American fiction -- 20th century; Short stories, American
“My son and the son of my enemy will come to your camp in one moon. You
will marry the Rosebud, your daughter, to my son, while the son of my
enemy you will tie an’ give to your young men to shoot at with their
arrows until he be dead, an’ afterward until they have had enough sport.
My son will bring you a white arrow; the son of my enemy will bring
you a black arrow.” Moh-Kwa laughed when he heard this from the Widow’s
lips; an’ because she had been faithful, Moh-Kwa gave her the four small
owls just from the egg. An’ the older owls took it quietly an’ only
whispered their anger; for Moh-Kwa said that if they screamed an’
shouted when now he must sit an’ think until his head ached, he would
knock down every nest.
When his plan was ripe, Coldheart put on a good face an’ went to the
lodge of Openhand an’ gave him a red blanket an’ said he was Openhand’s
friend. An’ Openhand an’ all the Sioux said this must be true talk
because of the red blanket; for Coldheart was never known to give
anything away before.
Openhand an’ Coldheart sat down an’ smoked; for Moh-Kwa had never told
how Coldheart had sent the Lynx for the Young Wolf’s heart. Moh-Kwa
never told tales; moreover Moh-Kwa had also his own plans as well as
Coldheart.
When Openhand an’ Coldheart came to part, an’ Coldheart was to go again
to his own lodge, he asked that Openhand send his son, Young Wolf, with
the Blackbird who would go to wed the young squaw, Rosebud, where she
dwelt with Dull Knife, her father, in their camp on the Little Bighorn.
An’ Openhand did not hesitate, but said, “Yes;” an’ the Young Wolf
himself was glad to go, like all boys who hope to see new scenes.
As Young Wolf an’ the Blackbird next day rode away, Coldheart stuck a
black arrow in the cow-skin quiver of Young Wolf, an’ a white arrow in
that of the Blackbird, saying:
“Give these to the Dull Knife that he may know you are my sons an’ come
from me, an’ treat you with much love.”
Many days the young men traveled to reach Dull Knife’s camp on the
Little Bighorn. In the night of their last camp, Moh-Kwa came silently,
an’ while the young men slept swapped Coldheart’s arrows; an’ when
they rode to the lodge of Dull Knife, an’ while the scowling Blackfeet
gathered about--for the sight of a Sioux gives a Blackfoot a hot
heart--the black arrow was in the quiver of the Blackbird an’ the white
arrow in that of Young Wolf.
“How!” said the young men to Dull Knife. “How! how!” said Dull Knife.
“An’ now, my sons, where are the arrows which are your countersigns?”
When the young men took out the arrows they saw that they had been
changed; but they knew not their message an’ thought no difference would
come. So they made no talk since that would lose time; an’ Young Wolf
gave Dull Knife the white arrow while the Blackbird gave him the black
arrow.
An’ holding an arrow in each hand--one white, one black--Dull Knife
said:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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