Myths and Legends of the Great Plains

and Legends of the Great Plains,
by Unknown

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Title: Myths and Legends of the Great Plains
Author: Unknown
Editor: Katharine Berry Judson
Release Date: July 16, 2007 [EBook #22083]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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AND LEGENDS ***

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MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE GREAT PLAINS
SELECTED AND EDITED BY
KATHARINE BERRY JUDSON
AUTHOR OF "MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF CALIFORNIA AND
THE OLD SOUTHWEST," "MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE
PACIFIC NORTHWEST," "MONTANA," "MYTHS AND LEGENDS
OF ALASKA," AND "WHEN THE FORESTS ARE ABLAZE."
ILLUSTRATED
[Illustration]
CHICAGO A. C. McCLURG & CO. 1913

Copyright A. C. McCLURG & CO. 1913
Published November, 1913
W. F. Hall Printing Company Chicago

BY THE SAME AUTHOR
MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF CALIFORNIA AND THE OLD
SOUTHWEST. Over fifty full-page illustrations. Small quarto. $1.50
net.
MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF ALASKA. Beautifully illustrated. Small
quarto. $1.50 net.
MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST.
Especially of Washington and Oregon. With fifty full-page illustrations.
Small quarto. $1.50 net.

MONTANA: "The Land of Shining Mountains." Illustrated. Indexed.
Square 8vo. 75 cents net.
WHEN THE FORESTS ARE ABLAZE. Illustrated. Crown 8vo. $1.35
net.
A. C. McClurg & Co., Publishers

[Notes: BIANKI'S VISION
(Kiowa Drawing)
The ghost-dance among the Sioux was based on the belief that the dead
Indians would all come to life and drive out the white intruders. Then
the buffaloes, which were disappearing, would come back in the
immense herds of the olden time.
The vision of one of the dreamer priests is represented. After reaching
the spirit world, Bianki found himself on a vast prairie covered with
innumerable buffaloes and ponies. He went through the herds (dotted
lines) until he came to a large Kiowa camp, with its ornament tepees.
He met four young women who had died years before, and asked about
two of his brothers, also dead. He soon met them coming into camp,
with buffalo meat hanging from their saddles.]
[Illustration: Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution]

PREFACE
From the edge of the Darkening Land, where stand the mountains
which encircle the earth-plain, eastward toward the Sunland, lie the
great plains of America. Smooth and flat and green they stretch away,
hundreds of miles, rising from a dead level into a soft rolling of the
land, then into the long green waves of the prairies where rivers flow,
where the water ripples as it flows, and trees shade the banks of the

gleaming water.
Here, amidst the vast sweep of the plains which stretch away to the
horizon on every side, boundless, limitless, endless, lived the plains
Indians. Standing in the midst of this vast green plain on a soft May
morning, after the Thunder Gods have passed, when the sun is shining
in the soft blue above, and the sweet, rain-swept air is blown about by
the Four Winds which are always near to man, day and night,--standing
far out on the plains with no hint of the white man or his work--one
sees the earth somewhat as the Indian saw it and wonders not at his
reverence for the Mysterious One who dwelt overhead, beyond the blue
stone arch, and for the lesser powers which came to him over the four
paths guarded by the Four Winds. It was Wakoda, the Mysterious One,
who gave to man the sunshine, the clear rippling water, the clear sky
from which all storms, all clouds are absent, the sky which is the
symbol of peace. Through this sky sweeps the eagle, the "Mother" of
Indian songs, bearing upon her strong wings the message of peace and
calling to her nestlings as she flies. Little wonder that to some tribes
song was an integral part of their lives, and that emotions too deep for
words were expressed in song.
Other songs there were, with words, songs of the birds which fly
through that soft, tender blue:
All around the birds in flocks are flying; Dipping, rising, circling, see
them coming. See, many birds are flocking here, All about us now
together coming.
[Pawnee]
The power to fly has always inspired Indians of all tribes and of all
degrees of civilization with wonder and reverence. The bird chiefs have
their own places in Indian myths. Owl is chief of the night;
Woodpecker, with