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
“Then somebody said: ‘Look over there! We’re going to see a big bull
fight!’ We looked, and there were four fine young bulls all in a row
walking slowly towards the grandfather and the cow. When they were
not very far apart, they all stopped and looked at each other awhile.
Then the first young bull began to roll and tear the earth up with his
horns, throwing the dirt over his back and bellowing. When the old
bull saw this, he began doing the same thing, rooting up big chunks of
sod and tossing them over his back. His voice was deep like thunder
rumbling. Then they stopped and looked at each other a little while
with their muzzles near the ground.
“All at once they both charged, and when their skulls came together
it was like a gunshot. There was so much dust for a little while after
they came together that we could not see what was happening in there.
The cow just stood looking, and so did the three other young bulls.
Then all at once we saw one of the bulls up in the air. When the dust
cleared away, the grandfather was wiping his horns on the grass. Then
he walked over to the cow and licked her face, while the young bull was
getting up and staggering away with his insides dragging and his hind
feet tangled in them.
“In a little while the second young bull began rolling and bellowing
and tearing the earth with his horns. The old bull did the same; and
when they came together the dust rose in a cloud. They fought so hard
that we could hear them panting and grunting. Then the dust thinned in
the wind and we saw one rise into the air and the other horn him coming
down. Again the grandfather wiped his horns on the grass and went back
to lick the cow. The other one was trying to get up, but he would
always fall down again, and his belly was all torn open.
“Then the third young bull did as the others had done, and there was
a longer fight in the dust and more panting and grunting. It ended
the same as before, with the young bull staggering away dragging his
insides. But we could see that the old grandfather was bleeding hard
and wobbling. This time he just stood there and did not go back to the
cow. High Horse and I were sorry, because we were on his side; and we
wanted One Horn to shoot the last young bull with his gun. But he just
laughed at us.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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