CHAPTER IX
A BLACKFOOT LEGEND
For a time all sat silent, and then Joe asked, "White Bull, did you everhear that the people once lived on the other side of the mountains; thatthere is where they came from?"
"No," said Hugh, "I don't know as I have. I seem to remember somethingabout such a story, but I can't remember what it is."
"Tell it to us, Joe," said Jack.
"Well," said Joe, "it's a story I heard my uncle tell a good many yearsago, when I was a little fellow, but I don't believe it's true. Hedidn't know whether it was true or not. It was just something that hehad heard from some older person. You know the Piegans believe that theyused to live far up northeast, in the timber by some big lake, and thatthey came this way looking for some place where life was easier, wherethere was more game and it was easier to get close to the animals. Iguess that is true, because there are old people still living whosefathers and grandfathers can remember old Piegans, who said that theyhad made that journey. This other story is about some of the peoplehaving lived across the mountains. It's a long story, but I'll tell itto you if you want me to."
"Go ahead," said Hugh.
"Well," Joe went on, "the story tells that a long time ago the peoplelived west of the mountains and in a hot country away to the south. Aseason came when all animals were scarce and hard to find and thepeople got hungry. In the camp was an old man and his family, threesons, young men grown up. Now, at last, when there was no food to behad, this old man said, 'Why should I stay here where there is no food?I shall go away with my children and we will try to find a place wherethere are animals and where food can be had. I will travel toward therising sun, even to the mountains, to the country where no one has everbeen, to a land no one has looked on.'
"They started; the old man and his wife, and the three sons and theirwives and children. They did not know the mountains, and supposed thatas soon as they had gone over the nearest one they would pass down onthe other side to the plain, but they found that this was not so. Beyondthe first mountain rose another, and beyond this another. They traveledon, day after day, and climbed ridges and went down into valleys andalways in front of them they saw other ridges or other valleys, alwayssteeper, higher and harder to cross. The road was rough, thick timberkept them back, sharp stones cut their feet, wide rivers stopped them.They found no game, except now and then some birds, and soon they grewtired, hungry, footsore and discouraged. At last they had almost made uptheir minds to stop looking for what they could not find, and to turnabout and try to return to their own country and their own people; butone night, as they talked about this, the old man said to them, 'Come,let us take courage, let us keep on a little longer and try to find thatcountry. The road has been long and hard, and we are almost tired out,but let us go on a little further. It may be that we have almostarrived. To-day you saw that high mountain beyond, toward which we aretraveling; let us climb over that and if beyond that we see nothingexcept more mountains, then we will turn about and go back to the placewe came from.' The sons said it was good, and the next day they traveledon.
"At length they reached the top of the high peak, and when they lookeddown on the land below they saw before them a wide prairie. It lookedbeautiful to these people, who were tired of the lonely, rough, darkmountains. On the plain they could see herds of big brown animals,larger than any that they had ever seen before, animals with curly hairand short black horns. There, too, were yellow antelope, and in thevalleys, deer, and on the ridges of the mountain were many elk. Freshstreams ran to the prairie, and the sight was one that made their heartsglad.
"'Ah,' said the old man, 'now it is good.'
"They all stopped, and he sat down and smoked to the sun and said,'Listen, O Sun, now you have taken pity on us. We believed that we weregoing to die among these rocks, but you have taken care of us and havebrought us safely out of them. Now we can see the things that we maylive by.' So he prayed for help, and for plenty to eat and for longlife, and when he had finished his prayer and his smoking, they made apresent to the sun. Then they went slowly down the mountainside andtoward night camped on a stream.
"The next day they hunted, but they could kill no game. They had noarrows, for they had used them all up in crossing the mountains, and thebuffalo would not let them get too close to them, so they were stillwithout food and hungry.
"Then the old man saw that something must be done, and he made strongmedicine, a black medicine, which he rubbed on the feet of his oldestson, and after this had been put on his feet, the young man became soswift that he could at once run up alongside the fastest cows and killthem with his knife. This made the young man feel good, and he said tohis brothers, 'Now and from this time forth I and my children areS[)i]ks' [)i] k[=a].[B] This shall be our name.'
[B] Black his foot.
"When the other two sons saw that their elder brother could do so muchthrough the medicine their father had made and that they could donothing, they felt badly. They went to the old man and said, 'Why do youtreat our brother so much better than you treat us? You have made him aswift runner, so that he can overtake the game, while we can killnothing, and our wives and children have to eat what he gives us. Whathave we done that you have forgotten us? Come, now, make us also swiftrunners, so that we, too, can have enough to eat and can have names.'
"The old man answered them and said, 'Why do you do nothing except sitabout the fire and eat food which your brother has killed? If you wishnames go to war, and when you come back, if you have done well andkilled enemies and counted coups, you, too, shall have names.'
"So the young men went back to the lodge, and each asked his wife tomake him some moccasins and a war sack, and they made themselves somewar arrows and started.
"They were gone a long time. S[)i]ks' [)i] k[=a] killed many buffalo,and the women dried the meat and tanned the hides. The berries grewripe, and the women cut down the sarvice bushes and beat off the fruitover a robe spread on the ground and dried the berries. Then the tops ofthe mountains became white with snow, the leaves fell. From the northcame the wild fowl, the swans, geese and ducks, and their numberscovered the surface of the prairie lakes, while their cries were heardnight and day through the air. Then the wild fowl passed on, the snowfell and melted and fell again, and it was winter. After a long timeblack winds began to blow from the west and the snow disappeared. Thenagain the wild fowl were seen. Then the Thunder shouted, bringing therain, so that the berries might grow large and sweet. Then the grassbegan to spring, the prairie to turn green, and soon it was summer.
"One night, a year after the young men had gone away, as they sat aboutthe fire in the lodge, they heard the dogs bark and presently the doorwas lifted and the second son stepped in and sat down. His robe was thinand all his clothing worn by long travel, but his body was lean andhard. The women hurried and set food before him, and while he ate theysang songs about him, telling how brave he was and how he had traveledfar to strike his enemies. After he had eaten the old man filled thepipe and smoked and passed it to his son, who spoke, and told of hisjourneyings to far-off lands and among strange people, and how he hadstruck his enemies and all that he had done.
"After he had finished the old man said to him, 'My son, you have donewell and since you have killed many chiefs, let that be your name, Ah'k[=a]i n[=a]h' (many chiefs). So after that the second son and hischildren and their children were called Ah' k[=a]i n[=a]h, but now theycall them K[=a]i'n[=a]h.
"Another season passed, the berries ripened, the leaves fell, the waterfowl came and went; it was winter. Then again the Thunder spoke, andagain the grass grew. The wife of the third son thought much about herhusband, fearing that she would not see him again. She used to talk ofhim to her children, telling them that they ought to be brave like theirfather.
"One night in summer, when all in the lodge were asleep, the dogs barkedloudly, the lodge door was lifted and a person entered and sat down bythe fire. 'Who is there?' said the old man. There was no answer. Thenthe wife of the
third son rose from her bed and spread grass on thefire, and soon it blazed up and she saw sitting there her husband. Gladthen was her heart, and quickly she built the fire and gave him food,and as he ate, she looked at him and saw that his clothing was torn andragged, his face thin and his arms and breast scarred, but from hisquiver hung scalps, and on the ground beside him was a bundle. Then shebegan to sing about him and the others in the lodge arose and sat by thefire while he ate. After he had eaten and smoked, he said to the oldman, 'I have traveled far and I have seen many people. Look at thesescalps,' and he showed them the scalps and the bundle of strangeclothing that he had taken from enemies far to the south. He told themall that he had seen and done, and after he had finished speaking hisfather said to him, 'Because you have taken this strange clothing youshall be called P[=i] k[)u]n' ni' (garments), so since that time he andhis children's children have been called P[=i] k[)u]n' ni."
"That's a bully story, Joe," exclaimed Jack, after the tale was ended,and Hugh joined in and said, "So it is, a mighty good story, but Ireckon it's just a story and nothing else. I've always heard, like Joesaid a little while ago, that the people came from up north and I'vealways believed that they were relations of the Crees. I've oftenwondered, though, about how the tribes got their names. There are lotsof stories, but none of them seem to ring true. Now this word P[=i]k[)u]n' ni for Piegans, I've always believed came from Ap' [)i] k[)u]nn[)i], which means a badly tanned robe, one with white spots on it.Isn't that so, Joe?"
"Yes," said Joe, "that's so all right, and you know Ap' k[)u]n n[)i] isa common name in the tribe to-day. There are two or three Indians andone white man that have that name. This story says that Ah' k[=a]in[=a]h has been shortened to Kainah, and if that is so why shouldn't Ap'[)i] k[)u]n n[)i] have been shortened to Pi kun ni. Then the name of mytribe would mean a robe with hard white spots in it."
"Of course it would," said Hugh, "and I believe that's what it doesmean, but I don't know that we'll ever find out for sure.
"Well, boys," he went on, "let's turn in. Get out early to-morrowmorning and bring in your horses. I want to start before it gets warm,so as to get rid of the flies. We may have quite a ways to goto-morrow."