Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1907-03-07
AN OLD INDIAN STORY.
The Legend of the Love Traqedy
of Medicine Bluff.
FATE OF TWO KIOWA BRAVES.

The Proof of Daring and Test of Love
Demanded by the Beautiful Maiden,
Laughing Moonbeam-A Wild and
Fearless Leap Into Eternity.
In days gone by-so runs a legend
old as the hills that gave it birth, sor-
rowful as the fate of the people about
which it tells-there dwelt in the Wich-
ita mountains an old Indian chief of
the Kiowa tribe, renowned as a war
rior, revered as a ruler.
With him in his wigwam of dressed
buffalo hides, twenty all told, for he
was a mighty chieftain, lived the
young Laughing Moonbeam, his daugh-
ter, a maiden as renowned for beauty
as was the illustrious warrior who
gave her birth for proves in battle.
Her smile was the guerdon, her hand
the prize, for which all the young
braves of her tribe as we'll as those
Of n%eighboring tribes strove in friend
ly bout and deadly battle. But
Laughing Moonbeam had eyes but for
two, and yet could not decide between
her faithful lovers-tall Delos and
brave Belo, both of royal stock, both
we'll favored. Finally the perplexed
princess of the plains put an end to
perplexity and suspense by setting for
her eager lovers a task.
This task was truly a proof of bray
cry and a test of love. Upon a certain
day the young men were to mount
their ponies and, riding at full tilt to
the top of a high bluff. leap to the
plains below, he who survived the ter
rible leap Of many hundred feet to be
given to the princess in marriage.
At this point a brief description of
the bluff, which is itself a part Of this
quaint legend, will not come amiss.
This particular peak Of the Wichita
mountains is known in redskin annals
as Medicine bluff, from the fact that
the mysterious medicine men were
wont to meet upon its summit and
there concoct their potent charms
making medicine and Matching evil
midnight plots upon the haunted noun
tain top, for the bluff itself bore an
unsavory reputation among the red
skins. 1t is of an exceedingly peculiar
formation, having the appearance of
being cut clearly in two from apex to
base, the Kiowas believing that the
missing half was spirited away in the
night by the emissaries of the evil one.
The legend further states that upon
the day set for the task, the day when
half a score of foolish young braves
We're to ride to their death at the bid
ding of a mere squaw-so said the old
men of the tribe contemptuously-the
whole tribe, with many from the neigh
boring tribes, gathered at the foot of
Medicine bluff to await the outcome.
"They come! See, Belo, the brave.
leads" cried an old medicine man.
pointing across the prairies. Proudly
the young braves came on, the morn
ing sunlight flashing back from their
glittering, snow white robes of dressed
deerskin adorned with myriads of bril-
liantly colored glass beads, elk teeth
and sweeping deerskin fringe. Eagle
plumes topped all this barbaric splen-
dor, trailing out far behind in the brisk
prairie breeze.
A sigh of mingled admiration and
sorrow went up from the multitude as
the young braves, the flower of the
tribe, began to mount the menacing
bluff. Swiftly the sturdy little ponies
took the trail upward, the watchers be-
low waiting spellbound for the crucial
moment. The princess, Laughing Moon
beam, standing beside the tall old war
rior chieftain, looked calmly, proudly
upward, her glance resting but a mo
ment upon the cheering crowd.
"See, only Belo II Delos have
reached the top" some Il shouted eX-
citedly. Too true, the other youths,
faint hearted, perhaps, or their reason
returning in the face of such a fool
hardy casting away of human and
brute life, were slowly coming down
the rugged mountain trail, leaving the
two determined suitors poised on the
brink of the bluff.
A moment horses and riders stood
outlined against the vivid blue like two
great uncouth birds poised for flight.
The shuddering multitude below turn
ed away sickened, and women shrieked
as the brave little ponies took the leap.
Horses and riders turned in the air.
then crashed with mighty shock upon
the cruel stoE<s at the foot of the
bluff, a sight that made strong men
weep and curse and cry aloud at the
pity of it all. The senseless form of
Laughing Moonbeam-husbandless for
all time, for the happy hunting grounds
claimed the spirits Of her dead lovers
was borne from the scene in the arms
Of the weeping old warrior chief. The
squaws, with barred breasts, gathered
about the dead bodies and commenced
to wall the death dirge Of the Kiowas,
slashing their naked breasts and arms
the while with sharp hunting knives.
And today Medicine bluff towers Sc
renely above the beautiful little creek
Of the same name that ripples along at
its foot, forgetful of the sad scene
once mirrored in it's liquid breast