Myths and Legends of the Great Plains | Page 8

tied together. They
pitched their tents on the shore. Then they thought to make for
themselves certain bounds within which they were to live and rules
which should govern them. They cleared a space of grass and weeds so
they could see each other's faces. They sat down and there was no
obstruction between them.
While they were holding a council, an owl hooted in the trees near by.
The leader said, "That bird is to take part in our council. He calls to us.
He offers us his aid."
Immediately afterward they heard a woodpecker. He knocked against
the trees. The leader said, "That bird calls to us. He offers us his aid. He
will take part in our council."
Then the chief appointed a man as servant. He said, "Go into the woods
and get an ash sapling." The servant came back with a sapling having a
rough bark.
"We do not want that," said the leader. "Go again and get a sapling with
a smooth bark, bluish in color at the joint where a branch comes." So
the servant went out, and came back with a sapling of the kind
described.
When the leader took up the sapling, an eagle came and soared about
the council which was sitting in the grass. He dropped a downy feather;
it fell. It fell in the center of the cleared space. Now this was the white
eagle. The chief said, "This is not what we want," so the white eagle
passed on.
Then the bald eagle came swooping down, as though attacking its prey.

It balanced itself on its wings directly over the cleared space. It uttered
fierce cries, and dropped one of its downy feathers, which stood on the
ground as the other eagle's feather had done. The chief said, "This is
not what we want." So the bald eagle passed on.
Then came the spotted eagle, and soared over the council, and dropped
its feather as the others had done. The chief said, "This is not what we
want," and the spotted eagle passed on.
Then the imperial eagle, the eagle with the fantail, came, and soared
over the people. It dropped a downy feather which stood upright in the
center of the cleared space. The chief said, "This is what we want."
So the feathers of this eagle were used in making the peace pipes,
together with the feathers of the owl and woodpecker, and with other
things. These peace pipes were to be used in forming friendly relations
with other tribes.
When the peace pipes were made, seven other pipes were made for
keeping peace within the tribe. One pipe was to prevent revenge. If one
man should kill another, the chief took this pipe to the relatives and
offered it to them. If the relatives of the dead man refused to accept it, it
was offered again. It was offered four times. If it was refused four times,
the chief said, "Well, you must take the consequences. We will do
nothing, and you cannot now ask to see the pipes." He meant if they
took revenge and any trouble came to them, they could not ask for help
or for mercy.
Each band had its own pipe.

A TRADITION OF THE CALUMET
Lenni-Lenapi
In the days of the old men, far to the north there lived a nation with
many villages. Their warriors were as many as the buffalo herds on the
plains toward the Darkening Land. Their tepees were many on the

shores of a beautiful lake and along wide rivers.
Then the Mysterious One, whose voice is in the clouds, told the chiefs
of a great nation, also of many villages, which hunted through all the
country from the Big Water in the sunrise to the mountains in the
Darkening Land.
Then the chiefs and the old men held a council. Runners came from
many villages to the great council. And the council voice was to go to
the great nation to the south, the nation with many villages, and bring
back scalps and horses.
So the chiefs and warriors went out, one by one. Then runners were
sent to all the villages, ordering the chiefs to dance the scalp dance.
Suddenly there came through the sky a great white bird. It came from
the forest, and flew into the village of the great chief. It rested above
the head of the chief's daughter.
Then the chief's daughter heard a voice in her heart. The voice said,
"Call all the chiefs and warriors together. Tell them the Mysterious One
is sad because they seek the scalps of the Lenni-Lenapi, the First
People. Tell the warriors they must wash their hands in the blood of a
young fawn. They must go with many presents to