Indians of North America; Indians of North America -- Folklore
The squaw came and looked at the holes. She took some clay in her hands
and wet it in the river, then she shaped it like the hollow stone she
used for cooking. She dried the clay in the sun, and it was soon hard.
An old chief saw the clay dishes and told the other squaws to make
them, but the clay dishes would not hold water and broke very easily.
A squaw put some ashes and fire in her dish one day. She wanted to save
the fire, for it was hard to get. The hot coals baked the dish, and it
would not break. It held water; then the Indians knew how to make their
clay dishes in the right way.
III. LEAPING ROCK IN THE PIPESTONE VALLEY
Near the Falls of Winniwissi is a great rock; it is as tall as two
braves. The water manitous have cut the sides of this rock; it is
smooth on the top; it is smooth on the sides; it is like a piece of ice
in the Big Sea Water.
It is small on the top. A brave, if he lay down on it and put out his
hands, would put his hands on nothing. It is small; it is a high rock.
When they gathered in the Pipestone Valley the chiefs stood by this
rock. It is in the Valley of Peace. The young braves stood by this
rock. The chiefs tried the young braves here, for this was Leaping
Rock. It stood above all the other rocks.
The chiefs called the young braves of their tribes. The young braves
came. The chiefs said: “Leap from this trail in the valley to the top
of Leaping Rock. Then you are brave; then you are strong.”
It was a leap as high as two braves are long. It was a leap like an
arrow shot into the sky; like an arrow which falls and breaks on the
rocks the young braves fell sometimes.
Sometimes the young brave was strong; he would stand on the slippery
rock like an eagle resting on the mountain. It was well. He was then a
great brave. The chief of his tribe gave him the feather of an eagle to
wear, for only a strong brave may wear a feather in his scalp lock.
A Dakota maiden had two lovers. She told them to go to Leaping Rock.
They went; one came back. The other the chiefs buried where he fell as
he slid from Leaping Rock. The maiden took the one who came back; but
she was missed one day, and they found her at the foot of Leaping Rock
with eagle feathers for the Pawnee’s grave.
“He was brave but no one mourns for him. He shall have two eagle
feathers,” she said.
“It is right,” said the Dakotas.
IV. THE FACE OF THE GREAT MANITOU IN THE ROCK
The great stone pipes of all tribes of Indians are made in the Valley
of Peace. The Valley of Peace has high walls of rock. This rock is soft
when it is first cut; it is red and white.
No Indian may harm any one in this valley. Enemies must not know war
here. Dakotas, Chippewas, Pawnees, tribes of the south and tribes of
the north buried their tomahawks when they met in the Valley of Peace.
This is true; the tribes gathered here to make their calumets. The
calumet is the pipe of peace.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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