“ The power to fly has always inspired Indians of all tribes and of all degrees of civilization with wonder and reverence. The bird chiefs have their own places in Indian myths. Owl is chief of the night; Woodpecker, with his ceaseless tattoo on the trees, is chief of the trees; Duck is chief of the water; but Eagle is chief of the day. It is always Eagle who is chief of the birds, even though Wren may outwit him in a tale told by the fire glimmering in the tepee, when the story tellers of the tribe tell of the happenings in the days “way beyond.” ”

“ Suddenly Rabbit said, “Oh, Ikto, I will teach you a magic art.”
Ikto said, “I have created all things.”
“But I will show you something new,” said Rabbit. Therefore Ikto consented. He let go of Rabbit.
Rabbit stood in front of Ikto and said, “Elder brother, if you wish snow to fall at any time, take some hair such as this,”—and he pulled out some of his rabbit fur—“and blow it in all directions; there will be a blizzard.”
Rabbit made a deep snow in this way, though the leaves were green.
At once, Ikto began to pull his own fur and say magic words. Rabbit made a long leap and ran away. ”

“ Do something,” said Big Turtle. “You may have thought how you would do it. I wish to see your ways.”
[Pg 192] Black Bear pierced the ground with his claws, and threw lumps of earth to a great distance. And there stood an oak tree which had been blackened by fire. He attacked it. Having hugged it, he threw it with force to a great distance.
“O war chief, if anything vexes me, I think I will do that,” said Black Bear.
Big Turtle said, “Ho! warrior, you have disappointed me. These persons with whom I am—look at them. There is none who is faint-hearted in the least degree. ”

“ If the tattoo marks are not there, the old woman pushes the ghost from a cloud and he falls to this world again. Then he wanders all over the world. He is never quiet. He goes about whistling, with no lodge, and people are afraid of him.
When these ghosts visit the sick, they are driven away by smoke from the sacred cedar, or else cedar is laid outside the lodge. When a person hears a ghost whistling he goes outside the lodge and makes a loud noise. If a ghost calls to a loved one and he answers, then he is sure to die soon. ”

“ Where is one who is imperfect? You are very inferior. Come, depart. You have disappointed me.”
They departed. At length when they reached the foot of a hill, Black Bear came.
“O war chief, again one has come,” said the warriors.
“I suspect what he will say, warriors. Wait for him. Stand in a row,” said Big Turtle. “Ho,” he said, addressing Black Bear. “Come, speak quickly. What is your business? When I walk on a journey, I am in a great hurry,” said Big Turtle. ”

“ The Dakotas believe that when the moon is full, a great number of small mice begin to nibble on one side. They nibble until they eat up the entire moon. So when the new moon begins to grow, it is to them really a new moon; the old one has been eaten up.
The Dakota mother loves her baby as well as the white woman does hers. When the spirit takes its flight a wild howl goes up from the tent. The baby form is wrapped in the best buffalo calfskin, or the best red blanket, and laid away on a scaffold or on the branch of some tree. ”

“ THE EAGLE’S REVENGE Cherokee
Once a hunter in the mountains heard a noise at night like a rushing wind. He went outside his tepee, and found an eagle was sitting on the drying pole, feasting at the deer he had shot. So he shot the eagle.
The next morning the hunter took the deer back to the village. He told how he had shot the deer and then the eagle. Therefore the chief sent out men to bring in the eagle, and have an Eagle dance. ”

“ There is another world under this earth. It is like this one in every way. The animals, the plants, and the people are the same, but the seasons are different. The streams that come down from the mountains are the trails by which we reach this underworld. ”

“ The sky is of solid rock. When the world grows old and worn out, the cords will break, and then the earth will sink down into the ocean. Everything will be water again. All the people will be dead. The Indians are much afraid of this.
In the long time ago, when everything was all water, all the animals lived up above in Galun’lati, beyond the stone arch that made the sky. But it was very much crowded. All the animals wanted more room. The animals began to wonder what was below the water and at last Beaver’s grandchild, little Water Beetle, offered to go and find out. ”

“ THE FORKED ROADS Omaha
Long ago, in the days of the grandfathers, a man died and was buried by his village. For four nights his ghost had to walk a very dark trail. Then he reached the Milky Way and there was plenty of light. For this reason, people ought to keep the funeral fires lighted for four nights, so the spirit will not walk in the dark trail.
The spirit walked along the Milky Way. At last he came to a point where the trail forked. There sat an old man. He was dressed in a buffalo robe, with the hair on the outside. He pointed to each ghost the road he was to take. ”

“ Heretofore the gray squirrel has been very easy to approach, but we have failed. He has bitten us; we have done nothing to him,” they said.
“He whom you used to call ‘Gray Squirrel’ is coming back, having killed one right among them,” he called. He told it to Big Turtle.
“Ho! real warrior, act very honestly,” said Big Turtle.
“O war chief, it is just so. I have killed one,” said he.
“Ho! warrior, you make me thankful,” said Big Turtle.
“Ho! warriors,” said Big Turtle again. “I, even I, will make a trial. I shall not come back for some time. Beware lest you go homeward. ”

“ At the creation of the world, lesser powers were made, because Tira’wa-tius, the Mighty Power, could not come near to man, or be seen or felt by him. These lesser powers dwell in the great circle of the sky. One is North Star; another is Brown Eagle. The Winds were the first of the lesser powers to come near man. Therefore, when man calls for aid, he calls first to the Winds. They stand at the four points, and guard the four paths down which the lesser powers come when they help mankind. The Winds are always near us, by day and by night. ”

“ Through this sky sweeps the eagle, the “Mother” of Indian songs, bearing upon her strong wings the message of peace and calling to her nestlings as she flies. Little wonder that to some tribes song was an integral part of their lives, and that emotions too deep for words were expressed in song.
Other songs there were, with words, songs of the birds which fly through that soft, tender blue:
All around the birds in flocks are flying ”

“ I think Gray Squirrel is the only one with Big Turtle. I think he is the only one siding with them. Therefore we have failed to hurt them,” said the people.
They ceased. When it was night, Big Turtle went back. He reached his comrades again.
“Ho! Warriors, when men get the better of their enemies in a fight, they usually go homeward. I suspect that your sisters are tired of waiting to dance!”
They went homeward. He walked around them, rattling his gourd.
“Warriors, I said that I would do thus, and so it is,” he said. He burnt the grass. ”

“ The nice kettle of hominy is prepared, and carried to the scaffold where the spirit hovers for several days. When the kettle has remained there long enough for the wanagi, the spirit, to inhale the food, the little children of the village are invited to eat up the rest.
When a hunter dies, the last act of the medicine man is to sing a song to conduct the spirit over the wanagi tacanku, the spirit’s road, as the Milky Way is called. The friends give away their good clothes. They wear ragged clothes, with bare feet, and ashes on their hands. ”

“ When eleven wild geese are found together, the Indians know the corn crop will be very large. The swans mean that the Indians must plant gourds; the ducks, that they must plant beans.
Indians always save dried meat for these wild birds, so when they come in the spring they may have a corn feast. They build scaffolds of many poles, three or [Pg 99] four rows, and one above the others. On this they hang the meat. Then the old women in the village, each one with a stick, meet around the scaffold. In one end of the stick is an ear of corn. ”

“ The ghost-dance among the Sioux was based on the belief that the dead Indians would all come to life and drive out the white intruders. Then the buffaloes, which were disappearing, would come back in the immense herds of the olden time. ”

“ When the flame leaps from the glowing wood, it is the word of the fire. The power has come near.
Blue is the color of the sky, the dwelling place of Tira ́ wahut, the circle of powers which watch over man. As a man paints the blue stick he sings. ”

“ The warriors painted themselves as if for war. They put on their ornaments. They set out for the tree, which stood near a lake. They ran as if it were a race to attack the enemy. All the men ran. A Ponca was the first to reach the tree and he struck it as if it were an enemy.
Then they cut the tree down. Four men, walking in a straight line, carried it on their shoulders to the village. The chiefs for four nights sang the songs made in honor of the tree. They held a council about the tree. A tent was made for it, and it was set up in the circle of lodges. ”

“ Then he hit Buffalo Bull on the nose with his open paw.
“Why!” said Buffalo Bull, “I have never threatened to fight you, who have been coming to this country so long.”
“Not so! You have threatened to fight me.” [Pg 69] Letting go the buffalo’s head, Grizzly Bear went around and seized him by the tail, turning him round and round. Then he left, but as he did so, he gave him a hard blow with his open paw.
“Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! you have caused me great pain,” said Buffalo Bull. Bobtailed Grizzly Bear departed.
Buffalo Bull thought thus: “Attack him! You too have been just that sort of a person.” ”

“ Every animal took a mate at once, and thus Rabbit got a wife.
But Possum traveled slowly. Therefore he reached the village so late that all the men were married and there was no wife for him. Rabbit pretended to be sorry. He said, “Never mind. I’ll carry the same message to the next village.”
[Pg 149] So Rabbit traveled ahead to the next village. He waited outside until they invited him to the council lodge. There he told the chief he brought an important message: there had been peace so long, there must be war at once. The war must begin in the council lodge. ”

“ Ictinike married and dwelt in a lodge. One day he said to his wife, “Hand me that tobacco pouch. I must go visit your grandfather, Beaver.” So he departed.
As he was entering Beaver’s lodge, Beaver said, “Ho, pass around to one side.” And they seated Ictinike on a pillow. Beaver’s wife said, “We have been without food. How can we give your grandfather anything to eat?” Now Beaver had four young ones.
The youngest Beaver said, “Father, let me serve for food.” So the youngest Beaver served for food. Beaver’s wife therefore gave some of the meat to Ictinike, who ate it. ”

“ COYOTE AND GRAY FOX Ponca
Gray fox was very fat. Coyote said, “Younger brother, what has made you fat?” “Elder brother,” said the Gray Fox, “I lie down on the trail in the way of those who carry crackers, and I pretend to be dead. When they throw me in the wagon, I lie there, kicking the crackers out. Then I leap out and start home eating. It is the crackers which make me fat. Elder brother, I wish you would do likewise. Elder brother, you have large feet, so I think will knock out a great many crackers.”
Coyote went to the place and lay down in the trail. ”

“ Therefore when a man escapes being wounded by an enemy, people say he has seen the buffaloes in his dreams, and they have helped him.
Men who dream of the buffaloes act like them and dance the buffalo-bull dance. Then the man who acts the buffalo has a real buffalo inside of him, people say, a little hard ball near the shoulder blade; and therefore [Pg 54] he is very hard to kill. No matter how often he is wounded, he does not die.
People know that the buffaloes live in earth lodges; so they never dance the buffalo dance vainly. ”

“ Over the plains and prairies, at other times, swept the Thunder Gods, with their huge jointed wings, darkening all the land, and flashing fire from angry eyes which struck down man and beast. Terrified were the Indians when the Thunder Gods rolled. ”

“ A murderer is never happy after he dies. Ghosts surround him and keep up a constant whistling. He is always hungry, though he eat much food. He is never allowed to go where he pleases, lest high winds arise and sweep down upon the others.
[Pg 117]
TATTOOED GHOSTS Dakota
If a ghost wishes to walk the Ghost Road safely, then during living the person must tattoo himself either in the forehead or on the wrists. An old woman sits in the Ghost Road and she examines each ghost who passes. If she finds the tattoo marks, then the ghost travels on at once to Many Lodges. ”

“ When it is cold, people say, “Waziya has returned.” They used to pray to him, but when they found he paid no attention to him, they ceased to do it.
When warm weather is coming, Waziya wraps himself in a thick robe. But when cold weather is coming, he wears nothing at all. Waziya, the giant god of the north, and Itokaga, the god of the south, are ever battling. Each in turn wins the victory.
[Pg 132]
KANSAS BLIZZARDS Kansa
When there is a blizzard, the other Kansa beg the members of the Tcihaci gens to interpose, as they are the Wind People.
They say, “Oh, grandfather, I wish good weather. ”