The times., 1898-12-05
AN INDIAN ECHO LEGEND.
How the Dakotas Accounted for the
MockinE Voice.
From the Sioux Ciiy Journal.

ago when the prairies of the West were
dotted with buffalo hercs, and when this
broad country had no homes but wig
vans, no people but Indians. The an
swerlng halloo grew fainter and finally
died away. leaving the hunters puzzled
to account for II. They asked their hiefs.
and this is the explanation as the genera
tions of time have, changed il:
Turtle Dove. who lived years ago in
Bears Gulch. in the Black Hills OF the
Dakotas. had one little babe, boy, whom
she called Sage Cock, and a girl of iive
named Oh0teu. II was her custom when
she daily gathered seeds in the valley I"
carry Sage Geek about on her back. as
Indians do, but one day she grew 80 tired
of her burden that she laid Sage Cock,
who was fast asleep, under a sage brush
and told Ohoteu to watch HIM Turtle
Dove went farther and farther down the
gulch, and while she was away an old
witch who had been watching her chance,
came hobbling up.
"Ohoteu is the little boy your orOther?
she asked in a cracked voice, which she
vainly tried to make pleasant. She knew
without asking that 1t was Sage Cock,
but OhOteu, who had been taught that
witches were more likely to carry or
boys than girls, though frightened, en-
swered quickly: No. 1t is my sister
Then the witch. although bad enough her
self, scolded the trembling little maiden
for her lie and changed herself into so
terrible a shape that Ohoteu was so
frightened she could not interfere when
the witch ran of with her little brother,
taking him 10 her home on the side OF a
distant mountain
This old witch was so ugly that no man
would marry her. She had decided that
her only course was to capture husband.
and this was her reason for wanting Sage
Cock. When she reached her cave she be-
gan Transforming the baby into a full
grown man. First she pulled atone limb,
then another, until each was the size of a
mans. Finally Sage Cock, of mans size
and with a mans strength. stood before
her. She at last had a husband. But, in
spite of his size. Sage Cock in his heart
and brain was still baby and apt to do
the same foolish things baby would do.
The witch had to teach him to hunt and
fish and to eat dried buffalo meat, and as
it was long time before his mother
found him he had then learned to shoot
well.
1t was not long after the kidnapping of
Sage Cock before Turtle Dove had all the
seeds she could carry. and. returning 10
the spot where she had left herr children.
she met OhOteu crying and was told what
/ had happened Ohoteu soon had other
reasons for crying
But furnishing the little girl did not les
sen the mothers grief for rne loss of her
( baby. In great sorrow she started imme-
diately on the long. hopeless search for
Sage Cock. Her brother, Eagle, because
ne was a great traveller. offered to aid her
and. by flying very swiftly and without
rest. ne visited great deal OF Territory.
But it was months before he spied the
witch. He did Rot then know that the
man with her was Sage Cock
But when ne told Turtle Dove of what
he had seen she started at once with him
for the witch's mountain, sure that II the
man was her boy transformed by the
wicked magic of the witch he would still
recognize her voice. When the two finally
reached the neighbOrhoOd where the witch
had previously been seen Turtle Dove
climbed into a tree and cried aloud most
mournfulIy. while Eagle, from another
! tree. keenly watched the effect on Sage
l Cock who Immediately recognized the
/ voice and cried repeatedly to the witch:
Il hear my mother, I hear my mother!'
| But the witch only laughed and told him
! to hide in the stomach OF mountain
/ sheep which was lying near. trophy Of
| the boy-man's skill with the bow and ar
I row. Obedient. Sage Cock crawled into
| the sheep so the legend goes, and the
I old witch followed him.
| Turtle and Eagle We're puzzled at the
sudden disappearance of the two, but had
no thought of investigating the interior
workings of the dead mountain sheep, and
I were more wretched in their disappoint-
/ ment than at any time since the long
search had begun. They wandered aim
! lessly about for several days, when Eagle
I decided that the missing pair and par
I ticulariy Sage Cock, who was half a babg
would soon be hungry and would have 10
come out of their hiding for food. He
/ killed a rabbit and hung it at the top of
/ a small pine tree, peeled the tree of its
I bark and limbs that it might be next to
/ impossible TO climb it, and then from the
/ branch of a great tamarack watched de-
velopments.
1t was but few hours before the witch
/ appeared, as Eagle had expected. And
! when she saw the rabbit which was thu
nearest food at hand, she began avn.
wardly climbing the tree. So slow wa
/ she that Eagle. who had seen ner emerge
| from the sheep. had time to pull Sage
| Cock out of the Sleeps paunch and carry
| him OF, while the witch was grunting and
| hugging the tree her eyes fixed on the
( rabbit above. Eagle carried his prize te
| the same spot under the sage bush from
| which Sage Cock was stolen and so soon
| as Sage Cock, now man. touched the
/ earth he was instantly transformed into
/ the same baby he had been when he had
disappeared. As Eagles tracks were
washed out. by transforms. when the witch
/ discovered her loss she was unable to
trace him But she saw some feathers
which she knew were Eagles. and at once
OWNED what had happened.
! She decided 10 go 10 her grandfather. a
| rattlesnake. for protection and for his aid
in avenging herself. The venerable rep
tile, Rattlesnake. with whom she was by
no means popular. was browsing in a
glare of sunshine on a big nat rock, and
veNed that she mad awakened him. he told
her roughly. Go away. l don't want tc
/ see you. But as she stood there plead
ing. Eagle appeared. She was badly
/ frightened. but as she did not lose her
! wits when Rattlesnake cried. Hide.
! hide she jumped right into the old fel
4 lows mouth and slid down to his middle.
/ which gave old Rattlesnake such pain
that he begged the witch to crawl ont and
/ when she refused. in his paroxysms- of
anguish he slipped out of his skin, leaving
the witch within it.
| When Eagle called out Where are you
| old WITCH" in Il threatening tone she an
swered him derisively from her peculiar
| quarters. mocking what he had said A.
! she feared no disturbance in such an
abode, she has lived there ever since. auG
sloryins in her seclusion her voice is often
heard. always deriding and moekins peo-
pie.