GrayWolfStories 10238645 PDF

P REFA C E
IT is so long since the S tone Age People disappeared

from E urope that evenlegend has forgotten them ; but
b arely a hundred years ago the greater part of North
Am erica was in full possession of hum an beings who
—
lived co mpletely in the S tone Age Culture the Ameri
can Indians .F o r that reason alone their history and
their legends have an extrao rdinary value Children
.
seldom list en to stories because they are educative or ,
because they throw light on obscure questions of history .
They leave that to the specialist We all know how

.
,
ever that to childrenthe Indian is anintensely romantic

w
,
chara cter despite the strife bet

, een the white race and
the re d. They feel that for all the hardships of his lif e,
despit e his occasional orgies of cruelty the red m

, a non
t he whole lived a fascinating life one spen

,
t in the most
intimat e association with thousands o f wild crea t ures
an d wilder men They feel the m
. selv es in the Indian
fo r he had at heart the same interest s that they have ; his

crudeness was the naive a nd somewhat charming crude
ness o f childhood How seldom we consider that chil
vi PREFACE
dren are a tribe apart even in our m odern civilization

They have their own hidden life their half formul at e
,
-
desires and yearnings their st reaks of savagery cut shon

,
by discipline It is they who understand the wild m

. ax
for they are wild as he is ; they are oppressed by civiliza

tion as he was ; they understand his peculiar passion fo
animals They are in fact as individuals going throng]
.
, , ,
those stages o f dev elopment that the Indians p assec

through as a race .
The little st ories writ ten in this book have been tolt
to groups o f American children around many camp fire .
an d in many schools They are the same tales the;

.
Indian youth list ened to long ago on the plains eas1

o f the Rockies w
here the Blackfeet roved ; along t hc
course of the Yellowst one and the Columbia on t hc ,
Pacific coast and to the south in desert lands controlled

,
by the Apache The reader may desire to know a little

w
.
more about the strange half forgotten peoples ho

,
-
listened to these tales in the days of long ago F or th ose

.
Whose interest thus ripens into desire for knowledge a ,
list of books is appended They are all good books ;

.
some of them are fascinating books ; the subj ect itself is
not as people believe dry and uninteresting Indeed

, , .
the subj ect is Yourself ; it is Man in the making ; M an

P E EFA C E v ii
wwmw
e of h la the d d dre a
w
m er inenchant e d fo m
M an ho ha s th e po cr t o d re a m of the fu tu m to
m
in t he ga r cnt s o f mmn Th
a ce ese t a le s ar e wh h
at e
h wld
.
m
t ho nght o f hi self o f mhn l md a s sp ir it a o f t e or
m
.
,
W ene e d not look in the se st ories fo r the fla ing

m
i a gina tion o f the Ce lt no r fo r the m y st ici smo f the
Russia n The y are pe culiarly Am e rica n ; the y a re a
w
.
cycle o f tale s by t he ml es The race hich crea ted

se v
w
.
t hemhad no bu ildings of st one no to e ring ca thedrals

w
, ,
no ancient p rie sthoo d o rking to e mbo dy folklo re inthe

st r uct ure o f a un iversal a nd accepted faith The y e re w
—
.
t old am id the m o st p rimit ive surroundings aro und the

fir e in t he t e pe e before be dtim e The teller may have.
been som em a n past the me ridi an of life whose ge nius
w
fo r the co lor of ords was so a ckn owledged that he as w
a welco me guest at many lodges More often perhaps. . ,
t h ey were told by the father or by a favore d uncle a

, ,
v isitor at numero us fires .
We re ad th ese stories we are aff ect ed by thembe

,
ca u se it is Ourse lves we see si t ting there near the sto ry
t e ller rapt out of the har dships or fears of the p resent

,
into the eterna l j oy of story land There should b e a .
t hrill for all America ns in the thought of these tale s

PREFACE
in the feeling of continuity that they arouse in the fa it l

that the fruits of Indian civi lization m
,
a y not entirely
perish from the land that it has enriched with poetic

significance Names are very persistent Words out
w
. .
last empires Who knows but that the Red Man ho

.
has covered America with place names that sound l ike

the flowing of water or the sound of the wind in the pines
— who knows but that his folklore his art may be
,
incorp orated into the American art of the future ev olv

,
ing forms now unknown !

TA B LE OF C O N T E NT S
! F ollow
ing e ach s o t ry is th e na m e of t he tribe inw
hich it o rigina te d !
OWL MAN A ND Co v o rn '

“ a,
w
O l Ma n T a ke s B o y t o Myst e ry Va ll e y ! Sa l i sh ! l
The Pr o ud Wolve s ! Till a mook ! 7
C oyo t e T r a nsfo rm s a Mon st e r ! Sa lish ! 15
Coyo t e Ma r ri es t he Da ughte r o f Thunde r ! Sha st a ! 23
C oyo t e Lives w ith Ten G r i zzli es ! Sha st a ! 29
Thun der Se nds t he G re a t Fl ood up o n the Ea rth
O l
!
wMon t
Sha st a !
s er ! Sa ha pt i n !
C oyo t e a nd Ro ll ing Ro c k ! Sho sho n e !
C oyo t e ’
s L a st A dve nture ! Sa li sh !
Arm ru s
W B twn Anim
ar e ee a ls a nd Sky Peo ple ! Sa lish !
F o u r G ri zzly B e a r s C a pt ure the C a mp ! S al si h!
The Ma n Wh W nt Hom
o e e w
ith a G ri zz l y ! B la ck
foo t ! .
Gri zzly a nd Ra tt ln
es a ke Sa ve C o yo t e ’
8 Gra nd
chi ldre n ! Sa li sh !
The B o y Wh L iv d
o e w
ith G i zzl i r es ! B la c kfoo t !
ix
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Sha ggy Do g Da nc e . The B o y Wh W

o as Re a red by
Buff a loes
Adv entu r e s i n Bu ffa l o ! B a ck foo t
Ca ve
l !
The Swa ll o ws Wa r A a i nst t he Sn a ke s ! Gr o s Ve nt re !
g
Three B i rd s G o t o t he Sun fo r T oba cc o ! B l a c kf oo t !
The Ma n Who St o le All t he A n ima l s ! B la ck foo t !
H ow Tu rtle H e lp ed C rea t e t he Wo rld ! B l a ckf oo t !
ME N
The Ma n Who Lived w
ith Thun d er ! T i ll a m ook
!
Sc a r fa ce G o e s t o the Sun a nd Me e t s Mo rni ng St a r
! B l a c kf oo t !
Ho wh t e Ap a che s E sc a p ed fro m thei r Unde r w
o rl d
! A p a c he !
The Ma n Who W as C a ptu red by Ant s ! Sa li sh !
Ten Yea rs in t he Under wt
a er C ount ry ! Till a m ook !
Tu rke y Help s H is M a st e r Fi nd C o rn, C e re a l s, a nd
Vege t a bl e s ! Ap a che !
Ho w
t he St r a n ge Yo ung Ma n Rid t he C o unt ry of
G rea t Elk ! Ap a che !

Six B oys go t o t he St a r C ount ry ! Bla ckfoot !
The B o y Who H a d Mo rni n g St a r fo r Pl a ym a te
! B la c k foo t !
The Bo y Who Wa s Init i t d int o
a e t he Buffa lo He rd
! B la c k foo t !
L I S T OF I LLUS T RATI O N S
w
O l Ma nG ive s Gri zzly t o A c o rn
PAGE
Co yo t e a nd t he Da ughte r of Thunde r
Th unde r Sends t he G re a t Flood upo n Ea rt h

B a be Is Fo und by t he Gri zzlies
w
H a ks Rest o re Sight t o the B ull
The Ma n Wh Liv d
o e w
ith Thund er
Sca rfa ce Visit s t he Sun

Ga mbl er Ro a st s t he First C o rn
OWL MA N AND COY O T E
G RAY WOLF STO RIES
TH E OWL M AN
the upp er reaches of the Columbia

there lived a man named O ne E ar
apart from his people because he wanted

to b e near the hunting O ne E ar Crooked
.
his wife and two children a boy and a girl

, .
used to play by themselves in a little hidden

2 GRAY WOLF S TOR I E S
play place amid a jumble of rocks and trees not far frol
their home At the time of this adventure the boy e
. w
eight years of age and the girl six .
Now although the children did not know it the plat

, ,
where they had their playground was a mystery fore sl

and a passageway which they had not discovered ra
from under a great slab of rock down in the groun ‘
unti it widened out into a cave In this cave live

l .
O wl Man He could assume any shape he wished am

.
was ruler over a large number of animals whom h

had captured and who lived with him in his m yst e r;
valley The cave ran under the ea rth for a great dis
.
tance and finally widened out into a huge opening tha

led into a little grassy valley surrounded by high cliffs
In this valley O wl Man allowed his subj ects to roan
around He treated the anim
. als kindly and inde e c,
after they had been with him a while they would no

leave the valley at all .
Owl Man watching in secret from under the grea

,
'
slab of rock in the children s playground had seen then

’
,
at their games Day after day he watched them am

.
,
the more he w atched the bett er he liked the little boy

whose name was Acorn He determined to capture t he
.
b oy and take himto the underground kingdom One .
day when the childre n were playing hide and seek ii

TH E OWL MAN
w the sister s t urn
to hide The b oy covered his eyes
’
w
as .
,
and she stole off Owl Man no changed himself into

.
the shape of Acorn s sister and called out from the slab
’
,
“
of rock : You can never find me ; you can never find
”
me .
“
Yes I can shouted the boy starting for the cave
, , , .
S oon he was at the entrance peering in He had seen .
the place b efore but had always been afraid to go in

, .
O wl Ma n b acked further and further into the cave ,
“
c alling s oftly : You can t find me ; you don t dare t o
’ ’
come .O f course Aco rn went right in at that and felt ,
along the d walls of the passageway with his hands ,
going deeper and deeper into the earth into the dark ,
ne ss At last he stood in the great cave utterly be

.
,
wildered and lost He th ought he heard the voice of his

.
sister in a certain direction and doggedly followed it ,
for a long time The cave became lighter and lighter and
.
,
at last he emerged into a little narrow valley between

high cliff s Here he expected to find his sist er but
.
,
instead a fine tall young man ! who was really O wl Man !

advanced and took him by the hand in a very friendly
w ay .
“
W elcome little boy said he C ome and se e my .
im
, ,
”
an al s .
4 GRAY WOLF S TOR IE S
I want m y sister sir said L ittle A
, corn who
, w ,
.
by thi s time quite frightened .
“ ”
I haven t seen her said the O wl Man very kind]
’
, ,
”
but I will help you search for her and he walked do“
w
,
the valley holding Acorn s hand firmly in his o ’
S oon to the boy s great surprise they bega n to see an

’
—
mals Grizzly Bears Wolves Wolverines F ox e , , ,
Mink Otter Marten Fisher Weasel and many other

, , , ,
Acorn was terribly sca red to see so many wild cre aturc
walking about close to him O wl Man said : These a] .
my animals I keep them to play with ; they will 11:

.
“
hurt you S ee ! he called Grizzly you come here
w
. .
,
and a huge Grizzly lumbered over to them Acorn as .
so scared he clutched Owl M a n s leg O wl Man sai ’

.
“ ”
to the Grizzly L ie down and the Grizzly did so The
, , .
O wl Man played with the big bear rolling him over an ,
over pulling his fur a nd even opening his mouth t

, ,
“
touch the great red throat Now you can play w it .
”
Grizzly said O wl Man At first Acorn would no
, .
go near the big bear but when Grizzly came over ant
,
licked his hand he got over his fear and began to pla;
with the m onster Owl Man watched for a while a m
.
“
then he said : I give you this bear You can play wit] .
him and ride around everywhere on his back Com . ‘
here Grizzly F rom now on you belong to this boy L l

, . . c
T H E OWL MAN
down . The Grizzly lay down a nd Acorn clim bed on
his b ack They went on down the valley and O wl Man
.
sh owed the little boy all the wonders of it That day he .
pretended to search for Acorn s s ist er but really all the ’
tim
,
e he was putting an enchantment on the little boy .
He showed himthe sunny swimming pool and the slid ,
ing place and the beaver s dam and he gave him a com
’
, ,
p let e hunter s suit ’

w ith a,new bow and seven arrows .
Acorn spent the night at O wl Man s camp and slept ’
close b y him under the same blankets For several days .
“
they explored the valley Then Owl Man said I
w
.
think your sist er has gone home ! this as true ] and has
told your parents you are lost You are lost But I love . .
y o u
. S tay w ith me and be my boy S ome day maybe .
y o ur parents w ill fin d you again .
Acorncried for awhile However there was nothing

.
,
for him to do but stay He had learned to love Owl

w
.
Man Besides all the animals were no his pets and he

.
, ,
was very happy in the little valley S ometimes in .
the nights he cried when he thought of his father and

mother and sister He wished he could see them
.
a gain and in later years he did see them and brought

,
honor to the m by great deeds As for O wl man having

w
.
,
on the love of the little boy he met the parents after ,
a few days had passed What words were said no one

.
GRAY WOLF S TORIES
knows , but the father and mother from that time were
unhappy no longer knowing that their son was in the
,
care o f a mighty sham an and that he was be ing pre

,
pared to do a great work among his people .
Owl man was very kind to Acorn gave him great

,
love and taught him so many wonderful things as to

keep him busy all the time He lived for many
.
in the valley and grew to be a young m a nthere

.
In another story I will tell of his adventures and some

w
of the wondrous tales he heard while he a s in the
va lley
.
GRAY WOLF S TORIE S
“
The wolf rose and trotted over You belong to t hi .
”
bo y from now on said O wl Man
, .
The wolf walked up to the boy and for one swift ,
moment looked into his eyes What he saw seemed t o

.
satisfy him He licked Acorn s hand and rubbed himself

.
’
a gainst his legs .
“ ”
Now Wolf said Owl Man yo u tell your story t o
, , ,
”
Boy .
They sat down the wolf close against the side of B o y

, .
Gradually Acorn s hand st ole over and rested against

’
the fur of the beast as he spoke Wolf began :

, .
I was living with my brothers in an underground

lodge by the Great R iver S harp Nose Bush Tail
.
, .
Fierce a nd S wift were my brothers names Across the ’

.
—
water in another lodge lived five panthers S tripe
w
,
Round E yes S oft P a Fang and L eap Round E yes

, , , .
was their chief F or servant they had a wildcat and

.
,
when they were away he would come over and tell us

what they were doing .
O ne day when we returned from the hunt we found

“
our friend Blue! ay waiting for us He cried While .
,
”
y o u were gone Wildcat came over and stole your fire !
We looked and found our fire gone My oldest brother .
S harp Nose gathered us together in council and said ,

THE P ROUD WOLVES
Brothers our house has been broken into and our fire
,
”
taken What shall we do !
.
We all bristled up and showed or bared our fangs .
”
L et us fight ! snarled F ierce At that we all howled .
for j oy .
“
Alone I will cross and punish them ! said Bush Tail
, .
He went out of the lodge and crossed the river Blue .
j ay flew over and perched over the smokehole of the

panthers lodge to see what happened
’
.
After a while Blue3ay came back We all waited . .
”
Where is brother ! I asked .
“ ”
He is dead answered Bluejay When Bush Tail
, .
j umped down into Panther L odge the chief of the ,
panther brothers Round E yes attacked him Bush

, , .
Tail fought well and was winning the fight when Round
,
E yes called Wildcat ! Then the wildcat j umped from

‘ ’
under a big basket where they had hidden him Here .

‘
I am! he yelle d waving a big knife

’
, .
‘
S tab this bad wolf cried Round E yes .
Where shall I stab him he yelled S hall I st ab

! ’
.
‘
him in the toenails or in the tail ! ’
‘
S tab himin the lap foolish one cried Round E yes
, ,
’
.
The wildcat stabbed our brother and he died said ,
Bluej ay .
F ierce leaped up snarling I will go and revenge
, .
”
our brother ! he cried .
“
L et us all go with you advised S harp Nose, .
” “
No ! rep lied F ierce Alone I can kill all the
.
panthers and their wildcat .
He too went across the river We wa ited a long

, , .
time At last Blue3ay flew in

. .
“ ”
Where is F ierce ! I asked .
”
He was killed answered Blue3ay
, When F ierce .
leaped swiftly down into Panther L odge Wildcat was ,
hiding under a big basket Two panthers S tripe a nd .

,
F ang attacked our brother E ven so he was getting

, .
the best of the fight when suddenly Round E yes cried :

‘
Wildcat ! The wildcat j umped up
’
Here I am ! he .
‘ ’
yelled .
‘
Kill that rough wolf ! ordered Round E yes ’
.
Wildcat danced around ingreat excitement his eyes ,
“
snapping Where shall I stab him ! In the toenail or
.
in the tail ! ’
S tab him in the lap thou small fool ! cried Round

,
’
E yes .
“
Wildcat leaped on o ur brother while the o thers
”
held him and because of the knife o ur brother died
, .
“
Swift leaped up with a savage howl I will go now ! .
“ ”
he cried Revenge is for me !
.
TH E P ROUD WOLVES 11
L et us all go I advised Th en we a re sure to win

, . .
“ ” “
N o I cried Swift I need no help I will bring back
, .
”
five panthers and a wildca t to be our slaves l
He went across the river Blue3ay followed and .
perched on the lodge pole of Panthers House so that he ’
could see the fight .
We waited and waited After a long long t ime .

,
B luej ay came back .
“ ”
Is our brother following you with the slaves ! I
Ah no ! ans ered Blue3ay

, w
They killed him He . .
went in to the lodge of the panthers like a swift wind .
He struck them like a thunderbird He hit them and .
hit them He pawed them and clawed them And

. .
then
“
And then I cried .
And then said Bluej ay the p anther chief ca lled

, ,
out Wildcat
,
‘
Here I am sir ! cried Wildcat j ump ing from under

‘
,
’
,
a basket where he was hiding .
Stab that ferocious Wolf ! ordered the chief

‘
.
O h sir ! called the wildcat I have forgotten where

,
’
,
‘
—
to sta b him inthe toenails or the tail ! ’
S ta b himin the lap foolish animal cried the chief

‘
, ,
’
.
Then three of the panthers and the wildca t at tacked

o m brother and because our brother was tired they ,
”
made him die .
“
I must go now said S harp Nose rising and laying
, ,
bare his teeth .
“
L et me go with you I said , .
No he answered If my brothers fought a lone

, ,
I will fight alone If they kill me little brother save

.
‘
, ,
”
yourself for you are the last of us
, .
Blue3ay w ent with him and I waited in our lonely

lodge a very long time Then Blue3ay flew in silently
.
and sat by me .
“
Tell me the truth ! I said .
S harp Nose is gone sang the friendly bird moan

, ,
“
ingly . When he leaped down into Panther L odge he
knocked his foes in a jumbled heap He broke them .
and he choked them He threw them down and hit their

.
ears They howled and wailed and shed big tears But
. .
j ust when it seemed that all was up with them Round ,
E yes called down from the rafters where he sat Wild ,

‘
cat ! ’
I mhere l yelled Wildcat lea ping up from under

‘ ’ ’
, ,
a basket where he had been hiding .
‘
Kill that desperate wolf ordered his master ,
’
.
Wildcat spun around in great excitement Oh ! .

‘
THE P ROUD WOLVE S 13
Ah !
’
he cried .
‘
—
Where do I stab him in the toenail
o r in the tail !
’
In the lap quick l called the chief

‘
,
’
.
The chief leaped down Then the five panthers and .
Wildcat threw themselves on our brother They stru ck .
himand they clawed him They hit him and they .
chawed him They howled at him and spit at him They

. .
scratched him and they bit at him And while they all .
”
h eld him down Wildcat stabbed him and he died !
My fur stood on end with rage Now it is my .
,
”
turn ! I cried .
“ ”
Don t go ! adv ised Bluej ay
’
.
” “
Yes I will go ! I cried
, I shall be as brave as my .
noble brothers .
Bluej ay flew up through the smoke hole He flew .
“ ”
back again calling They re coming ! They re here !
, ,
’ ’
And before I could get into the open the five panthers
leaped down into our lodge while the wildcat perched
on the pole overhead They beat me and bit me and .
scratched me and hit me They clawed me and rolled .
me and held me and mauled me But I howled at

,
.
them and growled at them I seized them and squeezed .
them I smacked them and cracked them I snapped

. .
t he ir legs like robins eggs I bit their ears I knocked

’
. .
14 GRAY WOLF S TORIE S
them and I shocked them At last they yelled Wild
.
,
cat ! C ome help us !

“ ”
Here I am ! answered Wildcat dropping down on ,
“ ”
my back .What shall I do !
Conquer this formidable wolf ! they cried .
Then the wildcat hit my head and held it down The .
panthers all flung themselves again upon me They .
bit me and they bruised me until I was nearly dead I .
became their slave and they took me back to Panther

L odge F or a long time I was the servant of the five
.
p anthers and their wildcat If I did anyt hing wrong

w
.
they slapped my face ith their sharp soft paws and ,
Wildcat would bite my ears When I helped them in .
their war against the lynxes they let me go free and I ,
became their friend and they said they were sorry they
,
had killed m y brothers .
O ne day Blue3ay told me of Mystery Valley and I

came here .
That is my story said Wolf , .
Boy knelt down and put his arms about the wolf s ’
“ “
neck . You brave wolf he said I am glad you be
, ,
long to me L et s go into the cave and I ll show you

.
’ ’
”
my things .
The two went up the valley together .

16 GRAY WOLF S TOR IES
”
H ave you ever met C oyote ! asked Boy suddenly ,
Ah yes How do you know about C oyote ! Wh

, . r
has been telling you ! ”
“
Wolf has told me a little about the great C oyote
Grizzly has told me a little Maybe you could tell bl .
more
w
.
“
I will tell you answered O wl Man
, I kne .
Coyote long ago I helped him in some of his wars

.
He was a m ighty man the greatest that ever lived H e

, .
could a ssume any shape I know that for I fought .

,
him once He conquered me and I become first his

.
slave then after I knew him his friend Then he set

, .
me free and gave me mysterious powers and told me I

”
could have this valley .
“
O h how wonderful ! exclaimed Boy his face shin
, ,
“ ”
ing : Then perhaps C oyote has been in this cave
, , .
“
I am sure he has answered Owl Man , Now I .
,
will tell you a story about C oyote Before I begin you .

,
had better give Wolf a piece of meat I see he is hun .
Boy went to the meat rack and took down a piece of

“
venison He fed Wolf who said : Ah ah how good
. , , ,
meat is ! and then having eaten put his head down o n ,
B oy s lap
’
.
C OYO T E T RAN SFO R M S A M ON S T E R 7
1
1
The O wl Man thus bega n
“
n
Lo g ago men came to Coyote saying ,
There is a monster He lies with his face in the

.
Yellow Head Pass Whoever walks through the pass

.
go es into his stom a ch This monster bo a sts saying :
w
.
,
‘
Where is that Coyote ! I ish to devour him
,
“
w
C oyote said I ill see what I can do He went .
up toward the pass A s he approached he uprooted a

.
tam a rack tree a n d c a rried it along The monster lay.
stretched out his open mouth filling the whole pass

w
, .
B ut when he sa C oyote approaching with the tama

ra ck he grew a fraid He called out :
.
“ ”
Co yote !
w
C oyote ans ered I am coming
,
“
.
T he monster cried out C ome no farther S pare me

, . .
I amafraid of you I f you carry that tree into me I

.
ca nn ever clo se my mouth

“
Coyote answered Very well then You submit to
, , .
me ! You become my slave ! I am to do with you what

I will
And the monster cried I submit I am your slave
, . .
Do with me what you will !

C oyot e said : Put your tongue out and lick my feet
“
”
in token of your submission .
The m on ster did so C oyote then changed himint o

.
18 G R A Y WO L F S T O R I E S
a small bird with a big mouth and it flew away Tl , .
pass was clear Men and an m i als might go through i

.
safety .
That is my story said Owl Man , .
What a wonderful man was Coyote ! e xclaim e

“
Boy . I Wish I could be like him !
“
You are more wonderful than C oyote little master
w
, ,
“
said Wolf sitting up , You are the most onderfr
.
”
boy in the world .
Yonsay so ! cried B oy pinching his ears

“
Yonsa, .
so you big wolf ! he cried rolling the wolf over am

,
”
,
“
over to the great delight of that animal
, What do yo 1 .
”
say now ! he called to Wolf sitting on him as he la ,
‘
st retched o ut .
“
L et me up and I too will tell you a tale of Coyot e !
, ,
’
”
Now that is good Tell the tale answered B oy
, .
,
going back to his seat Begin . .
The disheveled wolf spoke

“
L ong ago C oyote had a fight with a C annibal up it
the hills The fight was long and hard but Coyot<
.
,
won After he had killed the C annibal he cut him up

.
in small bits so he wouldn t come to life again Then

,
’
.
he flung the pieces all over the country E venso the .

,
COY O T E T RAN SFOR M S A MONSTE R 19
pieces co uld not die E ach bit became a tribe

. of Indians .
The head became the Wishram T r ibe who have large ,
heads on ac count of it The scalp was turned into C row

.
Indi ans and so they have long hair The ribs and
, .
chest became the Nez Percé s who have large bodies ,
because of those parts The legs became Bla ckfeet and.

,
they have long legs The heart became the C oeur .
d A léne s and so they are famous for their co urage and

’
,
That is my story said Wolf , .
”
Good ! good ! cried O wl Man You tell the tale .
”
well .
“ ”
Do you like it master ! said Wolf looking eagerly
, ,
at Boy .
“
Ah yes I do like it said Boy and I like you too
, , , , , ,
he said putting his arm around Wolf s neck Wolf s

,
’
.
’
eyes shone The praise of his little m

. aster me ant more
to him than anything else in the world .
“ ”
L ook now you wolf said Boy pulling down his
, , ,
“
head . I m tired of sitting here I ll race yo u down
’
.
’
to the swimming place .
“ ”
Through the rain ! asked Wolf mournfully , .
Yes What ! Are you afraid ! If you are I ll go

.
,
’
alone He leaped up and laying aside his garment
.
,
dashed out of the cave .
Wolf did not hesitate He was on his feet like

.
flash and out chasing the bo y

, .
“
O wl Man smiled Those two will not be back soon
.
,
he said to the bear .
“
No they will not grumble d Grizzly sleepily bu
, , , ,
”
I am happy here .
He turned over lazily and closing his eyes slept

, , , .
O nce un
, cle you told me a tale about Thunder ant
, ,
then another time you said that he used to live on t hi

earth Why is he in the sky now and what made hin
.
”
leave the earth !
“
Here is my story answered Owl Man
,
Thunder did once live on the earth and he lived with

his daughter a girl who loved especially to wear dresses
, .
of six colors This girl was so beautiful that many m

. en
sought her in marriage but whenever they came around

, ,
Thunde r killed them This made the girl very sad The
. .
bright colors of her robes faded .
Coyote heard of this gi rl and he traveled across half

the world to see her Down by the spring where she
.
went fo r water they met and she promised to marry

C oyote if he could escape alive from the tests that her
father would impose on him .
The next day C oyote came to see Thunder and aske d

“ ”
him for the hand of his daughter Ah exclaimed
. ,
Thunder rubbing his stomach

,
“
Another young man
. .
Nice and fat too !

,
“
I would like to have you give me some test s sir to , ,
”
prove that I am worthy of your daughter said Coyote , ,
COYOTE MARRIES 25
Thunder laughed until the mountains shook Tests !

w
.
he cried laughing until the tears ran do n hi s face

w
, .
Ho ! Ho ! the young man wants tests Well I ill .

,
give him tests Go now young man and catch me the big
.
salmon that lives in the pool there in the Great River .
Go
The daughter of Thunder hid her face and wept S he .
knew the big salmon a monstrous fish that had de

,
v o ur e d many of the fine young men who had come to

“ ”
see her. Never mind little daughter said her father
, , ,
“ ”
my pet salmon will have another meal .
C oyote went o ff He sought the pool and looked at

.
the big salm on which floated menacing enormous in

, , , ,
the cool deeps of the pool Then C oyote made himself

.
a very powerful hook and line and w ent down an

- -
d
hooked the salmon which hit at his bait because it was
,
always hungry But as soon as the great fish felt the

.
barb inits mouth it broke away out o f the pool and swa m
down the Great River toward the sea C oyote followed
.
,
holding on to the line sometimes running along the

,
bank as swift as the wind to keep up with the salm on ,
an d sometimes b eing towed at the end of the line F or .
three days the man and the fish fought ea ch other an d ,

26 GRAY WOLF S TORI ES
then the salm on died C oyote lifted it out of the water
.
an d carried it back to the house He threw the fish .
“
down before Thunder a nd said : Here is the fish you
asked me to ge t I am sorry it is so little
w
. .
“
Thunder a s ve ry much surprise d but he did
w
,
“ ” “
not show it .It is sma ll he sa id That a s why
, .
I sent you fo r it little bo y I couldnt bother with ’
w
.
,
it myself And no befo re we ha ve supper you

.
must come with me to the sweat house a nd cle anyour

self
I will be ve ry glad to go with you a nd swe at an
w
,
s e re d Co yote .
“
When they got to the sweat house Thunder said ,
”
You go in first and Coyote went in Immediately
, .
he heard a most frightful rattling Thunder had filled .
the sweat house with rattlesnakes and they were pre

paring to strike But C oyote was too quick He killed
. .
them all tied them in a bundle and had his sweat When
, , .
he went outside he th rew the rattlers in the lap of

“
Thunder saying O h h e re a re a few snake s I found
, , ,
in your lodge I killed them so they wouldn t hurt

.
’
”
you !
Thunder gave him a black look but Coyote imme ,
“
dia t e ly pleas e d him by sa yi ng Now that I have ,
COYOTE MARRIES 27
”
sweated wha t do you say to having a ga me of seesaw !
,
Thunder loved seesaw and he said he would play if

,
Coyote made the seesaw Coyote now built the great

.
est seesaw that Thunder had eve r seen He felled one .
tr ee and across its top he laid the longest tr ee that grew ,
w hich he had cleaned of branche s until it was as straight

a s an ar row . w
When it a s finished he went to Thunder
“
,
who had wa tched him make it and said Will you get , ,
on your end first !

Thunder sat down on the seesa w As soon as he had .
done so Coyote j ump e d on his e nd a nd he j umped so

,
high and came down so fast that he shot Thunder clean

up into the sky Then Coyote went to Thunder s lodge
.
’
and married the girl .
When Thunder reached the sky he looked around .
He liked the place “

Think I ll stay here he said
.
’
, .
“
There wouldn t be any fun living with that bad young
’
”
man . After a while he got acquainted with some of
the peo ple in the sky and when sp ringtime came he and
,
Rain brought the Grea t Flood on the earth in revenge

for what Coyote did to him .
That is a story in itself and I will tell it to you some

,
other time It is the hour for sleep S ee how Grizzly

. .
is stretched out Go to your blankets now for to

.
,
morrow i f the snow stops will be great sport in
the
Boy slowly took ofl his clothes and curled up in his

"
bag by the fire A s his head to uched the blankets he

w
.
a s asleep
.
CO Y O T E L I VE S WITH T E N GR IZZL I E S
was the second night of the snow There

.
was a white stillness outside but in the

,
cave of Owl Man there was warmth and

cheer as he told another tale about great
C oyote.
A fter C oyote had m arried the daughter of Thunder ,
“
ten grizzly bea rs came to visit him and they said Come
, ,
”
and live with us.
The grizzlies lived in a la rge cave so there was p lenty

,
of room for the visitors Not far from the cave lived
.
an orphan boy and his grandmother S ometimes the boy

would wander around to the camp of the bears One .
29
30 GRAY WOLF S TO R IE S
day when the boy looked into the grizzlies lodge the ’
oldest of the grizzlies felt like saying something mean ,
“
so he mocked the boy calling Ah ! Here is the poor
, ,
orphan O nce he had a father and mother Now he is

. .
”
poor and lives with a grandmother !
The boy burst into tears on hea ring this taunt He .
ran back to his gra ndm other and told he r what ha d hap
“
pened S he said My poor boy I must tell you the
.
, .
truth now That grizzly who mocke d you is the same

.
”
one that killed your fathe r and mother .
The boy made up his mind to ge t even He waited .
outside the cave and when all the bears were asleep
,
went in and cut off the Big Bear s tail He crept out ’
.
After a while the Big Bear woke up S ay my tail .

,
” “
feels queer he cried
, I guess it has been in the fire
.
”
or something Wh e n the other bears looked at the
.
stump of the tail they found that it was cut o ff At that .
“
the Big Bear grumble d a lot I can t grow a new tail
.
’
”
can I he aske d Coyote
! .
”
“
No sir you cannot answered C oyote
, , , .
All the bears got up stirred the fire and ta lked a

, ,
lot about who cut the tail The Youngest Bear who
.
“
was the cleverest and the smallest said I m sur e the , ,
’
”
boy did it .
Ha ! cried the he ar You will die S hall I crush
. .
”
you with my Great Paws !
“
No cried the boy
, .
”
S hall I swallow you !
”
Yes answered the boy
, .
The Big Bear swallowed him but as soon as the boy ,
was all the way in he stabbed the bear Grizzly died . .
The other bears wanted to bury their brother but ,
“
Coyote said No ! If you do tha t animals may dig
, ,
him up Put him in a high place and build a bru sh

.
”
fence about him .
The bears took C oyote s a dvice leav ing the Big Bear
’
,
on a hill with a strong fence around him Tha t night .
the boy cut his way out of the bear Then Coyote and
his wife met him and helped him out up the bear meat
and take it to Grandmother s cave ’
.
Toward dawn the Youngest Bear woke up his

brothers and told them a bad dreamhe had “
I dreamed .
”
that Coyote and his wife were cutting up o ur brother !
They all ran to the fe nce d in place and found that the
-
dream was true .
All together the bea rs went to Grandmother s cave ’

.
Coyote and his wife and the boy had made the door
small with stones so that they could not get in
, The .
COYOTE L IVE S WITH TE N GRI ZZLIE S 33
“
O ldest Bear smelled the doors and cried out We are ,
”
coming to visit Advise us how to get in
. .
“ “
T hat s easy answered Coyote
’
, Come in tail first

. .
E ach grizzly now tried getting into the cave tail first
w
.
A s their hind parts came into the door ay C oyote and ,
the bo y cut them off and gave themto Grandmother .
E ach bear ran a little ways and died .
The turn of the Youngest Bear came at last but as

he had seen eight of his brothers die he thought som
,
e
th ing was wrong He called to Coyote :
.
“
I guess I won t visit Grandmother
’
.
”
O h yes do urged Coyote
, , , .
” “
No answered the bear S omething is wrong some
, .
”
where .
Then he sat down and a sked his ta il Do I go or ,
”
sta y !
His tail answered Go quickly , .
He went out of that country He became the an .
ce st or of all grizzly bears in that part of the world The
w
.
reason why grizzlies are not bigger than they are no

is because Coyote and the boy cut up the biggest one s .
It was long ago .
That is my tale said Owl Man , .
Grizzlies are big enough as they are , grumbled

Wolf . I don t see the use of these big fellows any
’
— ”
how except this grizzly here he added hastily
, .
“
Well and quickly said my little wolf rumbled Griz
, ,
’
zly lazily
,
.
“
Come said Owl M an quietly no quarreling Y0 1
w
, .
, ,
are both cross from lying by the fire too much Follo
.
us out into the snow .
He rose and plunged into the huge drift at t he door .
Boy and the animals followed him In a moment their

.
ca lls and laughter were m uflle d by the drifts outside .

TH UN D ER SE ND S TH E GREAT FLOOD
UP O N TH E E AR TH
O W I will tell you the st ory I pro mised ,
said Owl Man It was the w eek follow

.
ing the Great S now He and Boy had

.
been out exploring the white world and

they had ret urned late from a wonderful
day s adventures It was after supper
’
m
.
and inthe wa r glow of the fire Boy set tle d him sel f t o
hear t he tal e
.
Aft e r Thunder had lived a while in the sky he mad e

“
friend s with Rain and he said to Rain : Why do you
,
not empty a ll your waters at once upon the earth in

37
stead of only a little at a time ! Wouldn t it be fun ! ’ ’
And Ra in who was a little stupid answered : Why 1

,
“
, ,
never thought of that Just wait a little while and

.
—
will empty a big rain upon the earth the biggest rail
”
I ve ever done ! S o Rain waited a while and then be
’
g a n. A t first the creatures down belo w thought it a w s
just an ordinary rain When it last ed a week they

.
called it a Big Rain But after it had lasted two week

.
:
they began to get scared Then it was that the house s

.
of the beave rs were flooded and the little burrow of t he

muskrat was filled with water O nly the otter t he .
,
mink the eels and the waterfowl enj oyed the rain They
, , .
ha d never had such fun .
The rain kept on falling When a moon had passed

.
all the bottom lands were unde r water The rivers were .
sweeping over the country like muddy seas and t he

lesser hills were being covered The animals were very.
frightened now Wet all the time scared homeless and

. , , ,
with their fur pla stered down by the water they all ,
looked like skinny ghosts wandering around in a world

that was not their own At this time some of the wiser
.
a nimals gathered toge ther und e r the shelte r of a thick
spruce in one of the higher valleys Beaver was there .
and fox and grizzly bear Wolf sat a nd shivered while

he listened They made a ta lk together as the anim
.
. al s
they were waiting he and the daughter of Thunder fee
them and kept them warm and made well those hicl w
were sick The daughter of Thunder was busy nigbi
.
and day caring for the anima ls a nd Coyote was busy

,
bringing food for them As the hunting animals begar

.
to grow strong and fierce once more they wanted t e

begin ea ting the smaller creatures The rabbits anc
.
squirrels and mice the sheep a nd the deer were careful

,
to keep near C oyote or the daughter of Thunder ; se

that a s she or Coyote moved about the cave they were
always followed close at heels by a long st ring of t he
smaller animals
w
.
At last all the animals were in and as the rain a s

,
still falling C oyote led them on to the raft where he

, ,
—
had built shelters for them o ne great shelter in the
front of the raft for the animals that hunt and one great
shelter at the end of the raft for the animals that are
hunted The flood rose under the raft All one night
. .
it creaked and groaned as it was lifted from the earth .
The animals were terribly frightened at the noise but ,
in the morning when they looked out there was water

everywhere except over the high peak s .
They floated for many days and then there came an

,
evening at sunset when Rain said : I can t rain another ’
bit 1 and stopped

”
How the animals roared and
.
T H UND E R SE ND S THE GREAT FLOOD 41
squeaked and d a nced when once again t hey sa t he

, w
sun ! L it tle by little the flood went down The sea ate.
up the waters until at leng th the raft set tled once more
,
on dry land and the animals went lea ping o ff through

wet woods .
When C oyote went out on the earth again he found

that many of the biggest a nimals ha d died b e cause they
had not found him He was not sorry S ome of them
. .
were so big that they would have sunk the raft .
That is my story , said O wl Man .

M O N S T ER
LL me a story about the owls said ,
B oy It was one of the evenings while

.
the Great S now still lay deep in the v al
dreams of the future His uncle who

.
,
was flaking an arrowhead paused a ,
glad to rest from the hard work .
I will tell you of the Owl Monster and the Bad

”
C hildren he said
, .
When C oyote was livi ng above the falls of the C olum

bia a hunter while following the trail of a deer ca me
,
into his camp This ma n s name was Running Bear

’
.
,
and he told C oyote many amusing and wonderful sto r

ies C oyote was so pleased with his guest that he in
.
42
OWL MO NSTE R 48
v it e d him to st ay for several days and the hunter a c ,
ce p t e d the invi tation Among other things he told

.
Coyote that the woods where he was then camp ing used
to be the haunt of an Owl Monster which devoured chil
“
dren and terrorized the whole country My grand .
” “
father told me he said how he and his sister barely
, ,
escaped death by the beak and claws of the monster .
“
Tell me the story said C oyote , .
My grandfather was ca lled Ot ter and his little sis

t er s name w as White S wan Their father had gone
’
.
o ff for several days on a huntin g trip The children .
were left with the mother Otter and White S wan .
were bad children that day and several times when their
,
mother sent them to do things they did not do what they

were told Now my grandfather s parents both father
.
,
’
,
and mother were known for their quick tempers Per

, .
haps the children took their tempers from the parents .
It is often so Anyhow as the day went on the mother

. ,
became more and more impatient with the conduct of

her children F inally she stood before them and sha k
. ,
ing her finger said : ,
Children if you do not behave I will turn myself

‘
, ,
into a raven .
’
And she meant it This woman had magic powers

“
.
an d could do strange things S he was tired and angry

. .
w
E verything seemed to go rong and she wa nted to fl y
o ff— never to come back
w
.
But there a s a wild spirit in those children They .
p a id no heed to their mother and were even more

naughty than before A nd suddenly it happened the
.
—
thing they had ne ver believed possible Their mother .
spread out her arms They became black wings She

. .
grew smaller and smaller and right before their eyes

,
she became a ra ven and flew out of the smoke hole .
“
The children were frightened They drew close to .
gether and for the first time that day were quiet It
w
.
seeme d lone ly in the tepee now that mother as gone .
‘
What will fathe r say whispered White S wan Oh
! ’
,
‘
won t he be angry !
’ ’
“
O tter sat very still He did not know what to think
. .
After a while they got up and wandered around await

ing the return of their father The day dragged by. .
At last toward sunset White S wan spied him crossin g

the river .
‘
Here he comes ! she cried Oh what will he say !
’
.
‘
,
’
When the father came in he noticed at once that

there was something wrong Where is mother ! he
.
‘ ’
asked .
“
At first the children dared not answer Then in a
w
.
burst of tears they told the story of ho bad they had

,
OWL MONSTER 45
be enand how mother had gone a way Wh e n the father .
heard this he was very angry I will not stay he cried .

‘
,
’
.
‘
Now that she is gone I will go to o I shall become
, , .
a raven and follow her

’
w
.
“
There was a sudd e n flut ter of ings in the tepee
w
.
A large raven fle out of the smoke hole .
The children were now alone They threw them .
selves o n the ground and we pt Their home was far .
from a vi llage and no kind p e rsons came to take pit y

,
on them For a long time they lay there until they

.
,
could weep no more It was White S wan the little

.
,
girl who first lifted up her he ad She saw that night

, .
was coming on The sun had set Already a cold d a rk

. .
ness seemed to come from the forest The sound of the .
river near by was lone ly E ve rything sudde nly seemed .
—
sad without pity Never had Whit e S wan missed her
.
mother so How she longed to have some one who

.
w ould love her and protect her from the dark and the
cold some one to run to when t he day was done
, .
“
Just then she noticed her younger brother He was .
lying face down on the ground When she saw him .

,
courage came into her heart and she forgot herself in

the desire to protect him S he went over and lifted him .
up Come brother she said night is coming and we

.
‘
, ,
’
,
‘
are alone L et us build a fire and make supper ’

. .
The boy got up and followed her inside the t epee
They blew upon the fire and it blazed They piled sma l .
wood and little logs upon it White S wan closed t he .
skin door and then she made he r brother sit down by

,
the fire while she cooked supper .
“
While they were eating White S wan told he r
w
,
brother what they must do Half a day s j ourney do n

.
’
the river but onthe other side they had an uncle In

, , .
the morning they would go to him for he was now their ,
nearest relative Her brother list ened quietly but when

.
,
she had finished he said :

‘
But sist er to get to our uncle we must pas s
, ,
through Black O wl Woods .

’
“
He spoke almost in a whisper E verybody was .
afraid of Black O wl a big bad man eating bird which

,
-
,
attacked a ll who da red pass near the deep dark haunted , ,
forest where he dwe lt Men did not enter that wood

. .
No one hunted nor warred about there and when trav ,
e le rs paddled down the river in their canoes they kept ,
on the far side of the stream White Swan knew this .

,
but she was more afraid of danger coming to find them

than of going out to meet it .
‘
We must go she said It is the only thing to do
,
’
.
‘
.
Do you not think so brother ! ,

’
“
Her brother did not answer He was asleep . .
48 G RAY WO LF S T O R I E S
sel and B ullhead S wallow They got into the canoe
, .
with him and he pushed out in the st ream .
“
S o far all had gone well The children stood on t he
.
farthest point of the shore impatiently watching t he

,
approach of their friends The current was strong a

.
'
that point however so the canoe was carried a little

w
, ,
way do nt he stre am but now it began to gain on t he

o
,
current and to approach the land where they stood

S uddenly a big shadow darkened the sky F ar away .
with huge wings outstretche d appeared the O wl Mon ,
ster He had discovered the children and was spee d

.
ing to the feast The paddlers now worked as hard a s

.
they could and the light canoe came into the shallow:
,
just as t he Owl Monster swooped down Dawn M an .
attacked him at once with his medicine club His faith .
ful helpers rushed into the fight with him In a moment .
the sands were all torn and bloody with the struggle
they made .
Run to the canoe my children shouted Dawn Ma n

‘
, ,
’
.
‘
Wait for me there .
’
“
The children did as they were told and from the ,
canoe they watched the fight But now it began to go .
ill for Dawn Man and his helpers The medicine of .
the Owl was very great and gradually he drove his

,
OWL MO N ST E R 49
enemie s down the shore toward the water They were .
in the water covered with wounds Just then from the

, .
a ir above them sounded hoarse cries Two great ravens

.
dr opped upon O wl Monster and began to tear and pick

an d rend him so that he was glad to give way .
O h ! O h cried White S wan it s father and mother

,
‘ ’
.
T hey have come to save us and she danced for j oy .
“
The O wl was now so badly battered that he would
ha ve been glad to fly back to his own place but his ene ,
mies would not let him go All together they ham

.
mered and picked and pinched and pulled at him driv ,
ing him up and down the beach until he fell and died .
The two rave ns walked up to Dawn Man and st ared

a t him He took out of his medicine bundle a little
.
painted st ick and lightly struck each o f them with it .
T here before the eyes of all stood the father and mother
o f those children ! Ot ter and White S wan leaped out
of the canoe and flew to them They were both lifted
.
up and kissed and hugged a hundred times They told .
their parents that never never never again would they

, ,
be bad children .
“
Then Dawn Man inv ited them all to his lodge for
a feast. He sent his h e lpers out to invite the animals .
F o r a w ee k there was a wonderful party Animals and.

people came in from all the country to rej oice at t he
death of Owl Monst er At the end of that time Ott el
.
,
and White Swan went back home with their parents .

’
Running Bear ceased talking C oyote took him by

.
” “
the hand That is a wonderful story he said N ov
w
.
, .
will you show me the spot where Owl Monster a s

”
slain !
“
It is on the beach here right below your camp s ai d
, ,
“
Running Bear ; come and I will show you the spo
The two went down to the beach together .
CO Y O T E AND ROLL I N G ROC K
OY Grizzly and Wolf were playing on

, ,
a bare stony hill that they had found

,
beyond the lower end of the valley .
There were many large st ones which

were almost round in sh a pe on the slope
of the hill and Boy was amusing him
,
self rolling them down S ometimes Wolf or Grizzly

.
would lie below and Boy would try to roll the stones on
them O f co urse he never su cceeded
.
, .
After a while they all sat together on top of the hill

an
“
d looked out over the valley Wolf said : I talked
w
.
ith a snipe once and he told me a wondrous tale about

Ah a st ory ! crie d B oy se izing Wolf by the ears
, , .
Now tell the story you old wolf o r I ll neve r let

, ,
’
”
you go !
“
I was going to t e ll the tale a nyhow little master , ,
”
and now I have double rea sons fo r the telling said ,
Wolf .
B o y set tled back into his fa vo rite po sition leaning ,
a ga in st the huge form of Grizzly Wolf b e gan ,
w
Whe n I a s hunting fa r towa rd the rising sun
, ,
I ta lke d with a snip e who ha d flown in from the p rairies .
He told me ma ny tale s I had not heard before but thi s ,
I remember most clearly

L ong ago the Rock s had the power of moving where
ever the y wished to go even like t he anima ls and it
w
, ,
a s a very gr e at t r ouble to all of t he animal people ,
b e cau se no one could be sure that a Rock would not roll

over himin his sle ep .
Now at that time Coyote t he he lp e r of m e n was
w
, , ,
going across the country and he sa t he danger there

was in t he rolling Rocks In a high secre t place he
.
,
called a council of t he anima l s and aske d them to help

,
destroy the magic that gav e Rocks t he power of mov

ing The animals howeve r fe a red t he a nger of the
.
, ,
R ocks and no one offere d to help Coyote except the

C OYOT E AN D ROLL ING ROCK 53
snipes Coyote then said that he would conquer the

.
Rocks with the he lp of these b rave birds alone

, .
Coyote fasted and p raye d on a mountaintop ; then

h e w ent down into the pl a ins with a great flock of ,
snipes flying ove rh e ad near him They came to a place

w
.
here the Rocks were scatt e red about on the ground

w
.
“
One of the R ocks sa Coyote and it murmured : Ah
w
,
there is that bad Coyote I guess I ill flatten himout !

.
”
I t started to roll toward Coyote who pretended to be ,
v ery scared He ran fast across the prairie and the

.
Rock rolled along close behind Overhead the sky was

.
d ark with snipes The Rock c a me on faster and faster

. .
“ ”
S uddenly Coyote cried out S nipe ! ,
N ow the chief of the snipes flew down and circled

,
a round the R ock The Rock didn t care But when ’

. .
the snipe crie d Bo ! the Rock suddenly stopped It

“ ”
.
co uldn t go any farthe r It had lost the power of mov

’
.
“ ”
ing F or B 0 was the secret word which Great O ne had
.
given to Coyote in his dreams to destroy the magic power

of the Rocks And C oyote had given this word to the
.
snipe When the chief medicine man of the snipe cried

.
“ ”
B o ! his followers flew in a ll direct ions over the prai
“ ”
rie and they cried Bo ! at every Rock large and small
, , ,
that they saw A nd the other birds took up the cry and
w
.
“
fle all over the world and cried Bo at all the R ocks
in the world so that none of them had any power t e
,
move In that way the world was made safe for t he

.
animals by Coyote and the snipe And for that reason .

,
ever since then birds have a lways thought Rocks were

their slaves Wherever you find a big rock you will
.
find birds sitt ing upon it and they are never afraid for , ,
they know that long ag o a bird helped to conquer the

Rocks .
Coyote stopped in front of the big Rock that had

“
been following him He said : From now on all you
.
Rocks cannot move You must stay j ust where you .
are Animals will scratch themselves on you Birds

. .
will perch upon you You will never again rush madly
.
over the prairie killing everything in your path You .
will never again grind one another to pieces in great and

”
terrible batt les .
R ock knew that it was so but it spoke to Coyote say , ,
“
ing : Master you speak truth We are conquered
, . .
From now on we will be the slaves of peoples shading ,
them from the hot sun Animals and birds will mak e .
use of us I ask you master not to take a way all

.
, ,
power from us Give us to keep forever the power o f

.
rolling downhill .
Coyote said this was good It is not well to tak e .
a wa y everything I give you the power o f rolling

.
56 GRAY WOLF S TORIES
ping of broken trees And on the edge of the slide
. .
,
small and helpless as a little mouse was his great friend, ,
Grizzly leaping b a ck to safety to the unmoving earth

, , .
Boy looked long and hard There was a troubled won

.
der in his mind and a fear of the chained powers that

were all abo ut him in sky and earth and water He
turned with a sigh to his silent animal friends I am .
glad Coyote a nd the snipe took power away from the

”
stones , he cried and I will keep away from bare
, ,
”
stony steep hills
, .
“
I will too said Bear so le nm
”
, , ly
, .
” “
And I will said Wolf ; I m glad we re on the
’ ’
t op now !
C OYO TE
’
S LAS T AD VE NT URE
N CL E aid Boy
, s .
“
Yes answered O wl Man They
w
.
,
er e again sitt ing in the cave by the fire ,
while a big snowstorm raged outside .
Owl Man was occupied repairing the

snow shoes of himsel f and Boy Wol f .
was gazing into the fire G rizzly asleep made a cu shion

.
, ,
for Boy who had been mending a small pair o f snow

,
sh oe s until a question c ame to him that he could not

,
puzzle out alone .
“
Te ll me uncle where is Coyote now ! Where did he
m
, ,
”
go in t he e nd ! Why isn t he in the’
worl d a ny or e !
57
w
Coyote as sent awa y because his work was fin
ishe d answered Owl M an
”
.
,
“
The following is the true story .
In the beginning Chief made the world He made i

, .
like a woman The soil is her flesh the trees her hair
.
,
the rocks her bones the wind her breath S he shiver

, . .
with cold and expands with heat Now a fter Chie .

,
had made the world he put the animals on it and h ,

e
made men and women But things were not j u s .
a s he wanted and when he went away to do other worl

,
he left Coyote in charge C oyote went about the worle

.
doing his work He changed whatever had to be

.
changed In some matters he made mi stakes but he

.
,
left the world bett er than he found it .
After a long tirne C hief thought Coyote had done

enough so he transformed himself into a poor old m
, an
and came down and traveled till he met Coyote Ah .
“
he said . I am told you are great Coyote but I don t ,
“
believe it C oyote answered : I can prove it Give
. .
“ ” “
me a test All right said Chief
. S ee that lake
, .
”
move it into the valley beyond .
Coyote used his medicine power and moved the lake .
“ ” “
Ah said Chief
,
That is good ! Now move it
.
back
COYOTE S LA S T ADVE N TU R E
’
69
C oyote tried to do this but failed His powers were .
“
no t equal to the task Chief then said I have greater .
,
power than you I can bring the lake bac

. He did
“
so. Coyote was astonished He sa id O nly O ne could .
,
do that You must be Chief

. .
“
Yes I am C hief answered the other
, I am here
, .
t o tell yo u the work is done I have made a home for .
”
you Come . .
He took Coyote with him to the north to the land ,
o f snow and ice He built him a lodge out of blocks of

.
ice clea r sparkling To keep C oyote warm there was

, .
,
a n e v e rburning log ! the Northern L ights ! In the .
winter you can see the light of this fire in the sky F rom .
that time on Coyote appeared no more on earth But .
a t the end he and Chief will come again .
That is my tale said Owl Man , .
“ ”
Boy looked at the fire Ah ! he said I too will .
, , ,
w ork for Chief when I grow up , .
O wl Man stopped a moment L ifting his eyes he .

,
lo oked at Boy who sat dreaming of things to be The .
man spoke softly Yes he said you will work for

, ,
“ ”
. , ,
C hief I know it
. .
haps like one of those berries that Grizzly hke s to gob
ble I don t see how he does it ! Mea t is the only foo d
.
’
I like .
“
Berries are good answered Bear dreamily , I , .
like them so thick on a bush that it ha ngs down with

them O nce near Kamloops I found a ravine
. , ,
that
“
S top ! com manded Boy slapping the bear s furry ,
’
“
face . Didn t I tell you not to talk so much about
’
”
berry feasts !
“
I am sorry litt le master said the bear
, , .
”
Ah ! sa id Wolf it s good to see you get p unished
“
,
’
by Master now and then ! You get o ff too easy you do , .
Master make him tell a story now for punishment He

, .
”
is good at tales .
“
Yes that is so answered Boy
, You must tell us
, .
a tale I will lean on you and look at the sta rs

. .
“
I will tell you a tale about my ancestor the Great ,
“
Grizzly said Bear and how he helped in the war be
, ,
tween the earth people and the sky people long ago .
In that time there were many more animals on the

earth than there are now The missing ones were killed .
by the sky people in the war

ww
.
S ome say the a r as started by C oyote I do not .

WA R B E TWE EN AN I MALS 65
know Anyhow something had had happened and the

. ,
earth people were angry They went out on the war

.
trail to reach the sky, but no one knew how to get to that
fa raway place till they called on Wren a ma rksman ,
w ho had magical powers He stood on the earth and

.
fired an arrow at the sky It did not fall back like the
.
a rrows that others had fired It stuck in the sky Then

. .
he fired a second arrow and wonderful ! It stuck in

, ,
the notch of the first !

“ ”
How does he do it ! cried L ong Tailed Mouse -
.
How can such things be !

—
It is because Wren has medicine very great medi
cine ! answered a wise old beaver .
Wren kept on firing until he had an arrow chain hang

” “
ing from the sky to the earth Ho ! he cried now .
,
”
I will open the sky and he ran up the cha in like light
,
ning took out his knife and cut a hole in the sky
, , .
“ “
Come on ! he ca lled there are lots of people to fight
,
”
against up here l Then one by one the animals climbed
up the arrow chain which was wondrously strong be
,
ca use o f the very great magic of Wren They formed .
their ranks in the sky a great army o f animals and

, ,
ma rched to give batt le to the stars !

After they had gone a little ways the L ong Tailed -
”
M ouse squeaked in fright Grizzly is not here ! he
.
cried where is Grizzly
,
”
No one knew and it as t o e
!
, w
late to find out for now the S ky People came on then
,
out of the dusk and the batt le began .
The Great Grizzly was below He had found a berry .
bush and had stayed to eat berries When he heard t he

w
.
uproar in the sky he started to climb but he as so hea vy ,
and so fat that he broke the end of the arrow chain T her .
in his rage to reach the b at tle he sprang up and pullee

down the rest of the chain It fell from the sky a nc
.
buried him .
The animals who had gone to the sky knew nothing

of this Already they had begun their fight with t he
.
S ky People They were winning wh e n suddenly m

. any ,
more of the Sky People came up a great lot of them , .
and the animals had to run They all made for the place
.
where they ha d come in but of course they found no

w
, , ,
chain It a s lying in a great heap on top of G rizzly

.
.
down there on the earth They could hea r him growl

.
ing under the pile .
Well we must j ump for our lives said C oyote H e

, , .
seized a buff alo robe and spread it out as he jumped , .
He sailed down and landed on top of a pine tree .
“ “
Come on down he cried it s easy
, ,
’
.
The flying squirrel sa iled down gracefully .

WA R B ETWEEN ANIMALS 67
When the Whitefish looked down and saw the dread

ful j ump he drew back his lips in a pucker That is
, .
why his mouth is in a pucker to d ay He aimed well so .

,
he fell in the water He was safe . .
T he sucker fish was not so lucky He aimed for the .
w ater but landed on the beach The animals put him .
together later on but they put the bones in the wr ong

, ,
place That is why S ucker has bones all over him O nly
. .
the lucky animals escaped in one way or another The .
bir ds saved many by carrying them down on their backs

on e b y one Most of the creatures were killed by the
.
Sky P eople O n ly those were left that you see to day

.
-
.
“
T hat is my story concluded Bear
, .
”
How wonderful ! cried Boy looking up at the sky , .
T he S ta r People ! S ee how many they are No won .
”
de r they killed o ff the animals .
“
If Grizzly hadn t been o ff eating berries perhaps it
’
”
w oul d have been different said Wolf , .
“ ”
Maybe it would have been sa id Bear , .
”
w o uldnt have run from the S ky Folk !
’
“
Berries ruined him said Wolf
”
, Now if he d .
,
’
ta ken a go od slice of red meat Ah

“
We are awfully fond of berries it is true , ,
68 GRAY WOLF S TOR I ES
sw d Bear
e re . But if yo u could have seen the patel
I saw in the valley j ust outside of here The bushes .
are so thick
“
Here ! Didn t I tell you not to t a lk
’
—
”
about berry feasts ! cried Boy flinging himself o r ,
Bear and giving him a shake between each word while ,
Wolf j umped about and snapped at his legs and tail .
“
O h ! Ah ! A ci l I am being killed cried Grizzly ,
I am sorry I said it I give up lit tle master I do !

.
, .
’
“
All right then Wolf lie down Now I feel sleepy
, .
, .
L et s camp here for the night

’ ”
.
“
Here is my paw for your head little mast er said , ,
“
Grizzly I will be on one side of you and Wolf on t he
.
other Come lie down Wolf our litt le master is

.
, , ,
”
stretched out .
“ ”
S h ! cautioned Wolf he is asleep already
,
.
The white st a rs shone down into the little valley where

Boy was lying snug between huge Grizzly and lithe ,
watchful Gray Wolf .

2 G R A Y W O L F S T OR I E S
I have a tale in mind said Grizzly which I have
w
, ,
sometimes thought of telling you It is the story of ho

.
my sisters the Grizzly Bear Girls captured a camp o f

, ,
men
“
What ! cried Boy You mean men like me !
.
“
Grizzly answered gravely Yes men like you little
master only bigger in size
, , ,
, .
“
That is truly a strange tale Tell it . .
G rizzly began :
There were four brothers who were living out in the

mountains where the hunting was good They had with .
them their little sister whom they called Babe Al most

, .
every day they were away from their hunting lodge and ,
they used to leave the little girl behind as she could not ,
keep up with them S he had a tiny dog called S cratch

.
,
and it used to follow her everywhere It was so small .
that it could go between the tall grass stems S ome .
times she would carry it S ometimes she put a string

.
round its neck and it followed her jum ping along in a

,
comical way .
O ne day Babe was out on the hill far from home dig , ,
ging roots Her brothers were away Now it hap

. .
pened that the four bear sisters had come to live in a

cave not far away from where the little girl was dig
F OU R G R I Z Z L Y B EARS 73
ging They heard the noise of her root stick and went
.
o ut t o see what it was When Babe heard the bears

.
coming she was very much frightened S he didn t know ’
w
.
here t o run to so she j umped into the hole out of which

,
she had just p ulled a root There was no room inthe .
hole for S cratch whom she had on a string so she held

, ,
t he string and left him si tting outside hoping the bears ,
would not see so small a dog .
The bears searched all around My oldest sister

w
.
,
“
hose name was G rufi said : A person is on this hill
’
, .
We must find it !
They searched again The bear next in age whose
.
,
name was H ufl said : It must be a small person or

’
we would have found it ! Then next to the youngest

“
bear whose name was Puff said : O h look at the little
, , ,
tiny dog sitting by the hole and the youngest hea r

o f all Tiny ran to the root hole and looked in and said
, ,
“
There s a little girl hiding here ! There s a little girl
’ ’
hiding here ! O h look ! O h look ! , ,
They all ran and looked and there was Babe crouched
,
in the root hole verymuch frightened T iny took hold .
o f the strin g by which she held S cratch and pulled .
Whatever happened Babe wasn t going to let go of her

,
’
dog S o she came out with the string The littlest

. .
be ar Tiny was delighted with Babe for they two were

, , ,
74 G RAY W O L F S T OR I E S
of a size so Tiny danced around with j oy and then
,
j p
M e d up and h ugged the frightened gi rl who soo n ,
learned that it was all meant for love and not for hurt
ing and so felt a little better S till she looked at the
, .
three bigger bears fearfully .
“ ”
S he is mine ! cried Tiny I found her ! .
”
What is your name little girl ! asked G rufl ,
"
.
My name is Babe Really I wasn t doing any .

’
”
harm .
“ ”
Where do you live ! asked Huff more gently , .
I live with my four brothers there across the valley .
” “
Ah ! I have seen your brothers said Puff They , .
”
are hunters S uppose we go and eat them !
.
“ ”
O h please don t eat up my brothers cried Babe ;
,
’
they are the best brothers you ever saw Make them .
”
promise not to eat my brothers ! she cried turning to ,
Tiny who she knew was her best friend among the
, , ,
bears .
Tiny swelled up with importance S he gave Babe .
a great hug and turning to the other bears said : I ask

, ,
you si sters to spare this lit tle girl and her brothers
, ,
”
for my sake
w
.
“
Well said G rufl I don t know
”
, S he a s very
’
,
’
.
hungry for a nice warm bite of man but then she had a ,
great love for Tiny .

FOUR GRIZZLY B EARS 75
Ha ! said Huff I am not so sure

. S he t oo , ,
w as hungry but she had much love for her little sister
,
M mm said Puff who had j ust been thinking of

.
“ ”
- -
, ,
“
the delicate taste of a man s neck O f course if little
’
.
,
sist er wants these people

Tiny saw how hard it was for them We might go .
” “
down and look at the men she said But promise
, .
”
first that you will not eat them .
“ ”
’
I ll tell you what we ll do said G ruff with great
’
, ,
dignity S he felt she couldn t give in entirely to Tiny

.
’
.
“
We ll go down and take these men for our servants
’
but we ll not eat them up

’
.
The other bears all thought well of this and of course , , ,
Babe had nothing to say and S cratch didn t know how

,
’
to talk They all dug many root s and gave them to

.
Babe filling her basket

, .
The bears went across the valley and entered the

lodge of the hunters which was very large They liked
, .
it a whole lot Babe waited on them and gave them

.
meat They stretched out by the fire and were glad

. .
Toward sunset Babe began to cook roots for her brothers

an d then the bears sat up and waited .
It was almost dark when the brothers came back and ,
when they entered the lodge the bears sprang upon

them and made them prisoners Then Babe e xplained .
what the bears wanted and the brothers had to agre
,
to it G rufl promised the young men that inreturn f0

.
’
their services she and her sisters would teach them man
secrets of the woods .
The hunters and their little sister lived with the bear
for a long tim e The bears grew very fond of Bab
.
and her brothers ! they even liked the dog little foo lis] ,
S cratch ! and after a while they ceased to regard then

,
as slaves They were all com

. rades together and ha e
many fine adventures which I may tell another time
,
But now I amvery weary of talk My story is finished.
That was a good good story cried Boy giving

, , ,
Grizzly a big squeeze .
“
Yes it was indeed a tale said Wolf rising
, , Is i , .
”
time to eat little master !
,
“ ”
Yes answe red Boy
,
The S un is near setting
.
”
L et us go .
The three took the trail back to Mystery Valley .

TH E MAN WH O WE NT H O M E WITH A
GR IZZL Y
was in the full tide o f summer The

.
mountains and prairies tee med with the

intense li fe of multitudes of wild crea
t ures Day after day the world grew
.
more and more toward the splendid ripe

ness of autum n O wl Man and Boy for
.
,
a dventure s sake had traveled far from the valley They

’
, .
had gone beyond the sight of the mountains they knew .
The w ell remembered peaks had sunk into the confusion

-
o f a multitude of forest covered ranges At sunset they

-
.
77
came to a valley that O wl Man said he knew It was an .
upland meadow with a ravine at the higher end and in

w
,
the ravine were many rocks and caves There was flo .
ing water and wood for a fire and yet O wl Man passed
,
by this valley and went into the next an hour s travel be

,
’
yond Boy whose eyes were keen as a hawk s looked

.
,
’
,
at the good green valley and wondered why they passed

it by so when at last they were in camp for the night
,
“
he asked Uncle why did we not camp in the other
, ,
”
valley !
“
A Medicine Grizzly resides there It is his valley .
,
answered Owl Man simply , .
B oy looked at himwith round eyes Ah ! he ex .
“ ”
claimed There is a story in this !
.
“ “
Yes answered Owl Man
, L isten now and I wil l
.
tell you the tale of what happened to my friend from

the e ast Bull Robe Here is the tale
, .
Bull Robe was lying very still on the prairie j ust ,
where he had fallen from his horse He had been one .
of a party of four Blackfeet Indians who had ridden far

from their own country on a scouting trip On the tenth .
day out about sunset they were attacked by twenty

w
, ,
S ioux and in the fight which followed B ull Rob e a s

,
and cautiously looked around What as that huge . w
creature sitting close by and watching him ! A grizzly
he a r ! The great beast ha d found him in the dark !
Bull Robe was now very much afraid for he kne , w
that if the bear wanted to kill him there was only a ,
small chance for life He remembered a tree near by

. .
He would try to run to it S lowly and very quietly

.
he got upon his knees still with his hands touching the
ground ready to leap and run The grizzly looked
, .
steadily at him .
“
Do not be afraid said Grizzly ; I won t hurt you !
,
’
Bull Robe almost fell down he was so surprised to

,
hear a grizzly talk He had heard stories about animals

w
.
talking but to hear one was differe nt His voice a v

, .
“
ered as he spoke I am not afraid he answered
.
, .
“ ”
Then why are you getting ready to run asked !
Grizzly .
“
Well I always take a little run every morning
, .
”
Where would you run to a sked Grizzly
! .
—
O h I would j ust run somewhe re anywhere at a ll
,
”
would do just now answered Bull Robe
, , .
“ ”
Don t go ! said Grizzly
’
I won t hurt you
.
’
.
”
If you don t mind I will go said Bull Robe
’
,I .
j ust want to clim b a tree this morning ! ”

A MAN AND A G R IZZLY 81
”
Do you always climb trees in the morning ! asked
the bear .
“
No but often I feel I must and it s that way now !
, ,
’
Well don t climb a tree on my account said Griz

,
’
zly in his most friendly way

“
Anyhow I could catch
.
,
—
you if I wanted to but I am a medicine grizzly I have .
co me to help you Come and live with me in my cave

.
and I will show you wonderful things If you don t .

’
come your enemies will return and kill you Yes they
, .
,
”
a r e looking for you even now !
When Bull Robe heard this he got on his feet and

l ooked out ove r the prairie F ar o ff in the faint light
w
he sa m e n on horseback
“
”
You a re right ! he said to
.
the he a r . I believe you are a medicine grizzly Yes .

,
a bear who can talk must be a medicine grizzly I will .
”
g o with you .
“
G e t on my back said the big bear
, .
Bull Robe mounte d on the bear s back and it carried

’
himup into the foothills All morning they traveled

. .
T oward noon they entered a huge cave Another big .
“
bear came out It was the Medicine Bear s wife I ’
. .
” “
h ave brought home a man said he and be nice to him
w
, , ,
”
ill you !
“
I am glad to see you Man said the other bear S he
, , .
82 GRAY WOLF S TORI E S
gave Bull Robe a hug that nearly took the breath on
of him
Then three lit tle bears cam e up and solem
.
nly hugge r
him .
They went in There was a fire burning in the ce nt s

.
of the cave Food was cooking in a poll Bull Rob

. .
lived with the bears after that and they taught himman
wonderful secrets .
When his wounds were healed the grizzly carried hir

back to his own village and because of the kno le dg
, w
he had acquired he became a great medicine man .
He himself told me the tales said Owl Man

, An . .
now you know why I do not camp uninvited in Medi

cine Bear Valley .
“
Yes uncle I understand said Boy as he lay do m
, , , ,
to sleep “
I amglad to be with you to night
.
-
”
.
G R IZZL Y AND RATT LE S N AKE SAVE
C O Y O T E S GRANDCHI LDRE N
’
OU promised once to tell me about

Grizzly and Ratt lesnake reminded Boy
, ,
on an evening after they had re turned

from the Medicine Bears country
’
.
Owl M an began at once
w w
Coyote had t o daughters and whenthe se t o girl s
,
g r e w up they married and had children of their o wn ,
on e a boy and the ot her a girl When the se two chil

.
d ren co uld walk they came to their mothers and said

IVe would like to vi sit our Gran ”
“
dfather Coyote .
83
That is good answered the mother
, You a re .
”
nice children and you shall visit C oyote The mothers .
were eager to start at once but it happened that o ne,
of the fathers was away hunting with Grizzly and Rat

t le snake who were Coyote s d ogs ; the father who
,
’
“
as
”
w
at home urged the women to wait till their return No .
,
“
said the women we will go now We know the way
, . .
”
When the dogs come back send them after us .
The man agreed to do this but he said : You will ,
come to a crossing of trails T a ke the left turn The. .
other turn leads into a strange valley filled with mon

st e rs cannibals and mystery people
, , .
“ ”
We will do as you say answered the women a nd
, ,
they set out They had gone half the way when they
.
came to a crossing O ne of the women said Turn left

.
, ,
”
but the other said Turn right The more they talked
, .
about it the more confused they became In the end they .
agreed to take the right turn and so they went down ,
that trail They had not gone very far when they came
.
to a cam ribal s house and he came out an d capture d

’
them .
“
My dear said C annibal to his wife put the p ot
, ,
”
on We will cook four persons to night
.
-
.
Cannibal s wife O gress put on a huge pot

’
, , N ow ,
”
little things said Cannibal to his prisoners I am go
, ,
ing to cook you Would you rather be put in cold water

.
COYOTE S GRAN D CH ILD REN
’
85
”
and slowly cooked or in hot water and cooked quickly !
,
The two mothers were so frightened they could not

speak They clasped their children to them and wept
. .
“
Then the little boy spoke He said : I think sir we
.
, ,
”
w ould taste better if were put in cold water .
w
V ery well dear ; I shall put you all in cold water
, .
He put them in the pot of cold ater and covered

them up .
“
Gug g ug ! cried the daughters of C oyote
-
.
”
children ! They will be drowned or cooked !
”
We will not ma mma l said the little boy as he
, ,
“
swam around inside the huge pot Keep your noses
.
”
o ut of w ater and swim !
C annibal and O gress now built a fire under the pot

an d went to sleep The water began to get warm
. .
Then the litt le boy dived to the bottom of the pot and ,
with his very sharp knife he made a tiny hole in the pot .
The water spurted out on the fire and the house of,
the cannibals was filled with steam and a shes so that ,
they were glad to run out and to leap in the river to cool .
While they were gone the four captives climbed over

t he side of the pot crept out of the door and ran back
, ,
along the trail S oon they came to some tall trees grow
.
“ ”
ing close together L et us climb one of these said
.
,
the boy and they all climbed till they came almost to
,
the top for they knew Cannibal would be after them as
,
soon as he could come .
After a while Cannibal came racing along the trail ,
and when he came to the trees he sm elt the people so he ,
start ed to climb the very tree they were in When he .
”
was quite near the bo y cried J ump 1 and one by one
“
they jumped into the limbs of the next tree C anniba .
could not follow them that way so he climbed down, .
When Cannibal had first caught these people Grizzly ,
and Rattlesnake were far away hunting with one of t he

”
men But when Grizzly pufl ed himself up and growle d
.
and Rattlesnake hissed all the time the man knew some
“ ”
thing was wrong so he said G o 1 The two creature s
,
leaped away through the forest and the man follow ed

as fast as he could .
O gress was waiting for the return of C annibal when

“
Grizzly and Rattlesnake rushed in A boy and girl
.
”
and two women ! Have you seen them asked Grizzly
! .
“
Yes we were cooking them for supper but they ran
, ,
away out of the pot answered O gress politely

, My,
.
husband is gone after them If you wait a while you

.
”
can each have a piece .
“
You can have her cried Grizzly to R attlesnake a s
, ,
he ran out of the house While Ra ttlesnake was slowly

.
swallowing Ogress Grizzly leaped along the trail

w
nibal as onthe ground henG rizzly cam w
, .
C an e a long .
TH E B O Y WH O L I VE D WITH
ELL me another bear story

w
,
the follo ing evening when th

together .
Owl Man was silent .
he began :
Badger W oman never knew that her litt l

fallen o ff the travois when the dogs pas sed
rough co untry just beyond Tw o Medicine
had left the travois in char ge of one of t h
while she went ahead to speak to her husban
88
THE B OY WHO LIVED WIT H GR IZZLI ES 89
she found the child was not on the poles she and her
husband rode all the w ay back to the last camp insearch
of himbut he was nowhere to be found They came to
, .
the village that night sorrowful a nd silent beli eving that ,
the boy had been eaten by some wild beast

w
.
When little Wapoo s rolled o ff the travois he as

asleep but of course when he hit the ground it hurt a
, , ,
little and he cried No one noticed for the boy who had
.
,
charge of him was riding a race with another boy and ,
the dog that drew Wapo o s was the last in a long line .
The people passed on while litt le Wapoo s hi s eyes no ,
longer wet with tears crawled around very much in

,
t e re ste d inhis new experience After a while he found

.
the shade of a bush and went to sleep again

w
.
N ow it happened that t o grizzlies had been feeding

,
in a ravine near by and after a while they came down

,
t osee what they could pick up The she grizzly scented

.
-
“
o ut the little boy lying under the bush Ho she cried
. .
“
C ome here and look at the funny cub !
The other grizzly rushed up and smelled the boy He
w
.
“
t urned him with his p a and said It smells go od L et
, .
”
u s begin You can have the first bite !
.
At that moment Wapoo s opened his eyes S eeing the .
two be ars standing over himhe took them for two great
,
90 GRAY WOLF S TORI E S
dogs With a gurgle of delight he reached out an d
.
took hold of one of the paws of the she bear -

.
“ ’
It s a man baby she cried Se e how it plays with
my paw j ust like our own Little One L et s take it
, .
’
, .
”
home for our cub to play with
w
.
The he bear agreed to this at once for he as good

-
,
natured The mother bear now lifted Wapoo s in her

.
mouth and he was carried to their den O n reaching

, .
home their cub which had been playing about the e n

,
trance o f the cave ran out to meet them His father

, .
“
said : We have brought you a man cub to play with .
Do not be rough for it is not as strong as you

,
”
.
The cub was delighted with his new playmate and

promi sed to treat him very gently F rom that time on .
Wapoo s grew up alongside the bear cub and the mother

bear took care of him In a litt le while he learned to
.
walk His new mother was very proud when she saw
.
him going about on two legs all by himself Wa poo s .
and L ittle Bear used to go off on small a dventures .
The mother bear taught them to hunt together and

showed them how to get fish from the rivers and roots
an d berries from the places where they grew The .
nights when they were together in the ca ve they

heard many wonderful stories from the father bear ,
for he had t raveled far and had seen m ight y dee ds .

92 G R A Y WO L F S T O R I E S
as soo n as it was dark they start ed out Traveling .
half the night they came at last to the village The .
bear w as able to tell by his wonderfully keen scent j ust

where the mother and father of Wapoo s had their tepee .
They stole through the dark streets of the village until

at last silent as shadows they stood near it S ilent
, , .
as a ghost Wap o o s stole into the lodge He could move

.
without making any sound ; as he le aned over his mother

he might have be e n a p a rt of t he night .
A strange dream stirred in the woman and she turned

over on he r side ta lking softly in her drea m That .
woke the father He was sure that he saw something

.
slip out of the lodge and that he heard the scurry of

soft feet outside Then a dog barked Wa po o s and his
. .
bear chum slipped away but not until the bea r ha d satis
,
fie d himself by cufling some of the dogs they met That .

,
of course caused all the dogs to make a terrible noise

,
and roused t he village Before the boy and his friend

.
got away the warriors were running from their tepees .
There were shouts and cries everywhere because the ,
fighting men thought that the village had been raided .
The next day Wap o o s said to his bear mother I “

,
want to see my mother again I like her This time I

. .
will go down to my people in the dayt ime and alone .

T H E B OY WHO L IVE D WI TH G R IZZL I ES 98
T he be a r mother answere d Yes and we will hide out

w
,
side the vill age If harm co mes to you ca ll out an d e

w
. ,
—
ill charge the people killing killing
,
Wapoo s laughed and said I do not think I will

,
”
co me to harm through my mother s people
’
.
The mother of Wapoo s was sitting outside the tepee

beading mocca sins when suddenly a wild beauti ful
, , ,
slender boy sto od be fore her He ca me so suddenly and

.
so silently that she ga ve a j ump as she looked at him .
T he bo y looked straight into her eyes In that instant .
she knew it was her son .
The father heard a cry and the sound of wee p ing .
He ca me running He saw B ad ger Woman kneeling

.
be fore a slender boy with wild eyes and long tangled

ha ir The woman was passing her hands over his face
.
,
“ ”
his hair his limbs
, . It is our son come back ! she cried .
The be ars waited for a long time outside hopeful ,
that something would happen so that they could charge

through the village knocking the people down lik e rab
bits but nothing happened and at last they went o ff
, .
Some days passe d and then Wapoo s returned to them .
He received a noisy welcome and got hugged till he was

so re
. Then he told how he had found his mother and
how happy he was He repeated all the new words and
.
94 G R A Y WO L F S TORIES
so unds his people ha d taught him Before he went back
.
to the villa ge the bea rs gave him so me bea r m edicine

power .
Afte r that he lived so metime s with the he a r people

but spending m
,
ost of his time with his own tribe He .
lived intwo worlds and it was very wonderful for him .
He would not let any of his people kill a bear but t aught,
them the bear dances and ceremonies

w
.
There was friendship bet een his tribe and the grizzly
bears He grew up to be a great medicine man a leader
.
,
of his people He understood animals more than any

.
one else for he had lived with them and knew what they
,
—
were inside in their hearts
, .
When he died after long and happy years some o f

, ,
his power passed on to his children Beca use of it .
the men of their tribe even to day have more knowledge

-
of the grizzly bea rs than other peoples .

S HA GGY D O G DANC E TH E B ULL S .
’
M E DICIN E
MU S T tell you of a strange adventure
”
I had with a dog said O wl Man He
, .
was teaching Boy some dances and they

,
had sat down to rest for a while Wolf .
and Grizzly watched them with great in

t e re st .
One o f the warriors of my tribe had a dog which we

all lled S haggy Dog The man was killed and when
ca .
t he tribe move d on S haggy Dog was left behind After

.
I had go ne a little way with the people I rode back to

97
the cam p for something that one of the women had left .
When I came into the abandoned camp S haggy Dog

r ushed up to me with very j oyful barking and j umping .
He was sad at being left behind but he was going to ,
await his master s return there where he had been left

’
, , .
I had a long search to find what I sought so I had to ,
sleep near the deserted camp that night S haggy Dog .
came and slept beside me That night he appeared to

.
“
me in a dream and said You will see me no more but
, ,
before I go I will teach you the dance of the S haggy

”
Dogs .
Then in my dream he taught me the dance and in ,
the morning when I woke I found lying beside me the

pipe of the S haggy Dog Dance But S haggy Dog w as .
gone and I saw himno more after that except in my

dreams In the tribe we danced the S haggy Dog Dance
.
in his honor .
That is a strange tale said Grizzly but I know

, ,
”
one even more strange .
“ ”
Tell us commanded the Boy
, .
F our bufl alo bulls were walking on the prairie

’
.
Grizzly began S uddenly they came to a place where

.
a baby was lying S ome woman perhaps ha d been

.
, ,
k illed and had left her child The bulls stood around.
l oo G RAY WOLF S T O R I E S
very far before he saw a rabbit and it was being very
closely chase d by a a hawk T he rabbit ran under t he
.
horse and cried S ave me from the hawk good brother

, , .
I f you save me I will give you some of my power .
“ ”
What power wi ll you give me ! asked the young
man .
“
You wi ll b e able to run as fa st as I answered ,
No ! cried the hawk fiercely as he circled overhead .
“
Do not save him Give him to me and I will share
.
my power with you I will give you the power to run

.
as fast as I can fly !
The young man thought a while Then he said to .
“
the hawk I will not let you have the rabbit but I
, ,
”
will get you something else He ca rried the rabbit
.
to the brushwood and turned it loose He received the .
rabbit s power Then he went and shot a squirrel for

’
.
“
the hawk and laid it in front o f him I give you the
w
.
”
power I promised said the hawk as he fle o ff
, .
The man rode away but a buffalo bull saw himand

,
took after him Young Man whipped up his horse and

.
for a while kept ahead of the b ull but not for long The
, .
hull was faster It gained on him and came up close

.
behind Young Man shot all his arrows b ut they were

.
,
S HAGGY D OG DAN CE 101
not deadly hits Then he thought o f the rabbit s power

.
’
and he called on the rabbit Right away his horse be .
gan to go fast er .
T he hull however kept on after him and was gaining

, , .
O nce more Young Man called upon his helper and the ,
rabbit helped Fou r times the rabbit helped and then

.
its power gave out The bull was close behind when
.
Young Man called on the hawk The hawk helped save .
him four times Then his horse gave out and the bull
.
came up and hooked it and threw the man into a hole

in the ground T he bull tried to hook him as he lay
.
there but could not reach him although in his fury ,
he covered Young Man with dirt T he horns were close .
t o his face when he saw some hawks flying overhead

“ ”
and called out Brothers save me ! The hawks came
, ,
down and blinded the bull by pecking at his eyes .
“
Now the bull groaned and said Brother give me my
w
, ,
”
eyes againand I ill give you my power Young Man .
“
sa id Bring my horse back to life and promise not to
hur t m
,
”
. e T he hull w ent to the horse licked its wound s , ,
”
and said Up ! T he horse got up and walked over to
it s m a st er
. Then the hawks flew round the head o f the
bull and restored its sight Young Man got on and rod e
.
102 G RAY WOL F S T O R I E S
That is my tale , said Grizzly .
”
Wonderful ! crie d Boy who had been listening with
, ,
“
eyes round as big acorns . O h tell me what happened
,
to Young Man after that !

“
I will tell you another time litt le master answered
, ,
“ ”
Grizzly . S ee it is time for the dance now !
,
bulls entered the cave they became four men All the .
buff alo that entered the cave became men and women
an . w
d had fine lodge s Only hen they went out on the
prairie did they becom e an im als a gain .
“
Be care ful not to o ffend the chief h ere said the first
w
,
“
buff alo He is very j e alo us of his po er He might
. .
not like us bringing a person here ”

.
That night the chief o f the bu ffalo came around t o

the tepee where Young Man lodged ith the four bulls w .
He called the buff alo out to talk to him I hear that

“
.
” “
you have brought a human person here he said and , ,
I thought I would j ust come around and kill himbe fore

”
going to sleep Where is he !
.
“ ”
He is our son said the first buffaleh You will ha ve
,
to fight us before you dare touch him .
“
I ll be glad to answered Buffalo Chie f
’
, .
In the morning said the first buff alo

, .
In the morning answe red Buff alo Chief

, .
T he next day every one went out to see the fight .
Young Man turned himself into a buffalo and he went

out too They stood around on the prairie and watched
, .
Buffalo C hief as he killed Young Man s protect ors o ne ’
by one At last they were all gone

.
“
It is your turn
.
” “
now bellowed B uffalo Chie f
,
Do you prefer to be
.
horned or trampled as you die !

ADVENTURES IN B U F FAL O C AV E 105
I think I would rather have you d ie bellowed ,
Young Man as he charged on Buffalo C hief T he fight

w w
.
as long and hard but in the end B ufl a lo C hie f

’
, as
killed. The buffalo st ood around and looked at the

”
dead chief You are our chief now said one of them
.
, .
“ ” “
No ! said Young Man I will not b e your chief ,
j ust now I have to have more adventures

. He gal .
l oped o ff and the b uffalo went back to the cave .
When Young man became a person again he went

ba ck to his people Now there was an old woman who
.
had been very good t o him and he went into her tepee ,
sa yin
“
g Grandmother you are very poo r so I will
, , ,
”
take care of you from now on Do you need any meat ! .
“ ”
S he said I wish I had some buff alo meat
, .
The Young Man whistled and threw his moccasin on

the gro und by her side When she looked it had turned
.
into a buffalo calf F rom that time she had all the meat
.
she wanted
w
.
T here as a girl who use d to come t o see the old

w om an fo r they were friends
, T his young girl who a s
.
, w
the chie f s daughter had been nice to the old wom an
’
w
,
hen she was p oo r Now whenever she came the woman

.
ga ve her presents of meat to take home In that way the

w w
.
chief came to know that Young Man a s a po erful

106 GRAY WOLF STORIE S
medicine man and so when he asked the girl t o m
, a rry
him the chief made no obj ection .
E very one in the tribe now respected Young Man ,
for he could make the buffalo come whenever they

“
needed meat After a while he said to his wife Now
.
,
in honor of my guardians I will teach the tribe the

Bull s Dance T ell your father to put up a large dance
’
.
lodge and have it close to the brush This is how the

.
dance will be done : I wil l come out of the brush into

the lodge four times each time in the form of a buffalo .
E ach time I come you must catch me by the horns even

though I try to hook you If you do not catch me by the
.
horns at the fourth time I will turn int o a buffalo and

”
run away forever .
When the dance began Young Man came running

an d pra ncing out of the brush in the shape of a b uff alo
calf His wife tried to grab him by the horns but he
. ,
scared her and she ran from him Then he went back to
.
hiding .
When he came out o f the bru sh a second time he was a

two year old bull and he danced very quickly round the
- -
ring His wife tried to grab his horns but her cou rage
.
,
failed her when she saw how fierce and wild he was .
Again he went into hiding

w
.
This time he rushed fiercely out and he as a three

T H E S WALLO W S WAR AGAIN S
’
S NAKE S
OY loved to watch the

darting here and there
ming pool At last he
.
to teach him their la

ha d learned it and made
low told this tale :
L ong ago there was a hard war between

w
the s allow s and the snakes In
w
.
,
same as to day w e
-
, ere fond of
108
T H E WA R AGAI N ST S NAK E S 109
the high banks O ur leader was a handsome bird whom

.
we called the King S wallow He was very wise and .
protect ed us against our enemi es at all times day and ,
O ne day a great number of snakes came to liv e near

our bank It was not long be fore they began to eat
.
the little swallows O ur king immediately declared war

.
o n the snakes and sent his messenger o ff t o collect the

,
birds that were our allies .
T he messe nge r came back soon and with him there ,
—
were many of the small birds tomtits humming birds , ,
re d st arts and nearly all the warblers These began

, .
the fight by fiercely att acking the snakes All day long .
t he bat tle raged Many of the little birds were killed

.
and eaten and many of the snakes were killed too O ur

, , .
king saw however that the little birds were not strong
, ,
e nough for the snakes who whenever they were driven

, ,
d own the bank came back with greater numbers than

,
be fore This time he sent out his messenge r to ca ll for

.
t he help o f the bluebirds .
The next morning the bluebird s arrived Their king .
was a glossy bluebird whom all his followers worshipped

w
.
“
They would do anything for him You poo r s al .
” “
low s ! he cried out S how us those snakes and we will
. ,
do so met hing bad to them !

”
1 10 GRAY WOLF STOR IE S
—
All that day the fight raged with the swallows t he ,
small birds and the bluebirds on one side against t he

, , ,
snakes on the other When evening ca me many of t he

.
snakes had been killed but they had not b een driven
,
away We will come back to morrow with more fight

.
-
”
ers boastfully called out the snake chief
, .
“ ”
Ah ! cried the chief of the swallows You boa st !
.
You do not know what we are going to do ! He sent

—
his messenger for a dear friend of his the owl .
“
I will gladly come to the help o f my good friend s
”
the swallows declared Owl a s the hurrying messen
, ,
“
ger to ld him the the news But you know sir I have
.
, ,
to do m y fighting in the night I w ill go back w it h.
”
you I do love killing snakes !
.
—
That night the snakes had a surprise that is those
w
,
o f them who were not in hiding A great fierce o ] .
swooped down on them and killed a dozen before they

w
kne what was happening Then the snake king call ed
.
“
,
- —
the order S s t to your holes ! and all the snake s
-
went into hiding The owl feasted on those that he ha d

.
killed and invited the others to come out But they .
were silent At dawn the owl went away

. .
That day the snakes had the best o f it They we re .
very angry with the swallows for having brought t he

“
owl down on them We must get more help cried
.
,
1 12 G RAY WOLF S TO RIE S
air a nd sca ttered them Then he flew away as s iftly
. w
as he ha d come . The next day the snakes att acked ir
even greater numbe rs than be fore You lead t he
.
“
” “
fight ! said the king swallow to the bluebird king 1 .
am going to get T H E TH UND ERB IRD ! ”
All through the afternoon the fight went on and t he

w
birds ere get ting the worst of it S lo wly they were
.
being driven back The snake warriors were joyfully

.
“
chanting their battle cry which is :
, O h I eat a doz e1
,
sw allow s for my supper in the night ! In the night

In the night ! ”
S uddenly the air became dark and
heat fell down from the sky Then there was a roar
.
ing sound S ome of the litt le birds fled but the blue
w
.
,
bird king called out above the noise of the wind hicl ,
“
was now rushing by : Do not run ; it is TH E TH U N
DE RB IRD A mighty crack op ened in the sky a m
there sw ooped down out of the hole with lightning
playing about him TH E TH UN DE RB I RD F ly
w
.
,
ing in front of him scorched and wet but happ y a

, ,
the king of the swallows !

The snakes began to flee But they never got any
.
where for TH E TH UND ERBI RD let fall on then

,
a mighty thunderbolt which split their ro ck Open a n e
scatt ered them out on the plain They crawled in a]

.
direct i ons.
“
N ow ! screamed the sw allow king abo v
”
e
T H E WA R AGA I N S T S NAKE S 1 13
the noise of the wind and the braver birds fell every
w
,
here up onthe flym g sn ake s and kill e d an d k

,ille d an
, d
w
For a while there as a great roaring The Thunders
.
spoke out of the sky The lightnings his se d through

.
t he air
. T hen suddenly there was silence again The.
st o rm passed as quickly as it had co me .
T he snake king and the few followers that he had left

were going swiftly out of that country The birds ere
. w
feasting on t he others .
TH REE BIRD S G O T O TH E SUN FOR
T O B AC CO
ERE S another story o f the birds said

’
O wl Man after Boy had listened to the

,
bank swallow s ta le
’
.
w
Crow Man a s very sa d He wan
.
dered out o n the pra irie to ta lk to his

little friend L izard.
“ ”
What are you crying about asked L izard
! .
114
116 G RAY WOLF STORIE S
After a while one of the bir ds who went for the seed
“
returned I couldn t fly any farther on account of
.
’
the heat he gasped, .
“
L ook at the poor bird ! cried Elk The heat of .
the sun has turned him red ! ”
Crow Man took the red bird and petted it The bir d .
felt better after a while

w
.
A second bird returned Ah ! the heat a s awful . .
”
It was too much for me .
“
Why you are yellow from the heat cried C row
, ,
M an He nursed the yellow bird and gave it water

. .
It felt better after a while .
After a long time the third bird ca me in O h ! cried .
the anim —
als look he is black from the heat !
,
‘ ’
“ ”
Yes but I brought the seed ! cried the bird proudly
, ,
dropp ing a bag of tobacco see d that he had carried in

his claws .
How they all cheered ! C row Man nursed the bla ck

bird After drinking some water it felt be tter
. .
Now they all had a fine time planting the see d And
,
.
when the planting was over all the animals went ba ck

to their children C row Man went to the village and
.
told his wonderful sto ry Day after day he watche d .
his little tobacco field At last the plants ca me up The

. .
T H R E E B I R D S G O F O R T OB A C C O 1 17
w
t o ba cco that his friends planted a s ruined by the buf
falo but when C row Man harvested he gave half to

, ,
his neighbors
He taught the p lanting songs of the anim
.
als to his
people .
T H E M AN WH O S T OLE ALL TH E
ANIMAL S
was the F a ll of the year The woods

w
.
ere filled with the glory and wonder of

a ut umn Underfoot the crisp golden
.
and red leaves crackled O n the trees

.
they still flamed in gorgeous colors A .
thin haze lay over the entire country .
Owl Man had taken Boy and the animals on a j our

ney They climb ed to the peak of the lonely mountain
.
that overh ung Mystery Valley It took them a day to

.
-
ge t t o the t o
, p b ut w hen Boy looked down on the g reat
wo rld spread in shining folds beneath he gasped for
118
12 0 G R A Y W OL F S T O R I E S
I will tell you a tale said Owl M an to show that
, ,
”
C hief the Above Person is the All Knower
,
-
,
-
.
L ong ago in the time of the first tribes there as a w

manwho allowed himself to have a bad heart He had .
myst erious powers and with the help of his Medicine

,
he drove all the animals into a cave and kept them there
for his own use .
Then there w as hunger in the v illages The hunters .
went out day after day and came back empty handed
- .
There was no food except wild nuts and fruits .
There was a chief s son His name was Watches All

’
.
-
.
He saw the suffering of the people O ne day a strange .
thought cam e to him He was sitting with friends in

.
his father s tepee when suddenly he rose He said

’
.
,
Brothers I amgoing to seek Chief and tell him of our

,
”
troubles He will help us !
.
His friends looked at him in amazement Go ing to .
” “
seek Chief ! they said S urely not He is too far o fl
.
’
. .
”
He cannot be found !
Watches All did not listen to them He walked all
- .
—
that day and for many days and always up up into the ,
lonely hills He did not know the way but he kne w

.
,
that if Chief wanted him to find the way he would

find it .
TH E MAN WHO ST OLE TH E AN IMALS 12 1
And at last on a clear sunny morning he rounded ,
t he corner of a gray rock on a high wide mesa and there , ,
sit ting very st ill before a little fire was Chief !

For a long time Watches All stood before him Then -
.
“
he hear d a voice and it was kind S on what brings you
he re ! C om
, ,
e sit beside me and see how good the w orld
m
,
se e s.
Watches All sat beside C hief and saw the world dim
-
,
an
“ ”
d hazy Spread beneath
, It is wonderful cried .
,
Watches All - .
“
I helped make it Sometimes I am lonely now for
.
ce m
,
sin an ca me there is much war But I made m an .
be ca use it was the plan that was given me .
“ ”
Is there O ne highe r than you ! asked Watches All -
As m
.
uch higher than me as I am higher than that

an t , sai d Chief pointing , .
A little toiling ant carrying a leaf wandered by , , .
Watches All was silent A fear had come into his heart
- . .
“ ” “
Do not fear son said Chief I can help you Tell
, . .
me the st ory S peak

,
”
. .
Then Watches All told the story of the theft of the

-
“
bea sts C hief rose to his feet
. Come with me he .
,
sa i d We will search for my Animals No one has

. .
”
a right to steal them .
The y went down together For many days they trav .

12 2 GRAY WOLF STORI ES
c led searching for the m
, a nwho had stolen the an ima ls .
O ne day Chief pointed to a lonely lodge standing in a

high valley Th a t is the lodge of the man who ha s
.
” “
stolen the a nimals he said We will go near I sha ll
, . .
”
be a dog and you shall be a root di gger -
.
In the lodge lived Raven a m a nof very great power ,

.
With him was his wife and boy When the boy in his .
,
play wandered outsid e t he lodge he found a li ttle dog

, .
He went to it and took it up in his arms Then he saw .
the root digger on the ground He picked it up a nd

-
.
,
then he ra nto his mother who was in t he tepee L ook !

“ ”
, .
“ ”
he cried Mother see what I found !
.
,
“
The man sa id Put them down That is not a re a l
, .
dog That is not a real root digger

.
-
.
The boy began to cry His mother sa id Ah let him .

, ,
ke ep them He needs something to play with in this

.
lonely place .
“
All right answered the fa ther, But if anything .
”
happens remember what I said !
The boy played with the dog outside the tepee In .
“
the a fternoon the man s a id It is time for us to kill ,
”
bufl alo’
He started o fl His wife followed The
.
’
. .
little boy ran behind playing with the dog as he went

, .
The woman carried the root digger They went to a -

.
cave F rom it came sounds of the b e llowing of bufl alo

‘
. .
12 4 GRAY WOLF S TORI E S
Chief Instead he hung Raven over the smoke hole of
.
a lodge There R aven remained for three days and

.
nights crying all the time

, .
Then Chief took him down Raven was completely .
“
black Chief said to him F oolish O ne listen I made
.
, , .
a ll the world and the animals init Do you think I am .
going to let you spoil my work

“ ”
No sa id Raven humbly
, I had a bad heart I
, . .
”
did wrong .
You can go sa id C hief but you will always be

, ,
black and by that sign people will remember wha t a

,
great thief you we re .
R aven flew off and Chief wandered slowly up into

—
the hills dreaming of things to be .
That is the tale sa id O wl M a n rising

, It is time , .
”
to sleep now .
Boy looked out in silence into the dark lonely ni ght , .
Perhaps C hief is here in the mountains near us he ”

,
whispered .
“
Perhaps he is said Owl Man , .
H O W T URT LE H EL P E D CREA T E TH E
W ORLD
OY had a pet tur tle of which he was ve ry

fond O ne day he asked Owl M a n
.
,
“
Has Turtle ever done any brave
”
d eeds !
“
Yes , answered O wl Man . It
was he who brought up the mud out of
which Chief Person made the world The tale as told
. w
me by an old man o f the Gros Ventres :
w
There as a time long ago when the people in the
w orld were wild and strange They ran about all the
.
12 5
12 6 GRAY WOLF S TORIE S
time and never di d anything Chief Person was dis .
pleased He felled trees and made a raft O n one e nd

. .
he made a tripod of three sticks and hung the sa cred

pipe from it He sa ng a nd he shout e d and then he
.
”
kicked the earth saying L et water come out
, , .
Then water came out of the earth and rain fell from
the skies for many days until there was no more land .
O f the creatur es on the ea rth a ll were drowned except

Crow and he flew in circles above the raft He cried
w
.
,
bec a u se he a s so tired and Chief Person kindly said

w
, ,
You m a y rest on the pipe Crow did so a nd a s

.
glad .
After a while Chief Person grew wea ry and he too

w
, ,
”
ept Then he s a id I must do something He un
w
. .
,
ound from about the pipe its long wra ppings of fur .
Within its stone bowl were a ll t he anima ls of to da y -

.
“ ”
Which of yo u can dive d e ep ! asked Chief Person .
“
I can answered L oon
, .
I can answered S mall L oon

, .
”
I can s a id Turtle in a sleepy voice
, , .
L oon you go down ! co m

,
”
manded Chief Person .
L oon dived deep down while Chief Pe rson rocked and

sa ng Crow flew in circles overhead cawing
.
, .
“
After a long time L oon shot up Couldn t do it ! .
’
he gasp e d He was half dr owned

. .
12 8 GRAY WOLF S TORI E S
the under parts of his shell there was mud Ch ef Per .
i
son scraped it o fl into the hollow of his palm He put

’
w
.
Turtle do n Then he stood up and sang Three

. .
“
times he sang and he said : Now I will drop the mud
—
on the waters It will become la nd a great la nd as far
.
”
as the eye can reach He did so and the land was
.
,
created Crow flew down and began searching for

.
“
worms After a while he said mournfully There are
. ,
”
no worms .
“
I ha ven t ma de them yet sa id Chief Person
’
They , .
”
are in the pipe He went ashore and caused water to
.
come out of the ground Then out of the pipe he made.
a ll the animals in pairs and he made men and w omen .
He ma de new a nimals out of earth too He made , .
weapons and showed men how to use them .
“ ”
Will yo u destroy the world a gain ! asked one of
the m e nthat he had ma de .
“
As long as men are good I will not destroy the
world answered C hief Person
, .
“
Give us a sign that we m a y kn ow that you will not
”
destroy us said the man, .
Chief Person pointed to the rainbow that arched t he

“ “
sky . Tha t is my sign he sa id Whenever you see
, .
that you will know tha t the ra in is over and that there
”
will be no flood .
T U R T L E H E L P E D C R E AT E T H E W O R L D 12 9
w
The people ent away satisfied and began to hunt and
t o build v illages
.
“
w
There will be another orld after
” “
t hi s
, called Chief Person after them . I am your
”
friend You came from my pipe Do not fear !
w
. .
Hearing these ords the people began to sing as they

w orked The world began again It was good
. . .
T H E MAN WH O L I VE D WITH TH UND ER
OY had lived for three winters in Owl

Man s village He knew all the trails
’
.
,
all the hidden places Much he knew o f

.
the secret ways of the animals He was .
growing daily in wisdom in strengt h in , ,
courage
w
.
Now it as spring He had been far up in the hills

.
with Owl Man Grizzly and Wolf They were return

w
.
, ,
ing h en a su dden thun d ershow er d rove them to shelter
unde r a slab of rock Here they all sat warm and dry
w
.
, ,
whil e t he rain lashed the et trees outside .
“ ”
T ell me about Thund er said Boy turning to Owl
, ,
L isten Grizzly and you too Wolf For a long
, , , , .
time we have heard no st ory Perhaps uncle will tell .
”
us one .
The two animals crowded close Boy stretched him .
self out on Grizzly Wolf watched the woods and lis

.
tened O wl Man bega n :

.
A tribe of the S alish lived on the edge of the Great

S alt Water that lies toward the setting sun Taloo p s .
,
a brave man a hunter of deer a killer of whales was

, , ,
among them O ne day he paddled up a creek to spear

.
salmon It was a wild place Men of the tribe had

. .
warned him against it sa ying : A spirit resides there

,
“
.
Taloop s was not afraid He watched for salmon his

.
,
own canoe drifting along in the silence S uddenly he .
—
saw the s almon many of them He raised his spear . .
Then swiftly it grew dark He co ul d see nothing and.

,
overhead broke out a terrific clap of thunder When .
the da rkness cleared away the salmon were gone .
“
Talo op s was angry He cried out : What is this
.
great thing which darkens the earth and makes noise in

”
the sky ! Just then his canoe quietly drifted under a
huge spruce tree There was a blackened hole in it s
.
side made by lightning Ta lo o p s had never seen so

, .
big a hole in any tree He looked on it in wonder Sud

. .
Thunderer said You must not eat more than five !
,
“ ” “ ”
Ah ! said Taloo p s I cannot eat even one
. Thun .
derer laughed scornfully .
Ta loo p s caught a salmon and brought it in Where .
” “ ”
is your fish ! cried Th underer Here it is answered .
,
Ta100ps showing his salmon Thunderer tried to ta ke

, .
the salmon but it slipped under his finge r nail and fell
,
-
“ ”
to the ground I cannot see it he cried laughing
.
, , .
”
I want a knife to cut it up said Taloo p s Thun , .
derer took a great rock and threw it on the ground It .
“
broke into a hundred pieces Use one of these sharp
.
”
pieces ! he told Talo o p s But ea ch piece was as large
.
“ ”
as a man Talo op s said They are too big
. , Then .
Thunderer took two pieces and struck them together .
They fell apart in smaller fragments and Taloo p s be ,
“
gan to work on the very smallest What are you do
”
ing ! cried Thunderer “
I am m ”
aking a knife a n
w
.
,
“ ”
s e r e d the man I cannot see your knife rep lied
.
,
Thunderer “
.You seem to be playing with grains o f
”
sand .
The next day Thunderer said I am going for a sal ,
”
mon . He went down to the great water and brought
back two whales They struck the ground with their
.
tails and the mountain shook Rocks fell on Taloo p s . .

TH E M A N WH O L I V E D W I T H T H U N D E R 13 7
H e w throw
asn down and h u rt . He lay silent in the
v am
ca e ong the dying whales .
T he following day Thunderer said I am going for ,
”
a sa lmon .Taloop s tied himself to a tree When .
Thunderer came back with whales he threw them down

near the cave Their death struggles shook the moun
.
t ain .Trees fell down Again Taloop s was hurt

. .
Talo op s was now afraid and lonely He thought o f .
his wife and children Thunderer read his mind He

. .
“
said ,I will take you back to morrow He meant next
-
.
y ear for
, each year was a day to him .
At last Thunderer flew back with Taloo p s He put

himdown by the blasted spruce tree
.
There was his .
spear and the rags o f his blanket where he had le ft them .
He had been away four years instead of four day s as ,
he thought His relatives had searched for him Now

. .
every one thought he was dead Taloo p s went down .
toward the village N ear the edge of the woods he met

.
his so n He said I am Ta10 0ps your father Go tell

.
, , .
mother . The boy ran home and brought his mother .
They took Taloop s into the village He was a great .
wonder to the people and when they knew he had lived

,
with Thunderer they gave him the title of shaman .
When Taloo ps had rested he taught his people all the

knowledge he had gained while he as with Thundere r w .
13 8 GRAY WOLF S TOR IES
E specially he taught them about the be st way of killing
whales After living with the tribe for a year he gre w
.
bold and returned to the high place and lived with

Thunderer ten years Then he returned to his people
.
and gave them more knowledge .
That i s my tale said Owl Man

, .
”
It is good replied Boy who was deeply impre sse d
, , .
Now indeed he knew how mighty Thunderer was O n

w
, .
,
the ay home through the woods he kept closer to Ow l

Man than usual Bear and Wo lf ca me along behind
”
him in silence S ee said Owl Man pointing
. , , .
They were passing near a great tree A terrible

w
.
black gash ran from top to root The tree a s d ead

. .
Thunderer had smitten it .
They passed by in silence and fear .

SC ARFACE G OE S T O TH E SUN AND M EE T S
M ORNIN G S TAR
P RING in Mystery Valley ! How good

w
it a s to feel the warm rays of the sun
once more to be able to run with out
,
clothes to sit somewhere sheltered from

, ,
the wind and let the pure white light of

the sun shine on the body At this time
.
of the year O wl Man spoke often to Boy about the S un ,
a bove the reverence due to it and about the healing

,
virtue of its rays

w
.
“
How far away it seems sighed Boy
, and ho
mysterious S ome time I would like to go there but
.
,
”
I m afraid I would be burned up
’
w
.
And yet a young man went there once said O l

“
,
Man .
S carface was his name and he was very p oo r Oft en
, .
he was sad because his boy friends made fun of t he

“ ”
scar on his face You are so handsome they cried
.
, ,
mocking him “
. S urely you will marry the daughter of
the chief And that h ur t most of all for S carface se
”
.
,
cret ly l oved the girl .
At last when he could no longer b ea r t o be lone ly

“
he went to her and told his love The girl said I like
.
,
ou S carface Perhaps I co uld love you b ut I do not

y , .
,
—
know you very well and my father he is proud sure ly
,
—
he will demand of you some deed to prove yo u worthy
”
to be his son !
As she spoke S carface had a great thought and he
, ,
“
cried out I will prove myself worthy of you I will go
, .
to the Sun and ask himto help me ”

As he ut tere d .
these words he was almost frightened for he thought

the girl would mock him but she looked steadily at him
,
“
and said I believe you will
,
After that he could not turn b ack A good old woman .
helped him with food and moccasins He took weap ons .
and went toward the S un s house Day a fter day he

’
.
traveled and the days lengthened into months At la st

, .
he came to a place where there was sand everywhe re .
It was fiercely hot A blackened man lived on the edge

.
“ ”
of this desert . Turn back ! he cried .
the S un came in he cr1ed in a loud voice There 13 a
”
person here I smell him
. .
“
It is true said the Moon
, A brave young m an .
,
S carface has come all the way from the earth beca use
,
he has heard of your greatness .
“ ”
L et me see him said the S un Then burn ceda r .
to drive away the p ersonsm

,
el
They brought S carface out and standing before t he,
S un he told the tale of his travels .
“ ”
Truly you are brave ! cried the S un C ome I w ill .
,
”
fit you to play with my son .
He put Morning Star and S carface together in hi s

own sweat house O h how they sweated ! When the y
.
,
came o ut S carface looked so much like Morning S ta r

that the Moon could hardly tell them apart And t he .
scar was gone !

“
Play with my boy comm anded the S un but do
, ,
not go toward the west E vil birds live in the waters

.
”
there .
The nex t day when the Sun had gone the two com
panions were playing S uddenly Morning S tar said
.
,
“
L et us go to the west .
“ ”
No ! cried S carface Remember what your father
.
”
said ! But Morning S tar ran o ff S carface followe d .
him carrying weapons

, .
SCARFACE GOES TO THE SUN 145
T hey rea ched the shores of a great sheet o f wat e r .
Just as they were crossing the beach a whirring o f wings

sounded and out of the waters rose seven of the largest
,
an d fiercest ge ese that S ca rface had ever seen

. T hey
flew at Morning S tar and would have torn him to pieces ,
but S carface foug ht them and covered the bod y o f

Morning S tar with his shield In the end after a hard
.
,
battle he killed the b irds and brought their head s back

,
to the house of the S un Wonderful was the prai se that

w
.
the Sun and the M oon gave him ! T he S un a s so

pleased that he presented him with a shirt and leggins
of soft tanned buckskin Then the Suntook him aside
.
and taught him ma ny secrets .
A little while after that S carface went back to t he

earth When he appeared in his own village again the
.
people gave him high honor because o f the greatness o f

his feat He married the girl wh o was daughter of the
.
chief He taught the people how to dance the sun dance

. ,
and he founded the first medicine lodge .
Many years later when the girl died he was lonely .
He went b ack to the S uns country and be came a star

’
.
H O W TH E AP A CH E S E S C AP E D FRO M TH E
UN D ERWORLD
N E evening O wl Man brought int o t he

cave a beautiful black bird with ke en
w
,
fierce eyes Boy j umped when he sa

.
it The animals snifl e d O wl Man sai d :

.
’
.
“
Here is my good friend Raven com e
to pay us a visit He travels much al l
.
over the world and knows what happens everywhere .
Raven this is my boy and his Grizzly and Wolf B e

w
, .
”
friendly all of you
, He gave the raven to Boy ho
.
,
gently stroked its glos sy coat The raven seeme d

.
pleased He hopped on the ground and walked around

.
the cave Then he came back and stood near the fir e

. .
“ “
Would you like to tell us a tale asked Owl Man I .
146
Were it not for eagle feathers which the people carried
,
about with them and which cast a faint glow on the path
w
,
no one could see far enough ahead to walk L iving a s

.
hard in that underground place and it was only the o ld

,
tales of an age gone by when there was light and p rop h

,
ceies of an age to come when the Dark would have n o
more power that encouraged the people to struggle o n

, .
Besides the Dark there were the Animals of the Dark ,
and of those the worst were the L ong White Woo lly
Beasts The next to the worst were the S hort White
.
Woolly Beasts which always lay in wait to pounce o n

,
the children if they went a few steps beyond sight of the

fighting men Besides there were the Pale S nakes a nd
.
the Big S oft Bats and the White S quashy Moths a nd ,
many other things not good to dream of

O ne day the Medicine Men held council Do n
‘
. w
there they had days and nights like people in the up p er
world A day was when people were awake and a nig ht
w
.
was when they were asleep but this tribe custom as

,
not very good for sometimes when half the people w ere
w w
,
asleep after a big party those ho were a ake were no t

sure whether it was day or night The Medicine M e n
l
had come to council to try to make better days a nd

nights A fter they had talked a long while a young
.
H OW T H E APAC H E S E SCAP E D 149
Medicine Man rose and said : The way to have days

and nights is to make a S un and a Moon .
E verybody thought that was a clever idea and all ,
wondered why no one had thought of it before The .
Tribal Artist was called to the Council and he painted

a big yellow disk for the sun and a smaller white disk
for the moon Many eagle feathers were put on them
.
and the chief Medicine Man made them alive by magic .
Then he said to them : S tart going around now and

,
give us light.
The S un and Moon started and soon there was much

,
more light than before E very one was feeling good

.
,
and the White Woolly Things fearing the light slunk

, ,
back to their caves in the hills However the Sunand

.
,
Moon had two deadly enemies in the forms of an ogre

and ogress who were war chiefs of the C reatures of
the Dark They hated the light and so they made the
. ,
way of the Sun and Moon very hard S ometimes they

.
made pitfalls for the Sun to walk into and more than
once they captured the Moon and hid it in a ca ve till
the people found it again .
At last it became too hard for S un and Moon S e .
cre t ly they talked it over and they plotted to escape t o
the upper world through a tunnel they had found while

wandering over the mountains And so one day it he .
,
came dark again and although the people searched

, ,
everywhere they could not find S un or Moon At la st

, .
a warrior wandering far into the Inner H ills found

their tracks leading up the steep slope of a high mou n
tain He followed and at last to his great wonder
.
,
found himself in the upper world And there were the

w
.
S un and Moon shining splendidly together for it a s ,
near sunset “ ”
Come they cried from the sky
.
,
“
C om e .
”
up to the world of light .
He hurried back and told the people what he ha d

“ ”
found They wanted to start at once
. No ! said the .
“
warrior There has been a flood and the upper w orld
.
”
is under water Wait He went again to the mou n
. .
taintop taking a friendly badger with him This ani

, .
mal explored the world but he came back all covered

w
,
“ ”
with mud It is not time he said He and the a r
.
, .
rior went back to the people After a while he went .
up the mountain again this time taking a turkey with ,
him The turkey came back from exploration with his

.
tail all draggled and wet F rom that day the turkey s .
’
“ ”
tail has hung down It is not time declared the t ur
. ,
“
key The scout returned to the village
. Wait he .
,
advised his people .
Again he climbed the mountain This t ime he too k .

TH E M AN WH O WAS CAP T URE D BY ANT S
T was cheery in O wl Man s cave A ’

.
g reat fire burned in the center throwing ,
its heat upon O wl Man Boy Grizzl y , , ,
and Wolf O wl Man was repairing his

.
bow .
“
Tell us a story said Boy, .
“
Wolf watching with sharp eyes said : Yes a story
w
, , ,
wou ld be good and Grizzly half asleep as he as rum

”
, , ,
“ ”
bled Yes a story
, , .
O wl Man looked across the fire at Boy who sat upo n ,
a huge rug resting his back against the massive out

, ,
“
stretched form o f Grizzly He laughed
. You loo k .
like a story yourself Boy as you sit there with you r

, ,
152
T H E MAN WHO WAS CAP T U R E D BY ANTS 15 3
Grizzly and your Wolf However I will tell you t he

.
,
story of the Two Brothers who went to live with the

”
Ants .
“
O h ! cried Boy that sounds like a tale !
,
Here is the story said O wl Man , .
In an underground lodge far from here lived t o w

brothers They spent their time hunting and fishing
.
,
for deep woods were all about their village They were .
very lucky and their lodge was well furnished with meat
and skins O ne day the younger brother disappeared
. .
The older brother whose name was Wolf Robe searched

, ,
for him everywhere but it was no use He did not

, .
know that the Ants had come in the night and stolen
his younger brother who as now living in t he Ant
, w
country below the lodge Wolf Robe was so sad now .
that often he wept .
O ne day when Red Wing the younge r b rother was , ,
playing lacrosse with the Ants he stopped very sud

de n ly
. The Ants gathered around They thought he .
was hurt by the ball for they saw him weeping

, .
“ ” “
No he said I do not weep beca use I am hurt but
, , ,
j ust now as I was playi ng a tear dropped on my hand

w w
.
It as my brother s tear O h ! I know ho he ha s

’
.
15 4 GRAY WOLF S TORIE S
so rrowed for me I am lonely I ca n not play a ny
. .
”
more !
The Ants loved this young man very much so th ey ,
held a council to decide in what way they might help

him O ne of the bravest of the young ant warriors v ol
.
un t e e re d to go to Wolf Robe and tell him where his

b rother was S hortly after that one evening when Wo lf
.
,
R obe was entertaining a number of friends he noticed ,
a stranger standing at the foot of the ladder which led

down into his lodge He wondered how the man cou ld
w
.
have come down the ladder without his noticing it H o

w
.
ever he welcomed the stranger and asked what he a s

,
doing .
“
O h I am j ust traveling about the country I ca m e
w
.
,
”
in here by chance answered the stranger who a s
, ,
really a warrior Ant in human form come to give his

message He stayed till after the people went and then
.
,
told Wolf Robe where his brother was .
“ ”
How can I get to see him ! asked Wolf Rob e ,
eagerly .
“
I ca nnot tell you answered Ant It is forbidden
, . .
Ask the spider He might help you . .
“
Wolf Robe asked the spider I ca n t tell you sa i d
.
’
“
he . Ask the crow .
Wolf Robe went to the crow with his question I .

15 6 GRAY WOLF S TORIES
then he saw a man running toward him It was Re d .
Wing They greeted each other

. .
“ ”
Is this the Ant country asked Wolf Robe in gre at
!
wonder .
“
Yes said Red Wing ; a nd yonder is their great
,
house But I have a lodge where you and I shall live

.
henceforth It is downby the river Come

. . .
R ed Wing then took his brother to a well furni sh ed -
lodge by the shores of a great river F rom that time on

.
the brothers lived among the Ant People took part in ,
their lives and had many wonderful a dventures T h ey

, .
helped the Ants a great deal in their wars .
Tell me about that ! exclaimed Boy eagerly , .
”
Yes tell us ! cried Wolf
, .
Yes I will some other time said O wl Man

, , , No w .
”
I must go out for a hunt Come Wolf .
, .
Wolf leaped up and followed O wl Man Boy rested .
his head upon the thick furry paw of Grizzly cur led
, ,
up and went to sleep

,
.
T E N YEARS IN TH E UN D ERWA T ER
C OUN TRY
WL MAN and Boy were camped in the

mountain wilderness east of the little val
ley F or two days they had been on a
.
hunt for silver fox which O wl Man had

,
se e na week before. L uck had been with

them ; the fox fur was in O wl Man s ’
bundle.
They were in camp for the night beside a small moun

tainlake Their little fire sent out a gentle heat hardly
.
,
needed inthe warm Indian summer evening .
“ ”
What are you thinking of uncle ! called out Boy .
He was a little lonely because his Grizzly and his Wolf

157
were left behind in the valley He wanted some o ne t o .
talk to .
O wl Man did not reply at once His eyes were fix e d .
on the waters of the lake as if trying to penetrate t he

mystery that night and silence gave to them Afte r a .
pause he spoke :
“
My thoughts were on the lake and the beings tha t
may live beneath in the hidden waters O n a night like .
this the spirit is drawn out of me and dwells in t he

”
secret places .
“
Uncle do you think there is a spirit in this lake !
,
Many lakes have a spirit S ome dwell in the Und e r

.
water Country This lake reminds me o f the lake in

.
”
which Ta loop s lived for ten years .
“
Do you mean Talo op s the one who went to Thun
,
”
dere r s home !
’
“
Yes the same man
, .
O h tell me about it uncle Tell me now

, , . .
Owl Man put a piece of wood on the fire and bega n
Taloop s, the shaman was in the lonely mounta ins

,
hunting elk He was on the trail of a herd when at the

.
end o f the first day he camped on the shores of a sm a ll
lake far up in the hills All through the night he slept

.
by a little fire and his dreams were untroubled for he ,

16 0 G R A Y W O L F S T OR I E S
and swi mdown t that myst erious being At the sam
o e .
time he felt more afraid than ever .
While he hesitated that mysterious person beckoned

aga in an , d then Ta lo op s knew he had to go He threw .
0 3 his clothes and dived in to the clear water A mom ent

w
.
later he as standing on the bottom of the lake A p e r .
son richly attired came forward to meet him took him ,
by the hand and led him to the hole in the lake botto m
, .
They entered Taloop s now found himself ina st range

.
country There was no longer any water around him

.
,
but everything looked as if seen through water The .
person who held his hand was a young and handso me

man He led Taloops until presently they ca me t o a
.
sp l endidly deco rated lodge It was covered with p ic

.
tures of fish ott er mink marten muskrat and other

, , , , ,
water creatures They were all painted in soft color s

.
and in wavering lines The being who held his hand

.
sp oke :
“
w
I aman Under ater Person I knew you were co m .
in g i n to the hills to hunt I put the thought

. of elk in t o
your heart and I drew you here Because you a re a .
shaman your eyes are open You are able to see m

, .
y s
t erie s . C ome live with me a while and I will teach you

,
”
many things
Taloops had by this tim
.
e gotten over his fear and he ,

T H E U N D E RWAT E R C OU N T R Y 16 1
lik ed this Underwater Person so he consented to live

,
wit h him in the gray and green lod ge He stayed there

for ten days and each day the person t ook himaround
.
his watery kingdom There he met the sp irits of all t he

.
w ater creatures Many were in the shapes of men

.
,
w omen and children and they talked to him and told

,
himmany of their secre ts

O n the tenth day the person asked himto go ! with a
.
beaver a s a guide ! and get him some skunk cabb age

that he needed Taloo ps walked along a strange trail
w
.
ith Beaver After a tim

. e they came t o a cave .
Go ing to the entrance of the cave Taloops looked

w
,
o ut and sud den ly he sa the well remembered world of

-
mountain and forest E verything seemed very sharp

w
.
an d clear after the soft light of the Unde r ater Co un

t ry
. The sunwas shining The winds of the H unting
.
M oon were blowing T he memory of his old li fe ca me

.
back to Ta100ps an d a sud den homesickness seized him ’
He sai d I will go back and se e my wife and children

,
“
.
”
I have been away t oo long He turned to tell the
.
be aver but th at an
, ima l was gone .
Taloop s now ascended to the top of a mo unta inand

u rifie d him se lf by fasting an d p ra yer He m de i
p a a s g
nal fire and one of his so ns cam
.
e up and found him

w
.
They ent back to t he village t oge ther WhenTaloops .

T UR K E Y H EL P S HI S MAS T ER T O F IND
C ORN C EREALS AND VE GE TAB LE S
, ,
ELL me another tale of the S outh ,
”
Raven asked Boy of his new friend
, .
He and Grizzly and Wolf had gone out

int o a sunny spot in the woods near the
cave They la y down on a bed of dried
.
leaves and Boy had a scuflle with Grizzly.
Then Raven had come and watched them with his wise
eyes until Boy spoke .
“
In that far southern country said Raven the
, ,
people eat much cornnow This is the tale of how a

.
manfirst found C orn ”

.
He was a gam bler and at last be ca me so p oor that

,
people ha d to give him food H owever the tribe

.
,
16 5
16 6 G R A Y W O L F S T OR I E S
wearied of supporting him O ne friend rem ained faith
w
.
—
ful his tame turkey who followed him every here
, .
The p e ople said they would give him one more chance
w
,
and after that if he failed he a s to be sent awa y .
When they told him these things he said nothing He .
went to the bank of the river and sat down feeling very ,
“
sad He said to himsel f : If I stay here they will send
.
me away I will go away myself

. He prayed to his .
invisible helpers and they sent anim als to he lp him The .
Gambler now chopped down a tree a nd cut the trunk

into a log He st arted to cut a hole in the log but at
.
,
“
that moment the woodpecker came up and said : S top .
”
We will do that Many woodpeckers pecked o ut a
.
cozy hollow in the log Gambler took food and blank ets
.
,
made himself a warm bed and crept in The spide rs , .
then scale d up the hole Woodpecker again calle d his

.
friends and they rolled the log into the Rio G rande
River It went down with the current while the tu rkey
.
ran along the shore watching to see that no h arm ca m e

to it .
After a while the log was caught in a whirlpool It .
went round and round and round and seemed likely t o

“ ”
stay there forever S ay ! I m dizzy ! called Gamble r
.
’
.
T urkey waded out and pushed the log into the stream
w
.
Inanot her place the log as caught on the ro ck s .

everything was ripe Turkey said to him : Now ! T ak e
.
anear of corn and roast and eat .
Gambler did so He plucked an ear of corn roa st ed

.
,
it and began to eat When he had finished he gave the

, .
“ ”
cob to Tur key who asked : How do you like it !
,
“
Gambler answered : Better than anyt hing I ever at e .
He roa sted many mo re ca rs and cooked the vegeta bles

and cereals .
After living in that place for a while Gambler t ook

corn and vegetables and cereals and made his a y back w
to the village The people were really glad to see him
w
.
,
for they thought he had killed himself and they ere

sorry He invited the chief men o f the village to a fe a st
.
and fed them with the strange delicious foo d s he had ,
found .
At the end of the feast the chief sa id : Where di d you

”
get this wonderful food !
O h said Gambler Do you like it ! It is not h
.
”
ing I. have lots more at my place I gro w it there . .
There was silence for a while Then the chief sa id .

,
— —
in a small humble voice : M aybe you would invi te
,
“
—
—us—to —your— place —sometime
Gambler said O h yes C ome and b ring yo ur
“
friends No I mean bring the whole tribe to be m

.
, ,
.
, y
”
guests .
T U R K E Y H E L P S H I S MAS T E R 16 9
w
Bring the hole tribe said the chief , Don t you .
’
know there are one hu n dred a n d forty of us!

“ ” “
Is that all ! said G ambler Why I thought there
.
were four hundred I never was good at counting

.
peo ple I m sorry there are so few I don t like to

.
’
.
’
”
have leavings when I give a feast .
Another silence The people held their breaths

. .
“
— — ”
When when can we go ! asked the chief .
”
Right now answered Ga mbler
, My Turkey is at .
home cooking the food ”

.
“
Hey there you men ! yelled the chief rising to his
, , ,
“
feet. We re moving camp The whole tribe is going
’
.
to be the guest of Gambler Get the things moved

.
,
quick .
The news spread and the villagers were ready to go

ina v ery short time O n the way down they talked of
.
nothing else but the delicious new foods And when

w
.
they arrived at Gambler s ca mp and sa the spacious

’
fa rmand the sm all mountains of co rn and the big hills

o f beans and the yellow squash and the fat pumpkins
an d cereals they almost went out of their heads with
j oy T he feast la sted for a week At the end of that
.
.
time the chief felt that they ought to go But Gambler .
said :
“ —
St ay here with me always all o f you .
Tea s am
r c e to the eyes o f the ch i e f He put hi s arm s .
170 GRAY WOLF S TORIES
around Gambler . I am your friend forever he s a id , .
The people greeted the news with a great shout Then .
and there they elected Gambler a medicine m a n F r om .
that day he was the greatest among them He never .
had to gamble again F rom tha t time on they had corn

.
and vegetables and cereals .
That is my story said Raven

, .
“
I like that said Boy And what happened to Tur
, .
”
key !
“
He lived there too answered R aven
, , After a .
while he took a wife and he was the grandfather of a ll

,
”
the turkeys the Apache Indian s have to day -
.
child They did not know whether to be glad or so rry
.
at his ripening so soon O n the whole the boy s fathe r ’
w
.
, ,
“
the S un a s inclined to feel good over it Boys a re
, .
”
such a care he said consolingly
, .
“
My dear you may be sure it isn t natural answe red ’
w
, ,
“
the mother As sure as you live now he ill be up t o
.
—
some entirely new kind o f mischie f see here he is ,
now ! He s been down the street talking to the hunters

’
.
Well m, y boy w hat have you found

, out ! ”
“ ”
O h mother ! cried the young man in the greate st
,
“
excitement They have j ust told me the st ory of the
.
Great E lk which has killed so many of our peop le I

, .
”
am going out to hunt it !
“
My dea r boy you ca nnot do it You will be killed
, .
and began the mother but be fore she half finished

w
,
her son was off leaping over the face of the world ith
great step s The Great E lk lived hundreds o f m
,
. ile s
away in t he desert but the S trange Young Man reached
,
the country where it lived in four steps And then .
suddenly he saw the E lk Indeed he was amazed at t he .

,
size o f the bea st He would have taken it for a moun

.
tain had it not been for the beating of its heart which ,
shook the world .
“
I hardly know where to begin ! murmured t he
THE MAN AND THE G REAT ELK 178
Young Man a little taken aback at the enormous size

w
,
o f the animal At that moment a L izard whi ch a s

.
,
watching him with bright eyes said Better go ! B ad

“
,
pla ce for young m

,
”
a n!
“ ” “
B ut said the S tra nge Young Man I ve co me here
’
, ,
to kill him; he s eaten so many of my people !

’ ”
“ “
F oolish ! said the L iza rd but brave so I will help , , .
”
Wa it here and he ran like lightning toward the E lk
, .
L izard bega n to nibble at the thick mat o f hair that

g re w on the hide over the beating heart of the E lk .
“
S ay remarked E lk not deigning to look down what
”
, ,
“
,
a re you doing anyway ,
“
Ju st a few little hairs j ust a few to take home sup
, ,
pli ca te d Lizard .
“
Take all you want Have you seen any people .
aro und here that I can crun ch asked the monster .
“
N o answered L iza rd who always told the truth ;
, ,
”
but I have an idea that there is a young man co ming
L et himco me
.
“ ”
said E lk yawning ,
“
I m about , .
’
”
rea d y .
Young Man still waited A Gopher came up and .
“
said,
What a re you doing here ! Run away home ,
son ny .
”
“
How can I ! answered Young Man “
I ve come .
’
here to kill Great E lk on account of the people he ha s
”
eaten .
“
Ha ! cried the Gopher ; foolish but brave I m u st , .
help you in this You daren t approach him over t he

.
’
”
plain so I ll dig you a tunnel
,
’
Go pher bega n digging . .
He dug and dug and dug until he came up right under

“ ” “
E lk s heart What is it ! thundered E lk
’
. Oh ! E x .
cuse me sir cried Gopher ducking into his tunnel

, , , .
He ran and told Young Man wha t he d done Then ’

.
“
came L izard All the ha irs over his heart are nibbled
.
o ff
. You ll know where to aim But if yo u miss that s
’
.
,
’
”
the end of you and all your people !
Young Man had brought a bow and four arrows so ,
he took them and went through the tunnel until he stoo d

right below the beating heart of the E lk E ven th ere .
it was hard to aim for the ground itself he aved with

,
the rhythm of that great heart Young Man shot four .
arrows and E lk rose to his feet dying He ran arou nd

, , .
the world before he died He put his great antlers into

w
.
the earth and tore it up In that a y he threw up t he .
mountain ranges and made arroyos a nd can , ons When .
at last he fell the earth trembled with the shock

, .
T he Young Man thanked Gopher and L izard and

went home to have s upper with his mother S he as . w
glad to see him back .
SI! B O Y S G O T O TH E S T AR C OUNT R Y
was the time of the year when the

Plei a des or the S even Stars glowe d in
, ,
the evening sky Boy had often loo ked

.
a t them . O ne night when he and Uncle

and the anim als w ere camping in the
gra ssy levels far to the ea st of Myst e ry
Valley he a sked O wl M an what the S even S tars wer e
,
and how they c ame to be there .
Owl M a nbegan his tale :
I j ourneyed out on the prairie once Over a friendly

.
fire I met and talked to a wanderer from the Blackfe et

w
.
His name a s Rising Wolf and he to ld me tales o f his

176
TH E S T A R C O UN T R Y 177
people In one of the vill ages of his nation long ago

.
there lived a family of six boys Their parents were .
very poor They were so poor that in the spring when

.
other Indians went out and killed the buffalo calves so

that they might make robes for their children out of the
soft red skins they did not do so They hunted the
, , .
grown buffalo and then only for meat and for the darker
,
robes .
The other boys in the village all had red robes in the
spring when the calves are killed They often made fun .
o f the six brothers calling after them :

,
“
T hey have no
”
r e d robes ; they are poor This made the b oys feel very
.
much ashamed E ach spring they asked their parents

.
for red robes but they never received any The whole
, .
village took up the mockery of these boys and m ade life

so hard for them that they began to go aw ay by them
selve s to the lonely places O ne day the olde st boy

.
“
sa id to his brothers If we do not get robes by next
,
sp ring let us go away to the sky coun try They all .
a greed to this .
When the season for red robes came around again a ll

the children in the village had new robes but the six ,
boys had none Then people began to mock them as

.
“
before .C ome said the oldest brother we will not
, ,
”
stay here Now I will take you to the sky
. Then t he .
1 78 G R A Y W OL F S T OR I E S
fourth brother said These people have mocked us and
,
been cruel to u s When we ge t to the sky I amgoing

.
”
t o ask the S un to take water away from them
w
.
The oldest brother had acquired great medicine po er

through fasting in lonely places He told his bro the rs .
to close their eyes Then after a little while he sa id

.
,
“ ”
O pen your eyes ! and they found themselves in the
house of the S un and Moon The S un who had the a p .
,
p e a r a nce of a splendid warrior w as sitting by the fi r e
w
,
ta lking to a beautiful woman That was his ife the .

,
“
Moon . L ook at the nice boys who have come to see
”
us cried Moon S he got up and welcomed the chil
, .
dren They were very scared The Sunlooked a t the m

. .
“
severely and said Now I suppose you boys have run
, ,
”
away from home Come here Tell me all about it !
. .
The Moon made seats for the boys between her self
and the S un S he let the youngest boy who was a
.
”
, w
fully scared lean aga inst her knees
, We came a wa y .
,
“
said the eldest because our people never gave us r ed
,
robes when all the other children had them And t hen .
they mocked us all through the spring saying Lo o k , ,

‘
they are poor they have no red robes S o we deci d ed ’
w
.
,
”
to come away and tell you about it and live ith yo u .
And we ask yo u sir to take all their water away for

“
, ,
”
seven days as a punishment piped up the four th bo y , .
known or dreamed of such heat The water in p ools .
,
springs and streams evaporated F or seven day s and

,
.
nights the heat kept getting worse At night it seemed .
that even the moonlight was hot .
There was a certain family in the village had a dog

that was very intelligent This dog led the people do wn.
to the river bed and then he got the other dogs tog ether .
They dug until they struck the springs and water ,
gushed out The parched people flung themselves do wn

.
to drink and lived Th a t was the first spring not ma de

.
by nature F rom that time on people knew how to dig

.
for springs The dogs taught them

. .
Having drunk the dogs dug themselves holes in t he

,
side of the hill and crawled in The people did the same .
,
and so were able to live half dead through the next d a y

of killing heat Now they knew the anger of the S u n
.
, ,
and they knew that some one among them had sinned
deeply and terribly E ach night they dragged them
.
selves out and lying there in the light of the pitil e ss

,
Moon they drank and drank and drank In the day no

, .
one d a red to stir Covered with dirt they lay throu gh

.
the long slow burning hours The prayers of the priest

, , .
did not help them It seemed that the tribe must die
. .
But in the end as if to humilia te them this proud a nd

, ,
THE STAR COUNTRY 18 1
cru el people were saved by a dog He as the wise dog . w

who had discovered the spring O n the seventh day of .
the heat in the evening he gathered the dogs together on

,
a hill and howled at the Moon He asked for pity .
pity on the dogs who had done no wrong and on the

, ,
“ ”
people who had been so bitterly punished
, O h oh ! .
,
“
cried the Moon I did not mean to kill the poor dogs ,
d she went to the S un and asked himto take away

,
an
the heat He did so Just before dawn of the eighth

. .
day one of the half dead men who had crawled out of
-
the hole felt a drop of rain He shouted but his voice

.
,
was broken and cracked The others came They felt

. .
the raindrops coming down on their uplifted hands At

w
.
the same time a cool ind came drifting over the plains .
Now the people went mad with j oy They hugged each .
other They leaped and ran over the prairie They

. .
prayed their thanks kneeling in the dawn

, .
By morning the rain was coming down as it had never

come before And the happy people walked about in
.
it singing The animals of the wild came near an d

, .
wandered among them unharmed Fierce be asts came .
down to the drinking places and drank in the light of

day the rabbit and the wolf side by side
, .
The boys stayed in the sky afte r that It was bet ter .
there and Moon loved them S he and the Sun m
, . ade
a place for them and they can still be seen at
, s .
The Indians call them the Bunched S tars .
That is the tale the Blackfoot told me said O wl

,
Man .
Boy looked up at the Pleiades L arge and bright

.
“
they shone in the sky. I will go to see those boys wh en
”
I travel to the sky country he said
, .
y o u —
a tale about Morning S tar how he visited a poor
boy and gave him power and secret knowledge L et us .
”
hast en now We have the long day before us
. .
That night when they reached the cave after t he fire ,
was lit and the supper eaten Boy stretched himself o u t

,
a long the huge form of Grizzly Wolf lay at his feet

. .
“
Uncle don t forget that you promised the story o f
,
’
Morning S tar and the poor boy !

“ ” “
Ah ! growled Wolf Morning S tar ! He Is brigh t
. .
O ften I have howle d at him

Sh ! L isten to the story whispered Boy pinchi ng
, ,
his ear .
“
This is the tale began Owl Man
,
In one of the camps of the B lackfeet there lived a

litt le boy who had received the name of Neve r S its
Down There ha d been great trouble and many death s
.
in this boy s fa mily so that in the end he was left a n

’
w
,
orphan Then he went to live with a sister who a s

.
married
w
.
He was very lonely He missed his father ho used

.
,
to show him so many interesting things and he mi ssed

w
,
his mother who was always kind His sister a s not

, .
always good to him and his brother inlaw hardly ev e r

,
- -
spoke to him .
THE B OY AN D MORNING STAR 185
O ne day he sat on the edge of the river and cried He .
was ten years old and he knew that a little bo y should

,
—
never cry but he could not help it he was so lonely .
It was very early in the day The sun had not yet
.
risen and there were no people about .
S uddenly he knew that some one was sitting near him ,
and he looked up It was another bo y a strang e boy

.
, ,
”
not of the village Do not cry any more he said
.
, .
“
S ome day you will be a great chief and the leader of
,
”
the village so why should you cry !
,
“
I was only crying because I am lonely answered ,
Never S its Down feeling quite ashamed

, ,
“ ”
You will not be lonely any more said the strange,
boy .
“
I know another poor boy I will go and get him
.
,
”
and we will play together every day He went off and
.
” “
soo n returned with anoth er boy Now he said let
.
, ,
us go in
”
to the wo od s and play !
They went into the woods and all that day they
,
played together The strange boy seemed to know

.
everything When they were tired of playing games

.
he showed them how to build the medicine lodge in which

the sacrifice to the sun is made and he show ed them
,
the whole ceremony from beginning to end .
In the mi ddle of the day they stopped because they

were tired. I will ge t you some food sa id the strange
”
,
1 86 GRAY WOLF S TOR IE S
boy He walked into the brush and in a very short t im
. e
came out with plenty to eat for all .
While they were eating Never S its Down looked a t

,
“
the strange boy with great wonder and he said You ,
”
know such a lot What is your name
.
! The other boy
“
laughe d and he said I will tell you but you must keep
, , ,
”
it a gre at secret I am the Morning S tar !
.
The n the two boys knew that they were very lucky .
E very day after that the y came and learned from t heir
wonderful playmate so that Never S its Down spent the
,
whole day a way from home After a while his brother

w
.
inla
-
be gan to notice his absence and he said to the ,
“
sister This is ve ry queer I must go and see what your
, .
”
b rother is doing .
The next morning the brother inlaw w ent out to a hill - -
so that he could se e what they were doing He hear d .
the songs saw the dances and was very much p uz zled
,
by it a ll He we nt to the head men of the tribe and told

.
them O ne night the y a ll we nt out and looked at t he

.
“ ”
things the boys had made This is Big Medicine .
,
“
said the chief of the tribe We should do nothing.
against these boys for they a re with a wonderful super

,
”
na tural playmate After h e aring that the brother in
.
-
law and t he sister had very great respe ct for Never S it s

Down .
TH E B O Y WH O WAS INITIAT E D INT O TH E
B UFFALO H ERD
N CL E had t raveled fa r with B oy and his
a nimals. F or the first time Boy ha d
looked upon a great herd of buffalo mov
ing acro ss the country He was sil ent
.
for a long time and then murmured as

, ,
“
they lay by an evening fire I wonder ,
”
wh a t would happen to me if I went into the herd !
“
Grizzly knows a tale said O wl Man smiling
”
, , .
Tell it ! commanded Boy from where he lay against

”
the huge cushion of Grizzly s side

’
.
“
Well ! We ll ! I suppose I m ust grum
, bled the bea r .
Listen
THE BOY AN D TH E B UF FALO HE RD 18 9
Whe n L ittle Wolf married Badger Woman she said ,
You m ust never strike me with fire If yo u do some .

,
”
thing bad will happ e n He la ughed at that and said
.
,
“ ”
O f course I ll neve r strike yo u with fire ! and he forgot
’
all about it .
O ne night eight years later Badger Woman was pre

paring supp e r fo r some guests that her husband had
“
invite d S he said I don t want to cook food for these
.
,
’
”
people I don t like them ! Her husband was angry
.
’
at this and he snatched a stick of wood from the fire to

strike her As he raise d the stick the woman and her
.
son vanishe d S ome people saw a buffalo and calf run

.
ning away from the village .
Then the husband remembered what his bride had said

on the da y of the marriage and he felt very sad He .
left the village and went out on the p rairie to look for
the nearest buffalo herd When he found it he co vere d
.
himself with grass and crept up until he could see what

the buffalo were doing They were dancing While
. .
L itt le Wolf watched a buffalo calf came over and

“ ”
smelled at him It is my father ! cried the little calf
. .
“ ”
Sh ! cried L itt le Wolf I came out to ge t you and
.
”
your mother What must I do !
.
“ ”
O h a lot of things whispered the calf You must
w
, , .
alk into the middle of the herd and say that you want
your wife and child They will agree to that but they
.
,
will insist on an ordeal You m ust pick me from amo ng
.
”
all the other calves .
“
Make it ea sy for me whispered L itt le Wolf G ive
, .
”
me a signal .
“
I will raise my tail said the calf and he ran o ff so
, ,
that the buffalo would not suspect him .
L ittle Wolf boldly walked into the center of the herd .
My wife and child are here and I want them he sa id , .
Immediately he was take n before the chief of the buf

“
fa loe s who said
, ,Pick out your child from among a ll
”
the calves.
L ittle Wolf easily recognized his child by the sign a l .
He went over and touch e d him S till the chief seemed

.
“
dissatisfied He said O nce is not enough You must
.
, .
”
do it four times .
“
C lose one eye whispered the man to his child
, .
L ittle Wolf was now made to turn his b ack while

all the calve s were run together He picked out h is .
son the second time by the sign agreed on L et one .
ear hang down he whispered to the calf

, .
In the third test the man picked out his son easily ,
although he could not have done so unless they had

“ ”
agreed on a sign Dance he whispered to the calf
.
, .
But when L ittle Wolf turne d round the fourth time he

found two of the calves dancing for anot her calf ha d,
taken it on himself to d ance at j ust that moment L it tle .

When L ittle Wolf returned to the tr ibe
tha t had happened and in proof showed the
,
old bull had given him He taught the dance

.
g a nize d the S ociet y of the Bull and Horn .
Tha t is my tale said G rizzly

,
”
It as . w
stories told me by the dying b ull .
“
Did the dying bull tell yo u any other tale
Boy anxiously .
“
He did tell me o ther ta les little master, ,
“
Griz zly and so me time I will tell them to yo
,
“
O h how I wi sh I could find a dying b
,
”
stories lik e th at said Boy
, .
“
I brought him food until he died as ,
We became fr icnds a nd that is why he told

,
A ny animal will tell stories to a friendly per

“ ” “
That is so said Owl Man
, That is go od
.

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P REFA C E

IT is so long since the S tone Age People disappeared

seldom list en to stories because they are educative or ,

because they throw light on obscure questions of history .

They leave that to the specialist We all know how

ever that to childrenthe Indian is anintensely romantic

chara cter despite the strife bet

despit e his occasional orgies of cruelty the red m

t he whole lived a fascinating life one spen

fo r he had at heart the same interest s that they have ; his

dren are a tribe apart even in our m odern civilization

desires and yearnings their st reaks of savagery cut shon

by discipline It is they who understand the wild m

for they are wild as he is ; they are oppressed by civiliza

those stages o f dev elopment that the Indians p assec

an d in many schools They are the same tales the;

Indian youth list ened to long ago on the plains eas1

Paciﬁc coast and to the south in desert lands controlled

by the Apache The reader may desire to know a little

more about the strange half forgotten peoples ho

listened to these tales in the days of long ago F or th ose

Whose interest thus ripens into desire for knowledge a ,

list of books is appended They are all good books ;

some of them are fascinating books ; the subj ect itself is

not as people believe dry and uninteresting Indeed

the subj ect is Yourself ; it is Man in the making ; M an

W ene e d not look in the se st ories fo r the ﬂa ing

Russia n The y are pe culiarly Am e rica n ; the y a re a

cycle o f tale s by t he ml es The race hich crea ted

t hemhad no bu ildings of st one no to e ring ca thedrals

no ancient p rie sthoo d o rking to e mbo dy folklo re inthe

t old am id the m o st p rimit ive surroundings aro und the

been som em a n past the me ridi an of life whose ge nius

t h ey were told by the father or by a favore d uncle a

v isitor at numero us ﬁres .

We re ad th ese stories we are aff ect ed by thembe

ca u se it is Ourse lves we see si t ting there near the sto ry

t e ller rapt out of the har dships or fears of the p resent

into the eterna l j oy of story land There should b e a .

t hrill for all America ns in the thought of these tale s

in the feeling of continuity that they arouse in the fa it l

perish from the land that it has enriched with poetic

last empires Who knows but that the Red Man ho

has covered America with place names that sound l ike

incorp orated into the American art of the future ev olv

ing forms now unknown !

OWL MAN A ND Co v o rn '

Sha ggy Do g Da nc e . The B o y Wh W

G rea t Elk ! Ap a che !

Th unde r Sends t he G re a t Flood upo n Ea rt h

Sca rfa ce Visit s t he Sun

the upp er reaches of the Columbia

apart from his people because he wanted

his wife and two children a boy and a girl

used to play by themselves in a little hidden

Now although the children did not know it the plat

where they had their playground was a mystery fore sl

unti it widened out into a cave In this cave live

O wl Man He could assume any shape he wished am

was ruler over a large number of animals whom h

tance and ﬁnally widened out into a huge opening tha

after they had been with him a while they would no

Owl Man watching in secret from under the grea