The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-02-11
Row TIE Great Spirit
Gave bor$e$ II The Piegan$
AN INDIAN TRADITION.

- - y - y - , ~ > , y y y y
And it was so and the Great Chief muir
INJURED. Tt is good
Then the buffalo said: on. Great Chief
thy work Is good. but the saddle is bare.
Out of my plenty / give to cover it,
And 1t was so, and the great chief
murmured: 1t is good.
Then the snake said, raising its head
from it's coil: oh, Great Chief. thy work
is good. but the saddle has no straps
Out of my plenty will / give
And it was so, and the Great Chief
murmured; 1t is good
Then the buf1ao said again: There
is no hair rope with which to lead the
horse. Out of my abundance will give
again
And It was so. and the Great Chief
murmured: IT is good
Then the wolf said: oh, Great Chief
thy work is good, but there Is no soft
cover for the saddle. Out Of my plenty
j will give
And It was so. and the Great Chief
murmured: 1t IL so. The horse Is now
complete. Take It, my son. and the
great council was ended.
Then the grandmother turned to the
boy and gave him sack OF pemmican.
saying.
:" My son, treasure this carefully 1t
Is magic sack and will never be empty
though you eat from II all the time
And with this they left him wonder
ing. Then he mounted his mare and
rode to his people, who marveled at the
strange animal The mare soon had a
colt. and then another, and in a short
time there were horses enough to pack
for his uncle's squaw all the lodge skins
and lodge poles from camp to camp. Then
the others became envious and the young
man told the chief his uncle, to take his
people on the morrow 20 the great lake
and that there he would make strong
medicine and perform a miracle. And the
chief did he was told.
I'm the morning the people dug holes
near the edge of the lake and waited,
hiding In them, and then the young man
came riding down from the hills on his
mare, with her many colts following
behind. Calling his uncle he said to him;
Il am going TO leave you. You Will
never see me again. Here is a magic
sack of pemmican. Keep II and you will
never go hungry. l have made strong
medicine and before / go | will make
every living thing in the lake turn into
a horse so that there will be plenty for
your people. Tell them to watch and
when the horses com rushing from the
lake to catch as many of them as they
can. But do you wait and catch none
until my old mare comes from the water;
then do you catch her and her alone.
DO then as tell you an all will be Well
with these words the young man
plunged into the lake and was soon lost
to view in the deep waters. Soon the
surface of the lake began to bubble and
foam and the Indians were frightened
and would have run away had not the
old chief ordered them back to their
posts And In little while horses
heads could be seen on the water the
animals came swimming toward the
shore. There were hundreds and hum
dreds Of them. and as they dashed ur
the bank the Indians sprang out and
captured many of them and many es-
capped and those which got away formed
the wild bands which even today are
found on the wide plains. But the chief
caught none of them until the old mare
came out Of the water, the last to come
from the lake. She he caught while the
people laughed, for the old mare was
aged and feeble, but he answered never
word to their jeering. for he had faith
in his nephew. At night he picketed the
marc near his lodge, and Just as the moon
was coming up over the distant hills the
mare Weighed three times. and out from
the thick brush a thousand colts came
running up. Soon the lodge was sur
rounded and the chief had hundreds and
hundreds of horses and the people no
longer Jeered AT him. for he was richer
and richer than them all
And that was how the Great Spirit
gave his horses to the Piegans."
That IA the tale the chiefs daughter
heard as she crouched I'm the shadow
listening, wondering. awed, the slow
words rolled from the lips OF her father
the wise one, as he sat In the fitful light
of the smouldering lodge fire. repeating
the legend which has passed from father
to son In the tribes of the Blackfeet from
time immemorial.-Anac Standard