American Indian Stories, Legends, and Other Writings (Penguin Classics)

by Zitkala-S̈a

  “Is that Iktomi’s spirit?” asked one fawn of another.

  “No! I think he would jump out before he could burn into smoke and cinders,” answered his comrade.

  The Badger and the Bear

  On the edge of a forest there lived a large family of badgers. In the ground their dwelling was made. Its walls and roof were covered with rocks and straw.

  Old father badger was a great hunter. He knew well how to track the deer and buffalo. Every day he came home carrying on his back some wild game. This kept mother badger very busy, and the baby badgers very chubby. While the well-fed children played about, digging little make-believe dwellings, their mother hung thin sliced meats upon long willow racks. As fast as the meats were dried and seasoned by sun and wind, she packed them carefully away in a large thick bag.

  This bag was like a huge stiff envelope, but far more beautiful to see, for it was painted all over with many bright colors. These firmly tied bags of dried meat were laid upon the rocks in the walls of the dwelling. In this way they were both useful and decorative.

  One day father badger did not go off for a hunt. He stayed at home, making new arrows. His children sat about him on the ground floor. Their small black eyes danced with delight as they watched the gay colors painted upon the arrows.

  All of a sudden there was heard a heavy footfall near the entrance way. The oval-shaped door-frame was pushed aside. In stepped a large black foot with great big claws. Then the other clumsy foot came next. All the while the baby badgers stared hard at the unexpected comer. After the second foot, in peeped the head of a big black bear! His black nose was dry and parched. Silently he entered the dwelling and sat down on the ground by the doorway. His black eyes never left the painted bags on the rocky walls. He guessed what was in them. He was a very hungry bear. Seeing the racks of red meat hanging in the yard, he had come to visit the badger family.

  Though he was a stranger and his strong paws and jaws frightened the small badgers, the father said, “How, how, friend! Your lips and nose look feverish and hungry. Will you eat with us?”

  “Yes, my friend,” said the bear. “I am starved. I saw your racks of red fresh meat, and knowing your heart is kind, I came hither. Give me meat to eat, my friend.”

  Hereupon the mother badger took long strides across the room, and as she had to pass in front of the strange visitor, she said: “Ah han! Allow me to pass!” which was an apology.

  “How, how!” replied the bear, drawing himself closer to the wall and crossing his shins together.

  Mother badger chose the most tender red meat, and soon over a bed of coals she broiled the venison.

  That day the bear had all he could eat. At nightfall he rose, and smacking his lips together,—that is the noisy way of saying “the food was very good!”—he left the badger dwelling. The baby badgers, peeping through the door-flap after the shaggy bear, saw him disappear into the woods near by.

  Day after day the crackling of twigs in the forest told of heavy footsteps. Out would come the same black bear. He never lifted the door-flap, but thrusting it aside entered slowly in. Always in the same place by the entrance way he sat down with crossed shins.

  His daily visits were so regular that mother badger placed a fur rug in his place. She did not wish a guest in her dwelling to sit upon the bare hard ground.

  At last one time when the bear returned, his nose was bright and black. His coat was glossy. He had grown fat upon the badgers’ hospitality.

  As he entered the dwelling a pair of wicked gleams shot out of his shaggy head. Surprised by the strange behavior of the guest who remained standing upon the rug, leaning his round back against the wall, father badger queried: “How, my friend! What?”

  The bear took one stride forward and shook his paw in the badger’s face. He said: “I am strong, very strong!”

  “Yes, yes, so you are,” replied the badger. From the farther end of the room mother badger muttered over her bead work: “Yes, you grew strong from our well-filled bowls.”

  The bear smiled, showing a row of large sharp teeth.

  “I have no dwelling. I have no bags of dried meat. I have no arrows. All these I have found here on this spot,” said he, stamping his heavy foot. “I want them! See! I am strong!” repeated he, lifting both his terrible paws.

  Quietly the father badger spoke: “I fed you. I called you friend, though you came here a stranger and a beggar. For the sake of my little ones leave us in peace.”

  Mother badger, in her excited way, had pierced hard through the buckskin and stuck her fingers repeatedly with her sharp awl until she had laid aside her work. Now, while her husband was talking to the bear, she motioned with her hands to the children. On tiptoe they hastened to her side.

  For reply came a low growl. It grew louder and more fierce. “Wä-ough!” he roared, and by force hurled the badgers out. First the father badger; then the mother. The little badgers he tossed by pairs. He threw them hard upon the ground. Standing in the entrance way and showing his ugly teeth, he snarled, “Be gone!”

  The father and mother badger, having gained their feet, picked up their kicking little babes, and, wailing aloud, drew the air into their flattened lungs till they could stand alone upon their feet. No sooner had the baby badgers caught their breath than they howled and shrieked with pain and fright. Ah! what a dismal cry was theirs as the whole badger family went forth wailing from out their own dwelling! A little distance away from their stolen house the father badger built a small round hut. He made it of bent willows and covered it with dry grass and twigs.

  This was shelter for the night; but alas! it was empty of food and arrows. All day father badger prowled through the forest, but without his arrows he could not get food for his children. Upon his return, the cry of the little ones for meat, the sad quiet of the mother with bowed head, hurt him like a poisoned arrow wound.

  “I’ll beg meat for you!” said he in an unsteady voice. Covering his head and entire body in a long loose robe he halted beside the big black bear. The bear was slicing red meat to hang upon the rack. He did not pause for a look at the comer. As the badger stood there unrecognized, he saw that the bear had brought with him his whole family. Little cubs played under the high-hanging new meats. They laughed and pointed with their wee noses upward at the thin sliced meats upon the poles.

  “Have you no heart, Black Bear? My children are starving. Give me a small piece of meat for them,” begged the badger.

  “Wä-ough!” growled the angry bear, and pounced upon the badger. “Be gone!” said he, and with his big hind foot he sent father badger sprawling on the ground.

  All the little ruffian bears hooted and shouted “ha-ha!” to see the beggar fall upon his face. There was one, however, who did not even smile. He was the youngest cub. His fur coat was not as black and glossy as those his elders wore. The hair was dry and dingy. It looked much more like kinky wool. He was the ugly cub. Poor little baby bear! he had always been laughed at by his older brothers. He could not help being himself. He could not change the differences between himself and his brothers. Thus again, though the rest laughed aloud at the badger’s fall, he did not see the joke. His face was long and earnest. In his heart he was sad to see the badgers crying and starving. In his breast spread a burning desire to share his food with them.

  “I shall not ask my father for meat to give away. He would say ‘No!’ Then my brothers would laugh at me,” said the ugly baby bear to himself.

  In an instant, as if his good intention had passed from him, he was singing happily and skipping around his father at work. Singing in his small high voice and dragging his feet in long strides after him, as if a prankish spirit oozed out from his heels, he strayed off through the tall grass. He was ambling toward the small round hut. When directly in front of the entrance way, he made a quick side kick with his left hind leg. Lo! there fell into the badger’s hut a piece of fresh meat. It was tough meat, full of sinews, yet it was the only piece he could take without his fath
er’s notice.

  Thus having given meat to the hungry badgers, the ugly baby bear ran quickly away to his father again.

  On the following day the father badger came back once more. He stood watching the big bear cutting thin slices of meat.

  “Give—” he began, when the bear, turning upon him with a growl, thrust him cruelly aside. The badger fell on his hands. He fell where the grass was wet with the blood of the newly carved buffalo. His keen starving eyes caught sight of a little red clot lying bright upon the green. Looking fearfully toward the bear and seeing his head was turned away, he snatched up the small thick blood. Underneath his girdled blanket he hid it in his hand.

  On his return to his family, he said within himself: “I’ll pray the Great Spirit to bless it.” Thus he built a small round lodge. Sprinkling water upon the heated heap of sacred stones within, he made ready to purge his body. “The buffalo blood, too, must be purified before I ask a blessing upon it,” thought the badger. He carried it into the sacred vapor lodge. After placing it near the sacred stones, he sat down beside it. After a long silence, he muttered: “Great Spirit, bless this little buffalo blood.” Then he arose, and with a quiet dignity stepped out of the lodge. Close behind him some one followed. The badger turned to look over his shoulder and to his great joy he beheld a Dakota brave in handsome buckskins. In his hand he carried a magic arrow. Across his back dangled a long fringed quiver. In answer to the badger’s prayer, the avenger had sprung from out of the red globules.

  “My son!” exclaimed the badger with extended right hand.

  “How, father,” replied the brave; “I am your avenger!”

  Immediately the badger told the sad story of his hungry little ones and the stingy bear.

  Listening closely, the young man stood looking steadily upon the ground.

  At length the father badger moved away.

  “Where?” queried the avenger.

  “My son, we have no food. I am going again to beg for meat,” answered the badger.

  “Then I go with you,” replied the young brave. This made the old badger happy. He was proud of his son. He was delighted to be called “father” by the first human creature.

  The bear saw the badger coming in the distance. He narrowed his eyes at the tall stranger walking beside him. He spied the arrow. At once he guessed it was the avenger of whom he had heard long, long ago. As they approached, the bear stood erect with a hand on his thigh. He smiled upon them.

  “How, badger, my friend! Here is my knife. Cut your favorite pieces from the deer,” said he, holding out a long thin blade.

  “How!” said the badger eagerly. He wondered what had inspired the big bear to such a generous deed. The young avenger waited till the badger took the long knife in his hand.

  Gazing full into the black bear’s face, he said: “I come to do justice. You have returned only a knife to my poor father. Now return to him his dwelling.” His voice was deep and powerful. In his black eyes burned a steady fire.

  The long strong teeth of the bear rattled against each other, and his shaggy body shook with fear. “Ahōw!” cried he, as if he had been shot. Running into the dwelling he gasped, breathless and trembling, “Come out, all of you! This is the badger’s dwelling. We must flee to the forest for fear of the avenger who carries the magic arrow.”

  Out they hurried, all the bears, and disappeared into the woods.

  Singing and laughing, the badgers returned to their own dwelling.

  Then the avenger left them.

  “I go,” said he in parting, “over the earth.”

  The Tree-Bound

  It was a clear summer day. The blue, blue sky dropped low over the edge of the green level land. A large yellow sun hung directly overhead.

  The singing of birds filled the summer space between earth and sky with sweet music. Again and again sang a yellow-breasted birdie—“Koda Ni Dakota!” He insisted upon it. “Koda Ni Dakota!” which was “Friend, you’re a Dakota! Friend, you’re a Dakota!” Perchance the birdie meant the avenger with the magic arrow, for there across the plain he strode. He was handsome in his paint and feathers, proud with his great buckskin quiver on his back and a long bow in his hand. Afar to an eastern camp of cone-shaped teepees he was going. There over the Indian village hovered a large red eagle threatening the safety of the people. Every morning rose this terrible red bird out of a high chalk bluff and spreading out his gigantic wings soared slowly over the round camp ground. Then it was that the people, terror-stricken, ran screaming into their lodges. Covering their heads with their blankets, they sat trembling with fear. No one dared to venture out till the red eagle had disappeared beyond the west, where meet the blue and green.

  In vain tried the chieftain of the tribe to find among his warriors a powerful marksman who could send a death arrow to the man-hungry bird. At last to urge his men to their utmost skill he bade his crier proclaim a new reward.

  Of the chieftain’s two beautiful daughters he would have his choice who brought the dreaded red eagle with an arrow in its breast.

  Upon hearing these words, the men of the village, both young and old, both heroes and cowards, trimmed new arrows for the contest. At gray dawn there stood indistinct under the shadow of the bluff many human figures; silent as ghosts and wrapped in robes girdled tight about their waists, they waited with chosen bow and arrow.

  Some cunning old warriors stayed not with the group. They crouched low upon the open ground. But all eyes alike were fixed upon the top of the high bluff. Breathless they watched for the soaring of the red eagle.

  From within the dwellings many eyes peeped through the small holes in the front lapels of the teepee. With shaking knees and hard-set teeth, the women peered out upon the Dakota men prowling about with bows and arrows.

  At length when the morning sun also peeped over the eastern horizon at the armed Dakotas, the red eagle walked out upon the edge of the cliff. Pluming his gorgeous feathers, he ruffled his neck and flapped his strong wings together. Then he dived into the air. Slowly he winged his way over the round camp ground; over the men with their strong bows and arrows! In an instant the long bows were bent. Strong straight arrows with red feathered tips sped upward to the blue sky. Ah! slowly moved those indifferent wings, untouched by the poison beaked arrows. Off to the west beyond the reach of arrow, beyond the reach of eye, the red eagle flew away.

  A sudden clamor of high-pitched voices broke the deadly stillness of the dawn. The women talked excitedly about the invulnerable red of the eagle’s feathers, while the would-be heroes sulked within their wigwams. “Hĕ-hĕ-hĕ!” groaned the chieftain.

  On the evening of the same day sat a group of hunters around a bright burning fire. They were talking of a strange young man whom they spied while out upon a hunt for deer beyond the bluffs. They saw the stranger taking aim. Following the point of his arrow with their eyes, they beheld a herd of buffalo. The arrow sprang from the bow! It darted into the skull of the foremost buffalo. But unlike other arrows it pierced through the head of the creature and spinning in the air lit into the next buffalo head. One by one the buffalo fell upon the sweet grass they were grazing. With straight quivering limbs they lay on their sides. The young man stood calmly by, counting on his fingers the buffalo as they dropped dead to the ground. When the last one fell, he ran thither and picking up his magic arrow wiped it carefully on the soft grass. He slipped it into his long fringed quiver.

  “He is going to make a feast for some hungry tribe of men or beasts!” cried the hunters among themselves as they hastened away.

  They were afraid of the stranger with the sacred arrow. When the hunter’s tale of the stranger’s arrow reached the ears of the chieftain, his face brightened with a smile. He sent forth fleet horsemen, to learn of him his birth, his name, and his deeds.

  “If he is the avenger with the magic arrow, sprung up from the earth out of a clot of buffalo blood, bid him come hither. Let him kill the red eagle with his magic arrow. Let him win for himse
lf one of my beautiful daughters,” he had said to his messengers, for the old story of the badger’s man-son was known all over the level lands.

  After four days and nights the braves returned. “He is coming,” they said. “We have seen him. He is straight and tall; handsome in face, with large black eyes. He paints his round cheeks with bright red, and wears the penciled lines of red over his temples like our men of honored rank. He carries on his back a long fringed quiver in which he keeps his magic arrow. His bow is long and strong. He is coming now to kill the big red eagle.” All around the camp ground from mouth to ear passed those words of the returned messengers.

  Now it chanced that immortal Iktomi, fully recovered from the brown burnt spots, overheard the people talking. At once he was filled with a new desire. “If only I had the magic arrow, I would kill the red eagle and win the chieftain’s daughter for a wife,” said he in his heart.

  Back to his lonely wigwam he hastened. Beneath the tree in front of his teepee he sat upon the ground with chin between his drawn-up knees. His keen eyes scanned the wide plain. He was watching for the avenger.

  “ ‘He is coming!’ said the people,” muttered old Iktomi. All of a sudden he raised an open palm to his brow and peered afar into the west. The summer sun hung bright in the middle of a cloudless sky. There across the green prairie was a man walking bareheaded toward the east.

  “Ha! ha! ’tis he! the man with the magic arrow!” laughed Iktomi. And when the bird with the yellow breast sang loud again—“Koda Ni Dakota! Friend, you’re a Dakota!”—Iktomi put his hand over his mouth as he threw his head far backward, laughing at both the bird and man.

  “He is your friend, but his arrow will kill one of your kind! He is a Dakota, but soon he’ll grow into the bark on this tree! Ha! ha! ha!” he laughed again.

  The young avenger walked with swaying strides nearer and nearer toward the lonely wigwam and tree. Iktomi heard the swish! swish! of the stranger’s feet through the tall grass. He was passing now beyond the tree, when Iktomi, springing to his feet, called out: “How, how, my friend! I see you are dressed in handsome deerskins and have red paint on your cheeks. You are going to some feast or dance, may I ask?” Seeing the young man only smiled Iktomi went on: “I have not had a mouthful of food this day. Have pity on me, young brave, and shoot yonder bird for me!” With these words Iktomi pointed toward the tree-top, where sat a bird on the highest branch. The young avenger, always ready to help those in distress, sent an arrow upward and the bird fell. In the next branch it was caught between the forked prongs.