys greeted their mother, and then they all started back for their home, and when they came near to their home Lightning boys said that he was going on ahead. The other boy and his mother came on behind. Lightning boy got there first and found their father a very old man, and still weeping for his children. The yard around the grass house was overgrown with tall trees and weeds and grass, for the old man was not able to work anymore. Lightning boy told him that his son and his lost wife were coming. The old man was glad, and went out to meet them. They all lived happily for a number of years; then the father and mother died. The boys were lonely then, and so they decided to leave this world. They went up in the sky, and now when the clouds gather together for a storm Lightning and Thunder, which are these two boys who once lived on the earth and killed the monsters that live here, are seen in their midst.
Among the Arikara lived a young man who was gifted with powers from the gods in the Heavens—the four-world-quarter gods who give all power. The boy’s parents were very poor, so that he would go about and kill so many antelope that people called him “Antelope-Carrier.” When he went hunting he killed many deer. It made no difference how far away the animal was, he killed whatever animal he shot at. People wondered where the boy got his power. The boy got his power from the timber. The Wood-Rats had taken the boy and had given him bow and arrows. The arrows were made of dogwood. The feathered parts were wood-rat hide. The boy had for his bow, thick hickory wood. One of the arrows was black, another red, another yellow, and another white. The yellow and the white arrows had flint points, and the boy used them for killing game.
Antelope-Carrier wandered from home and was lost to the people. His friends mourned for him as lost. The boy wandered west, until he came to a lake,—a very large lake. Now the boy thought to himself that he would stay at this place for several days. He killed game, made a big fire, ate meat and slept by the lake, where there were many brushes and reeds. One day Antelope-Carrier killed some birds and roasted them. After eating the birds he lay down and slept. While he slept, two Thunderbirds came and carried him high up and placed him upon a high mountain. When the boy woke up he found himself in a strange place. The mound was high and had steep sides, so that he could not get down. When he found that there was no place to get down he cried. He walked around and found a nest. It contained four young Thunderbirds. The nest was built of sticks and covered with soft, downy feathers. He walked to another place and he found a hollow in the stone and this was full of clear water. He did not drink, but went on crying. After a while he became tired and sat down. He heard above him a noise which sounded like strong wind. He looked up and saw the mother Thunderbird. She lighted close to the boy and the bird spoke and said: “My son, do not cry. I brought you to this place. I watch over you as you go hunting. I see you kill game. You are wonderful. I brought you up here. I want you to help me save your young brothers over there” (pointing to the nest). “Nesaru placed me and my mate upon this high place.[74] I have been here a long time, and every time I place my young upon this place a strange animal that lives in yonder lake comes up and eats my young. I have not raised my young, so I have asked you to help me; and if you save my children I will give you great power. The animal that devours my young is a water-serpent. It has two long heads. It has a very thick covering of flint stones. When I throw my lightning upon it, it does it no harm. I throw the lightning in its mouth and it does not die, for the covering extends beyond its head, so that I do not hurt it. Now, my son, do not cry, but stay here and help me kill this monster, and you shall have lightning in your eyes and your mouth and limbs, and you shall have control of all the birds in the whole world.”
The boy wiped away his tears and said: “I will die with my brothers. I will stay here and help you.” The Thunderbird flew away, for she was happy. The boy went to the east slope of the mound, which he found very steep, but covered with timber. He clambered down from the crest of the mound and went into the timber, and there he found many birds. This was the home of all birds. He found a deer and killed it. He cut it up and carried the meat to the top of the mound. He carried some wood to the top also, and made a fire with flint stone. He saw the young birds with their mouths open. He took some meat to them and fed them. The parents of the little birds came and saw that the boy was taking care of them and were glad. The male bird spoke to the boy, and said: “We are all glad to have you here. Our young are very young, but as soon as they begin to turn black then it is time for the serpent to come out from the lake and climb this hill, to kill and eat my birds. We will go far away, where we will get more power, for it is nearly time for the serpent to come up. When the serpent comes up we will be here in time to try to kill it. We are gone.”
The Thunderbirds flew away and for many days the boy did not see them. He was told that when the serpent was ready to come out from the lake he would see a fog rising from the lake, and by that would know that the serpent was coming.
One fine morning when the boy was sitting down, with his bow and arrows lying in front of him, looking at the sun as it came up in the east, something seemed to move his head towards the lake. He saw a small roll of fog coming up from the middle of the lake and the fog seemed to spread as it went up. After a while the fog seemed to cover the hills around, and to reach up into the heavens. The boy saw something[75] crawling out from the lake. Something came out from another place. These were the two heads of the monster. Gradually it came crawling up the hill. A storm came from the west. The boy saw the rain storm, but no bird. He knew that the storm was brought by the powers of the Thunderbirds. The storm went by the boy. No rain was there where he was. It lightened and thundered under the boy. Presently he saw the two Thunderbirds spreading out their wings, making lightning, and every time the lightning struck the serpent the boy could see a flash of lightning in every direction, but it did not kill the monster. At last the monster came upon the rock where the nest was. The birds flew about, the mother squealed, and as the monster opened its mouth the Thunderbird sent its lightning into the mouth of the monster. The monster was thrown back, but again it crawled up, and the female Thunderbird said: “It is all over. We cannot do any more. We have failed, so we will fly up, and you, my son, will have to die with my children.”
The boy now picked up his bow and arrows. He took the black arrow. This he placed upon the bow-string ready to shoot into the mouth of the monster as soon as it should crawl upon the rock. As the monster came up and opened its mouth to swallow the boy he pulled his bow-string and shot into the mouth of the monster. A noise like that of a falling tree was made. The monster fell over and burst open, for the arrow was really a sycamore tree with sharp limbs. The birds flew downward and were glad. Now the other head of the monster came up from another side of the hill. The boy again ran, and as it opened its mouth the boy shot the red arrow into its mouth and another sound was heard. The arrow lifted off the head of the monster and the head fell again upon the rock, breaking it into pieces.
The Thunderbirds now came and flew around the boy, screaming with joy. The two birds flew away to where all kinds of birds dwell. The birds all flew up where the boy and the nest were, and the mother Thunderbird said: “My son, to-day you are chief of all birds. You shall have power as I have. Lightning shall be in your breath and eyes. I give you a stick that shall have lightning, so that you can kill anything you strike. These birds shall follow you wherever you go. They will bring you news of bad animals. They will give you their power. Let us now go down where the serpent is.” The boy and the birds all went down to where the serpent was. It was broken in two. The birds all took hold of one side and turned the serpent over. When the serpent fell, the flint rock upon it had fallen off and scattered. The[76] boy cut the serpent open and the birds feasted upon the serpent. As each bird was filled it spoke to the boy and gave him power. The power given to the boy was in the nature of objects, and he swallowed them.
The lake grew smooth after the serpent was taken out. The boy was now chief of all birds, and wherever he went the birds followed him. Wherever there was a bad animal the birds told the boy and the boy went and killed the animal. The boy made it his aim to kill all bad animals. He never went to his people, but roamed over the land as chief of all birds, but still kept the name “Antelope-Carrier.”
While this young man was roaming about, two young boys from the village went to shoot birds. They were joined together with rawhide. When they had gone far away from the village they came to a bottom land. Here they found an object that looked like a mushroom. It was white. It was moving up and down. One of the boys said, “Let me shoot at this thing.” The other boy said, “No, it is wonderful.” But the first boy shot at the object and as soon as the arrow hit the object a strong wind came up and took both boys up, carrying them far away, and they were left on an island out in the great waters near where the sun comes up.
When the boys were landed they cried. All this time they were still joined by the rawhide string. The boy who shot began to make fun of the other, because he cried the most. So the boy who cried the most tried to shoot the other with his bow and arrow, claiming that it was through him that they were now far away from home. The other boy said, “No, do not kill me, for we will go back home. We will first go to the setting of the sun, for that is where our home is. If we do not reach home then we must go east, where the sun rises.” So they went west. As they neared the big water they saw a patch of corn and squash. They went on and saw an earth-lodge. They stood outside, and after a while an old woman came out and called them “grandsons” and asked them to enter her lodge.
They went in and she fed them. They stayed with the old woman one moon. Then the old woman said: “My grandchildren, you are far away from home. You were brought here by a strong wind, because one of you shot it with your arrow. I will help you so that you can go back to your people. I will pound much corn and I will make dried mush for you. I will make five large cakes. You must do as I tell you. It takes four days to cross the big water. Four of these cakes will be for your grandfather, who will take you across; one cake will be for you boys.” She made the cakes and gave them to the boys, and[77] said: “Go to the bank, and both of you must say, ‘Grandfather, my grandmother says that you are to take us across.’ A large serpent will come first, and you must say to it, ‘My grandmother says you are not the one.’ It will go away. Then call for another one. The second one will come. Send it away. The third one will come. Send it away. The fourth one will come. It is your grandfather, for he carries land upon his head, with trees growing upon it. Get on the serpent’s head and give the serpent one cake. Your grandfather has lice. Take one off of his head and give it to your grandfather; he likes to eat them.” These lice were soft-shell turtles.
The fourth serpent came, and the boys got upon it with their cakes of mush. The boys took one cake and told their grandfather to open his mouth. When he opened it the boys put one of the cakes into it. Their grandmother came and told the boys to get the big serpent a louse and to throw it into its mouth. This the boys did. The boys’ grandmother told them not to jump when the serpent was within three or four feet of the bank, but to stay on it until it was up to the bank. One of the boys now said to his grandfather: “Grandmother says that you are to start for the other side of this big water.” So the serpent started and went all day. At noon of the next day the serpent stopped, and said, “I want something to eat.” So the boys gave it another cake, and also one soft-shell turtle. Then the serpent started again. The next day the serpent stopped and the boys gave it another cake and turtle. The serpent started again, and the third day it stopped and the boys fed it with another cake and turtle. The fourth day, the boys saw land. The wild boy jumped before the serpent came to the bank, and was swallowed by the serpent. The other boy waited until it landed, then got off, and said, “Grandfather, grandmother said you were to stop here and rest.” When the boys had got on the serpent they untied themselves, and this is why only one of them was swallowed.
Now the boy on dry land said: “Grandfather, I am about to leave you.
Grandmother said that I was to feed you with your own lice” (turtles). The boy took turtles from the monster and gave them to him. “O, grandfather, open your mouth. I must see your teeth. Grandmother said I could see your teeth.” So the serpent opened its mouth, and there the other boy was, sitting inside the serpent. The boy asked the serpent to open its mouth wide, so he could see how long his teeth were. He then reached in the serpent’s mouth and dragged out the other boy.
The two boys thanked the serpent and went west, hunting their home. They traveled many days, until at last they came to the Missouri[78] River bottom. This river they followed up until they came to some lakes close to the river. Here they wandered until they came to drift wood, and there was a good large-sized log among the drift. Here they made a big fire. The large log was among the burning. The boys noticed drops of grease falling from the log. The wild boy noticed and reached up to the log and he found that the log was a serpent. The foolish boy then took his knife out and cut a chunk of meat and ate it. He tried to get the other boy to eat some of the meat, but the boy would not eat it.
The boys now went on, and in the night lay down. The next morning the boy who ate the serpent woke and saw that his feet had turned red, blue, and white. The wild boy was glad to see the colors upon his feet. The next night, the boy’s legs became colored. Another night passed, and the boy’s body was colored. The next morning the boy’s legs were joined together and were like a serpent. The other boy talked to the part-serpent boy, and said, “I will stay with you.” The serpent boy then said: “My brother, carry me to the Wonderful (Missouri) River and put me in the water. I am now wonderful. You must come down to the river, so that I can speak to you, and I will give you powers.” The fourth morning the boy was a Serpent. The other boy packed the Serpent boy to the river and turned him loose in the river.
The boy went home. Antelope-Carrier was informed of the Serpent and learned that it was wonderful. Antelope-Carrier came and told all the birds to hunt up and down the river, so that they might find the Serpent. The Serpent knew that Antelope-Carrier was coming, and became scared. The Serpent had his brother dig a hole in the sand for it. He went into the hole and was all hidden but the head, which was covered with willows. Antelope-Carrier with all his birds hunted the Serpent. At last he saw the place where he thought the Serpent was. While examining the place the Serpent used its power and carried Antelope-Carrier into the water and into its den. There Antelope-Carrier was put into the sweat-lodge and was made to vomit up all his powers which he possessed except the lightning in his eyes. “Now,” said the Serpent, “your powers are all gone. You are no longer wonderful. Go now to our people and live with them.” Antelope-Carrier went home. He had to wear something over his eyes all that time, for they were like lightning. He lived with the people, but never showed to them any powers that he had possessed. The Serpent remained in the river and would sometimes swim around in the waters. It gave its powers to the people and gave them songs and the Medicine-men’s ceremony. (Told by Antelope)
Many, many years ago the Arikara, according to their traditions, were journeying west, when they were told by Mother-Corn, who had led them out of the ground, that in time they must dress her up and put her into the river; and, as they should put her into the river, the priest should say, “Mother, make haste and return to us.” For many years the Arikara continued to journey west, until at last they made a permanent village of earth-lodges upon the Missouri River, opposite the city of Washburn.
The old men thought that it was now time to send Mother-Corn down the stream. She was to go to the place from whence the Arikara originally had come, and if there were rituals and ceremonies or medicines that had been left behind, Mother-Corn was taken from the bundle and painted. A dress of tanned buffalo hide was wrapped and tied about the middle of the Mother-Corn.
While the painting and dressing of Mother-Corn was going on, the crier went through the village, telling the people that Mother-Corn was going to leave them for a period of time; and that she was going to the place from whence their forefathers had come; and that the Arikara people must all bring old moccasins for their little children; and that these must be placed with Mother-Corn, so that she might carry the old moccasins to the place whence the people had come, so that the young ones might grow up in life as the Arikara people had grown through their journey, meeting different obstacles, and finally settling down into a village; that the children might grow up; that although difficulties might beset their daily walks, they might overcome them by the power of Mother-Corn, and grow up to be strong men and women.
[Rituals were now recited by Standing-Bull, which were the same as those recited when they were painting the chief.] After the reciting of the rituals the people took up Mother-Corn and took her down to the river. All the people turned out to witness the act. But before the priests threw Mother-Corn into the river, her head upstream and her feet downstream, the children’s moccasins were tied about her waist. The people offered their prayers to Mother-Corn, and after[36] praying they all began to cry. But Mother-Corn had disappeared in the Missouri River, and had gone with the current.
Many years afterwards, a woman returned to the village of the Arikara, and as the bundle ceremonies were being given the woman visited these ceremonies. At last, when she visited one ceremony, a man recognized her as Mother-Corn. He placed her under the bundle. She let them know that she was Mother-Corn, and she taught them many ceremonies and songs that night, and she said that she always would be present with them; that she would never forget them; and that the gods in the heavens had promised her and her people length of life. That night Mother-Corn disappeared, and she has never been seen since. (Told by Standing Bull)
Second Version:
In olden times during time of need, it was the custom of the Arikara to have a ceremony in which some old man would make offerings to the gods and to the Mother-Corn. It seems that in this ceremony all the old men who were offering smoke wanted the Mother-Corn to come, so that they might have plenty of corn, for it was planting season.
Mother-Corn was pleased to have smoke with the people. She started from the east to visit these people, and came to many other camps, and finally came to these people. She went into the medicine-lodge, and all the people followed her in. She spoke to them and the people cried for joy.
The woman was pretty. The people brought her all kinds of food, but she would not eat. She told them the only thing she could eat was a bird, such as a chicken or duck. She stayed with the people many days and taught them many lessons. But the people were now hungry for meat, for the buffalo roamed far away from them. They had plenty of corn, and yet they liked to have meat, but all the animals were now scarce. One wise old man took a sacred pipe and laid it before the Mother-Corn for an aid, because he knew that she had all power from Nesaru.
Mother-Corn was much pleased to smoke with them and to offer smoke offerings to the father. Then she asked certain women to make moccasins for her, and they did so. The people gathered together in the medicine-lodge, while Mother-Corn sat on the altar. She put on one pair of moccasins and arose. She walked very slowly and when she had gone about twenty steps her moccasins were worn out.
Then she sat down, put on another pair and walked again. When she had walked about twenty steps her moccasins gave out again and she tried the third pair, but they too wore out. She put on the fourth pair, and that pair brought her back to the altar. Her walk around the fireplace meant that she had walked a long way off in the west, and that the way was very hard. At last she told the people that she had seen some buffalo; that in four days they were to be seen. The men watched every day after that, and early in the morning of the fourth day the buffalo were seen.
The men went out and killed many buffalo on that day and there was plenty of meat. Thus, much respect and honor was paid to Mother-Corn. After some days another party went on a buffalo hunt, but Mother-Corn stayed with those who stayed in the village. It was not many days until enemies attacked the village. But what few men were there fought very hard, and at last they were driven out of the village. They took Mother-Corn out of the medicine-lodge, but before she escaped she was killed, causing great grief among the people.
The Arikara were defeated on that day. They took Mother-Corn and buried her. From the place where she was laid, grass, weeds, bushes, trees, and almost everything sprang up. When the people who had gone out on the buffalo hunt came back they were much grieved and troubled on account of the loss of Mother-Corn. (Told by Hawk)
Coming soon...
I will relate the manner in which corn first came. According to tradition handed down to our people, a beautiful woman was seen to descend from the clouds, and alight upon the earth, by two of our ancestors who had killed a deer, and were sitting by a fire roasting a part of it to eat. They were astonished at seeing her, and concluded that she was hungry and had smelt the meat. They immediately went to her, taking with them a piece of the roasted venison. They presented it to her, she ate it, telling them to return to the spot where she was sitting at the end of one year, and they would find a reward for their kindness and generosity. She then ascended to the clouds and disappeared. The men returned to their village, and explained to the tribe what they had seen, done and heard, but were laughed at by their people. When the period had arrived for them to visit this consecrated ground, where they were to find a reward for their attention to the beautiful woman of the clouds, they went with a large party, and found where her right hand had rested on the ground corn growing, where the left hand had rested beans, and immediately where she had been seated, tobacco.
This story was related by the Sauk leader Black Hawk (Ma-ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiak) in his 1833 autobiography.
Coming soon...
Coming soon...
Evening Star Project
Copyright © 2024 Evening Star Project - All Rights Reserved.
We use cookies to analyze website traffic and optimize your website experience.