Native American Legends
The Lost Woman
A Blackfoot Legend
A long time ago the Blackfeet were camped on Backfat Creek. There
was in the camp a man who had but one wife, and he thought a great
deal of her. He never wanted to have two wives. As time passed they
had a child, a little girl. Along toward the end of the summer,
this man's wife wanted to get some berries, and she asked her husband
to take her to a certain place where berries grew, so that she could
get some. The man said to his wife: "At this time of the year,
I do not like to go to that place to pick berries. There are always
Snake or Crow war parties traveling about there." The woman
wanted very much to go, and she coaxed her husband about it a great
deal; and at last he said he would go, and they started, and many
women followed them.
When they came to where the berries grew, the man said to his wife:
"There are the berries down in that ravine. You may go down
there and pick them, and I will go up on this hill and stand guard.
If I see any one coming, I will call out to you, and you must all
get on your horses and run." So the women went down to pick
berries.
The man went up on the hill and sat down and looked over the country.
After a little time, he looked down into another ravine not far
off, and saw that it was full of horsemen coming. They started to
gallop up towards him, and he called out in a loud voice, "Run,
run, the enemy is rushing on us." The women started to run,
and he jumped on his horse and followed them. The enemy rushed after
them, and he drew his bow and arrows, and got ready to fight and
defend the women. After they had gone a little way, the enemy had
gained so much that they were shooting at the Blackfeet with their
arrows, and the man was riding back and forth behind the women,
and whipping up the horses, now of one, now of another, to make
them go faster. The enemy kept getting closer, and at last they
were so near that they were beginning to thrust at him with their
lances, and he was dodging them and throwing himself down, now on
one side of his horse, and then on the other.
At length he found that he could no longer defend all the women,
so he made up his mind to leave those that had the slowest horses
to the mercy of the enemy, while he would go on with those that
had the faster ones. When he found that he must leave the women,
he was excited and rode on ahead; but as he passed, he heard some
one call out to him, "Don't leave me," and he looked to
one side, and saw that he was leaving his wife. When he heard his
wife call out thus to him, he said to her: "There is no life
for me here. You are a fine-looking woman. They will not kill you,
but there is no life for me." She answered: "No, take
pity on me. Do not leave me. My horse is giving out. Let us both
get on one horse and then, if we are caught, we will die together."
When he heard this, his heart was touched and he said: "No,
wife, I will not leave you. Run up beside my horse and jump on behind
me." The enemy were now so near that they had killed or captured
some of the women, and they had come up close enough to the man
so that they got ready to hit at him with their war clubs. His horse
was now wounded in places with arrows, but it was a good, strong,
fast horse.
His wife rode up close to him, and jumped on his horse behind him.
When he started to run with her, the enemy had come up on either
side of him, and some were behind him, but they were afraid to shoot
their arrows for fear of hitting their own people, so they struck
at the man with their war clubs. But they did not want to kill the
woman, and they did not hurt him. They reached out with their hands
to try to pull the woman off the horse; but she had put her arms
around her husband and held on tight, and they could not get her
off, but they tore her clothing off her. As she held her husband,
he could not use his arrows, and could not fight to defend himself.
His horse was now going very slowly, and all the enemy had caught
up to them, and were all around them.
The man said to his wife: "Never mind, let them take you:
they will not kill you. You are too handsome a woman for them to
kill you." His wife said, "No, it is no harm for us both
to die together." When he saw that his wife would not get off
the horse and that he could not fight, he said to her: "Here,
look out! You are crowding me on to the neck of the horse. Sit further
back." He began to edge himself back, and at last, when he
got his wife pretty far back on the horse, he gave a great push
and shoved her off behind. When she fell off, his horse had more
speed and began to run away from the enemy, and he would shoot back
his arrows; and now, when they would ride up to strike him with
their hatchets, he would shoot them and kill them, and they began
to be afraid of him, and to edge away from him. His horse was very
long-winded; and now, as he was drawing away from the enemy, there
were only two who were yet able to keep up with him. The rest were
being left behind, and they stopped, and went back to where the
others had killed or captured the women; and now only two men were
pursuing.
After a little while, the Blackfoot jumped off his horse to fight
on foot, and the two enemies rode up on either side of him, but
a long way off, and jumped off their horses. When he saw the two
on either side of him, he took a sheaf of arrows in his hand and
began to rush, first toward the one on the right, and then toward
the one on the left. As he did this, he saw that one of the men,
when he ran toward him and threatened to shoot, would draw away
from him, while the other would stand still. Then he knew that one
of them was a coward and the other a brave man. But all the time
they were closing in on him. When he saw that they were closing
in on him, he made a rush at the brave man. This one was shooting
arrows all the time; but the Blackfoot did not shoot until he got
close to him, and then he shot an arrow into him and ran up to him
and hit him with his stone axe and killed him. Then he turned to
the cowardly one and ran at him. The man turned to run, but the
Blackfoot caught him and hit him with his axe and killed him.
After he had killed them, he scalped them and took their arrows,
their horses, and the stone knives that they had. Then he went home,
and when he rode into the camp he was crying over the loss of his
wife. When he came to his lodge and got off his horse, his friends
went up to him and asked what was the matter. He told them how all
the women had been killed, and how he had been pursued by two enemies,
and had fought with them and killed them both, and he showed them
the arrows and the horses and the scalps. He told the women's relations
that they had all been killed; and all were in great sorrow, and
crying over the loss of their friends.
The next morning they held a council, and it was decided that a
party should go out and see where the battle had been, and find
out what had become of the women. When they got to the place, they
found all the women there dead, except this man's wife. Her they
could not find. They also found the two Indians that the man had
said that he had killed, and, besides, many others that he had killed
when he was running away.
When he got back to the camp, this Blackfoot picked up his child
and put it on his back, and walked round the camp mourning and crying,
and the child crying, for four days and four nights, until he was
exhausted and worn out, and then he fell asleep. When the rest of
the people saw him walking about mourning, and that he would not
eat nor drink, their hearts were very sore, and they felt very sorry
for him and for the child, for he was a man greatly thought of by
the people.
While he lay there asleep, the chief of the camp came to him and
woke him, and said: "Well, friend, what have you decided on?
What is your mind? What are you going to do?" The man answered:
"My child is lonely. It will not eat. It is crying for its
mother. It will not notice any one. I am going to look for my wife."
The chief said, "I cannot say anything." He went about
to all the lodges and told the people that this man was going away
to seek his wife.
Now there was in the camp a strong medicine man, who was not married
and would not marry at all. He had said, "When I had my dream,
it told me that I must never have a wife." The man who had
lost his wife had a very beautiful sister, who had never married.
She was very proud and very handsome. Many men had wanted to marry
her, but she would not have anything to do with any man. The medicine
man secretly loved this handsome girl, the sister of the poor man.
When he heard of this poor man's misfortune, the medicine man was
in great sorrow, and cried over it. He sent word to the poor man,
saying: "Go and tell this man that I have promised never to
take a wife, but that if he will give me his beautiful sister, he
need not go to look for his wife. I will send my secret helper in
search of her."
When the young girl heard what this medicine man had said, she
sent word to him, saying, "Yes, if you bring my brother's wife
home, and I see her sitting here by his side, I will marry you,
but not before." But she did not mean what she said. She intended
to deceive him in some way, and not to marry him at all. When the
girl sent this message to him, the medicine man sent for her and
her brother to come to his lodge. When they had come, he spoke to
the poor man and said, "If I bring your wife here, are you
willing to give me your sister for my wife?" The poor man answered,
"Yes." But the young girl kept quiet in his presence,
and had nothing to say. Then the medicine man said to them: "Go.
To-night in the middle of the night you will hear me sing."
He sent everybody out of his lodge, and said to the people: "I
will close the door of my lodge, and I do not want any one to come
in to-night, nor to look through the door. A spirit will come to
me to-night." He made the people know, by a sign put out before
the door of his lodge, that no one must enter it, until such time
as he was through making his medicine. Then he built a fire, and
began to get out all his medicine. He unwrapped his bundle and took
out his pipe and his rattles and his other things. After a time,
the fire burned down until it was only coals and his lodge was dark,
and on the fire he threw sweet-scented herbs, sweet grass, and sweet
pine, so as to draw his dream-helper to him.
Now in the middle of the night he was in the lodge singing, when
suddenly the people heard a strange voice in the lodge say: "Well,
my chief, I have come. What is it?" The medicine man said,
"I want you to help me." The voice said, "Yes, I
know it, and I know what you want me to do." The medicine man
asked, "What is it?" The voice said, "You want me
to go and get a woman." The medicine man answered: "That
is what I want. I want you to go and get a woman--the lost woman."
The voice said to him, "Did I not tell you never to call me,
unless you were in great need of my help?" The medicine man
answered, "Yes, but that girl that was never going to be married
is going to be given to me through your help." Then the voice
said, "Oh!" and it was silent for a little while. Then
it went on and said: "Well, we have a good feeling for you,
and you have been a long time not married; so we will help you to
get that girl, and you will have her. Yes, we have great pity on
you. We will go and look for this woman, and will try to find her,
but I cannot promise you that we will bring her; but we will try.
We will go, and in four nights I will be back here again at this
same time, and I think that I can bring the woman; but I will not
promise. While I am gone, I will let you know how I get on. Now
I am going away." And then the people heard in the lodge a
sound like a strong wind, and nothing more. He was gone.
Some people went and told the sister what the medicine man and
the voice had been saying, and the girl was very down-hearted, and
cried over the idea that she must be married, and that she had been
forced into it in this way.
When the dream person went away, he came late at night to the camp
of the Snakes, the enemy. The woman who had been captured was always
crying over the loss of her man and her child. She had another husband
now. The man who had captured her had taken her for his wife. As
she was lying there, in her husband's lodge, crying for sorrow for
her loss, the dream person came to her. Her husband was asleep.
The dream-helper touched her and pushed her a little, and she looked
up and saw a person standing by her side; but she did not know who
it was. The person whispered in her ear, "Get up, I want to
take you home." She began to edge away from her husband, and
at length got up, and all the time the person was moving toward
the door. She followed him out, and saw him walk away from the lodge,
and she went after. The person kept ahead, and the woman followed
him, and they went away, traveling very fast. After they had traveled
some distance, she called out to the dream person to stop, for she
was getting tired. Then the person stopped, and when he saw the
woman sitting, he would sit down, but he would not talk to her.
As they traveled on, the woman, when she got tired, would sit down,
and because she was very tired, she would fall asleep; and when
she awoke and looked up, she always saw the person walking away
from her, and she would get up and follow him. When day came, the
shape would be far ahead of her, but at night it would keep closer.
When she spoke to this person, the woman would call him "young
man." At one time she said to him, "Young man, my moccasins
are all worn out, and my feet are getting very sore, and I am very
tired and hungry." When she had said this, she sat down and
fell asleep, and as she was falling asleep, she saw the person going
away from her. He went back to the lodge of the medicine man.
During this night the camp heard the medicine man singing his song,
and they knew that the dream person must be back again, or that
his chief must be calling him. The medicine man had unwrapped his
bundle, and had taken out all his things, and again had a fire of
coals, on which he burned sweet pine and sweet grass. Those who
were listening heard a voice say: "Well, my chief, I am back
again, and I am here to tell you something. I am bringing the woman
you sent me after. She is very hungry and has no moccasins. Get
me those things, and I will take them back to her." The medicine
man went out of the lodge, and called to the poor man, who was mourning
for his wife, that he wanted to see him. The man came, carrying
the child on his back, to hear what the medicine man had to say.
He said to him: "Get some moccasins and something to eat for
your wife. I want to send them to her. She is coming." The
poor man went to his sister, and told her to give him some moccasins
and some pemmican. She made a bundle of these things, and the man
took them to the medicine man, who gave them to the dream person;
and again he disappeared out of the lodge like a wind.
When the woman awoke in the morning and started to get up, she
hit her face against a bundle lying by her, and when she opened
it, she found in it moccasins and some pemmican; and she put on
the moccasins and ate, and while she was putting on the moccasins
and eating, she looked over to where she had last seen the person,
and he was sitting there with his back toward her. She could never
see his face. When she had finished eating, he got up and went on,
and she rose and followed. They went on, and the woman thought,
"Now I have traveled two days and two nights with this young
man, and I wonder what kind of a man he is. He seems to take no
notice of me." So she made up her mind to walk fast and to
try to overtake him, and see what sort of a man he was. She started
to do so, but however fast she walked, it made no difference. She
could not overtake him. Whether she walked fast, or whether she
walked slow, he was always the same distance from her. They traveled
on until night, and then she lay down again and fell asleep. She
dreamed that the young man had left her again.
The dream person had really left her, and had gone back to the
medicine man's lodge, and said to him: "Well, my chief, I am
back again. I am bringing the woman. You must tell this poor man
to get on his horse, and ride back toward Milk River (the Teton).
Let him go in among the high hills on this side of the Muddy, and
let him wait there until daylight, and look toward the hills of
Milk River; and after the sun is up a little way, he will see a
band of antelope running toward him, along the trail that the Blackfeet
travel. It will be his wife who has frightened these antelope. Let
him wait there for a while, and he will see a person coming. This
will be his wife. Then let him go to meet her, for she has no moccasins.
She will be glad to see him, for she is crying all the time."
The medicine man told the poor man this, and he got on his horse
and started, as he had been told. He could not believe that it was
true. But he went. At last he got to the place, and a little while
after the sun had risen, as he was lying on a hill looking toward
the hills of the Milk River, he saw a band of antelope running toward
him, as he had been told he would see. He lay there for a long time,
but saw nothing else come in sight; and finally he got angry and
thought that what had been told him was a lie, and he got up to
mount his horse and ride back. Just then he saw, away down, far
off on the prairie, a small black speck, but he did not think it
was moving, it was so far off,--barely to be seen. He thought maybe
it was a rock. He lay down again and took sight on the speck by
a straw of grass in front of him, and looked for a long time, and
after a while he saw the speck pass the straw, and then he knew
it was something. He got on his horse and started to ride up and
find out what it was, riding way around it, through the hills and
ravines, so that he would not be seen. He rode up in a ravine behind
it, pretty near to it, and then he could see it was a person on
foot. He got out his bow and arrows and held them ready to use,
and then started to ride up to it. He rode toward the person, and
at last he got near enough to see that it was his wife. When he
saw this, he could not help crying; and as he rode up, the woman
looked back, and knew first the horse, and then her husband, and
she was so glad that she fell down and knew nothing.
After she had come to herself and they had talked together, they
got on the horse and rode off toward camp. When he came over the
hill in sight of camp, all the people began to say, "Here comes
the man"; and at last they could see from a distance that he
had some one on the horse behind him, and they knew that it must
be his wife, and they were glad to see him bringing her back, for
he was a man thought a great deal of, and everybody liked him and
liked his wife and the way he was kind to her.
Then the handsome girl was given to the medicine man and became
his wife.
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