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The next day Scarface
went on again, stopping now and then to rest and to pick berries, and when
night came he was at the bear's lodge.
"Where is your home?"
asked the bear. "Why are you travelling so far alone?"
"Ah," replied the man, "I
have come to you for help. Pity me. Because of what that girl said to me,
I am looking for the Sun. I wish to ask him for her."
"I do not know where he
lives," said the bear. "I have travelled by many rivers and I know the
mountains, yet I have not seen his lodge. Farther on there is some
one--that striped face--who knows a great deal; ask him."
When the young man got
there, the badger was in his hole. But Scarface called to him, "Oh,
cunning striped face! I wish to speak with you."
The badger put his head
out of the hole and said, "What do you want, my brother?"
"I wish to find the Sun's
home," said Scarface. "I wish to speak with him."
"I do not know where he
lives," answered the badger. "I never travel very far. Over there in the
timber is the wolverene. He is always travelling about, and knows many
things. Perhaps he can tell you."
Scarface went over
to the forest and looked all about for the wolverene, but could not see
him; so he sat down on a log to rest. "Alas, alas!" he cried; "wolverene,
take pity on me. My food is gone, my moccasins are worn out; I fear I
shall die."
Some one close to him
said, "What is it, my brother?" and looking around, he saw the wolverene
sitting there.
"She whom I wish to marry
belongs to the Sun," said Scarface; "I am trying to find where he lives,
so that I may ask him for her."
"Ah," said the wolverene,
"I know where he lives. It is nearly night now, but to-morrow I will show
you the trail to the big water. He lives on the other side of it."
Early in the morning they
set out, and the wolverene showed Scarface the trail, and he followed it
until he came to the water's edge. When he looked out over it, his heart
almost stopped. Never before had any one seen such a great water. The
other side could not be seen and there was no end to it. Scarface sat down
on the shore. This seemed the end. His food was gone; his moccasins were
worn out; he had no longer strength, no longer courage; his heart was
sick. "I cannot cross this great water," he said. "I cannot return to the
people. Here by this water I shall die."
Yet, even as he thought
this, helpers were near. Two swans came swimming up to the shore and said
to him, "Why have you come here?
What are you doing? It is
very far to the place where your people live."
"I have come here to
die," replied Scarface. "Far away in my country is a beautiful girl. I
want to marry her, but she belongs to the Sun; so I set out to find him
and ask him for her. I have traveled many days. My food is gone. I cannot
go back; I cannot cross this great water; so I must die."
"No," said the swans; "it
shall not be so. Across this water is the home of that Above Person. Get
on our backs, and we will take you there."
Scarface stood up. Now he
felt strong and full of courage. He waded out into the water and lay down
on the swans' backs, and they swam away. It was a fearful journey, for
that water was deep and black, and in it live strange people and great
animals which might reach up and seize a person and pull him down under
the water; yet the swans carried Scarface safely to the other side. There
was seen a broad, hard trail leading back from the water's edge.
"There," said the swans;
"you are now close to the Sun's lodge. Follow that trail, and soon
you will see it."
Scarface started to walk
along the trail, and after he had gone a little way he came to some
beautiful things lying in the trail. There was a war shirt, a shield, a
bow, and a quiver of arrows. He had never seen such fine weapons. He
looked at them, but he did not touch them, and at last walked around them
and went on. A little farther along he met a young man, a very handsome
person. His hair was long; his clothing was made of strange skins, and his
moccasins were sewed with bright feathers.
The young man spoke to
him and asked, "Did you see some weapons lying in the trail?"
"Yes," replied Scarface,
"I saw them."
"Did you touch them?"
said the young man.
"No," said Scarface; "I
supposed some one had left them there, and I did not touch them."
"You do not meddle with
the property of others," said the young man. "What is your name, and
where are you going?" Scarface told him. Then said the young man, "My name
is Early Riser (the morning star). The Sun is my father. Come, I will take
you to our lodge. My father is not at home now, but he will return at
night."
At length they came to
the lodge. It was large and handsome, and on it were painted strange
medicine animals. On a tripod behind the lodge were the Sun's weapons and
his war clothing. Scarface was ashamed to go into the lodge, but Morning
Star said, "Friend, do not be afraid; we are glad you have come."
When they went in a woman
was sitting there, the Moon, the Sun's wife and the mother of Morning
Star. She spoke to Scarface kindly and gave him food to eat, and when he
had eaten she asked, "Why have you come so far from your people?"
So Scarface told her
about the beautiful girl that he wished to marry and said, "She belongs to
the Sun. I have come to ask him for her."
When it was almost night,
and time for the Sun to come home, the Moon hid Scarface under a pile of
robes. As soon as the Sun got to the doorway he said, "A strange person is
here."
"Yes, father," said
Morning Star, "a young man has come to see you. He is a good young man,
for he found some of my things in the trail and did not touch them."
Scarface came out from
under the robes and the Sun entered the lodge and sat down. He spoke to
Scarface and said, "I am glad you have come to our lodge. Stay with us as
long as you like. Sometimes my son is lonely. Be his friend."
The next day the two
young men were talking about going hunting and the Moon spoke to Scarface
and said, "Go with my son where you like, but do not hunt near that big
water. Do not let him go there. That is the home of great birds with long,
sharp bills. They kill people. I have had many sons, but these birds have
killed them all. Only Morning Star is left."
Scarface stayed a long
time in the Sun's lodge, and every day went hunting with Morning Star. One
day they came near the water and saw the big birds.
"Come on," said Morning
Star, "let us go and kill those birds."
"No, no," said Scarface,
"we must not go there. Those are terrible birds; they will kill us."
Morning Star would not
listen. He ran toward the water and Scarface ran after him, for he knew
that he must kill the birds and save the boy's life. He ran ahead of
Morning Star and met the birds, which were coming to fight, and killed
every one of them with his spear; not one was left. The young men
cut off the heads of the birds and carried them home, and when Morning
Star's mother heard what they had done, and they showed her the birds'
heads, she was glad. She cried over the two young men and called Scarface
"My son," and when the Sun came home at night she told him about it, and
he too was glad. "My son," he said to Scarface, "I will not forget what
you have this day done for me. Tell me now what I can do for you; what is
your trouble?"
"Alas, alas!" replied
Scarface, "Pity me. I came here to ask you for that girl. I want to marry
her. I asked her and she was glad, but she says that she belongs to you,
and that you told her not to marry."
"What you say is true,"
replied the Sun. "I have seen the days and all that she has done. Now I
give her to you. She is yours. I am glad that she has been wise, and I
know that she has never done wrong. The Sun takes care of good women; they
shall live a long time, and so shall their husbands and children.
"Now, soon you will go
home. I wish to tell you something and you must be wise and listen. I am
the only chief; everything is mine; I made the earth, the mountains, the
prairies, the rivers, and the forests; I made the people and all the
animals. This is why I say that I alone am chief. I can never die. It is
true the winter makes me old and weak, but every summer I grow young
again.
"What one of all the
animals is the smartest?" the Sun went on. "It is the raven, for he always
finds food; he is never hungry. Which one of all the animals is the most
to be reverenced? It is the buffalo; of all the animals I like him best.
He is for the people; he is your food and your shelter. What part of his
body is sacred? It is the tongue; that belongs to me. What else is sacred?
Berries. They too are mine. Come with me now and see the world."
The Sun took Scarface to
the edge of the sky and they looked down and saw the world. It is flat and
round, and all around the edge it goes straight down. Then said the Sun,
"If any man is sick or in danger his wife may promise to build me a lodge
if he recovers. If the woman is good, then I shall be pleased and help the
man; but if she is not good, or if she lies, then I shall be angry. You
shall build the lodge like the world, round, with walls, but first you
must build a sweat-lodge of one hundred sticks. It shall be arched like
the sky, and one-half of it shall be painted red for me, the other half
you shall paint black for the night." He told Scarface all about making
the Medicine Lodge, and when he had finished
speaking, he rubbed some
medicine on the young man's face and the scar that had been there
disappeared. He gave him two raven feathers, saying: "These are a sign for
the girl that I give her to you. They must always be worn by the husband
of the woman who builds a Medicine Lodge."
Now Scarface was ready to
return home. The Sun and Morning Star gave him many good presents; the
Moon cried and kissed him and was sorry to see him go. Then the Sun showed
him the short trail. It was the Wolf Road--the Milky Way. He followed it
and soon reached the ground.
It was a very hot day.
All the lodge skins were raised and the people sat in the shade. There was
a chief, a very generous man, who all day long was calling out for feasts,
and people kept coming to his lodge to eat and smoke with him. Early in
the morning this chief saw sitting on a butte near by a person
close-wrapped in his robe. All day long this person sat there and did not
move. When it was almost night the chief said, "That person has sat there
all day in the strong heat, and he has not eaten nor drunk. Perhaps he is
a stranger. Go and ask him to come to my lodge."
Some young men ran up to
the person and said to him, "Why have you sat here all day in the great
heat? Come to the shade of the lodges.
The chief asks you to eat
with him." The person rose and threw off his robe and the young men were
surprised. He wore fine clothing; his bow, shield, and other weapons were
of strange make; but they knew his face, although the scar was gone, and
they ran ahead, shouting, "The Scarface poor young man has come. He is
poor no longer. The scar on his face is gone."
All the people hurried out to see him and to
ask him questions. "Where did you get all these fine things?" He did not
answer. There in the crowd stood that young woman, and, taking the two
raven feathers from his head, he gave them to her and said, "The trail was
long and I nearly died, but by those helpers I found his lodge. He is
glad. He sends these feathers to you. They are the sign."
Great was her gladness
then. They were married and made the first Medicine Lodge, as the Sun had
said. The Sun was glad. He gave them great age. They were never sick. When
they were very old, one morning their children called to them, "Awake,
rise and eat." They did not move.
In the night, together, in sleep, without
pain, their shadows had departed to the Sandhills
Added May, 2005 |
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