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 started early in the morning, and on the second day they were
coming down to a lake with trees and brush growing around it. They
thought it was a good place to camp and rest awhile, for the grass was
soft and green under the trees.
“Just then Sees-White-Cow saw something, and she said, ‘Look! There is
a man peeking out from yonder brush!’ Turning Hawk looked and answered,
‘That is not a man; it is an otter.’ And Sees-White-Cow said, ‘Look
there and there! They are men looking out of the brush!’ Still Turning
Hawk could not see, and he said, ‘They are only otter.’ But the woman
was frightened at what she had seen. ‘They are enemies, and I am
going.’ So she dropped her pack and began running back the way they had
come.”
Moves Walking had risen spryly to his feet, hand at brow, the
better to see otter yonder in the brush. Apparently he was less
certain about the otter now, for he glanced nervously back over his
shoulder at the fleeing woman. Suddenly it happened. He clapped his
hands, simulating the sound of bows released and arrows in flight.
“_Whang--whoosh--whang--whoosh--whang--whoosh!_” Tugging at imaginary
shafts in his breast and belly, he slumped slowly, and sat down. After
pausing long enough to emphasize the fatal nature of the incident, he
resumed.
“Turning Hawk was dead, full of arrows; but Sees-White-Cow got away. I
think she was a fast runner. When she came to the band of her people
and told the story, a war party set forth and her two brothers were
in it. They found Turning Hawk butchered like a deer and hung up in a
tree. Afterwhile they caught the Chippewas who did this. There was a
big fight. Many enemies were killed and scalped, and the two brothers
were so brave and got so many scalps that everybody was talking about
them; and there was a big victory dance.
“So the husband was dead, and maybe if he had listened to his woman he
would have lived. Sees-White-Cow cut off her hair and mourned for a
while. But she was a young woman and good to see; so when a brave young
man by the name of Chasing Otter asked for her, she became his woman.
He was a Sisseton.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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