The Feast of the Virgins and Other Poems Part 45

Faith how in the divil d'ye think Oi can tell Till Oi hear the ividince?"

Pat reckoned well; For the witness was sworn and the facts he revealed-- How Pat stole the piggy and how the pig squealed, Whose piggy the pig was and what he was worth, And the slits in his ears and his tail and--so forth; But he never once said, 'in the county of Meath,'[CX]

So Pat he escaped by the skin of his teeth.

[CX] In criminal cases it is necessary to prove that the crime was committed in the county where the venue is laid.

NOTES

[1] Called in the Dakota tongue "_Hok-see-win-na-pee Wo-han-pee_"--Virgins' Dance (or Feast).

[2] One of the favorite and most exciting games of the Dakotas is ball-playing. A smooth place on the prairie, or in winter, on a frozen lake or river, is chosen. Each player has a sort of bat, called "_Ta-kee-cha-pse-cha_," about thirty-two inches long, with a hoop at the lower end four or five inches in diameter, interlaced with thongs of deer-skin, forming a sort of pocket. With these bats they catch and throw the ball. Stakes are set as bounds at a considerable distance from the center on either side. Two parties are then formed and each chooses a leader or chief. The ball (_Tapa_) is then thrown up half way between the bounds, and the game begins, the contestants contending with their bats for the ball as it falls. When one succeeds in getting it fairly into the pocket of his bat he swings it aloft and throws it as far as he can toward the bound to which his party is working, taking care to send it if possible where some of his own side will take it up. Thus the ball is thrown and contended for till one party succeeds in casting it beyond the bounds of the opposite party. A hundred players on a side are sometimes engaged in this exciting game. Betting on the result often runs high. Moccasins, pipes, knives, hatchets, blankets, robes and guns are hung on the prize-pole. Not unfrequently horses are staked on the issue and sometimes even women. Old men and mothers are among the spectators, praising their swift-footed sons, and young wives and maidens are there to stimulate their husbands and lovers. This game is not confined to the warriors but is also a favorite amus.e.m.e.nt of the Dakota maidens, who generally play for prizes offered by the chief or warriors. (See _Neill's Hist. Minn._, pp 74-5; _Riggs' Takoo Wakan_, pp 44-5, and _Mrs. Eastman's Dacotah_, p 55.)

[3] p.r.o.nounced _Wah-zee-yah_--the G.o.d of the North, or Winter. A fabled spirit who dwells in the frozen North, in a great _teepee_ of ice and snow. From his mouth and nostrils he blows the cold blasts of winter. He and _I-to-ka-ga Wi cas-ta_--the spirit or G.o.d of the South (literally the "South Man") are inveterate enemies, and always on the war-path against each other. In winter _Wa-zi-ya_ advances southward and drives _I-to-ka-ga Wi-cas-ta_ before him to the Summer-Islands. But in spring the G.o.d of the South having renewed his youth and strength in the "Happy Hunting Grounds," is able to drive _Wa-zi-ya_ back again to his icy wigwam in the North. Some Dakotas say that the numerous granite boulders scattered over the prairies of Minnesota and Dakota, were hurled in battle by _Wa-zi-ya_ from his home in the North at _I-to-ka-ga Wi-cas-ta_. The _Wa-zi-ya_ of the Dakotas is substantially the same as "_Ka be-bon-ik-ka_"--the "Winter-maker" of the Ojibways.

[4] Mendota--(meeting of the waters) at the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers. The true Dakota word is _Mdo-te_--applied to the mouth of a river flowing into another, also to the outlet of a lake.

[5] p.r.o.nounced _Wee-wah-stay_; literally--a beautiful virgin or woman.

[6] _Cetan-wa-ka-wa-mani_--"He who shoots pigeon-hawks walking"--was the full Dakota name of the grandfather of the celebrated "Little Crow"

(_Ta-o-ya-te-du-ta_--His Red People) who led his warriors in the terrible outbreak in Minnesota in 1862-3. The Chippeways called the grandfather _Ka-ka-ge_--crow or raven--from his war-badge, a crow-skin; and hence the French traders and _courriers du bois_ called him "_Pet.i.t Corbeau_"--Little Crow. This sobriquet, of which he was proud, descended to his son, _Wakinyan Tanka_--Big Thunder, who succeeded him as chief; and from Big Thunder to his son _Ta-o-ya-te-du-ta_, who became chief on the death of _Wakinyan Tanka_. These several "Little Crows" were successively Chiefs of the Light-foot, or _Kapoza_ band of Dakotas.

_Kapoza_, the princ.i.p.al village of this band, was originally located on the east bank of the Mississippi near the site of the city of St. Paul.

_Col. Minn. Hist. Soc._, 1864, p. 29. It was in later years moved to the west bank. The grandfather whom I, for short, call _Wakawa_, died the death of a brave in battle against the Ojibways (commonly called Chippeways)--the hereditary enemies of the Dakotas. _Wakinyan Tanka_--Big Thunder, was killed by the accidental discharge of his own gun. They were both buried with their kindred near the "_Wakan Teepee_,"

the sacred Cave--(Carver's Cave). _Ta-o-ya-te-du-ta_, the last of the Little Crows, was killed July 3, 1863, during the outbreak, near Hutchinson, Minnesota, by the Lampsons--father and son, and his bones were duly "done up" for the Historical Society of Minnesota. See _Heard's Hist. Sioux War_, and _Neill's Hist. Minnesota_, Third Edition.

[Ill.u.s.tration: LITTLE CROW. _From an original photograph in the author's possession_]

Little Crow's sixteen-year-old son, _Wa-wi-na-pe_--(One who appears --like the spirit of his forefather) was with him at the time he was killed; but escaped, and after much hards.h.i.+p and suffering, was at last captured at _Mini Wakan_ (Devil's Lake, in North Dakota). From him personally I obtained much information in regard to Little Crow's partic.i.p.ation in the "Sioux War," and minutely the speech that Little Crow made to his braves when he finally consented to lead them on the war-path against the whites. A literal translation of that speech will be found further on in this note.

I knew _Ta-o-ya-te-du-ta_, and from his own lips, in 1859-60 and 61, obtained much interesting information in regard to the history, tradition, customs, superst.i.tions and habits of the Dakotas, of whom he was the recognized Head-Chief. He was a remarkable Indian--a philosopher and a brave and generous man. "Untutored savage" that he was, he was a prince among his own people, and the peer in natural ability of the ablest white men in the Northwest in his time. He had largely adopted the dress and habits of civilized man, and he urged his people to abandon their savage ways, build houses, cultivate fields, and learn to live like the white people. He clearly forsaw the ultimate extinction of his people as a distinct race. He well knew and realized the numbers and power of the whites then rapidly taking possession of the hunting-grounds of the Dakotas, and the folly of armed opposition on the part of his people. He said to me once: "No more Dakotas by and by; Indians all white men. No more buffaloes by and by; all cows, all oxen."

But his braves were restless. They smarted under years of wrong and robbery, to which, indeed, the most stinging insults were often added by the traders and officials among them. If the true, unvarnished history of the cause and inception of the "Sioux Outbreak" in Minnesota is ever written and published, it will bring the blush of shame to the cheeks of every honest man who reads it.

Against his judgment and repeated protests, Little Crow was at last, after the depredations had begun, forced into the war on the whites by his hot-headed and uncontrollable "young men."

Goaded to desperation, a party of Little Crow's young "bucks," in August, 1862, began their depredations and spilled white blood at Acton.

Returning to their chief's camp near the agency, they told their fellow braves what they had done. The hot-headed young warriors immediately demanded of Little Crow that he put on the "war-paint" and lead them against the white men. The chief severely rebuked the "young men" who had committed the murders, blackened his face (a sign of mourning), retired to his _teepee_ and covered his head in sorrow.

His braves surrounded his tent and cut it into strips with their knives.

They threatened to depose him from the chiefs.h.i.+p unless he immediately put on the "war-paint" and led them against the whites. They knew that the Civil War was then in progress, that the white men were fighting among themselves, and they declared that now was the time to regain their lost hunting-grounds; that now was the time to avenge the thievery and insults of the Agents who had for years systematically cheated them out of the greater part of their promised annuities, for which they had been induced to part with their lands; that now was the time to avenge the debauchery of their wives and daughters by the dissolute hangers-on who, as employees of the Indian Agents and licensed traders, had for years hovered around them like buzzards around the carca.s.ses of slaughtered buffaloes.

But Little Crow was unmoved by the appeals and threats of his warriors.

It is said that once for a moment he uncovered his head; that his face was haggard and great beads of sweat stood out on his forehead. But at last one of his enraged braves, bolder than the rest, cried out:

"_Ta-o-ya-te-du-ta_ is a coward!"

Instantly Little Crow sprang from his _teepee_, s.n.a.t.c.hed the eagle-feathers from the head of his insulter and flung them on the ground. Then, stretching himself to his full height, his eyes flas.h.i.+ng fire, and in a voice tremulous with rage, he exclaimed:

"_Ta-o-ya-te-du-ta_ is not a coward, and he is not a fool! When did he run away from his enemies? When did he leave his braves behind him on the war-path and turn back to his _teepees_? When he ran away from your enemies, he walked behind on your trail with his face to the Ojibways and covered your backs as a she-bear covers her cubs! Is _Ta-o-ya-te-du-ta_ without scalps? Look at his war-feathers! Behold the scalp-locks of your enemies hanging there on his lodge-poles! Do they call him a coward? _Ta-o-ya-te-du-ta_ is not a coward, and he is not a fool. Braves, you are like little children; you know not what you are doing.

"You are full of the white man's _devil-water_" (rum). "You are like dogs in the Hot Moon when they run mad and snap at their own shadows. We are only little herds of buffaloes left scattered; the great herds that once covered the prairies are no more. See!--the white men are like the locusts when they fly so thick that the whole sky is a snow-storm. You may kill one--two--ten; yes, as many as the leaves in the forest yonder, and their brothers will not miss them. Kill one--two--ten, and ten times ten will come to kill you. Count your fingers all day long and white men with guns in their hands will come faster than you can count.

"Yes; they fight among themselves--away off. Do you hear the thunder of their big guns? No; it would take you two moons to run down to where they are fighting, and all the way your path would be among white soldiers as thick as tamaracks in the swamps of the Ojibways. Yes; they fight among themselves, but if you strike at them they will all turn on you and devour you and your women and little children just as the locusts in their time fall on the trees and devour all the leaves in one day. You are fools. You cannot see the face of your chief; your eyes are full of smoke. You cannot hear his voice; your ears are full of roaring waters. Braves, you are little children--you are fools. You will die like the rabbits when the hungry wolves hunt them in the Hard Moon (January). _Ta-o-ya-te du-ta_ is not a coward: he will die with you."

[7] _Harps-te-nah_. The first-born daughter of a Dakota is called _Winona_; the second, _Harpen_; the third, _Harpstina_; the fourth, _Waska_; the fifth, _Weharka_. The first-born son is called _Chaske_; the second, _Harpam_; the third, _Hapeda_; the fourth, _Chatun_; the fifth, _Harka_. They retain these names till others are given them on account of some action, peculiarity, etc. The females often retain their child-names through life.

[8] _Wah-pah-sah_ was the hereditary name of a long and ill.u.s.trious line of Dakota chiefs. Wabashaw is a corrupt p.r.o.nunciation. The name is a contraction of _Wa-pa-ha-sa_, which is from _Wa-ha-pa_, the standard or pole used in the Dakota dances and upon which feathers of various colors are tied, and not from _Wa-pa_--leaf, as has been generally supposed.

Therefore _Wapasa_ means the Standard--and not the "Leaf-Shaker," as many writers have it. The princ.i.p.al village of these hereditary chiefs was _Ke-uk-sa_, or _Ke-o-sa_,--where now stands the fair city of Winona.

_Ke-uk-sa_ signifies--The village of law-breakers; so called because this band broke the law or custom of the Dakotas against marrying blood relatives of any degree. I get this information from Rev. Stephen R.

Riggs, author of the Dakota Grammar and Dictionary, "_Takoo Wakan_,"

etc. _Wapasa_, grandfather of the last chief of that name, and a contemporary of _Cetan-Wa-ka-wa-mani_, was a noted chief, and a friend of the British in the war of the Revolution. _Neill's Hist. Minn._, pp.

225-9.

[9] _E-ho, E-to_--Exclamations of surprise and delight.

[10] _Mah-gah_--The wild-goose.

[11] _Tee-pee_--A lodge or wigwam, often contracted to "_tee_."

[12] p.r.o.nounced _Mahr-pee-yah-doo-tah_--literally, Cloud Red.

[13] p.r.o.nounced _Wahnmdee_--The War Eagle. Each feather worn by a warrior represents an enemy slain or captured--man, woman or child; but the Dakotas, before they became desperate under the cruel warfare of their enemies, usually spared the lives of their captives, and never killed women or infants, except in rare instances under the _lex talionis_.

_Neill's Hist. Minn._, p. 112.

[14] _Mah-to_--The polar bear--_ursus maritimus_. The Dakotas say that in olden times white bears were often found about Rainy Lake and the Lake of the Woods in winter, and sometimes as far south as the mouth of the Minnesota. They say one was once killed at White Bear Lake (but a few miles from St. Paul and Minneapolis), and they therefore named the lake Mede Mato--White Bear Lake, literally--Lake White Bear.

[15] The _Ho-he_ (Ho-hay) are the a.s.siniboins or "Stone-roasters." Their home is the region of the a.s.siniboin River in Manitoba. They speak the Dakota tongue, and originally were a band of that nation. Tradition says a Dakota "Helen" was the cause of the separation and a b.l.o.o.d.y feud that lasted for many years. The _Hohes_ are called "Stone-roasters," because, until recently at least, they used _wa-ta-pe_ kettles and vessels made of birch bark in which they cooked their food. They boiled water in these vessels by heating stones and putting them in the water. The _wa-ta-pe_ kettle is made of the fibrous roots of the white cedar interlaced and tightly woven. When the vessel is soaked it becomes water-tight. [_Snelling's_] _Tales of the North-west_, p 21, _Mackenzie's Travels._

[16] _Hey-o-ka_ is one of the princ.i.p.al Dakota deities. He is a giant, but can change himself into a buffalo, a bear, a fish or a bird. He is called the Anti-natural G.o.d or Spirit. In summer he s.h.i.+vers with cold, in winter he suffers from heat; he cries when he laughs and he laughs when he cries, etc. He is the reverse of nature in all things. _Heyoka_ is universally feared and reverenced by the Dakotas, but so severe is the ordeal that the _Heyoka Wacipee_ (the dance to _Heyoka_) is now rarely celebrated. It is said that the "Medicine-men" use a secret preparation which enables them to handle fire and dip their hands in boiling water without injury and thereby gain great _eclat_ from the uninitiated. The chiefs and the leading warriors usually belong to the secret order of "Medicine-men" or "Sons of _Unktehee_"--the Spirit of the Waters.

[17] The Dakota name for the moon is _Han-ye-tu-wee_--literally, Night-Sun. He is the twin brother of _An-pe-tu-wee_--the Day Sun. See note 70.

[18] The Dakotas believe that the stars are the spirits of their departed friends.

[19] _Tee_--Contracted from _teepee_, lodge or wigwam, and means the same.

[20] For all their sacred feasts the Dakotas kindle a new fire called "The Virgin Fire." This is done with flint and steel, or by rubbing together pieces of wood till friction produces fire. It must be done by a virgin, nor must any woman, except a virgin, ever touch the "sacred armor" of a Dakota warrior. White cedar is "_Wakan_"--sacred. See note 50. _Riggs'

Tahkoo Wakan_, p. 84.

[21] All Northern Indians consider the East a mysterious and sacred land whence comes the sun. The Dakota name for the East is _Wee-yo-hee-yan-pa_--the sunrise. The Ojibways call it _Waub-o-nong_ --the white land or land of light, and they have many myths, legends and traditions relating thereto. Barbarous peoples of all times have regarded the East with superst.i.tious reverence simply because the sun rises in that quarter.

[22] See _Mrs. Eastman's Dacotah_, pp. 225-8, describing the feast to _Heyoka_.

[23] This stone from which the Dakotas have made their pipes for ages, is esteemed _wakan_--sacred. They call it _I-yan-ska_, probably from _iya_, to speak, and _ska_, white, truthful, peaceful,--hence, peace-pipe, herald of peace, pledge of truth, etc. In the cabinet at Albany, N.Y., there is a very ancient pipe of this material which the Iroquois obtained from the Dakotas. Charlevoix speaks of this pipe-stone in his _History of New France_. LeSueur refers to the Yanktons as the village of the Dakotas at the Red-Stone Quarry. See _Neill's Hist. Minn._, p.

514.

[24] "_Ho_" is an exclamation of approval--yea, yes, bravo.

[25] Buying is the honorable way of taking a wife among the Dakotas. The proposed husband usually gives a horse or its value in other articles to the father or natural guardian of the woman selected--sometimes against her will. See note 75.