Black Elk Speaks
The Rubbing Out of Long Hair
Black Elk Continues:
Crazy Horse whipped Three Stars on the Rosebud that day, and I
think he could have rubbed the soldiers out there. He could have
called many more warriors from the villages and he could have rubbed
the soldiers out at daybreak, for they camped there in the dark
after the fight.
He whipped the cavalry of Three Stars when they attacked his village
on the Powder that cold morning in the Moon of the Snowblind [March].
Then he moved farther west to the Rosebud; and when the soldiers
came to kill us there, he whipped them and made them go back. Then
he moved farther west to the valley of the Greasy Grass. We were
in our own country all the time and we only wanted to be let alone.
The soldiers came there to kill us, and many got rubbed out. It
was our country and we did not want to have trouble.
We camped there in the valley along the south side of the Greasy
Grass before the sun was straight above; and this was, I think,
two days before the battle. It was a very big village and you could
hardly count the tepees. Farthest up the stream toward the south
were the Hunkpapas, and the Ogalalas were next. Then came the Minneconjous,
the San Arcs, the Blackfeet, the Shyelas; and last, the farthest
toward the north, were the Santees and Yanktonais. Along the side
towards the east was the Greasy Grass, with some timber along it,
and it was running full from the melting of the snow in the Bighorn
Mountains. If you stood on a hill you could see the mountains off
to the south and west. On the other side of the river, there were
bluffs and hills beyond. Some gullies came down through the bluffs.
On the westward side of us were lower hills, and there we grazed
our ponies and guarded them. There were so many they could not be
counted.
There was a man by the name of Rattling Hawk who was shot through
the hip in the fight on the Rosebud, and people thought he could
not get well. But there was a medicine man by the name of Hairy
Chin who cured him.
The day before the battle I had greased myself and was going to
swim with some boys, when Hairy Chin called me over to Rattling
Hawk's tepee, and told me he wanted me to help him. There were five
other boys there, and he needed us for bears in the curing ceremony,
because he had his power from a dream of the bear. He painted my
body yellow, and my face too, and put a black stripe on either side
of my nose from the eyes down. Then he tied my hair up to look like
bear's ears, and put some eagle feathers on my head.
While he was doing this, I thought of my vision, and suddenly I
seemed to be lifted clear off the ground; and while I was that way,
I knew more things than I could tell, and I felt sure something
terrible was going to happen in a short time. I was frightened.
The other boys were painted all red and had real bear's ears on
their heads.
Hairy Chin, who wore a real bear skin with the head on it, began
to sing a song that went like this:
"At the doorway the sacred herbs are rejoicing."
And while he sang, two girls came in and stood one on either side
of the wounded man; one had a cup of water and one some kind of
a herb. I tried to see if the cup had all the sky in it, as it was
in my vision, but I could not see it. They gave the cup and the
herb to Rattling Hawk while Hairy Chin was singing. Then they gave
him a red cane, and right away he stood up with it. The girls then
started out of the tepee, and the wounded man followed, learning
on the sacred red stick; and we boys, who were the little bears,
had to jump around him and make growling noises toward the man.
And when we did this, you could see something like feathers of all
colors coming out of our mouths. Then Hairy Chin came out on all
fours, and he looked just like a bear to me. Then Rattling Hawk
began to walk better. He was not able to fight next day, but he
got well in a little while.
After the ceremony, we boys went swimming to wash the paint off,
and when we got back the people were dancing and having kill talks
all over the village, remembering brave deeds done in the fight
with Three Stars on the Rosebud.
When it was about sundown we boys had to bring the ponies in close,
and when this was done it was dark and the people were still dancing
around fires all over the village. We boys went around from one
dance to another, until we got too sleepy to stay up any more.
My father 'woke me at daybreak and told me to go with him to take
our horses out to graze, and when we were out there he said: "We
must have a long rope on one of them, so that it will be easy to
catch; then we can get the others. If anything happens, you must
bring the horses back as fast as you can, and keep your eyes on
the camp."
Several of us boys watched our horses together until the sun was
straight above and it was getting very hot. Then we thought we would
go swimming, and my cousin said he would stay with our horses till
we got back. When I was greasing myself, I did not feel well; I
felt queer. It seemed that something terrible was going to happen.
But I went with the boys anyway. Many people were in the water now
and many of the women were out west of the village digging turnips.
We had been in the water quite a while when my cousin came down
there with the horses to give them a drink, for it was very hot
now.
Just then we heard the crier shouting in the Hunkpapa camp, which
was not very far from us "The chargers are coming! They are
charging! The chargers are coming!" Then the crier of the Ogalalas
shouted the same words; and we could hear the cry going from camp
to camp northward clear to the Santees and Yanktonais.
Everybody was running now to catch the horses. We were lucky to
have ours right there just at that time. My older brother had a
sorrel, and he rode away fast toward the Hunkpapas. I had a buckskin.
My father came running and said: Your brother has gone to the Hunkpapas
without his gun. Catch him and give it to him. Then come right back
to me." He had my six-shooter too--the one my aunt gave me.
I took the guns, jumped on my pony and caught my brother. I could
see a big dust rising just beyond the Hunkpapa camp and all the
Hunkpapas were running around and yelling, and many were running
wet from the river. Then out of the dust came the soldiers on their
big horses. They looked big and strong and tall and they were all
shooting. My brother took his gun and yelled for me to go back.
There was brushy timber just on the other side of the Hunkpapas,
and some warriors were gathering there. He made for that place,
and I followed him. By now women and children were running in a
crowd downstream. I looked back and saw them all running and scattering
up a hillside down yonder.
When we got into the timber, a good many Hunkpapas were there already
and the soldiers were shooting above us so that leaves were falling
from the trees where the bullets struck. By now I could not see
what was happening in the village below. It was all dust and cries
and thunder; for the women and children were running there, and
the warriors were coming on their ponies.
Among us there in the brush and out in the Hunkpapa camp a cry
went up: "Take courage! Don't be a woman! The helpless are
out of breath!" I think this was when Gall stopped the Hunkpapas,
who had been running away, and turned them back.
I stayed there in the woods a little while and thought of my vision.
It made me feel stronger, and it seemed that my people were all
thunder-beings and that the soldiers would be rubbed out.
Then another great cry went up out in the dust: "Crazy Horse
is coming! Crazy Horse is coming!" Off toward the west and
north they were yelling " Hokahey!" like a big wind roaring,
and making the tremolo; and you could hear eagle bone whistles screaming.
The valley went darker with dust and smoke, and there were only
shadows and a big noise of many cries and hoofs and guns. On the
left of where I was I could hear the shod hoofs of the soldiers'
horses going back into the brush and there was shooting everywhere.
Then the hoofs came out of the brush, and I came out and was in
among men and horses weaving in and out and going up-stream, and
everybody was yelling, "Hurry! Hurry!" The soldiers were
running upstream and we were all mixed there in the twilight and
the great noise. I did not see much; but once I saw a Lakota charge
at a soldier who stayed behind and fought and was a very brave man.
The Lakota took the soldier's horse by the bridle, but the soldier
killed him with a six-shooter. I was small and could not crowd in
to where the soldiers were, so I did not kill anybody. There were
so many ahead of me, and it was all dark and mixed up.
Soon the soldiers were all crowded into the river, and many Lakotas
too; and I was in the water awhile. Men and horses were all mixed
up and fighting in the water, and it was like hail falling in the
river. Then we were out of the river, and people were stripping
dead soldiers and putting the clothes on themselves. There was a
soldier on the ground and he was still kicking. A Lakota rode up
and said to me: "Boy, get off and scalp him." I got off
and started to do it. He had short hair and my knife was not very
sharp. He ground his teeth. Then I shot him in the forehead and
got his scalp.
Many of our warriors were following the soldiers up a hill on the
other side of the river. Everybody else was turning back down stream,
and on a hill away down yonder above the Santee camp there was a
big dust, and our warriors whirling around in and out of it just
like swallows, and many guns were going off.
I thought I would show my mother my scalp, so I rode over toward
the hill where there was a crowd of women and children. On the way
down there I saw a very pretty young woman among a band of warriors
about to go up to the battle on the hill, and she was singing like
this:
- "Brothers, now your friends have come!
- Be brave! Be brave!
- Would you see me taken captive?"
When I rode through the Ogalala camp I saw Rattling Hawk sitting
up in his tepee with a gun in his hands, and he was all alone there
singing a song of regret that went like this:
"Brothers, what are you doing that I can not do?"
When I got to the women on the hill they were all singing and making
the tremolo to cheer the men fighting across the river in the dust
on the hill. My mother gave a big tremolo just for me when she saw
my first scalp.
I stayed there awhile with my mother and watched the big dust whirling
on the hill across the river, and horses were coming out of it with
empty saddles.
Standing Bear Speaks:
I am a Minneconjou, and our camp was third from the south. We got
up late the morning of the fight. The women went out to dig turnips
and two of my uncles were hunting. My grandmother, who was very
old and feeble, and one of my uncles and I stayed in a tepee. When
the sun was overhead, I went back down to the river to swim, and
when I came back all I had on was a shirt. My grandmother cooked
some meat in the ashes and fed us. While we were eating, my uncle
said: "When you have eaten, you must go to the horses right
away. Something might happen." An older brother of mine and
another man were herding the horses in two bunches on Muskrat Creek
down stream below the Santee camp.
Before I finished eating, there was an excitement outside. Then
I heard our crier saying that the chargers were coming. When we
heard this, my uncle said: "I told you before that something
might happen. You'd better go right away and help bring in the horses."
I crossed the Greasy Grass, which was breast deep, and got on top
of Black Butte to look. On the other side of the Hunkpapas toward
the south, I saw soldiers on horseback spreading out as they came
down a slope to the river. They crossed and came on at a trot. I
started down the butte, but I was barefoot and there was a big bed
of cactus there. I had to go slow, picking my way. A dust cloud
was rising up yonder; and then I could see that the Hunkpapas were
running, and when I looked over onto the hills toward the south
and east I saw other soldiers coming there on horseback. I did not
go to the horses. I went down through the cactus as fast as I could
and into the village. There were voices all over, and everybody
was shouting something and running around. After awhile my older
brother came driving our horses, and my uncle said: "Hurry
up! We shall go forth!" I caught my gray horse and took my
six-shooter and hung my bow and arrows over my shoulder. I had killed
a red bird a few days before and I fastened this in my hair. I had
made a vow that I would make an offering if this would keep me from
getting hurt in the next fight; and it did.
We started and went down stream to the mouth of Muskrat Creek beyond
the Santee camp. We were going to meet the second band of soldiers.
By the time we got there, they must have been fighting on the hill
already, because as we rode up east from the mouth of Muskrat Creek
we met a Lakota with blood running out of his mouth and down over
his horse's shoulders. His name was Long Elk. There were warriors
ahead of us, the "fronters," who are the bravest and have
had most practice in war. I was sixteen years old and I was in the
rear with the less brave, and we had waited for our horses quite
awhile.
Part way up we met another Lakota. He was on foot and he was bleeding
and dizzy. He would get up and then he would fall down again. When
we got farther up the hill, I could see the soldiers. They were
off their horses, holding them by the bridles. They were ready for
us and were shooting. Our people were all around the hill on every
side by this time. I heard some of our men shouting: "They
are gone!" And I saw that many of the soldiers' horses had
broken loose and were running away. Everywhere our warriors began
yelling: "Hoka hey! Hurry! Hurry!" Then we all went up,
and it got dark with dust and smoke. I could see warriors flying
all around me like shadows, and the noise of all those hoofs and
guns and cries was so loud it seemed quiet in there and the voices
seemed to be on top of the cloud. It was like a bad dream. All at
once I saw a soldier right beside me, and I leaned over and knocked
him down with the butt of the six-shooter. I think I had already
shot it empty, but I don't remember when. The soldier fell off and
was under the hoofs. There were so many of us that I think we did
not need guns. Just the hoofs would have been enough.
After this we started down the hillside in formation toward the
village, and there were dead men and horses scattered along there
too. They were all rubbed out.
We were all crazy, and I will tell you something to show how crazy
we were. There was a dead Indian lying there on his face, and someone
said: "Scalp that Ree!" A man got off and scalped him;
and when they turned the dead man over, it was a Shyela--one of
our friends. We were all crazy.
We could see the women coming over now in a swarm and they were
all making the tremolo. We waited around there awhile, and then
we saw soldiers coming on a hill toward the south and east. Everybody
began yelling: "Hurry!" And we started for the soldiers.
They ran back toward where they came from. One got killed, and many
of us got off and couped him. Then we chased all the soldiers back
to the hill where they were before.
They had their pack mules and horses on the inside and they had
saddles and other things in front of them to hide themselves from
bullets, but we surrounded them, and the hill we were on was higher
and we could see them plain. We put our horses down under the hills
so that they were safe. We all kept shooting at the soldiers and
their horses. It was very hot, and there were some soldiers who
started down the hill with kettles to get water from the river.
They did not get far, and what was left of them went running back
up the hill. I heard that some soldiers did get some water later,
but I did not see them. Once a Lakota on the other side charged
alone right up to the soldiers to show how brave he was, but they
killed him, and we could not get his body.
By now it was nearly sundown. I had not been feeling hungry because
there was the smell of blood everywhere; but now I began to feel
hungry anyway. The bravest of the braves got together and talked
over what we should do that night. They decided that some of us
should go home and eat and bring back something for those who stayed
to watch the soldiers. We could not get at the soldiers, so we were
going to starve and dry them out.
I went back home with the others, and it was sundown then. At first
I thought they had broken camp, but they had not. They had only
gathered all the camps together in one solid village.
I did not go back to the hill with the others that night. We built
fires all over the camp, and everybody was excited. I couldn't sleep
because when I shut my eyes I could see all those horrible sights
again. I think nobody slept.
Next morning early the crier went around and said: "The remainder
of the soldiers shall die to-day!" So after we had eaten, we
all got ready. This time I was dressed and had my moccasins and
leggings on. The day before I had only a shirt. This time I had
my saddle too. I was prepared to fight.
We all rode over there, and the party that had watched all night
went home. We were scattered all around the soldiers, with our horses
under the hill; but it was harder to hit the soldiers now, because
they had been digging in the night. The day was very hot, and now
and then some soldiers would start crawling down toward the river
for a drink. We killed some of these, then the others would run
back. Maybe some got water. I do not know. We kept shooting at each
other. Once I heard some one cry "Hey-hey!" I crawled
over there, and a Lakota had been shot above the eyebrow and he
was dead.
After a long while we heard that more soldiers were coming. Then
everybody started back home, and there the people were saying: "We
will leave this and let it go!"
Then we all broke camp and started for the Bighorn Mountains. If
those soldiers had not come, we would have rubbed them all out on
the hill.
Iron Hawk Speaks:
I am a Hunkpapa, and, as I told you before, I was fourteen years
old. The sun was overhead and more, but I was eating my first meal
that day, because I had been sleeping. While I was eating I heard
the crier saying: "The chargers are coming." I jumped
up and rushed out to our horses. They were grazing close to camp.
I roped one, and the others stampeded, but my older brother had
caught his horse already and headed the others off. When I got on
my horse with the rope hitched around his nose, the soldiers were
shooting up there and people were running and men and boys were
catching their horses that were scared because of the shooting and
yelling. I saw little children running up from the river where they
had been swimming; and all the women and children were running down
the valley.
Our horses stampeded down toward the Minneconjous, but we rounded
them up again and brought them back. By now warriors were running
toward the soldiers, and getting on the ponies, and many of the
Hunkpapas were gathering in the brush and timber near the place
where the soldiers had stopped and got off their horses. I rode
past a very old man who was shouting: "Boys, take courage!
Would you see these little children taken away from me like dogs?"
I went into our tepee and got dressed for war as fast as I could;
but I could hear bullets whizzing outside, and I was so shaky that
it took me a long time to braid an eagle feather into my hair. Also,
I had to hold my pony's rope all the time, and he kept jerking me
and trying to get away. While I was doing this, crowds of warriors
on horses were roaring by up stream, yelling: "Hoka hey!"
Then I rubbed red paint all over my face and took my bow and arrows
and got on my horse. I did not have a gun, only a bow and arrows.
When I was on my horse, the fight up stream seemed to be over,
because everybody was starting back downstream and yelling: "It's
a good day to die!" Soldiers were coming at the other end of
the village, and nobody knew how many there were down there.
A man by the name of Little Bear rode up to me on a pinto horse,
and he had a very pretty saddle blanket. He said: "Take courage,
boy! The earth is all that lasts!" So I rode fast with him
and the others downstream, and many of us Hunkpapas gathered on
the east side of the river at the foot of a gulch that led back
up the hill where the second soldier band was. There was a very
brave Shyela with us, and I heard someone say: "He is going!"
I looked, and it was this Shyela. He had on a spotted war bonnet
and a spotted robe made of some animal's skin and this was fastened
with a spotted belt. He was going up the hill alone and we all followed
part way. There were soldiers along the ridge up there and they
were on foot holding their horses. The Shyela rode right close to
them in a circle several times and all the soldiers shot at him.
Then he rode back to where we had stopped at the head of the gulch.
He was saying: "Ah, ah!" Someone said: "Shyela friend,
what is the matter?" He began undoing his spotted belt, and
when he shook it, bullets dropped out. He was very sacred and the
soldiers could not hurt him. He was a fine looking man.
We stayed there awhile waiting for something and there was shooting
everywhere. Then I heard a voice crying: "Now they are going,
they are going!" We looked up and saw the cavalry horses stampeding.
These were all gray horses.
I saw Little Bear's horse rear and race up hill toward the soldiers.
When he got close, his horse was shot out from under him, and he
got up limping because the bullet went through his leg; and he started
hobbling back to us with the soldiers shooting at him. His brother-friend,
Elk Nation, went up there on his horse and took Little Bear behind
him and rode back safe with bullets striking all around him. It
was his duty to go to his brother-friend even if he knew he would
be killed.
By now a big cry was going up all around the soldiers up there
and the warriors were coming from everywhere and it was getting
dark with dust and smoke.
We saw soldiers start running down hill right towards us. Nearly
all of them were afoot, and I think they were so scared that they
didn't know what they were doing. They were making their arms go
as though they were running very fast, but they were only walking.
Some of them shot their guns in the air. We all yelled " Hoka
hey!" and charged toward them, riding all around them in the
twilight that had fallen on us.
I met a soldier on horseback, and I let him have it. The arrow
went through from side to side under his ribs and it stuck out on
both sides. He screamed and took hold of his saddle horn and hung
on, wobbling, with his head hanging down. I kept along beside him,
and I took my heavy bow and struck him across the back of the neck.
He fell from his saddle, and I got off and beat him to death with
my bow. I kept on beating him awhile after he was dead, and every
time I hit him I said "Hownh!" I was mad, because I was
thinking of the women and little children running down there, all
scared and out of breath. These Wasichus wanted it, and they came
to get it, and we gave it to them. I did not see much more. I saw
Brings Plenty kill a soldier with a war club. I saw Red Horn Buffalo
fall. There was a Lakota riding along the edge of the gulch, and
he was yelling to look out, that there was a soldier hiding in there.
I saw him charge in and kill the soldier and begin slashing him
with a knife.
Then we began to go towards the river, and the dust was lifting
so that we could see the women and children coming over to us from
across the river. The soldiers were all rubbed out there and scattered
around.
The women swarmed up the hill and began stripping the soldiers.
They were yelling and laughing and singing now. I saw something
funny. Two fat old women were stripping a soldier, who was wounded
and playing dead. When they had him naked, they began to cut something
off that he had, and he jumped up and began fighting with the two
fat women. He was swinging one of them around, while the other was
trying to stab him with her knife. After awhile, another woman rushed
up and shoved her knife into him and he died really dead. It was
funny to see the naked Wasichu fighting with the fat women.
By now we saw that our warriors were all charging on some soldiers
that had come from the hill up river to help the second band that
we had rubbed out. They ran back and we followed, chasing them up
on their hill again where they had their pack mules. We could not
hurt them much there, because they had been digging to hide themselves
and they were lying behind saddles and other things. I was down
by the river and I saw some soldiers come down there with buckets.
They had no guns, just buckets. Some boys were down there, and they
came out of the brush and threw mud and rocks in the soldiers' faces
and chased them into the river. I guess they got enough to drink,
for they are drinking yet. We killed them in the water.
Afterwhile it was nearly sundown, and I went home with many others
to eat, while some others stayed to watch the soldiers on the hill.
I hadn't eaten all day, because the trouble started just when I
was beginning to eat my first meal.
Black Elk Continues:
After I showed my mother my first scalp, I stayed with the women
awhile and they were all singing and making the tremolo. We could
not see much of the battle for the big dust, but we knew there would
be no soldiers left. There were many other boys about my age and
younger up there with their mothers and sisters, and they asked
me to go over to the battle with them. So we got on our ponies and
started. While we were riding down hill toward the river we saw
gray horses with empty saddles stampeding toward the water. We rode
over across the Greasy Grass to the mouth of a gulch that led up
through the buff to where the fighting was.
Before we got there, the Wasichus were all down, and most of them
were dead, but some of them were still alive and kicking. Many other
little boys had come up by this time, and we rode around shooting
arrows into the Wasichus. There was one who was squirming around
with arrows sticking in him, and I started to take his coat, but
a man pushed me away and took the coat for himself. Then I saw something
bright hanging on this soldier's belt, and I pulled it out. It was
round and bright and yellow and very beautiful and I put it on me
for a necklace. At first it ticked inside, and then it did not any
more. I wore it around my neck for a long time before I found out
what it was and how to make it tick again.
Then the women all came over and we went to the top of the hill.
Gray horses were lying dead there, and some of them were on top
of dead Wasichus and dead Wasichus were on top of them. There were
not many of our own dead there, because they had been picked up
already; but many of our men were killed and wounded. They shot
each other in the dust. I did not see Pahuska, and I think nobody
knew which one he was. There was a soldier who was raising his arms
and groaning. I shot an arrow into his forehead, and his arms and
legs quivered. I saw some Lakotas holding another Lakota up. I went
over there, and it was Chase-in-the-Morning's brother, who was called
Black Wasichu. He had been shot through the right shoulder downward,
and the bullet stopped in his left hip, because he was hanging on
the side of his horse when he was hit. They were trying to give
him some medicine. He was my cousin, and his father and my father
were so angry over this, that they went and butchered a Wasichu
and cut him open. The Wasichu was fat, and his meat looked good
to eat, but we did not eat any.
There was a little boy, younger than I was, who asked me to scalp
a soldier for him. I did, and he ran to show the scalp to his mother.
While we were there, most of the warriors chased the other soldiers
back to the hill where they had their pack mules. After awhile I
got tired looking around. I could smell nothing but blood, and I
got sick of it. So I went back home with some others. I was not
sorry at all. I was a happy boy. Those Wasichus had come to kill
our mothers and fathers and us, and it was our country. When I was
in the brush up there by the Hunkpapas, and the first soldiers were
shooting, I knew this would happen. I thought that my people were
relatives to the thunder beings of my vision, and that the soldiers
were very foolish to do this.
Everybody was up all night in the village. Next morning another
war party went up to the hill where the other soldiers were, and
the men who had been watching there all night came home. My mother
and I went along. She rode a mare with a little colt tied beside
her and it trotted along with its mother.
We could see the horses and pack mules up there, but the soldiers
were dug in. Beneath the hill, right on the west side of the Greasy
Grass, were some bullberry bushes, and there was a big boy by the
name of Round Fool who was running around the bushes. We boys asked
him what he was doing that for, and he said: "There is a Wasichu
in that bush." And there was. He had hidden there when the
other soldiers ran to the hill-top and he had been there all night.
We boys began shooting at him with arrows, and it was like chasing
a rabbit. He would crawl from one side to the other while we were
running around the bush shooting at him with our bows. Once he yelled
"Ow." After awhile we set fire to the grass around the
bushes, and he came out running. Some of our warriors killed him.
Once we went up the back of the hill, where some of our men were,
and looked over. We could not see the Wasichus, who were lying in
their dugins, but we saw the horses and pack mules, and many of
them were dead. When we came down and crossed the river again, some
soldiers shot at us and hit the water. Mother and I galloped back
to the camp, and it was about sundown. By then our scouts had reported
that more soldiers were coming up stream; so we all broke camp.
Before dark we were ready and we started up the Greasy Grass, heading
for Wood Louse Creek in the Bighorn Mountains. We fled all night,
following the Greasy Grass. My two younger brothers and I rode in
a pony-drag, and my mother put some young pups in with us. They
were always trying to crawl out and I was always putting them back
in, so I didn't sleep much.
By morning we reached a little dry creek and made camp and had
a big feast. The meat had spots of fat in it, and I wish I had some
of it right now.
When it was full day, we started again and came to Wood Louse Creek
at the foot of the mountains, and camped there. A badly wounded
man by the name of Three Bears had fits there, and he would keep
saying: "Jeneny, jeneny." I do not know what he meant.
He died, and we used to call that place the camp where Jeneny died.
That evening everybody got excited and began shouting: "The
soldiers are coming!" I looked, and there they were, riding
abreast right toward us. But it was some of our own men dressed
in the soldiers' clothes. They were doing this for fun.
The scouts reported that the soldiers had not followed us and that
everything was safe now. All over the camp there were big fires
and kill dances all night long.
I will sing you some of the kill-songs that our people made up
and sang that night. Some of them went like this:
"Long Hair has never returned,
So his woman is crying, crying.
Looking over here, she cries."
"Long Hair, guns I had none.
You brought me many. I thank you!
You make me laugh!"
"Long Hair, horses I had none.
You brought me many. I thank you!
You make me laugh!"
"Long Hair, where he lies nobody knows.
Crying, they seek him.
He lies over here."
"Let go your holy irons [guns].
You are not men enough to do any harm.
Let go your holy irons!"
After awhile I got so tired dancing that I went to sleep on the
ground right where I was.
My cousin, Black Wasichu, died that night.
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Native American Legends A-B