Ponca Tradition of Finding Horses.

Hi dear friends and folloers

The Ponca are a People who occupied territory in northern Nebraska and southern South Dakota. They spoke a Siouan language and were both farmers and hunters. They lived in sod or earthen lodges and used a teepee when on hunting trips.

Their mythology contained some characters familiar to us: A Creator; a trickster who is the fallen son of a deity; the rabbit; the coyote, and the fox. I am sure that there are others, like the crow and the magpie, but I have not researched their place in the legends.

The story that follows is the

Ponca Tradition of Finding Horses.
Long ago, the people followed the Missouri River northward to a place where they could step over the water. Then they turned, and were going across the land. Then they met the Padouca [Comanche].

At that time the Ponca had no animals but dogs to help them carry burdens. Wherever they went they had to go on foot, but the people were strong and fleet. They could run a great distance and not be weary.
One day when they were hunting buffalo, they met the Padouca. Then they had many battles with them. The Padouca were mounted on strange animals. At first the Ponca thought it was all one animal.

The Padouca had bows made from elk horn. They were not very long, nor were they very strong. They boiled the horn until it was soft; then they scraped it, and bound it together with sinews and glue. Their arrows were tipped with bone. They fought also with a stone battle-ax. The handle was a sapling; a grooved stone ax head, pointed at both ends, was fastened to this with rawhides.

So the Padouca were terrible fighters. They protected their horses with a covering of thick rawhide cut in round pieces, and put together like fish scales. They spread glue over the outside and then sand. So when the Comanches fought, the arrows of their enemies glanced off the horses' armor. Then the Padouca made breastplates for themselves like those of the horses.

When the Ponca met these terrible warriors, they were afraid. They thought man and horse were one. They named it "Kawa" because they noticed the odor of the horse. Then they knew by this odor when the Padouca were coming. When a man smelled the horses, he would run to the camp and say, "The wind tells us the Kawa are coming." Then the Ponca would make ready to defend themselves.

The Ponca had many battles with the Comanches. They did not know how to use the animals, so they killed the horses as well as the men. Neither could they find out where the Padouca lived.

One day the two tribes had a great battle. The people fought all day. Sometimes the Ponca were driven back, sometimes the Padouca. Then at last a Ponca shot a Padouca so that he fell from his horse. Then the battle ceased. After this, one of the Padouca came toward the Ponca and said in plain Ponca,

"Who are you? What do you call yourselves?"

The Ponca replied, "We call ourselves Ponca. You speak our language, are you of our tribe?"

The other said, "No. I speak your language as a gift from a Ponca spirit. One day I lay on a Ponca grave after a battle. Then a man rose from the grave and spoke to me. So I know your language."

Then it was agreed to make peace. The tribes visited each other. The Ponca traded their bows and arrows for horses. They knew where the Padouca lived. Then the Padouca taught the Ponca how to ride, and how to put burdens on the horses.

When the Ponca had learned how to ride, and had horses, they went to war again. They attacked the Padouca in their own village. They attacked them so many times and stole so many of their horses that at last the Padouca fled. We do not know where they went. The Ponca followed the Platte River toward the rising sun; then they came back to the Missouri, and they brought their horses with them.

Thank you again for dropping by and taking a few minutes to read the Native American Legends and myths I would appreciate knowing what your thoughts are on it. Have a wonderful week.

✿ڰۣ❤In Loving Light from the Fairy Lady❤ڰۣ✿

Three stories from the Soux

Three stories from the Soux

Hi dear friends and followers.

North Dakota is the ancestral home of more than one Sioux Peoples: the Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota. They are related by language, customs, and political alliances.

The Sioux lived on the Great Plains and were hunters that followed the buffalo and other animals in their annual migrations. This lifestyle made them rather nomadic in comparison to successful farmers, like the Iroquois or the Powhatan, who cultivated the land and hunted or fished when game was in-season.

The stories presented here are taken from Myths and Legends of the Sioux by Marie L. McLaughlin, published in 1916. To the best of my knowledge the copyright of this work has expired.

A brief note concerning the mention of the Arikara People in the first line of the story of the Forgotten Ear of Corn: During the sedentary seasons, the Arikara lived primarily in villages of earth lodges. While traveling or during the seasonal bison hunts, they erected portable tipis as temporary shelter. They were primarily an agricultural society, whose women cultivated varieties of corn (or maize). The crop was such an important staple of their society that it was referred to as "Mother Corn".

THE FORGOTTEN EAR OF CORN

An Arikara woman was once gathering corn from the field to store away for winter use. She passed from stalk to stalk, tearing off the ears and dropping them into her folded robe. When all was gathered she started to go, when she heard a faint voice, like a child's, weeping and calling:

"Oh, do not leave me! Do not go away without me."

The woman was astonished. "What child can that be?" she asked herself. "What babe can be lost in the cornfield?"

She set down her robe in which she had tied up her corn, and went back to search; but she found nothing.

As she started away she heard the voice again:

"Oh, do not leave me. Do not go away without me."

She searched for a long time. At last in one corner of the field, hidden under the leaves of the stalks, she found one little ear of corn. This it was that had been crying, and this is why all Indian women have since garnered their corn crop very carefully, so that the succulent food product should not even to the last small nubbin be neglected or wasted, and thus displease the Great Mystery.


THE LITTLE MICE

Once upon a time a prairie mouse busied herself all fall storing away a cache of beans. Every morning she was out early with her empty cast-off snake skin, which she filled with ground beans and dragged home with her teeth.

The little mouse had a cousin who was fond of dancing and talk, but who did not like to work. She was not careful to get her cache of beans and the season was already well gone before she thought to bestir herself. When she came to realize her need, she found she had no packing bag. So she went to her hardworking cousin and said:

"Cousin, I have no beans stored for winter and the season is nearly gone. But I have no snake skin to gather the beans in. Will you lend me one?"

"But why have you no packing bag? Where were you in the moon when the snakes cast off their skins?"

"I was here."

"What were you doing?"

"I was busy talking and dancing."

"And now you are punished," said the other. "It is always so with lazy, careless people. But I will let you have the snake skin. And now go, and by hard work and industry, try to recover your wasted time."


THE PET RABBIT

A little girl owned a pet rabbit which she loved dearly. She carried it on her back like a babe, made for it a little pair of moccasins, and at night shared with it her own robe.

Now the little girl had a cousin who loved her very dearly and wished to do her honor; so her cousin said to herself:

"I love my little cousin well and will ask her to let me carry her pet rabbit around;" (for thus do Indian women when they wish to honor a friend; they ask permission to carry about the friend's babe).

She then went to the little girl and said:

"Cousin, let me carry your pet rabbit about on my back. Thus shall I show you how I love you."

Her mother, too, said to her: "Oh no, do not let our little grandchild go away from our tepee."

But the cousin answered: "Oh, do let me carry it. I do so want to show my cousin honor." At last they let her go away with the pet rabbit on her back.

When the little girl's cousin came home to her tepee, some rough boys who were playing about began to make sport of her. To tease the little girl they threw stones and sticks at the pet rabbit. At last a stick struck the little rabbit upon the head and killed it.

When her pet was brought home dead, the little rabbit's adopted mother wept bitterly. She cut off her hair for mourning and all her little girl friends wailed with her. Her mother, too, mourned with them.

"Alas!" they cried, "alas, for the little rabbit. He was always kind and gentle. Now your child is dead and you will be lonesome."

The little girl's mother called in her little friends and made a great mourning feast for the little rabbit. As he lay in the tepee his adopted mother's little friends brought many precious things and covered his body. At the feast were given away robes and kettles and blankets and knives and great wealth in honor of the little rabbit. Him they wrapped in a robe with his little moccasins on and buried him in a high place upon a scaffold.

Thank you again for dropping by and taking a few minutes to read the Native American Legends and myths I would appreciate knowing what your thoughts are on it. Thank you and have a wonderful Saturday.

✿ڰۣ❤In Loving Light from the Fairy Lady❤ڰۣ✿

It's Frizzy Lizzy time

Hi dear friends and followers, today is Saturday, Happy Saturday and today is also Frizzy Lizzy day. 

Hi, Judy! How are things with you? Nice of you to drop-in.! Sure, there's coffee, and I have some good fruitcake to share with you. No, not the kind you get at the mall from the Rotary Club. No, I made this in September, just when it started to get cool, and it's been in a rum-soaked towel for 9 weeks. Sort of reminds me of Charley during Christmas party season!

So what do you think of the Christmas lights? No, I didn't get up on a ladder to put them on the rain pipes, Peter Pan was in the neighborhood and he helped out. No, that's not what I call Charley these days.

I must give credit where ti is due. He worked hard to get everything done well. He's like that sometimes. When it comes to grilling a steak over the charcoal, or making a pot of Texas red chili, he's a perfectionist, and this year he surprised me with these Christmas lights. What do you mean, how and what kind of surprise? Let me tell you.

It all started about six years ago on a Saturday in December. It was a day with brilliant sun and a little wind, but it was cold. Colder than a banker's heart. I had just moved into this house and Charley and I wanted to decorate for Christmas. Let me tell you, nothing worked except Charley and I.

We started that morning with something easy. I had a bunch of candy canes to put into the ground along the sidewalk between the street and the front porch. I even got a stop sign that asked Santa Claus to stop at this house because a good girl lives there. Well, I might have well asked to dig the Erie Canal that day.

Charley took the sign and a hammer and he set the sign right where I asked him to set it. He brought the hammer way back and prepared to give the signpost a good whack and he hit it for all he was worth. It was a pointed, wooded stake that the sign was on. Well, you would think that the ground was made out of rubber because that post just bounced off! That ground had frozen just enough to be a pain-in-the-ass! And it broke the end of the signpost, too.

Now Charley could sense my disappointment so he came up with a way to dig a hole: he got a pot of hot water and had me pour it on the ground and moved like a man on fire to start a hole while the ground was soft. Problem solved, The sign went into the ground and we both went into the house for a little drink, me a coffee with Irish cream, and Charlie a shot of Canadian Club.

Now we have all of these plastic candy canes to put along the path. 16 candy canes. 16 little holes, Solidly frozen ground, and Charley warmed by a good belt of 12-year-old whiskey.

He walks over to the path and lays the candy canes on the ground beside the path, spaced so evenly you would think that he measured them with a ruler. So far, so good. Then he walks away to his noisy old diesel truck and starts to rummage through the toolbox. I'm wondering what in the hell is he up to. Is he fixing his truck or lost in space? I hear nothing, not even any cussing, so I go back to my work in the kitchen.

The next thing I hear is this electric motor outside. I go to the window to see a genius at work!

From the toolbox on the back of his truck Charley took the biggest electric drill that I have ever seen and he was kneeling on a pad and drilling holes in the ground, one for each candy cane! I am flabbergasted! He was drilling holes 3 cm deep for each candy cane!

So he gets the holes drilled, sets the candy canes in them, and they are a little loose. I'm thinking to myself, "Well, Charley's a little loose, so what can I expect?" He puts the drill away and comes in the house for another shot of Canadian Club and to warm his hands, which by now are getting stiff.

We're standing by the window, looking at the somewhat-crooked candy canes and I ask Charley if he has a solution. I should have known better. He did. We had a bunch of fat-wood sticks that we used as kindling in the fireplace. He took a handful of them and a hammer and put one in every hole and all of the candy canes stood up straight!

Time for another shot of whiskey for him and a vodka martini for me. After all, it was getting into the afternoon and it surely was cocktail hour somewhere!

The shrubs in front of the house needed lights put on them. Charley had that one figured out perfectly. How that man could come up with such ideas after 3 or 4 shots of whiskey is beyond me. He just took a zip tie and fastened one end to the top corner of the bushes and strung the lights across and down. Now I didn't see anyone else in the house or the yard that day but Lady Luck must have been working outside with him because it only took him an hour or so to get those lights evenly on the bushes. He called me out to look at them as he tested them and they looked like they grew there.

And we had another drink, you know, to fend off the cold, because it was getting into the late afternoon already.

Well, the rest was easier said than done. That wind came up and it froze poor Charley's hands so badly that he could hardly hold onto his tools. No amount of whiskey could fix that. And that was the real test of what that man was made of.

He managed to fasten lights on both of the wrought-iron stair railings and around the front door frame. Then he plugged them into an outlet and put a box on it so it would turn the lights on automatically at sunset and turn them off at midnight! Clever guy, my Charley!

By that time his face was as red as a lobster from being in the cold and the wind and his poor hands could barely close. But I had a cure for him. I had a double shot of Canadian Club ready as soon as he got his jacket off, followed by basin filled with lukewarm water at the kitchen table for his hands. I put a fresh pair of woolly socks on his feet and he sat there like the Prince of Wales while I made him a fresh pot of coffee. Then we enjoyed some beef stew with fresh-baked rolls.

He loved all of the attention. And he deserved it, too. And I was glad to share it with him.

He has his days and his ways, but don't all of us? All things considered, I am lucky to have him in my life. Now his family is a different story, but Charley - he's OK with me.

Thank you again for dropping by and taking a few minutes to read the life and time of Frizzy Lizzy. I would appreciate knowing what your thoughts are on it. Thank you and have a wonderful Saturday.

✿ڰۣ❤In Loving Light from the Fairy Lady❤ڰۣ✿

THE OSAGE STORY OF CREATION

Hi dear friends and followers, today we follow the legends of the Osage

The Osage People resided in the Missouri Territory. The Osage Nation is a Midwestern Native American Siouan-speaking tribe in the United States that originated in the Ohio River valley in present-day Kentucky.

After years of war with the invading Iroquois, by the mid-17th century, the Osage migrated with other Siouan tribes west of the Mississippi River to their historic lands in present-day Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, andOklahoma. At the height of their power in the early 18th century, the Osage had become the dominant power in their region, controlling the area between the Missouri and Red rivers.

THE OSAGE STORY OF CREATION

Way beyond, once upon a time, some of the Osages lived in the sky. They did not know where they came from, so they went to Sun. They said, “From where did we come?”

He said, “You are my children.”

Then they wandered still further and came to Moon.

Moon said, “I am your mother; Sun is your father. You must go away from here. You must go down to the earth and live there.”

So they came to the earth but found it covered with water. They could not return up above. They wept, but no answer came to them. They floated about in the air, seeking help from some god; but they found none.

Now all the animals were with them. Elk was the finest and most stately. They all trusted Elk. So they called to Elk, “Help us.”

Then Elk dropped into the water and began to sink. Then he called to the winds. The winds came from all sides and they blew until the waters went upwards, as in a mist. Now before that the winds had traveled in only two directions; they went from north to south and from south to north. But when Elk called to them, they came from the east, from the north, from the west, and from the south. They met at a central place; then they carried the waters upwards.

Now at first the people could see only the rocks. So they traveled on the rocky places. But nothing grew there and there was nothing to eat. Then the waters continued to vanish. At last the people could see the soft earth.

When Elk saw the earth, he was so joyous, he rolled over and over on the earth. Then all the loose hairs clung to the soil. So the hairs grew, and from them sprang beans, corn, potatoes, and wild turnips, and at last all the grasses and trees.

Now the people wandered over the land. They found human footsteps. They followed them. They joined with them, and traveled with them in search of food.


THE ANCESTORS OF PEOPLE

There are people who come from under the water. They lived in the water weeds that hang down, all green, into the water. They have leaves upon their stems.

Now the water people lived in shells. The shells were their houses and kept the water out.

There were other animals who lived under the earth. Cougar lived under the earth, and bear, and buffalo. These creatures came up out of the ground.

Then the shell people came up to the earth also; and the sky people came down. So all these three peoples lived together. They are the fathers of the people who live on the earth today.

Thank you again for dropping by and taking a few minutes to read some Osage legends. I would appreciate knowing what your thoughts are on it. Thank you and have a wonderful Saturday.

✿ڰۣ❤In Loving Light from the Fairy Lady❤ڰۣ✿

Some Adventures of Ictinike

Hi dear friends and followers

The next state going south from Minnesota is Iowa, home of the Ioway, Dakota Sioux, Illini, Otoe, and Missouria Native American Peoples. As the state takes its name from the Ioway, we will look at Ioway legends.

I wish that I could take credit for finding these legends myself but such credit must be given to those who had the presence of mind to record them over the years, and to "Myths and Legends of the North American Indians", by Lewis Spence, published by David D. Nickerson & Company. This book is long out of print and the publisher is defunct. To the best of my knowledge the copyright has expired.

Some Adventures of Ictinike
Many tales are told by the Ioway regarding Ictinike, the son of the sun-god, who had offended his father, and was consequently expelled from the celestial regions. He possesses a very bad reputation among the Native peoples for deceit and trickery. They say that he taught them all the evil things they know, and they seem to regard him as a Father of Lies. The Omahas state that he gave them their war-customs, and for one reason or another they appear to look upon him as a species of war-god. A series of myths recount his adventures with several inhabitants of the wild. The first of these is as follows:

One day Ictinike encountered the Rabbit, and hailed him in a friendly manner, calling him 'grandchild', and requesting him to do him a service. The Rabbit expressed his willingness to assist the god to the best of his ability, and inquired what he wished him to do.

"Oh, grandchild," said the crafty one, pointing upward to where a bird circled in the blue vault above them, "take your bow and arrow and bring down yonder bird."

The Rabbit fitted an arrow to his bow, and the shaft transfixed the bird, which fell like a stone and lodged in the branches of a great tree.

"Now, grandchild," said Ictinike, "go into the tree and fetch me the game."

This, however, the Rabbit at first refused to do, but at length he took off his clothes and climbed into the tree, where he stuck fast among the torturous branches.

Ictinike, seeing that he could not make his way down, donned the unfortunate Rabbit's garments, and, highly amused at the animal's predicament, betook himself to the nearest village. There he encountered a chief who had two beautiful daughters, the elder of whom he married.

The younger daughter, regarding this as an affront to her personal attractions, wandered off into the forest in a fit of the sulks. As she paced angrily up and down she heard some one calling to her from above, and, looking upward, she beheld the unfortunate Rabbit, whose fur was adhering to the natural gum which exuded from the bark of the tree.

The girl cut down the tree and lit a fire near it, which melted the gum and freed the Rabbit. The Rabbit and the chief's daughter compared notes, and discovered that the being who had tricked the one and affronted the other was the same. Together they proceeded to the chief's lodge, where the girl was laughed at because of the strange companion she had brought with her.

Suddenly an eagle appeared in the air above them. Ictinike shot at and missed it, but the Rabbit loosed an arrow with great force and brought it to earth. Each morning a feather of the bird became another eagle, and each morning Ictinike shot at and missed the newly created bird, which the Rabbit invariably succeeded in killing. This went on until Ictinike had quite worn out the Rabbit's clothing and was wearing a very old piece of tent skin; but the Rabbit returned to him the garments he had been forced to don when Ictinike had stolen his.

Then the Rabbit commanded the people to beat the drums, and each time they were beaten Ictinike jumped so high that every bone in his body was broken. At length, after a more than usually loud series of beats, he leaped to such a height that when he came down it was found that the fall had broken his neck. The Rabbit was avenged.

Ictinike and the Creators

One day Ictinike, footsore and weary, encountered a buzzard, which he asked to oblige him by carrying him on its back part of the way. The crafty bird immediately consented, and, seating Ictinike between its wings, flew off with him.

They had not gone far when they passed above a hollow tree, and Ictinike began to shift uneasily in his seat as he observed the buzzard hovering over it. He requested the bird to fly onward, but for answer it cast him headlong into the tree-trunk, where he found himself a prisoner.

For a long time he lay there in want and wretchedness, until at last a large hunting-party struck camp at the spot. Ictinike chanced to be wearing some raccoon skins, and he thrust the tails of these through the cracks in the tree. Three women who were standing near imagined that a number of raccoons had become imprisoned in the hollow trunk, and they made a large hole in it for the purpose of capturing them. Ictinike at once emerged, whereupon the women fled.

Ictinike lay on the ground pretending to be dead, and as he was covered with the raccoon-skins the birds of prey, the eagle, the rook, and the magpie, came to devour him. While they pecked at him the buzzard made his appearance for the purpose of joining in the feast, but Ictinike, rising quickly, tore the feathers from its scalp. That is why the buzzard has no feathers in its head.

In the course of time Ictinike married and dwelt in a lodge of his own. One day he intimated to his wife that it was his intention to visit her grandfather, the Beaver.

On arriving at the Beaver's lodge he found that his grandfather-in-law and his family had been without food for a long time, and were slowly dying of starvation. Ashamed at having no food to place before their guest, one of the young beavers offered himself up to provide a meal for Ictinike, and was duly cooked and served to the visitor.

Before Ictinike partook of the dish, however, he was earnestly requested by the Beaver not to break any of the bones of his son, but unwittingly he split one of the toe bones. Having finished his repast, he lay down to rest, and the Beaver gathered the bones and put them in a skin. This he plunged into the river that flowed beside his lodge, and in a moment the young beaver emerged from the water alive.

"How do you feel, my son?" asked the Beaver.

"Alas! father," replied the young beaver, "one of my toes is broken."

From that time every beaver has had one toe--that next to the little one--which looks as if it had been split by biting.

Ictinike shortly after took his leave of the Beavers, and pretended to forget his tobacco-pouch, which he left behind. The Beaver told one of his young ones to run after him with the pouch, but, being aware of Ictinike's treacherous character, he advised his offspring to throw it to the god when at some distance away. The young beaver accordingly took the pouch and hurried after Ictinike, and obeying his father's instruction, was about to throw it to him from a considerable distance when Ictinike called to him: "Come closer, come closer."

The young beaver obeyed, and as Ictinike took the pouch from him he said: "Tell your father that he must visit me."

When the young beaver arrived home he acquainted his father with what had passed, and the Beaver showed signs of great annoyance.

"I knew he would say that," he growled, "and that is why I did not want you to go near him."

But the Beaver could not refuse the invitation, and in due course returned the visit. Ictinike, wishing to pay him a compliment, was about to kill one of his own children wherewith to regale the Beaver, and was slapping it to make it cry in order that he might work himself into a passion sufficiently murderous to enable him to take its life, when the Beaver spoke to him sharply and told him that such a sacrifice was unnecessary. Going down to the stream hard by, the Beaver found a young beaver by the water, which was brought up to the lodge, killed and cooked, and duly eaten.

On another occasion Ictinike announced to his wife his intention of calling upon her grandfather, the Musk-rat. At the Musk-rat's lodge he met with the same tale of starvation as at the home of the Beaver, but the Musk-rat told his wife to fetch some water, put it in the kettle, and hung the kettle over the fire. When the water was boiling the Musk-rat upset the kettle, which was found to be full of wild rice, upon which Ictinike feasted.

As before, he left his tobacco-pouch with his host, and the Musk-rat sent one of his children after him with the article. An invitation for the Musk-rat to visit him resulted, and the call was duly paid.


Ictinike, wishing to display his magical powers, requested his wife to hang a kettle of water over the fire, but, to his chagrin, when the water was boiled and the kettle upset instead of wild rice only water poured out. Thereupon the Musk-rat had the kettle refilled, and produced an abundance of rice, much to Ictinike's annoyance.

Ictinike then called upon his wife's grandfather, the Kingfisher, who, to provide him with food, dived into the river and brought up fish.

Ictinike extended a similar invitation to him, and the visit was duly paid. Desiring to be even with his late host, the god dived into the river in search of fish. He soon found himself in difficulties, however, and if it had not been for the Kingfisher he would most assuredly have been drowned.

Lastly, Ictinike went to visit his wife's grandfather, the Flying Squirrel. The Squirrel climbed to the top of his lodge and brought down a quantity of excellent black walnuts, which Ictinike ate.

When he departed from the Squirrel's house he purposely left one of his gloves, which a small squirrel brought after him, and he sent an invitation by this messenger for the Squirrel to visit him in turn.

Wishing to show his cleverness, Ictinike scrambled to the top of his lodge, but instead of finding any black walnuts there he fell and severely injured himself. Thus his presumption was punished for the fourth time.

The four beings alluded to in this story as the Beaver, Musk-rat, Kingfisher, and Flying Squirrel are four of the creative gods of the Sioux, whom Ictinike evidently could not equal so far as reproductive magic was concerned.

Thank you again for dropping by and taking a few minutes to read Some Adventures of Ictinike. I would appreciate knowing what your thoughts are on it. Thank you and have a wonderful Saturday.

✿ڰۣ❤In Loving Light from the Fairy Lady❤ڰۣ✿