Crow Indians -- Fiction; Indian captivities -- Fiction; Western stories; Yellowstone River Valley -- Fiction
Seeing the squaw Ba-cher-hish-a passing, they called to her and said:
"When there are any white men around the camps, paint the face of your
little son White Weasel, and fill his hair with wood ashes. If you are
careful to do this, the white men will not notice him; you will not have
to part with him again."
"What you say is true," spoke the squaw, "but I cannot put black ashes
in his eyes." She departed, nevertheless, glorious with the new thought.
Having fought each other with arrows until it no longer amused them, the
foes of an idle hour ran away together down by the creek, where they
disrobed by a process neatly described by the white men's drill
regulations, which say a thing shall be done in "one time and two
motions."
White Weasel was more complicated than his fellows by reason of one
shirt, which he promptly skinned off. "See the white Crow," gurgled a
small savage, as every eye turned to our hero. "He always has the
war-paint on his body. He is always painted like the big men when they
go to strike the enemy--he is red all over. The war-paint is in his
skin."
"Now, let us be buffalo," spoke one, answered by others, "Yes, let us be
buffalo." Accordingly, in true imitation of what to them was a familiar
sight, they formed in line, White Weasel at the head as usual. Bending
their bodies forward and swinging their heads, they followed down to the
water, throwing themselves flat in the shallows. Now they were no longer
buffalo, but merely small boys splashing about in the cool water,
screaming incoherently and as nearly perfectly happy as nature ever
intended human beings to be. After a few minutes of this, the humorist
among them, the ultra-imaginative one, stood up pointing dramatically,
and, simulating fear, yelled, "Here comes the bad water monster,"
whereat with shrill screams and much splashing the score of little imps
ran ashore and sat down, grinning at their half-felt fear. The water
monster was quite real to them. Who could say one might not appear and
grab a laggard?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account