Prairie Smoke, a Collection of Lore of the Prairies

Part 10

Chapter 10530 wordsPublic domain

Indians' Appreciation and Love of Their Homeland 12

Song to the Trees and Streams 12

Thrilling Escape of a Besieged War Party 12

A Mandan Monument 14

The Legend of Standing Rock 15

The Holy Hill Pahuk 17

The Lodge of the Black-tail Deer which Talked with Its Captor 23

The Wonderful Basket 24

Cause of the Breaking up of Ice in the Missouri River 26

The Waterspring of the Holy Man 27

The Sacred Symbol of the Circle 31

The Sacred Number Four 31

The Pristine Prairie 32

Aboriginal American Agriculture 35

Description of an Earth-lodge 37

Hymn to the Sun 38

Description of a Tipi 39

An Omaha Ghost Story 40

An Omaha Hero Song 41

STORIES OF THE PLANT PEOPLE

Sacred Trees 43

The Song of the Pasque Flower 46

The Prairie Rose 48

The Song of the Wild Rose 49

Use of the Ground Bean 50

Tipsin: An Important Native Food Plant 52

How the People Obtained the Precious Gift of Corn 53

A Group of Pawnee Hymns to Corn 56

The Forgotten Ear of Corn 58

How the Usefulness of Wild Rice Was Discovered 58

A Story of the Sunflower 59

Dakota Folklore of the Spiderwort 60

STORIES OF THE FOUR-FOOTED PEOPLE

The Faithful Dog 61

How Coyote Chief Was Punished 63

The Skunk and the Bear 65

The Song of the Old Wolf 65

STORIES OF THE PEOPLE OF THE AIR

Folk Sayings About the Meadowlark 67

How the Meadowlark Won the Race 68

Folklore of the Horned Lark 72

How It Came About that Geese Migrate 72

The Captive Bird 73

The Chickadee 74

The Song of the Wren 75

The War Eagle and the Jack-rabbit 76

MAPS

Map to Show Distribution of Tribes 4

Map to Show Aboriginal Agriculture 34

Map of Geographical Distribution of Pasque Flower 46

[Decoration]

_Bismarck Tribune Print_

Transcriber's Note

Omitted periods and mismatched quotation marks have been repaired. All other punctuation usage is as in the original. Hyphenation has been made consistent. Inconsistent capitalisation, e.g. Hintunka and hintunka, is preserved as printed. Archaic and variable spelling is preserved as printed.

The Dedication on page 6 includes the phrase, "... and who held it a form of sacrilege to violate or in any way endanger the overthrow of that delicate balance of nature; ..." The word 'endanger' does not seem appropriate in the context, and may be an error for 'engender.' However, as it is impossible to be sure, it is preserved as printed.

The following typographic errors have been repaired:

Page 11--considerble amended to considerable--"The careful study of plants and animals was a considerable part ..."

Page 40--semed amended to seemed--"Then, after a time, she seemed to see not only the moccasins ..."

Page 40--leggins amended to leggings--"... but the leggings above them as far as the knees, ..."

Page 41--one amended to on--"... he was unable to sit quietly in the village while the fighting was going on."

Page 45--an amended to in--"... with great profusion of bloom, in earnest of returning life."

Page 75--mesenger amended to messenger--"... and formulated a reply for the messenger to take back ..."

Page 79--Thrillnig amended to Thrilling--"Thrilling Escape of a Besieged War Party ..."