Apache Indians -- Fiction; Historical fiction; Western stories
Cochise was yet very ill and so Geronimo held his tribe with the
Cho-kon-en, for to him the old war chief was as a second father. He
exhorted Nakay-do-klunni and Nan-ta-do-tash, the medicine men, to exert
their utmost powers in behalf of the old warrior; but though they made
their best medicine Cochise grew weaker day by day. And then one day he
called Geronimo to him where he lay in his rude shelter upon blankets
and furs.
“My son,” said the old chief, “the spirits of the white men that he has
killed are clamoring for the life of Cochise. Nakay-do-klunni and
Nan-ta-do-tash cannot make medicine strong enough to drive away the
spirits of the white-eyes.
“Send then for all the great chiefs of the Apaches. Tell them to come
and help Nakay-do-klunni and Nan-ta-do-tash frighten away the spirits of
the pindah lickoyee, for they fear our war chiefs more than they do our
izze-nantan. Go, Geronimo, or Cochise will surely die.”
And so Geronimo sent runners to the four tribes, summoning Nanáy and
Victorio and Loco, Hash-ka-ai-la, Co-si-to and Juh; and they all came
and with Geronimo and the warriors of the Be-don-ko-he and the
Cho-kon-en they sat before the wigwam of Cochise and while some beat
upon hides stretched over sticks they all chanted songs that would fill
the spirits of the white-eyed men with fear and drive them from the body
of their war chief.
They sat in a circle about a large fire beside which lay Cochise.
Nakay-do-klunni and Nan-ta-do-tash, wearing the sacred izze-kloth and
elaborate medicine headdress, danced in a circle about the sick man and
the fire. The bodies of the izze-nantans were painted a greenish brown
and upon each arm was a yellow snake with the heads toward the shoulder
blades.
Upon the breast of Nakay-do-klunni was painted a yellow bear and on his
back were zigzag lines denoting lightning, while Nan-ta-do-tash had
lightning upon both back and breast. Dancing, bending low to right and
left, forward and back, spinning first in a circle upon the left foot
and then around again in the opposite direction upon the right, they
voiced a weird whistling sound. Now Nan-ta-do-tash advanced toward
Cochise and sprinkled hoddentin upon his arms and legs in the form of a
cross and as he backed away to resume the dancing Nakay-do-klunni took
his place beside the dying chieftain and made similarly the mystic
symbol upon his head and breast.
For six weeks Cochise lay ill and for nearly all of this time the
warriors and medicine men, working in relays and assisted by the women
and the children, sought continuously by day and by night to frighten
away the malevolent spirits by incantation and by noise.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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