The American Indians: Their History, Condition and Prospects, from Original Notes and ManuscriptsSchoolcraft, Henry Rowe
History
The American Indians: Their History, Condition and Prospects, from Original Notes and Manuscripts
Schoolcraft, Henry Rowe
Indians of North America
beginning to feel a little cold." All was silence. He, however, kept his
position till early day break, when he got up and went to them. They
were both quite dead, and frozen so hard, that the flesh had bursted out
under their finger nails, and their teeth stood out. As he looked more
closely, what was his surprise to find them both transformed into
buffalo cows. He tied them together, and carried them towards the
village. As he came in sight, those who had wished his death were
disappointed, but the Mudjekewis, who was really his friend, rejoiced.
"See!" said he "but one person approaches,--it is my brother-in-law." He
then threw down the carcasses in triumph, but it was found that by their
death he had restored two inhabitants to the before empty lodges, and he
afterwards perceived, that every one of these beings, whom he killed,
had the like effect, so that the depopulated part of the village soon
became filled with people.
The next test they put him to, was the trial of speed. He was challenged
to the race ground, and began his career with one whom he thought to be
a man; but every thing was enchanted here, for he soon discovered that
his competitor was a large black bear. The animal outran him, tore up
the ground, and sported before him, and put out its large claws as if to
frighten him. He thought of his little guardian spirit in the belt, and
wishing to have the swiftness of the Kakake, i. e. sparrow hawk, he
found himself rising from the ground, and with the speed of this bird he
outwent his rival, and won the race, while the bear came up exhausted
and lolling out his tongue. His friend the Mudjekewis stood ready, with
his war-club, at the goal, and the moment the bear came up, dispatched
him. He then turned to the assembly, who had wished his friend and
brother's death, and after reproaching them, he lifted up his club and
began to slay them on every side. They fell in heaps on all sides; but
it was plain to be seen, the moment they fell, that they were not men,
but animals,--foxes, wolves, tigers, lynxes, and other kinds, lay thick
around the Mudjekewis.
Still the villagers were not satisfied. They thought the trial of
frost, had not been fairly accomplished, and wished it repeated. He
agreed to repeat it, but being fatigued with the race, he undid his
guardian belt, and laying it under his head, fell asleep. When he awoke,
he felt refreshed, and feeling strong in his own strength, he went
forward to renew the trial on the ice, but quite forgot the belt, nor
did it at all occur to him when he awoke, or when he lay down to repeat
the trial. About midnight his limbs became stiff, the blood soon ceased
to circulate, and he was found in the morning, a stiff corpse. The
victors took him up and carried him to the village, where the loudest
tumult of victorious joy was made, and they cut the body into a thousand
pieces, that each one might eat a piece.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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