Native American Legends
Buffalo Woman, A story of Magic
A Caddo Legend
Snow Bird, the Caddo medicine man, had a handsome son. When the
boy was old enough to be given a man's name, Snow Bird called him
Braveness because of his courage as a hunter. Many of the girls
in the Caddo village wanted to win Braveness as a husband, but he
paid little attention to any of them.
One morning he started out for a day of hunting, and while he was
walking along looking for wild game, he saw someone ahead of him
sitting under a small elm tree. As he approached, he was surprised
to find that the person was a young woman, and he started to turn
aside.
"Come here," she called to him in a pleasant voice. Braveness
went up to her and saw that she was very young and very beautiful.
"I knew you were coming here," she said, "and so
I came to meet you."
"You are not of my people," he replied. "How did
you know that I was coming this way?"
"I am Buffalo Woman," she said. "I have seen you
many times before, from afar. I want you to take me home with you
and let me stay with you."
"I can take you home with me," Braveness answered her,
"but you must ask my parents if you can stay with us."
They started for his home at once, and when they arrived there
Buffalo Woman asked Braveness's parents if she could stay with them
and become the young man's wife. "If Braveness wants you for
his wife, we will be pleased," said Snow Bird, the medicine
man. "It is time that he had someone to love."
And so Braveness and Buffalo Woman were married in the custom of
the Caddo people and lived happily together for several moons. One
day she asked him, "Will you do whatever I may ask of you,
Braveness?"
"Yes," he replied, "if what you ask is not unreasonable."
"I want you to go with me to visit my people."
Braveness said that he would go, and the next day they started
for her home, she leading the way. After they had walked a long
distance they came to some high hills, and all at once she turned
round and looked at Braveness and said: "You promised me that
you would do anything I say."
"Yes," he answered.
"Well," she said, "my home is on the other side
of this high hill. I will tell you when we get to my mother. I know
there will be many coming there to see who you are, and some may
provoke you and try to make you angry, but do not allow yourself
to become angry with any of them. Some may try to kill you."
"Why should they do that?" asked Braveness.
"Listen to what I am about to tell you," she said. "I
knew you before you knew me. Through magic I made you come to me
that first day. I said that some will try to make you angry, and
if you show anger at even one of them, the others will join in fighting
you until they have killed you. They will be jealous of you. The
reason is that I refused many who wanted me."
"But you are now my wife," Braveness said.
"I have told you what to do when we get there," Buffalo
Woman continued. "Now I want you to lie down on the ground
and roll over twice."
Braveness smiled at her, but he did as she had told him to do.
He rolled over twice, and when he stood up he found himself changed
into a Buffalo.
For a moment Buffalo Woman looked at him, seeing the astonishment
in his eyes. Then she rolled over twice, and she also became a Buffalo.
Without saying a word she led him to the top of the hill. In the
valley off to the west, Braveness could see hundreds and hundreds
of Buffalo.
"They are my people," said Buffalo Woman. "This
is my home."
When the members of the nearest herd saw Braveness and Buffalo
Woman coming, they began gathering in one place, as though waiting
for them. Buffalo Woman led the way, Braveness following her until
they reached an old Buffalo cow, and he knew that she was the mother
of his beautiful wife.
For two moons they stayed with the herd. Every now and then, four
or five of the young Buffalo males would come around and annoy Braveness,
trying to arouse his anger, but he pretended not to notice hem.
One night, Buffalo Woman told him that she was ready to go back
to his home, and they slipped away over the hills.
When they reached the place where they had turned themselves into
Buffalo, they rolled over twice on the ground and became a man and
a woman again. "Promise me that you will not tell anyone of
this magical transformation," Buffalo Woman said. "If
people learn about it, something bad will happen to us."
They stayed at Braveness's home for twelve moons, and then Buffalo
Woman asked him again to go with her to visit her people. They had
not been long in the valley of the Buffalo when she told Braveness
that the young males who were jealous of him were planning to have
a foot-race. "They will challenge you to race and if you do
not outrun them they will kill you," she said.
That night Braveness could not sleep. He went out to take a long
walk. It was a very dark night without moon or stars, but he could
feel the presence of the Wind spirit.
"You are young and strong," the Wind spirit whispered
to him, "but you cannot outrun the Buffalo without my help.
If you lose, they will kill you. If you win, they will never challenge
you again.
"What must I do to save my life and keep my beautiful wife?"
asked Braveness.
The Wind spirit gave him two things. "One of these is a magic
herb," said the Wind spirit. "The other is dried mud from
a medicine wallow. If the Buffalo catch up with you, first throw
behind you the magic herb. If they come too close to you again,
throw down the dried mud."
The next day was the day of the race. At sunrise the young Buffalo
gathered at the starting place. When Braveness joined them, they
began making fun of him, telling him he was a man buffalo and therefore
had not the power to outrun them. Braveness ignored their jeers,
and calmly lined up with them at the starting point.
An old Buffalo started the race with a loud bellow, and at first
Braveness took the lead, running very swiftly. But soon the others
began gaining on him, and when he heard their hard breathing close
upon his heels, he threw the magic herb behind him. By this time
he was growing very tired and thought he could not run any more.
He looked back and saw one Buffalo holding his head down and coming
very fast, rapidly closing the space between him and Braveness.
Just as this Buffalo was about to catch up with him, Braveness threw
down the dried mud from the medicine wallow.
Soon he was far ahead again, but he knew that he had used up the
powers given him by the Wind spirit. As he neared the goal set for
the race, he heard the pounding of hooves coming closer behind him.
At the last moment, he felt a strong wind on his face as it passed
him to stir up dust and keep the Buffalo from overtaking him. With
the help of the Wind spirit, Braveness crossed the goal first and
won the race. After that, none of the Buffalo ever challenged him
again, and he and Buffalo Woman lived peacefully with the herd until
they were ready to return to his Caddo people.
Not long after their return to Braveness's home, Buffalo Woman
gave birth to a handsome son. They named him Buffalo Boy, and soon
he was old enough to play with the other children of the village.
One day while Buffalo Woman was cooking dinner, the boy slipped
out of the lodge and went to join some other children at play. They
played several games and then decided to play that they were Buffalo.
Some of them lay on the ground to roll like Buffalo, and Buffalo
Boy also did this. When he rolled over twice, he changed into a
real Buffalo calf. Frightened by this, the other children ran for
their lodges.
About this time his mother came out to look for him, and when she
saw the children running in fear she knew that something must be
wrong. She went to see what had happened and found her son changed
into a Buffalo calf. Taking him up in her arms, she ran down the
hill, and as soon as she was out of sight of the village she turned
herself into a Buffalo and with Buffalo Boy started off toward the
west.
Late that evening when Braveness returned from hunting he could
find neither his wife nor his son in the lodge. He went out to look
for them, and someone told him of the game the children had played
and of the magic that had changed his son into a Buffalo calf.
At first, Braveness could not believe what they told him, but after
he had followed his wife's tracks down the hill and found the place
where she had rolled he knew the story was true. For many moons,
Braveness searched for Buffalo Woman and Buffalo Boy, but he never
found them again.
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