Native American Legends
The Buffalo Rock
A Blackfoot Legend
The buffalo rock, as called by the Blackfoot Indians, was usually
a fossil shell of some kind, picked up on the prairie. Whoever found
one was considered fortunate, for it was thought to give a person
great power over buffalo.
The owner put the stone in his lodge, near the fire, and prayed
over it. This story reveals not only the use of such a rock, but
also a common method of hunting buffalo before the Indians had horses.
There was once a very poor woman, the second wife of a Blackfoot.
Her buffalo robe was old and full of holes; her buffalo moccasins
were worn and ripped. She and her people were camped not far from
a cliff that would be a good place for a buffalo drive. They were
very much in need of buffalo, for they were not only ragged but
starving.
One day while this poor woman was gathering wood, she heard a voice
singing. Looking around, she found that the song was coming from
a buffalo rock. It sang, "Take me. Take me. I have great power."
So the woman took the buffalo rock. When she returned to her lodge,
she said to her husband, "Call all the men and have them sing
to bring the buffalo."
"Are you in earnest?" her husband asked.
"Yes, I am," the woman replied. "Call the men, and
also get a small piece of the back of a buffalo from the Bear Medicine
man. Ask some of the men to bring the four rattles they use."
The husband did as his wife directed. Then she showed him how to
arrange the inside of the lodge in a kind of square box with some
sagebrush and buffalo chips. Though it was the custom for the first
wife to sit next to her husband, the man directed his second wife
to put on the dress of the other woman and to sit beside him. When
everything was ready, the men who had been summoned sat down in
the lodge beside the woman and her husband. Then the buffalo rock
began to sing, "The buffalo will all drift back. The buffalo
will all drift back."
Hearing this song, the woman asked one of the young men to go outside
and put a great many buffalo chips in line. "After you have
them in place, wave at them with a buffalo robe four times, and
shout at them in a singsong. At the fourth time, all the buffalo
chips will turn into buffaloes and go over the cliff."
The young man followed her directions, and the chips became buffaloes.
At the same time, the woman led the people in the lodge in the singing
of songs. One song was about the buffalo that would lead the others
in the drive. While the people were chanting it, a cow took the
lead and all the herd followed her. They plunged over the cliff
and were killed.
Then the woman sang,
More than a hundred buffalo
Have fallen over the cliff.
I have made them fall.
And the man above the Earth hears me singing.
More than a hundred buffalo
Have fallen over the cliff.
And so the people learned that the rock was very powerful. Ever
since that time, they have taken care of the buffalo rock and have
prayed to it.
The Buffalo Rock - version 2
A small stone, which is usually a fossil shell of some kind, is
known by the Blackfeet as I-nis'-kim, the buffalo stone. This object
is strong medicine, and, as indicated in some of these stories,
gives its possessor great power with buffalo. The stone is found
on the prairie, and the person who succeeds in obtaining one is
regarded as very fortunate. Sometimes a man, who is riding along
on the prairie, will hear a peculiar faint chirp, such as a little
bird might utter. The sound he knows is made by a buffalo rock.
He stops and searches on the ground for the rock, and if he cannot
find it, marks the place and very likely returns next day, either
alone or with others from the camp, to look for it again. If it
is found, there is great rejoicing. How the first buffalo rock was
obtained, and its power made known, is told in the following story.
Long ago, in the winter time, the buffalo suddenly disappeared.
The snow was so deep that the people could not move in search of
them, for in those days they had no horses. So the hunters killed
deer, elk, and other small game along the river bottoms, and when
these were all killed off or driven away, the people began to starve.
One day, a young married man killed a jack-rabbit. He was so hungry
that he ran home as fast as he could, and told one of his wives
to hurry and get some water to cook it. While the young woman was
going along the path to the river, she heard a beautiful song. It
sounded close by, but she looked all around and could see no one.
The song seemed to come from a cotton-wood tree near the path. Looking
closely at this tree she saw a queer rock jammed in a fork, where
the tree was split, and with it a few hairs from a buffalo, which
had rubbed there. The woman was frightened and dared not pass the
tree. Pretty soon the singing stopped, and the I-nis'-kim [buffalo
rock] spoke to the woman and said: "Take me to your lodge,
and when it is dark, call in the people and teach them the song
you have just heard. Pray, too, that you may not starve, and that
the buffalo may come back. Do this, and when day comes, your hearts
will be glad."
The woman went on and got some water, and when she came back, took
the rock and gave it to her husband, telling him about the song
and what the rock had said. As soon as it was dark, the man called
the chiefs and old men to his lodge, and his wife taught them this
song. They prayed, too, as the rock had said should be done. Before
long, they heard a noise far off. It was the tramp of a great herd
of buffalo coming. Then they knew that the rock was very powerful,
and, ever since that, the people have taken care of it and prayed
to it.
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