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
They looked again, and saw the people gathering about the lodge. They
heard the she-she-gwan of the meeta, and the song he sung, asking that
the child's life might be spared. To this request, the companion of
O-no-wut-a-qut-o made answer--"send me up the sacrifice of a white dog."
Immediately a feast was ordered by the parents of the child, the white
dog was killed, his carcass was roasted, and all the wise men and
medicine men of the village assembled to witness the ceremony. "There
are many below," continued the voice of the brother, "whom you call
great in medical skill, but it is because their ears are open, and they
listen to my voice, that they are able to succeed. When I have struck
one with sickness, they direct the people to look to me: and when they
send me the offering I ask, I remove my hand from off them, and they are
well." After he had said this, they saw the sacrifice parcelled out in
dishes, for those who were at the feast. The master of the feast then
said, "we send this to thee, Great Manito," and immediately the roasted
animal came up. Thus their dinner was supplied, and after they had
eaten, they returned to the lodge by another way.
After this manner they lived for some time; but the place became
wearisome at last. O-no-wut-a-qut-o thought of his friends, and wished
to go back to them. He had not forgotten his native village, and his
father's lodge; and he asked leave of his wife, to return. At length she
consented. "Since you are better pleased," she replied, "with the cares
and the ills, and the poverty of the world, than with the peaceful
delights of the sky, and its boundless prairies, go! I give you
permission, and since I have brought you hither, I will conduct you
back; but remember, you are still my husband, I hold a chain in my hand
by which I can draw you back, whenever I will. My power over you is not,
in any manner, diminished. Beware, therefore, how you venture to take a
wife among the people below. Should you ever do so, it is then that you
shall feel the force of my displeasure."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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