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Updated: June 21, 2025
U we do!" I jumped upon my feet, snatched my bow and arrows and rushed out of the teepee, frantically yelling as I went. "Stop! stop!" screamed Uncheedah, and caught me by my long hair. By this time the Gros Ventres had encircled our camp, sending volleys of arrows and bullets into our midst. The women were digging ditches in which to put their children. My uncle was foremost in the battle.
He knelt upon one knee as he talked, his black eyes shining like evening stars. "Sit down here," said Uncheedah to the boy; "I have something to say to you. You see that you are now almost a man. Observe the game you have brought me! It will not be long before you will leave me, for a warrior must seek opportunities to make him great among his people.
"Tell me, good Weyuha, a legend of your father's country," I said to him one evening, for I knew the country which is now known as North Dakota and Southern Manitoba was their ancient hunting-ground. I was prompted by Uncheedah to make this request, after the old man had eaten in our lodge. At that time the mound was very distinct where Chotanka lies buried.
It had been arranged between her and Uncheedah that she should wait there for Wacoota, who was to bring as far as that the portion of the offering with which he had been entrusted. The boy and his grandmother descended the bank, following a tortuous foot-path until they reached the water's edge. Then they proceeded to the mouth of an immense cave, some fifty feet above the river, under the cliff.
She has told me that when I had grown old enough to take notice, I was apparently capable of holding extended conversations in an unknown dialect with birds and red squirrels. Once I fell asleep in my cradle, suspended five or six feet from the ground, while Uncheedah was some distance away, gathering birch bark for a canoe.
"Yes, but if there are only two feathers, they will fly faster," he answered. "Woow!" Wabeda uttered his suspicions. "Woow!" he said again, and rushed for the entrance of the teepee. He kicked me over as he went and scattered the burning embers. "En na he na!" Uncheedah exclaimed, but he was already outside. "Wow, wow, wow! Wow, wow, wow!" A deep guttural voice answered him.
Wabeda, the dog, the companion of my boyhood days, was in trouble because he insisted upon bringing his extra bone into the teepee, while Uncheedah was determined that he should not. I sympathized with him, because I saw the matter as he did. I knew just how anxious Wabeda was about his bone.
And have you forgotten the story of the warrior who sought the will of the Great Mystery? To-day you will make your first offering to him." The concluding sentence fairly dilated the eyes of the young hunter, for he felt that a great event was about to occur, in which he would be the principal actor. But Uncheedah resumed her speech.
This sort of labor gave the Indian women every opportunity to observe and study Nature after their fashion; and in this Uncheedah was more acute than most of the men. The abilities of her boys were not all inherited from their father; indeed, the stronger family traits came obviously from her.
My skates were nothing more than strips of basswood bark bound upon my feet. I had taken off my frozen moccasins and put on dry ones in their places. "Where have you been and what have you been doing?" Uncheedah asked as she placed before me some roast venison in a wooden bowl. "Did you see any tracks of moose or bear?" "No, grandmother, I have only been playing at the lower end of the lake.
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