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 travelling 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, travelling 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.
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