American fiction -- 20th century; Short stories, American
“You are laughed at,” said Moh-Kwa to the Swallow, “because your spirit
is light as dead leaves an’ too much blown about like a tumbleweed
wasting its seeds in foolish travelings to go nowhere for no purpose
so that only it goes. Your heart is good, but your work is of no
consequence, an’ your name will win no respect; an’ with years you
will be hated since you will do no great deeds. Already men call
you Shau-goh-dah-wah, the Coward. I am Moh-Kwa, the Wise Bear of the
Yellowstone, an’ I would do you a favor for taking my paw an’ the thorn
apart. But I cannot change your nature; only Pau-guk, the Death, can do
that; an’ no man may touch Pau-guk an’ live. Yet for a favor I will give
you three gifts, which if you keep safe will make you rich an’ strong
an’ happy; an’ all men will love you an’ no longer think to call you
Shau-goh-dah-wah, the Coward.”
Moh-Kwa when he had ended this long talk, licked his paw where had been
the great thorn, an’ now that the smart was gone an’ he could put his
foot to the ground an’ not howl, he took the Swallow an’ carried him to
his house in the rocks. An’ Moh-Kwa gave the Swallow a knife, a necklace
of bear-claws, an’ a buffalo robe.
“While you carry the knife,” said Moh-Kwa, “all men will respect an’
fear you an’ the squaws will cherish you in their hearts. While you wear
the bear-claws, you will be brave an’ strong, an’ whatever you want you
will get. As for the skin of the buffalo, it is big medicine, an’ if you
sit upon it an’ wish, it will carry you wherever you ask to go.”
Besides the knife, the bear-claws an’ the big medicine robe, Moh-Kwa
gave the Swallow the thorn he had pulled from his foot, telling him
to sew it in his moccasin, an’ when he was in trouble it would bring
Moh-Kwa to him to be a help. Also, Moh-Kwa warned the Swallow to beware
of a cunning squaw.
“For,” said Moh-Kwa, “your nature is light like dead leaves, an’ such as
you seek ever to be a fool about a cunning squaw.”
When the Swallow came again among the Sioux he wore the knife an’ the
bear-claws that Moh-Kwa had given him; an’ in his lodge he spread the
big medicine robe. An’ because of the knife an’ the bear-claws, the
warriors respected an’ feared him, an’ the squaws loved him in their
hearts an’ followed where he went with their eyes. Also, when he wanted
anything, the Swallow ever got it; an’ as he was swift an’ ready to want
things, the Swallow grew quickly rich among the Sioux, an’ his lodge
was full of robes an’ furs an’ weapons an’ new dresses of skins an’
feathers, while more than fifty ponies ate the grass about it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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