When the tree flowered : $b An authentic tale of the old Sioux worldNeihardt, John G.
History
When the tree flowered : $b An authentic tale of the old Sioux world
Neihardt, John G.
Historical fiction; Oglala Indians -- Fiction
“They were all looking up at the little dog, and she was howling that
queer way again, with her nose to the sky. The little girl understood
again, and she began to cry, because she was scared and nobody could
understand. Then the mother said, ‘Why are you crying like this?’ And
the little girl answered, ‘The dog is telling us it is going to be
terrible. My father and brothers are coming and enemies are coming too.
It is going to be terrible. We must run away now, for it is going to be
terrible. My dog is saying it!’ Then she cried harder than ever. And
the mother said, ‘You must stop crying. We must wait until your father
and brothers come back and they will know what to do.’ So they waited.
And the little girl cried, and the little dog mourned on the hill.
“It was just before dark, and the three men came back. Loud Woman told
Good Buffalo about the little girl and what the dog said. But Good
Buffalo was tired from hunting all day, also he was hungry, and he
said: ‘Of course we will go away from here when we are ready. We are
camping here now.’
“Just then the little girl heard the dog talking up there again, and
the dog said, ‘They are here! _Wahoo-oo-oo!_ They are here! You have no
ears, so I am running away! _Wahoo-oo-oo!_’ Then the dog was gone from
the hill, and her howling was getting dimmer.
“Now the little girl was crying so hard she could hardly talk, and she
said, ‘They are here! Enemies are here! My dog said it and she has run
away!’
“So Good Buffalo said to his sons, ‘Let us go and see what all this
is about. We can eat when we get back.’ But they did not go, for just
then there were shots from out in the dark. The camp was surrounded.
The women raised the tremolo. Good Buffalo began a death-song, and the
sons sang with him as they ran out to meet the enemies. They did not
sing long, for they were killed. Then Loud Woman beat her breast and
grasped a butcher knife and went out yelling after the men. And after
her the sons’ wives ran with butcher knives to help their men. Soon
there was only a galloping of horses, and then it was still out in the
night.
“Good Buffalo’s sister and her little niece hid under a buffalo robe
inside the tepee. They thought soon they would be killed and scalped.
But nothing more happened. All the enemies wanted was the horses, and
maybe they thought a big camp was near.
“When it was morning, Good Buffalo’s sister and her little niece went
to find the others. It was terrible--the way the dog said it was going
to be. The three men and the three women were scattered around, all
dead. The sister was shot in the leg--but it was not in the bone, so
she was strong enough to drag the six dead people into the tepee and to
place them side by side. She thought, the enemies may come back and it
will be just as well to lie dead here with the others. And there she
mourned, waiting for death, and the little girl cried and cried.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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