Native American Legends
The Old Woman in the cave
A Sioux Legend
This story told by Chief Lost Feather is similar to a legend that
is recorded among the Sioux. Although the Sioux are generally associated
with peoples originating around the Ohio River basin and the Great
Lakes, they were related to tribes that migrated extensively throughout
the central plains area from Arkansas to Canada.
Both the Quapaw and the Osage belonged to the Siouan language group,
which presents the possibility that visitors from one of these tribes
could have introduced the story in the Hot Springs area where it
became associated with West Mountain.
A secret, mystic cave hidden somewhere on West Mountain has been
the home for many centuries of an old woman who lives there with
her dog.
The old woman spends her time diligently weaving a beautiful rug
from pine needles that she has collected in the forest. Her dog
spends his time napping in a corner of the cave and watching his
mistress through narrow slits in his eyes.
From time to time, the old woman lays down her rug and goes to
stir the soup she keeps cooking in a clay pot over a fire at the
mouth of the cave. When she does this, the dog creeps out of his
corner and, taken the rug in his jaws, shakes it until he has unraveled
a part of it.
When the old woman returns to her work, she patiently tries to
restore the damaged rug and resumes her weaving, but soon she must
again attend to the soup that boils in her pot. Each time she leaves
the rug, the sly old dog again ravels as much or more than she has
been able to complete at the last sitting.
Thus, down through the years, the two have continued their ritual
of weaving, raveling, and reweaving, but the rug never grows any
larger. This is a good thing, for if ever the rug is finished, the
world as we know it will come to an end.
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