Reading Notes: Great Plains, Part A

Bibliography: Judson's Myths and Legends of the Great Plains 

 The Creation

Osage (Wazhá zhe group)

The Sun is their father and the moon their mother. They were sent down to Earth, but it was covered in water. They called to the Elk, who is responsible for revealing the land on Earth and for the first crops.

 

Osage (Hoga group)

Same beginning. The Elk made a little space for them on the rocks, but they knew they would need more room. Crawfish swam down and came back up with mud in his claws, which was used to make the land.

 

Sacred Legend

The people were born in water. Eventually, they came up to land, only they were poor and cold. They made clothes for themselves out of grass, and chipped stones for hunting weapons. Eventually, they discovered fire. They got bored of roasted meat and evented clay pots, so they could boil their meat. They kept the hides from the animals they killed and started making clothes out of them. They used buffalo skins to make their teepees. A man planted corn, and gave it to the rest of the people. Then, they traveled to a lake, where they made canoes and found dogs.

 

The Legend of Peace Pipes

There was to be a council of the people. While they were starting, they heard the hooting of an owl and at the pecking of a woodpecker. They found an ash sapling, and with the feathers of a white eagle, a bald eagle, a spotted eagle, an imperial eagle, an owl, and a woodpecker, the first peace pipe was created.

                                                                      Peace Pipe

 

A Tradition of the Calumet

A council made of many chiefs from many villages decided to go to a great nation and bring back scalps and horses. There was a great white bird, who flew to the head of the chief’s daughter. The daughter heard the voice of the Mysterious One, who instructed them to make peace with the other great nation.

 

The Sacred Pole

The Cheyenne, the Arikara, the Omaha, Ponca, and Iowa were having a council to determine the rules for hunting, peace, and war. A boy found a marvelous tree, which glowed at night, and which Thunder Birds perched on. He told his father, who told the chiefs gathered at the council. The chiefs sent all the warriors to run for the tree and attacked it as if it were an enemy. They brought it back, where they  made a tent for it, tied a basket of twigs and feathers to it, gave it hair, and treated it as if it were a human being. It was decided that if there was trouble, they would pray to the pole and make offerings.

 

The Buffalo and the Grizzly Bear

A Buffalo and a Grizzly Bear fought, and the Buffalo chased the Grizzly Bear off a cliff. When the Grizzly turned around, he told the Buffalo that they should be friends, as they have a very similar disposition.

 

The Eagle’s Revenge

A man found an eagle eating the deer the man had shot, so he shot the eagle. That night, as they were performing the Eagle Dance, a strange man came up to them. He killed the seven men who had rattles and were leading the dance. Later, it was discovered that the man was the brother of the eagle that had been killed.

 

Unktomi and the Bad Songs

Unktomi carried a bundle of grass on his back and told the Ducks that he was carrying bad songs. The Ducks wanted to hear these songs, so they built a grass lodge where all the Ducks, Geese, and Swans could gather. Then he told them not to look as he sang. The Ducks, Geese, and Swans followed the directions of the song and danced with their eyes shut. Unktomi killed the fattest of them, only he could not break the neck of one Swan, and a Duck caught him at it. The Ducks, Geese, and Swans rushed at him to try to escape, and knocked him over, thinking he was dead. The Wood Duck, who looked first, had his eyes turned red. Unktomi gathered the birds he had killed and carried them to a good place. He put the birds in a kettle and placed it on a fire before falling asleep. A Mink came across him and stole the meat from the kettle before placing the bones back. When Unktomi woke and tried to eat the meat, he found only bones.

 

Old-Woman-Who-Never-Dies

The Old-Woman-Who-Never-Dies lives in the moon and has six children—three sons and three daughters. Day, Sun and Night, and the Morning Star, the Striped Gourd, and the Evening Star. The Old-Woman-Who-Never-Dies sends food to the people and makes sure they have enough to eat.

 

The Legend of the Corn

An Arikara man came across a buffalo who stood in the same place for four days, facing a different cardinal direction each day. The man ran back to tell his tribe about his buffalo and the strange plant which had appeared on the fifth day, when the buffalo had vanished. The chiefs and the people who the man told about the plant came to the plant to guard it and wait for it to be ripe. The people divided up the ripe corn and planted it. They shared the corn with others, and the Omahas came to have corn as well.

 

The Tradition of Finding Horses

The Ponca, who had only dogs as animals that helped them, came across the Comanche, who were atop strange beasts. The Comanche also carried bows. Eventually, the two tribes made peace. The Comanche taught the Ponca all they knew. Once the Ponca knew how to use the horses and the devastating weapons, the Ponca attacked the Comanche and forced them away.

 

The Ghost’s Resentment

There was a young man who died and his parents made a tent for him. There was a different young man and his father. The father said the dead man had no use for a tent and stole some of it for himself. The young man painted his face white and scared them away. He teased them about it for a long time after that, although they never knew he was the one to scare them.

 

The Three Ghosts

Forked Roads

Omaha

A ghost was wandering the sky and came across an old man who showed him the paths he could take. There was a short road, with lots of happy ghosts, and a long road, with wailing ghosts. A person who commits suicide hovers over their grave. A murdered is surrounded by whistling ghosts and is never full, despite how much he eats.

 

Tattooed Ghosts

Dakota

If a person wants to walk the Ghost Road safely when they die, they must tattoo either their forehead or their wrists. An old woman sits and waits for the ghosts. She looks for the marks and if she find them, the ghosts travel to Many Lodges. If she does not, she shoves them from a cloud to the Earth again. Those ghosts haunt the world, whistling with no lodge to return to. The ghost must be scared away, or he will make the face of whoever he catches crooked.

 

A Ghost Story

Ponca

A group of Ponca sat in front of a fire, eating and cheering. Suddenly, the leader told them to be quiet, smother the fire, and grab their bows. They followed singing sounds to the foot of a tree, where human bones lay.