(1) When they told stories, people always said of what tribe they were. That they said. They are Hotcâk and numbered only about a thousand. They built a village. People were constantly on the go and kept moving. In the early days, they ate a variety of meat. They used to track after deer and buffalo. And in the winter they used to move near to the lake. Before the winter was long underway, he was living with an old man, his wife, his woman, and his son-in-law, four of them alone in a lodge. The old man, as he was old, could not go hunting, and he couldn't trap or hunt even small animals. Consequently, his son-in-law had to provide for him by hunting. And that old man used to give a feast. (2) Thus it would be. And, "Daughter," he said, "every winter I used to feast. It is near time now, and if my only son-in-law were to kill something for me, that is what I would use in the feast." He knew of this. "Just one deer would be good, but if that most excellent one could get two for me, he would make me very happy," the old man said.

That man said to his wife, "Here it is not safe to move about the land, and what he did, hanka-a (no way) would I do it. So tomorrow take the children along with you and the material that you will need for camping and go to the place where we do a lot of camping. It would be enough if I got one on the hunt." (3) The next morning they went back, taking the children with them. As they went along there was a good camping place there. There they stopped. In the evening the woman tried to make a lodge. The man said, "I will go quickly and hunt something while you are constructing the lodge," he said. When he got there, there was his wife was standing and looking around. And he started. He took his bow and arrows, and after the woman had finished collecting wood, she went to dip a pail in the water. She poured it in a kettle and placed it on the fire so that it would be ready. Already it was getting dark. The man packed a deer home. They skinned it and cut it up and since they weren't going to eat all of it, the woman placed it out to dry. And when the kettle was cooled, they ate it. After they quit eating, they retired. (4) The children went quickly to sleep and the woman also, but the man was unable to sleep. He was thinking as he lay there, what thing tomorrow would be the foremost, he was thinking. "What would be the best thing to kill to make my father-in-law's heart feel best?," he thought. The next morning he awoke and ate. He said, "My wife, I think much of you. As far as coming back, this situation that we've gotten into is a bad thing. I always say, anytime wherever you are in trouble, I will come. If something that is not good should happen, do not leave the children," he said. The children, he kissed them, and started out. He was the whole day long hunting. So he kept on across the lake. (5) A deer he killed, skinned, and went home packing that on his back.

When he approached, he saw that the lodge poles were still straight up. From the very first he knew what they had done. Thus they used to do. "My wife, my children, they are dead, " he thought. That one started back to the lodge. When he got there, he peeped in. His own children, there they sat where they had placed them. They had killed them. They placed the lips in a raised position, that one's teeth shown. His heart ached much, nevertheless, he laughed and [said], "Come children, we'll eat food, I am going to cook for the last time." It was cooked. He cut a little piece of meat for them. He pried open the mouth, and into the mouth he placed a little piece of meat, and he ate, (6) and he was talking to them. "Children, you have made my heart ache. I will make enough very good gifts to your limbs and in the earth I will place you, and I will get back your mother, I say. Therefore, I myself could do this warfare in this way. When I think of myself, I count myself to be a little man. When your spirits go there, as a result of this they will go very well," he told them.

And he painted himself. He did half of his body, and this side he made dark. He got a lot done. He tightened the bowstring and he straightened the arrow that he took with him, and he started off. As he went along, that one got onto a trail, the war road. That one looked for tracks. (7) His wife's tracks came into view with them. He knew that they had taken her prisoner. There he ran after them in the form of a ghost. When he got nearer to them, he ran ahead of them and there that one hid himself. When the Sak'ina (Warbundle Bearer) came by, he whooped and knocked him down. He cut it off at the neck and ran off. There he hid it away and so he ran ahead of them. So now the next time the Warbundle Bearer came along he whooped and knocked him down. So immediately he broke the head off and again he ran away in order to hide away the head there. And so he ran ahead of them. There the third time the Warbundle Bearer came along. Then again he whooped and broke it off at the neck and he ran away to hide it there. And again he ran ahead of them there. And thus he did the fourth time. (8) Eight Warbundle Bearers he killed, and when the sun appeared, here he took all the warclubs and those heads he had and he came towards the camp. Where he camped, there he returned. There he fixed the heads and he talked to the children: "The many gifts to the children's limbs are certainly good enough -- that I did, but the sun came upon me," he said. "I did not get your mother," he told them. And the man started back the same way to his people.

When he got back near there, near the village, there he placed the human heads in a row, and the warclubs, He knew how each one was paired, placing one beside the other. And when it became night, he came towards his father's camp. He got there late at night when the fire was dying out. (9) Where he used to sit, there at that place, he very carefully sat down. That one's parents were asleep. He put his hair in braids and the remainder he pinned under. He began to sit down there in order to take refuge. The old man became awake. That one glanced about. There a man, where his son used to sit, was blackened, and he sat down. "My wife, there is a man where our son used to sit, and since he is sitting where our son sat, it seems like it must be him. I'll fix a little fire," he said. The old man fixed the fire. When it became light, they looked at the man that must be their son and they knew who it was. (10) And the old man said, "Djaha, my son! what brings you here again?" he said. And the son said, "It was a matter of war -- while I was out hunting they came upon the lodge. In the evening when I came back, the lodge poles were upright. When I came back, they had killed the children, and 'My wife, my son,' [I said]. My heart ached, and the children took along very good food and I put them away somewhere. I told them what I was going to do for them, and I went after them. Eight Warbundle Bearers I killed. Our Grandfather appeared. I quit and I brought them back to the lodge. And the children, thus I told for them something. I made enough for their limbs. (11) They will certainly travel well and when I brought these heads home, here near the village, there in a row I put only what warclub belonged to each. I placed them on the roof," said the man's son. The old man said, "Some further good you did for the children and thus you have done very well for your people. You have brought them very good heads, which will do for some great fun. They will place you in front. Just this way I wanted you to be rich in everything, this is why I used to say this to you when you were small. If only you could pursue them very well, it would make my heart feel good.. I myself am saying, I will play with them myself," the old man said. (12) And [he said], "At first light the messenger of that village will go around and announce what men had returned there." When the brothers-in-law heard this, they immediately went there. "We want to be the first to hit them, that way we will be genuine brothers-in-law, that sort we seek to be," Kunu said. The man told them, "Wherever the heads were, there they would be the first to count coup," and he liked it very much. They thanked their brother-in-law and they gathered together as many men as could handle a warclub. They all started for those human heads. When they found them, the man's brothers-in-law found them first, (13) so they were the first to visit them. As they kept coming, they all gave a whoop. They all scrambled to hit them. Then they took the "scalps," the human heads, along to the War Lodge. When they brought them there, they meticulously began to do the Scalp Dance. There the men were telling everything, the holy thing he had done, they were telling. Finally, after a time, the man quit the dance. And so he meticulously rubbed in charcoal and fasted. He said that he was going for a full forty at one time. His brothers-in-law killed a deer for him. He offered the heart and said, "You young men here, I think that those who are in charge of war must also have blessed me a little," he said, "my wife, it is that one I'm going after. (14) I know what I am going to try to do to that village, so I have been doing this. I fasted, that is what I have been doing, and I'm going to do as much as I can. Those who will follow me, get ready to make yourselves a feast, and when you're through, tomorrow when our Grandfather appears, all those who are going to march, we will gather here near the brush over on the other side of this hill from where we'll start," he told them.

They were all gathered there, all his brothers-in-law joined in. They went forth for the whole day. Finally, early in the morning, he arrived there where they marked out the camp horizontally. Through the remainder of the whole morning, those warriors told stories (woraks). This they were doing. That way they would not fall asleep on the warpath. (15) And the next morning the day came, and they went back. This they did. "You young men, we are near the place that we're going to," he said. "I'm going to scout with you this night," he told these men. And he started forth. He went swiftly and late that night he came to the village. He was going to do the whole village. Wherever the chief's lodge where, to that one he would repair, as his wife was there. Here he spoke to her: "If you want to live, make for your brothers, as this is the only fight that I'm going to do. I say it now as I have always said it, how wherever it is that they would take you, (16) I would come after you. Let me tell you at that very time I came after you I killed eight only out of the large number there were of them, but it became day, so I did not take you away from them. I offered our children's limbs enough very good things, and your brothers counted coup well. And then I came after you, here I am, I have come. The War Controllers (Wonághire Hiruk'óno) gave me this whole village," he said. "In the morning when the sun approaches his appearence, then we'll make for them. All of your brothers came with me, so don't be afraid of them: go in the midst of your brothers. (17) You must say to them, "My brothers, I want to live!" This you must say. And I'm going to tell them that I knew the way that you'll be. Don't be afraid of the ghosts. If you do what I say you won't die. If you do it and accomplish it, there they will make you rich in everything," he said to her.

And he came forth to contend with them. He told the men how that village was very good. They did not know anything about it. "We'll do some good killing," he said. His wife would be with her brothers, he told them. He had contacted the woman and how if she did what he told her, he made it clear to them, that they would not kill her. "I am going to take her back, so take her with you," he said. "But these, I tell you, I'm going to fight," he said. And he said, "You, our young men, get yourselves ready. (18) It is early in the morning," he said. As soon as darkness stands, when it gets light enough, well move around. I have been made rich in everything. My very good men, we will try to do some killing, but do not mutilate them any more than you have to, as they gave all of them to me. It is a good thing to do," he said. "Our grandfathers will like it," he said.

And towards morning as the sun arose back up, as the village was in sight, he gave a whoop as he came on. And the woman very much did she come. "Don't kill her, she's my wife," he said. So they did not kill her. Then they made for the village to kill and also to take prisoners and a little while later they made it so. They counted many coup. They killed every single person in the village. (19/20) The young man was smart, but they tried to make fun of them [his children]. They made the village invisible, killing everyone. This is what they were saying. That one they meant. He fasted. He, that man, they talked about whenever they used to tell stories. That they will do as long as it will endure above, is what they are saying. That holy (wak'âtcáñk) young man, thus he did, is what they were saying. The old people when they were telling woraks, that is what they were saying.

The End. [1]

Commentary. "alone in a lodge." -- They were living apart from the village in order to increase their ability to find game. This made their position very precarious, as enemy warparties would usually strike where there were the fewest number of people in order to maximize their ability to succeed without taking any casualties themselves. The husband later comments upon how dangerous this is.

"There a man ... was blackened" -- this would ordinarily refer to the charcoal rubbed on the face to blacken it as an expression of mourning; however, we have already learned that he painted half his body a dark color, presumeably black, so it might refer to this body paint. The significance of the body paint is probably in part the same, but that it covers half his body tends to suggests that other forms of symbolism are also in play here.

"Our Grandfather appeared"-- The sun is always protrayed as an elderly man, but one with extraordinary energy and power, with an appetite to match. See Sun, and Grandfather's Two Families.

"Some further good you did for the children" -- it was believed that a warrior present at a wake could denate the services of all those whom he had killed in battle to the aid of the departed. Thus the eight Sak'ina would help the children find their way on the path to Spiritland.

"as a result of this" -- meaning the funeral rites, the Ghost Lighting, that he is performing.

Scalp Dance -- probably the Hok'ixére Waci, an all night dance centered about the war trophies taken by the warparty.

Commentary. A scene similar to the gruesome treatment of the warrior's slain children occurs in an Hidatsa myth. Having killed a woman, "he took the doorposts which were forked and set them up outside and placed the woman against them and held out her lips with two sticks as if she were laughing." [2]

Links: Ghosts.

Stories: mentioning Warbundles: Warughápara (Thunderbird), The Adventures of Redhorn's Sons (Thunderbird), Redhorn's Sons (Thunderbird), The Twins Join Redhorn's Warparty (Thunderbird), The Warbundle of the Eight Generations (Thunderbird), Wanihéga Becomes a Sak'î (Thunderbird), Cûgepaga (Eagle), The Masaxe War (Eagle?), The Blessing of a Bear Clansman (Bear), The Blessings of the Buffalo Spirits (Buffalo), The Blessing of Kerexûsaka (Sauk); mentioning the Sak'îna (Warbundle Bearer): Wanihéga Becomes a Sak'î; featuring ghosts as characters: The Journey to Spiritland, The Four Slumbers Origin Myth, The Resurrection of the Chief's Daughter, Holy One and His Brother, Worúxega, The Human Head, Little Fox and the Ghost, The Lame Friend, Ghost Dance Origin Myth I, Ghost Dance Origin Myth II, Hare Steals the Fish, The Difficult Blessing, Thunder Cloud is Blessed; mentioning the War Controllers: The Masaxe War, The Four Slumbers Origin Myth; mentioning deer hearts: The Green Man.

Themes: someone expresses concern about the military danger of the area where someone has erected his lodge: Bear Visits His Grandfather Bear; someone kills children, then sets them upright in front of their lodge with smiles on their faces so that their parents will think that they are greeting them: Trickster and the Mothers; someone is abducted and led off into captivity: The Captive Boys, Bluehorn's Nephews, Wears White Feathers on His Head, Îtcorúcika and His Brothers, Bird Clan Origin Myth, The Man Whose Wife was Captured, Bladder and His Brothers, The Boy who was Captured by the Bad Thunderbirds, Bluehorn Rescues His Sister, The Boy who was Blessed by a Mountain Lion, The Green Man, Brave Man, The Chief of the Herok'a, Cûgepaga, Hare Gets Swallowed, The Raccoon Coat, Wodjidjé, Wolves and Humans, The Woman Who Became an Ant, Thunderbird and White Horse, The Boy who Flew, Testing the Slave; descriptions of human warfare: The Annihilation of the Hotcâgara I, Annihilation of the Hotcâgara II, The First Fox and Sauk War, Great Walker's Medicine, How Little Priest went out as a Soldier, Wazûka, The Blessings of the Buffalo Spirits, The Shawnee Prophet and His Ascension, The Four Slumbers Origin Myth, Big Thunder Teaches Tcap'ósgaga the Warpath, The Fox-Hotcâk War, Great Walker's Warpath, The Lame Friend, White Thunder's Warpath, The Osage Massacre, The Boy who was Blessed by a Mountain Lion; someone goes out searching for a missing person who was dear to them: The Woman who Married a Snake, Warughápara, He Who Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle, The Man Whose Wife was Captured, Bluehorn Rescues His Sister, Ghost Dance Origin Myth II, Old Man and White Feathers, Snowshoe Strings; head hunting: Big Thunder Teaches Tcaposgaga the Warpath, How Little Priest went out as a Soldier, Bluehorn's Nephews, The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head, The Boy who was Blessed by a Mountain Lion, Young Man Gambles Often, The Dipper, The Four Slumbers Origin Myth, Porcupine and His Brothers, Turtle's Warparty, Ocean Duck, The Markings on the Moon, Wears White Feathers on His Head, The Red Man, The Chief of the Herok'a, Thunderbird and White Horse, The Man with Two Heads, Brave Man, The Sons of Redhorn Find Their Father, Redhorn's Sons, Fighting Retreat, The Children of the Sun, The Were-Grizzly, Winneconnee Origin Myth; a person who fasts receives blessings from the spirits: The Blessings of the Buffalo Spirits, The Boy who was Blessed by a Mountain Lion, The Nightspirits Bless Djobenagiwíñxga, Ghost Dance Origin Myth I, Redhorn's Sons, The Boy Who Became a Robin, The Woman Who Fought the Bear, The Seer, Maize Comes to the Hotcâgara, The Warbundle of the Eight Generations, The Woman who Loved Her Half-Brother, The Boy who would be Immortal, The Thunderbird, Lake Wâkcikhomîgra (Mendota): the Origin of Its Name, Great Walker's Medicine, Cûgepaga, Earthmaker Blesses Wagícega (Wecgícega), Aratcgéga's Blessings, The Blessing of a Bear Clansman, The Man who was Blessed by the Sun, The Girl who Refused a Blessing from the Wood Spirits, Buffalo Dance Origin Myth, The Man who Defied Disease Giver, White Thunder's Warpath, A Man and His Three Dogs, The Diving Contest, The Plant Blessing of Earth, Holy Song, The Tap the Head Medicine, The Blessing of Cokeboka, The Completion Song Origin, Paint Medicine Origin Myth, The Nightspirits Bless Tciwoit'éhiga, The Horse Spirit of Eagle Heights; spirits bless someone with the right to kill a man ("give him a man"): White Thunder's Warpath, Cûgepaga, Great Walker's Warpath, The Masaxe War, Little Fox and the Ghost, Thunderbird and White Horse; men fight one another over women: men fight one another over women: Iron Staff and His Companions, The Green Man, The Man Whose Wife was Captured, Bluehorn Rescues His Sister.

Notes:

[1] Aleck Lonetree, Untitled, in Paul Radin, Notebooks, Freeman #3867 (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society) Winnebago III, #17, pp. 1-20.

[2] Martha Warren Beckwith, "Myths and Hunting Stories of the Mandan and Hidatsa Sioux," Publications of the Folk-Lore Foundations (Poughkeepsie: Vassar College, 1930) #10: 1-116 [31].