The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1899-02-13
LEGEND OF THE ECHO
A QUAINT INDIAN STORY or HOW IT
ORIGINATED.
How the Red skinned Dakota Hunts
men Accounted For the MocAtne.
Answering Voice That Grew Faint
cr ana Fainter.

men Accounted For the H"f~'"s'
Answering Voice That Grew Faint
er ana Fainter.
The whoop of the red skinned huntsmen
was answered i'm rayincs and canyons long
ago, when. the prliries Of tho west were
dotted with buffalo herds. and when this
broad country had no homes but wig
vans no people butt Indians. The an
swcrlng halloo- grew fainter, and finally
died away, leaving the hunters puzzled To
account for IL. They asked their chiefs,
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 HIS or tho
Dakotas, had one little babe, a boy whom
she called Sage Cock, and girl OF
named Ohoteu. 1t was her custom when
she daily gathered seeds in the valley To
carry Sage Cock about on her beck, as IN
dians do but one day she grew 50 tired of
her burden that She laid sage Cock, who
was fast asleep, under "a sagebush and told
Ohotcu 20 watch him Turtle Dove went
farther and farther down the gulch, and
while she was away an old witch came hob
bling up.
'Ohotcu, is the little boy your brothcrg"
she asked. She knew without asking that
il was Sage Cook, but Ohotcu, who had
been taught that witches were more likely
10 carry OH boys than girls, though fright
encd, answered quickly, mo, it is my
sister" Then the witch, although bad
enough herself. scoldcd the trembling lit
tie maidcn for her lie and changed herself
into so terrible "a shape that Ohotou was
so frightened she could not interfere when
the witch ran off with her little brother,
taking him 20 her home on the side Of u
distant mountain.
This old witch was so ugly that no man
would marry her She had decided that
her only course was 10 capture "a husband
and this was her reason for wanting Sage
Cock When she reached her cave, she
began transforming the baby into n full
grown man First she pulled at one limb,
then another, until each was the size of n
mans Finally Sage Cock. of u mans
size and with a mans strength stood be
fore her She az last had husband. But
i'm spite of his size Sage Cock in his heart
and brain was still baby and apt To do
the same foolEh things baby would do.
The witch had to teach him To hunt and
fish and 10 eat dried buffalo meat
Ii was not long after the kidnapping Of
Sage Cock before Turtle Dove had all the
seeds locould carry, and returning 10 the
spot whore she had left her children she
met Ohotcu crying, and was told what
had happened.
In great sorrow. the mother started i'm
mediately ON the long, hopeless search for
Sage Cock Her brother Eagle because
he was a great traveller, offered 20 aid her,
and. by flying very swiftly and without
rest, he visited n great deal of territory.
But it was months before he spied the
witch. He did not then know that the
man with her was Sage Cock
But when he told Turtle Dove of what
he had seen she started at once with him
for the witch's mountain, sure that If the
man was her 10y Transformed by the
wicked magic OF the witch he would still
recognize her voice. When the two finally
reached the ncighborhood where the witch
had previously been seen Turtle Dove
climbed into a tree and cried aloud most
mournfully, while Eagle, from another
tree, keenly watched the effect on Sage
Cock who Immediately recognized the
voice and cried repeatedly To the witch, II
hear my motherl hear my motherl" But
the witch only laughed and told him to
hide in the stomach of II mountain sheep
which was lying near, "A trophy of the boy
mans skill with the bow and arrow.
Obcdlent, Sage Cock crawled into the
sheep and the old witch followed him.
Turtle and Eagle were puzzled at the
| sudden disappearance Of the two, but had
| no thought of investigating the interior
| workings of the dead mountain sheep.
! They wandered aimlessly about for several
days, when Eagle decided that the missing
! pair, and particularly sage Cock, who was
! half baby, would soon DE so hungry they
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 bark and limbs that it might be
next To impossible TO climb it, and then
| from the branch of n great tamarack he
! watched developments.
! II was but few hours before the witch
appeared as Eagle had expected. And
/ when she saw the rabbit, which was the
nearest food at hand she began awkward
I ly climbing the tree. So slow was she that
! Eagle, who had seen her emerge from the
sheep, had time to pull sage Cock out Of
the Sleeps paunch and carry him of, ,
while tho witch was grunting and hug
| ging the tree, her eyes fixed on the rabbit
| above Eagle carried his prizc TO the same
! spot under the sagCbush from which sage
/ Cock was stolcn and so sOOn as Sage Cock
now a man, touched the earth he was in
! stantly transformed into the same baby he
| had been when nc had disappeared. AS
! Eagles tracks were washed out by rain
/ storms, when the witch discovered her loss
She was unable 20 trace him. But she saw
some feathers which she knew were Ea-
/ giles, and at once OWNED what had hap
pened.
She decided To go 10 her grandfather, n
rattlcsnakc, for protection and for his aid
IN avcngng herself 'Ine venerable rep
tile, Rattlesnako, with whom she was by
no means popular, was browsing in n
I glare Of sunshine on a big fat rock, and,
/ vcxcd that she had awakened him, he told
3 her roughly, "Go away; l don't want to
SEQ you But as she stood there pleading
/ Eagle appeared. She was lAdly frighten-
/ cd. but AZ she did not lose her wits when
/ Rattlesnako cried, Hide, hidel" she
/ jumped right into the old fellows mouth
/ and slid down To his middle, which gave
old Rattlcsnakc such pain that nc begged
/ the witch to crawl out, and when she re-
| fused, In his paruxysms OF anguish he
Slipped out OF his skin, leaving the witch
! within il.