The Indian: On the Battle-Field and in the WigwamFrost, John
History
The Indian: On the Battle-Field and in the Wigwam
Frost, John
Indians of North America
Om-pah, (the elk,) was the next; he ascended the lodge at sunrise the
next morning. His body was entirely naked, being covered with yellow
clay. On his left arm he carried a beautiful shield, and a long lance
in his right; and on his head the skin of a raven, the bird that soars
amidst the clouds, and above the lightning’s glare--he flourished his
shield and brandished his lance, and raised his voice, but in vain; for
at sun set the ground was dry, and the sky was clear; the squaws were
crying, and their corn was withering at its roots.
War-rah-pa, (the beaver,) was the next; he also spent his breath in vain
upon the empty air, and came down at night--and Wak-a-dah-ha-hee, (the
white buffalo’s hair,) took the stand the next morning. He was a small,
but beautifully proportioned young man. He was dressed in a tunic, and
leggings of the skins of the mountain-sheep, splendidly garnished with
the quills of the porcupine, and fringed with locks of hair taken by
his own hand from the heads of his enemies. On his arm he carried
his shield, made of the buffalo’s hide--its boss was the head of the
war-eagle--and its front was ornamented with “red chains of lightning.”
In his left hand he clinched his sinewy bow and one single arrow. The
villagers were all gathered about him; when he threw up a feather to
decide on the course of the wind, and he commenced thus: “My friends!
people of the pheasants! you see me here a sacrifice--I shall this day
relieve you from great distress, and bring joy amongst you; or I shall
descend from this lodge when the sun goes down, and live amongst the
dogs and old women all my days. My friends! you saw which way the
feather flew, and I hold my shield this day in the direction where the
wind comes--the lightning on my shield will draw a great cloud, and the
arrow, which is selected from my quiver, and which is feathered with the
quill of the white swan, will make a hole in it. My friends! this hole
in the lodge at my feet, shows me the medicine-men, who are seated in
the lodge below me and crying to the Great Spirit and through it comes
and passes into my nose delightful odors, which you see rising in the
smoke to the Great Spirit above, who rides in the clouds and commands
the winds! Three days they have sat here, my friends, and nothing has
been done to relieve your distress. On the first day was Wah-kee, (the
shield,) he could do nothing; he counted his beads and came down--his
medicine was not good--his name was bad, and it kept off the rain. The
next was Om-pah, (the elk;) on his head the raven was seen, who flies
above the storm, and he failed. War-rah-pa, (the beaver,) was the next,
my friends; the beaver lives under the water, and he never wants it to
rain. My friends! I see you are in great distress, and nothing has yet
been done; this shield belonged to my father the White Buffalo; and the
lightning you see on it is red; it was taken from a black cloud, and
that cloud will come over us to-day.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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