A Brief Guide to Native American Myths and Legends (32 page)

When he had said this the boy left the camp. All was done as he had ordered. Food became plentiful, and the father became a chief, greatly respected by his people. His buffalo-wife, however, he almost forgot, and one night she vanished. So distressed was the chief, and so remorseful for his neglect of her, that he never recovered, but withered away and died.
But the sacred bundle was long preserved in the tribe as a magic charm to bring the buffalo.

Their sacred bundles were most precious to the Indians, and were guarded religiously. In times of famine they were opened by the priests with much ceremony. The above story is given to explain the origin of that belonging to the Pawnee tribe.

There was once a boy of the Pawnee tribe who imitated the ways of a bear; and, indeed, he much resembled that animal. When he played with the other boys of his village he would pretend to be a bear, and even when he grew up he would often tell his companions laughingly that he could turn himself into a bear whenever he liked.

His resemblance to the animal came about in this manner. Before the boy was born his father had gone on the war-path, and at some distance from his home had come upon a tiny bear-cub. The little creature looked at him so wistfully and was so small and helpless that he could not pass by without taking notice of it. So he stooped and picked it up in his arms, tied some Indian tobacco round its neck, and said: ‘I know that the Great Spirit, Tiráwa, will care for you, but I cannot go on my way without putting these things round your neck to show that I feel kindly toward you. I hope that the animals will take care of my son when he is born, and help him to grow up a great and wise man.’ With that he went on his way.

On his return he told his wife of his encounter with the Little Bear, told her how he had taken it in his arms and looked at it and talked to it. Now there is an Indian superstition that a woman, before a child is born, must not look fixedly at or think much about any animal, or the infant will resemble it. So when the warrior’s boy was born he was found to have the ways of a bear, and to become more and more like that animal the older he grew. The boy, quite aware of the resemblance, often went away by himself into the forest, where he used to pray to the Bear.

On one occasion, when he was quite grown up, he accompanied a war party of the Pawnees as their chief. They travelled a considerable distance, but ere they arrived at any village they fell into a trap prepared for them by their enemies, the Sioux. Taken completely off their guard, the Pawnees, to the number of about forty, were slain to a man. The part of the country in which this incident took place was rocky and cedar-clad and harboured many bears, and the bodies of the dead Pawnees lay in a ravine in the path of these animals. When they came to the body of the Bear-man a she-bear instantly recognized it as that of their benefactor, who had sacrificed smokes to them, made songs about them, and done them many a good turn during his lifetime. She called to her companion and begged him to do something to bring the Bear-man to life again. The other protested that he could do nothing. ‘Nevertheless,’ he added, ‘I will try. If the sun were shining I might succeed, but when it is dark and cloudy I am powerless.’

The sun was shining but fitfully that day, however. Long intervals of gloom succeeded each gleam of sunlight. But the two bears set about collecting the remains of the Bear-man, who was indeed sadly mutilated, and, lying down on his body, they worked over him with their magic medicine till he showed signs of returning life. At length he fully regained consciousness, and, finding himself in the presence of two bears, was at a loss to know what had happened to him. But the animals related how they had brought him to life, and the sight of his dead comrades lying around him recalled what had gone before. Gratefully acknowledging the service the bears had done him, he accompanied them to their den. He was still very weak, and frequently fainted, but ere long he recovered his strength and was as well as ever, only he had no hair on his head, for the Sioux had scalped him. During his sojourn
with the bears he was taught all the things that they knew – which was a great deal, for all Indians know that the bear is one of the wisest of animals. However, his host begged him not to regard the wonderful things he did as the outcome of his own strength, but to give thanks to Tiráwa, who had made the bears and had given them their wisdom and greatness. Finally he told the Bear-man to return to his people, where he would become a very great man, great in war and in wealth. But at the same time he must not forget the bears, nor cease to imitate them, for on that would depend much of his success.

‘I shall look after you,’ he concluded. ‘If I die, you shall die; if I grow old, you shall grow old along with me. This tree’ – pointing to a cedar – ‘shall be a protector to you. It never becomes old; it is always fresh and beautiful, the gift of Tiráwa. And if a thunderstorm should come while you are at home throw some cedar-wood on the fire and you will be safe.’

Giving him a bear-skin cap to hide his hairless scalp, the Bear then bade him depart.

Arrived at his home, the young man was greeted with amazement, for it was thought that he had perished with the rest of the war party. But when he convinced his parents that it was indeed their son who visited them, they received him joyfully. When he had embraced his friends and had been congratulated by them on his return, he told them of the bears, who were waiting outside the village. Taking presents of Indian tobacco, sweet-smelling clay, buffalo-meat, and beads, he returned to them, and again talked with the he-bear. The latter hugged him, saying: ‘As my fur has touched you, you will be great; as my hands have touched your hands, you will be fearless; and as my mouth touches your mouth, you will be wise.’ With that the bears departed.

True to his words, the animal made the Bear-man the greatest warrior of his tribe. He was the originator of the Bear Dance, which the Pawnees still practise. He lived to an advanced age, greatly honoured by his people.

* * *

‘Pawnee’ is likely derived from the Caddoan
pariki
, meaning ‘horn’, referring to the distinctive manner in which Pawnee males wore the scalplock, coiled over the forehead in a queue bound with hide and stiffened with grease. Essentially, the Pawnee were a confederation of Hokan-Caddoan speakers, who migrated north-eastwards until they settled on the Platte River, Nebraska. In prehistoric times the chief tribes were the Skidi, the Pitahauerat, the Chaui, and the Kitkachaki. They practised both hunting and farming, cultivating pumpkins, beans and maize, the last being regarded as a sacred gift, and honoured as ‘mother’.

The complex religion of the Pawnee was based on following the rules and rhythms of the gods of the big sky over their Plains heartland. They were the most assiduous astronomers of the Plains.

In Pawnee mythology Tiráwa was the Great Spirit and creator, who positioned the star-gods in the sky. When Bright Star (the Evening Star) and Great Star (the Morning Star, probably Venus, but possibly Mars) mated, woman was created. Then Sakuru (the Sun) copulated with Pah (the Moon), and man was born. A number of lesser, earthly gods, usually identified with animals, acted as the aids of human and intermediaries with the higher gods. Worship of the heavenly gods centred on sacred objects donated by them, called by Europeans sacred or medicine bundles. More accurately, the bundles were portable shrines, which formed the centre of a ceremony. (One of the most famous of the Plains bundles was the ‘Sacred Canoe’ of the Mandan tribe, which was made of ancient willow boards believed to have come from a raft on which first humans survived the flood.) Each village possessed one of these bundles, which was in the care of a hereditary keeper, but its relevant ceremonies were in the charge of a priesthood open to all eligible aspirants.

For the Pawnee almost every aspect of existence was dominated by celestial observation, divination and worship, so much so that each lodge had four poles to represent the four stars that held up the heavens. From the movement of the stars the Pawnee priests
sitting in an earth lodge that served as an observatory (it had an especially enlarged smoke-hole and a large eastwards facing door) determined when to sow seeds in the spring and when to harvest the crop in the autumn. But for the crops to grow, for the buffalo to appear on the grassland required the pleasing of the gods in ceremony. A series of ceremonies related to the coming of life and its increase began with the first thunder in spring and closed with the harvest of ‘Mother Corn’ in the autumn. For the Skidi Pawnee the apex of the ceremonial cycle was the Morning Star ceremony in which a young girl was ritually sacrificed. The echo of the creation story, in which the male Morning Star overcomes the female Evening Star to produce life on earth, is obvious.

The ceremony was held in April. Until recently white scholars believed that the ceremony was irregular; however new research suggests that the ceremony was an annual event. It began with warriors of the Skidi Pawnee capturing a young girl, usually around the age of fourteen, from a neighbouring tribe. Brought to the Skidi’s village, the girl was ritually prepared for slaughter, a process that could take months. The actual ceremony is well described by the ethnologist Ralph Linton in his report ‘The Sacrifice to the Morning Star by the Skidi Pawnee’, Leaflet No. 6, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, 1922:

The priest built two little fires of sweet grass, one to the east, and the other to the west of the fireplace. The girl was taken to the eastern fire, undressed, and her body bathed in the smoke. Her guardian then painted her whole body red and dressed her in a black skirt and robe which were kept in the sacred bundle between sacrifices. The man who had captured the girl then went to the altar, and was dressed by the priest in another costume, also kept in the bundle. He was given black leggings and moccasins, his face and hair were painted red, and a fan-shaped head-dress of twelve eagle feathers was attached to his hair in such a way that it stood out straight over the back of his head at right angles to his body. This was the costume in which the Morning Star usually appeared in visions, and with its assumption the captor seems to have become a personification of that deity.

After these ceremonies had been performed, the captor left the
lodge and passed through the village, entering every lodge and warning those who were to take part in the ceremony to come to the chief’s lodge. Each family gave him a little red and black paint and certain other objects which were needed in the ceremony. When he had completed the circuit, he returned to the chief’s lodge, and errand men were sent out to invite the chiefs and priests of all the villages to come to the ceremony. The Pawnee village was a social as well as a geographical unit. Several villages might live together. Each of the priests and chiefs had his prescribed place in the circle, while the space behind them was packed with spectators. So great was the eagerness of the people to see the ceremony that many of them tore holes in the roof and walls of the lodge, leaving it a complete wreck.

When all the invited guests had taken their places, the chief priest told the priests of the Four Direction bundles to go into the woods and bring back four thick poles about twelve feet long. The priest of the northeast was to bring an elm; he of the northwest, a box elder; he of the southwest, a cotton wood; and he of the southeast, a willow. When they had returned, the four poles were laid on the fireplace with their ends together so that they formed a cross whose arms pointed to the four directions. The poles had to be long enough to last for the entire four days of the ceremony, and as they burned, they were pushed in toward the centre, the cross being always maintained.

The ceremonies which followed are not fully known, but they consisted of many songs and dances, with feasting, and continued for three days and nights. During this time, and for the three days after the slaying of the sacrifice, the ordinary rules of conduct were set aside, and the priests announced to the people that if any man approached any woman during this period, she was to go with him willingly, that the tribe might increase.

Toward morning of each night, the representative of the northeast village danced around the fireplace, and taking the pole brought by the priest of that direction, pointed its glowing end toward the girl’s body. This was repeated by the representative of the other directions in turn, but the girl’s body was never touched with the brand. Indeed, the girl was treated with the greatest respect and consideration throughout the ceremony. She was told that the entire performance was given in her honour, and everything was done to lull her suspicions and keep her in a pleasant frame of mind.

On the afternoon of the fourth day, the chief priest selected four men from the Four Band village to secure the materials for the scaffold. Under the direction of the leader of the war party which had captured the girl, they went to the nearest thick timber and searched until they found a hackberry tree near the centre of the grove. At this tree they made an offering of smoke to the gods, and then went northeast from it to find an elm, northwest to find a box elder, southwest to find a cotton wood, and southeast to find a willow. These were to serve for the lower cross-bars of the scaffold. They then went east until they found an elm and a cotton wood large enough to be used as uprights. Finally, they went west and cut a willow to serve as the top cross-bar.

When the men had departed to search for the timber, the priests sang a song describing their actions. At its conclusion the chief priest sent the two chiefs of the Morning Star village, accompanied by a warrior, to select the site of the scaffold. This had to be some place near the village which had, to the east of it, a depression or ravine large enough to conceal several men. When the chiefs had made their choice, the warrior accompanying them gave his war-cry. An errand man had been stationed outside the lodge to listen for this, and as soon as he heard and reported it, the priest of the Skull bundle ran to the place, bearing the sacred bow and two arrows. The two chiefs had stationed themselves at the points where the uprights of the scaffold were to stand, and the priest shot an arrow into the ground in front of each of them, thus marking the place where the hole was to be dug. Between these arrows four priests then dug away the soil to a depth of about a foot, making a rectangular pit approximately the size of the wrapper of a sacred bundle when fully unfolded. The floor of the excavation was then covered with white, downy feathers. This pit was called knsaru, and represented the garden which the Evening Star kept in the west, or, according to another account, the reproductive organs of the Evening Star. The white feathers with which it was lined symbolized the milk of women and animals and the juice of young corn. After the pit had been completed, the holes for the uprights of the scaffold were dug by two young girls.