Dahcotah - Life and Legends of the Sioux Around Fort Snelling by Mary H. (Mary Henderson) Eastman
page 53 of 272 (19%)
page 53 of 272 (19%)
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revel is closed, one of the friends will have buried his knife in the
other's heart. We will pass on to the next teepee. Here we witness a scene almost as appalling. "Iron Arms," one of the most valiant warriors of the band, is stretched in the agonies of death. Old Spirit Killer, the medicine man, is gesticulating by his side, and accompanying his motions with the most horrid noises. But all in vain; the spirit of "Iron Arms," the man of strength, is gone. The doctor says that his medicine was good, but that a prairie dog had entered into the body of the Dahcotah, and he thought it had been a mud-hen. Magnanimous doctor! All honor, that you can allow yourself in error. While the friends of the dead warrior are rending the air with their cries, we will find out what is going on in the next wigwam. What a contrast! "The Whirlpool" is seated on the ground smoking; gazing as earnestly at the bright coals as if in them he could read the future or recall the past; and his young wife, whose face, now merry, now sad, bright with smiles at one moment, and lost in thought the next, gained for her the name of "The Changing Countenance," is hushing her child to sleep; but the expression of her features does not change now--as she looks on her child, a mother's deep and devoted love is pictured on her face. In another, "The Dancing Woman" is wrapped in her blanket pretending to go to sleep. In vain does "The Flying Cloud" play that monotonous courting tune on the flute. The maiden would not be his wife if he gave her all the trinkets in the world. She loves and is going to marry "Iron Lightning," who has gone to bring her--what? a brooch--a new blanket? |
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