The daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1848-1851, 1849-05-28
WABA SHAW: Legend of the Dahcotabs
BY MRS. MARY EASTMAN.

I
most powerful families among the Dahcoahs for
| although chief lives as the meanest of his band
~ thefe is great difference among the families.
| Inc number Of family constitutes its importance ;
Where family Is small a member of it can be in
! ydfeu WIN lille lear OF retaliation; but in a large
| family there are to be found some who will
| not let an insult pass without revenge Sacred
Winds father was living; Il salwart old warrior.
| slightly bent with the weight of wears Though
| ms face was literally scanned with wrinkles he
| could endure fatigue, or face danger, with the
| youngest and hardest of the band.
Her mother iearfuy ugly old creature, still
mended moccasins and scolded; bidding fair to
| keep up both trades for years to come Then there
! were tall brothers, Drawing hardshps and danger,
! as If a Dahcotah was only born To be scaped, or
| 10 scalp; ucles cousins, too there were in abun-
| dance, SO that Sacred Wind did belong to a pow
| erful family.
Now, among the Dahcotahs, a cousin is looked
upon as a brother girl would as soon think Of
marrying her grandfather, a cousin. | mean All
ordinary girl, but Sacred Wind was not of that
stamp; she was destined 10 be heroine She had
many lovers, who wore themselves OUT playing the
hue, TO as little purpose they braided their hair
and painted their faces. Sacred Wind did not love
| one of rhem.
| Her mother was always trying to induce her to
| accept some one of her lovers urging the advanta-
GEES of each match but it would not do. The girl
was eighteen years old, and not yet wife though
most of the Dahcotah women mothers long be-
fore that
Her friends could not imagine why she did not
marry They Were wearied with arguing with
her; but not one OF them ever suspected the cause
of her seeming GOODNESS of heart.
Her grandmother was particularly ofhcious
She could not do as Sacred Wind wished her-at-
tend to her affairs, for she had none to attend
to; and grandmOthers among the Sioux, are as
loving and devoted as they are among white people ;
consequently, the old lady beset the unfortunate
| girl, day and night, about her obstinacy.
M hoo sc l.
! said, and besides, who will kill game for You
| when you are old Il, The Bear has been TO the
| traders; he has bought many things, which he
offers your parents for you; marry him. and then
! you will make your old grandmother happy"
!" will kill myself she replied, 81 if you ask
me to marry the Bear. Have you forgotten the
Nladen's Rock There are more high rocks than
one the banks of the Mississippi, and my heart
is as strong as Wenona's. If you torment me so,
! to marry the Bear, will do as she did-in the
| house of spirits shall have no more trouble
This threat silenced the grandmother for the
| time. But young girl who had been sitting with
them, and listening TO the conversation, to go
| out; and as she passed Sacred Wind, she whis
pered in her ear, Tell her why you will not marry
the Bear; tell her that Sacred Wind loves her
cousin and that last night she promised him she
never would marry any one but him"
Had she been struck 10 the earth she could not
have been paer She thought her secret was hid
in her own heart. She had tried to cease thinking
ing to find true what she only suspected She did
| not dare acknowledge even to herself that she
| loved cousin.
But wheu the Shield gave her his handsomest
trinkets when he followed her when she left her
laughing and noisy companions TO sit beside the
still waters-when he told her that she was the
| most beautiful girl among the Dahcotahs-when
he whispered her that he loved her dearly; and
would marry her in spite of mothers, grandmOthers,
customs, and religion too-then she found that her
L.. Ill hat
she would gladly die with hm-she could never
live without him.
But still, she would not promise TO marry him.
What would her friends say and the spirits of the
dead would torment her, for infringing upon the
sacred customs of her tribe. The Shield used
many arguments but all in vain. She told him
she was afraid to marry him, but that she would
never marry any one else. Sooner should the
waves to beat against the shores Of the spirit
lakes, than she forget To think of him.
But this did not satisfy her cousin. He was de-
termined she should be his wife: he trusted to
time and his irresistible person to overcome her
fears.
The Shields name was given to him by his
fathers friends Shields formerly used by
the Sioux; and the Eyanktons and Sssetons still
use them. They are made of bufialoskin, of a
circular FORM and are used as a protection against
the arrows of their enemies.
'sIou need not fear your family, Sacred Wind"
said her cousin, " nor the medicine men, the
lagos, and when we are married we VIII come
back Let them be angry, will stand between
you and them, even my fathers shield did be-
tween him and the foe that sought his life.
But she firm, and promised nothing more
than that she would not marry the Bear, or any
else and they returned to her fathers teepee,
little thinking that any one had overheard their
conversation. But the Sc Swan " had heard every
word of il.
She loved the Shield, and she had seen HIM fol-
low his cousin. After hearing enough to know
that her case was hopeless one, she made up her
mind to make Sacred Wind pay dearly for the love
which she herself could not obtain.
She did not at once tell the news. She wanted
10 amuse herself with her victim before she de-
stroyed her and she had hardly yet made up her
mind as to the way which she would take to IN
form the family Of Sacred Wind of the secret she
had found out.
But she could not resist the temptation of whis-
pering to Sacred Wind her knowledge of the true
reason why she would not marry the Bear. This
was the first blow, and it struck the heart it made
a wound which was long kept upon by the watch
ful eye of jealousy.
The grand mother, however, did not hear the
remark if she had she would not have set still
smoking-not she she would have trembed with
rage that DahcOah Maiden and her grand child
should be guilty of the enormous crime OF loving
cousin. An eruption of Vesuvius would have
given but faint idea of her fury.
Most fortunately for herself, the venerable OLD
medicine woman died few days alter Had She
lived to know of the fatal passion OF her grand
daughter, she would have Ionged to seize the thnn-
derbolts of Jupiter tif she had been aware OF their
existence to hur at the offenders; or IKE Mode,
have Wepi herself TO sione
Indeed the cause of her death showed that she
could not bear contradiction. So
There was party formed 10 attack the
Chippeways and the 9 Eag lie that Screams she
Flies for that was the name Of Sacred Winds
grand mother wanted to go along
She wished TO mutilate the bodies after they
were scalped Yes though near ninety years old,
she would go through all the fatigues of march
of three hundred miles, and think it nothing, if she
could be repaid by tearing the heart from one Chip
peway child.
There were, however, two old squaws who had
applied first, and the Screaming Eagle was rejected
There were no bounds to her passion. She at
tempted to hang herself and was cut down; she
made the village resound with her lamentations;
she called upon all the spirits OF the lakes rivers
and prairies, to torment the war party nothing
would pacify her. Two days after the war party
left the Eagle that Screams she Flies expired IN