Light and shadow fall on a horse made of light and shadow. A spotted black horse grazes on fresh spring grass along the Long Soldier Creek, near Fort Yates, N.D. Photo by Dakota Wind.
Little Prairie Bird Brings Prosperity
The Gift Of The Horse
By Ella Deloria
STANDING ROCK, N.D. & S.D. - The Gift Of The Horse appears
in Ella Deloria’s “Dakota Texts.” Deloria refers to this story as Ohúŋkakaŋ,
as something that is regarded to be true, and that it happened to our people in
comparatively recent times, perhaps in the lifetime of the aged narrator’s
grandfather or great-grandfather. Ohúŋkakaŋ are only to be
told after sunset.
One
winter the people lived without want, on the Powder River[1]
where buffaloes were abundant, and everyone was happy; and then, now that
spring was here, about the time of the Sore Eyes Moon[2]
(March), the cry went forth from the council-tipi[3]
that the people were to move about, visiting other parts. So everyone broke
camp, and soon they were gone.
Only one
man and his wife were left behind. The reason was that they owned one horse, a
mare that was not much good, and with it they could not hope to keep up to the
pace of the tribe, and hence, they stayed behind.
They went
from campsite to campsite, picking up what they found, of discarded bone[4],
or bits of meat; and to the south, there was a lake, so they walked around it,
gathering wood.
A spotted black horse along Long Soldier Creek, on the Standing Rock Sioux Indian Reservation. Photo by Dakota Wind.
Then the
man ascended a hill, and sat down to rest and view the surrounding country,
when he saw something come up over the horizon, in the spot where the sun
rises, and advanced towards his direction. When it was near enough to be
observed, it proved to be a beautiful black spotted horse which was coming to drink at the lake.
After
drinking, he stopped under a tree, and stood rubbing against it, and then he
lay down and rolled, and then he rose and went back the way he came. Then, a
tiny grey bird[5]
flew to the man and sitting down next to him said, “I’ll bring you a horse.[6]
Go home and make a bridle and apply this medicine to it, and hang it, in the
form of a noose, from that tree where he rubs himself. When his head becomes
caught in the rope, chew this root, and apply it on yourself, and catch him.
Rub some of this medicine on the mare which you already have.”
So the
man went home and carried out the orders in detail.
Now the
black spotted horse was again coming, so he caught him and blew some of the
medicine on his nose, which made the horse stand still and permitted himself to
be held. He stared at the man every second and yet he did not try to get away,
so the man stroked him and took him home.
A brown-grey hermit thrush. Photo by Tom Grey.
Again the
little grey bird talked to him, “The days of your hardship in the tribe are now
over. By and by this black spotted horse is going to sire many horses; he will
thus multiply himself, but on both sides.”[7]
So he allowed the horse to stay with the mare he already owned, and the
following summer, there was a colt, as beautiful as, and marked exactly like,
the black spotted horse. It was a male. Another year and then a female colt was
born. Again the following summer a male was born. So from that horse which the
bird had brought him, the man owned three horses, exactly alike, possessing
inconceivable speed.
In the
tribe they became famous, and the man who owned them was now far different from
that poor man he used to be; now his name was held high in the tribe.
During
the night he used to picket these horses in front of his door; and one night,
someone crept up to them, planning evil against them; but the first black
spotted horse spoke, “Wake up, and come out. Someone approaches with the
intention of causing our death.” He said this while neighing[8] and his
master heard it and came outside.
This is
what he [the master] said, “I do not keep these horses in order that you shall
insult me through them. I keep them for the sole purpose of bringing good to
the tribe, and in that spirit, I lend them to you to hunt meat for your
children, as you know; you have used them freely in war and, as a result, have
achieved glory. These horses are here to serve. Yet when I tied them for the
night and then came in to rest, someone sneaked up on them causing them to run
home. You see then it is useless to anything
to them secretly.”
A spotted black horse grazes in an open area between thick brush. Photo by Dakota Wind.
That man
understood the speech of the horses, they say. Then the first horse spoke this
way; so his master announced it, “In order that you in this tribe might be
fortunate in all things, I and my young have multiplied; and from that, you
have benefited in the past; yet now, because an evil thing has entered the
tribe, this source of good shall stop. You must go back to your former state
when things were hard for you, all because that one who tried to kill us has by
his act brought it upon the entire tribe.”
In that
way he spoke, so his owner told the people. The horses now lost their power to
run as of old, and no more colts were born, until at last that entire breed
became extinct. In that way, this tribe which was so fortunate, took a backward
step to their former state of hardships. That man who owned them and permitted the
tribe to rely on them was named Táya Máni U (He always Walks Guardedly,
as in free of pitfalls).
He was
pitied and caused to have good fortune himself; had he so wished, he might have
enjoyed it all alone; but that was not what he wanted. He caused all the tribe
to share in it; and then, regretful fact, one, through jealousy perhaps,
brought ill fortune on them all.
Keúŋkeyapi. (They
Said.)
[1] Čȟaȟlí
Wakpá translates as “Charcoal River” or “Gun Powder River.”
[2] Ištáwičhayazaŋ
Wí translates as, “Sore Eyes Moon.” Deloria says: “In that part of the
country, the sun shining very brightly while the snow is yet on the ground
causes snowblindness. March is given its name for this reason.”
[3] Thípiyókhiheya
translates as “Council Tipi.”
[4] Discarded bone, if still green, can
be pounded and boiled, and the grease that rises to the top is skimmed off to
be used later in pemmican, and other rich dishes.
[5] Waǧíyoǧi,
the Hermit Thrush is possibly what Deloria mentions. She says: “A bird
resembling the common prairie blackbird, and which the same habits of staying
around buffaloes and cows, but with a grey instead of a black coat.”
[6] According to Deloria, the bird
“uses the un-contracted term for horse, šúŋkawakȟáŋ,
mysterious dog. In songs, and formal speech and religious language of the old
days, this form was always used when the horse was spoken of with the respect
due it.
[7]
Deloria wrote, “…the black horse was destined to sire a breed through both a
male and female line.”
[8] The Dakȟóta sometimes hear things
in the utterances of animals. Once, a man heard a person wailing, far, far
away; and stood listening intently, wondering who was dead, and what it was all
about. He thought he understood the words, telling who was dead, when he had
died, and the details of his death. Then he found that he was listening to a
common fly, which, very near his ear, was trying to free itself. All the same,
in due time, the message came that so and so had died, and that friend of the
dead man had gone wailing, using the words he had heard. Old people used to say
the wolves told the future, when they howled at night. Anyone, with or without
supernatural power, can understand the meadowlark. Its song is not indicative
of impending evil; only amusing, and a welcome note of spring.
nice post
ReplyDelete