The Soft-Hearted Sioux | Page 3

caught
the hissing of snakes whenever the young man opened his mouth? This

one has not only proven false to you, but even to the Great Spirit who
made him. He is a fool! Why do you sit here giving ear to a foolish
man who could not defend his people because he fears to kill, who
could not bring venison to renew the life of his sick father? With his
prayers, let him drive away the enemy! With his soft heart, let him keep
off starvation! We shall go elsewhere to dwell upon an untainted
ground."
With this he disbanded the people. When the sun lowered in the west
and the winds were quiet, the village of cone-shaped tepees was gone.
The medicine-man had won the hearts of the people.
Only my father's dwelling was left to mark the fighting-ground.

IV
From a long night at my father's bedside I came out to look upon the
morning. The yellow sun hung equally between the snow-covered land
and the cloudless blue sky. The light of the new day was cold. The
strong breath of winter crusted the snow and fitted crystal shells over
the rivers and lakes. As I stood in front of the tepee, thinking of the vast
prairies which separated us from our tribe, and wondering if the high
sky likewise separated the soft-hearted Son of God from us, the icy
blast from the North blew through my hair and skull. My neglected hair
had grown long and fell upon my neck.
My father had not risen from his bed since the day the medicine-man
led the people away. Though I read from the Bible and prayed beside
him upon my knees, my father would not listen. Yet I believed my
prayers were not unheeded in heaven.
"Ha, ha, ha! my son," my father groaned upon the first snowfall. "My
son, our food is gone. There is no one to bring me meat! My son, your
soft heart has unfitted you for everything!" Then covering his face with
the buffalo-robe, he said no more. Now while I stood out in that cold
winter morning, I was starving. For two days I had not seen any food.

But my own cold and hunger did not harass my soul as did the whining
cry of the sick old man.
Stepping again into the tepee, I untied my snow-shoes, which were
fastened to the tent-poles.
My poor mother, watching by the sick one, and faithfully heaping
wood upon the centre fire, spoke to me:
"My son, do not fail again to bring your father meat, or he will starve to
death."
"How, Ina," I answered, sorrowfully. From the tepee I started forth
again to hunt food for my aged parents. All day I tracked the white
level lands in vain. Nowhere, nowhere were there any other footprints
but my own! In the evening of this third fast-day I came back without
meat. Only a bundle of sticks for the fire I brought on my back.
Dropping the wood outside, I lifted the door-flap and set one foot
within the tepee.
There I grew dizzy and numb. My eyes swam in tears. Before me lay
my old gray-haired father sobbing like a child. In his horny hands he
clutched the buffalo-robe, and with his teeth he was gnawing off the
edges. Chewing the dry stiff hair and buffalo-skin, my father's eyes
sought my hands. Upon seeing them empty, he cried out:
"My son, your soft heart will let me starve before you bring me meat!
Two hills eastward stand a herd of cattle. Yet you will see me die
before you bring me food!"
Leaving my mother lying with covered head upon her mat, I rushed out
into the night.
With a strange warmth in my heart and swiftness in my feet, I climbed
over the first hill, and soon the second one. The moonlight upon the
white country showed me a clear path to the white man's cattle. With
my hand upon the knife in my belt, I leaned heavily against the fence

while counting the herd.
Twenty in all I numbered. From among them I chose the best-fattened
creature. Leaping over the fence, I plunged my knife into it.
My long knife was sharp, and my hands, no more fearful and slow,
slashed off choice chunks of warm flesh. Bending under the meat I had
taken for my starving father, I hurried across the prairie.
Toward home I fairly ran with the life-giving food I carried upon my
back. Hardly had I climbed the second hill when I heard sounds coming
after me. Faster and faster I ran with my load for my father, but the
sounds were gaining upon me. I heard the clicking of snowshoes and
the squeaking of the