Buffalo Woman, A Story of Magic
Snow Bird, the Caddo medicine man, had a handsome son.
Whenthe boy was old enough to be given a man's name, Snow Bird called him Braveness because of his courage as a hunter. Many of the girls in the Caddo village wanted to win Braveness as a husband, but he paid little attention to any of them.
One morning he started out for a day of hunting, and while he was
walking along looking for wild game, he saw someone ahead of him
sitting under a small elm tree. As he approached, he was
surprised to find that the person was a young woman, and he
started to turn aside.
"Come here," she called to him in a pleasant voice. Braveness
went up to her and saw that she was very young and very
beautiful.
"I knew you were coming here," she said, "and so I came to meet you."
"You are not of my people," he replied. "How did you know that I
was coming this way?"
"I am Buffalo Woman," she said. "I have seen you many times
before, from afar. I want you to take me home with you and let me
stay with you."
"I can take you home with me," Braveness answered her, "but you
must ask my parents if you can stay with us."
They started for his home at once, and when they arrived there
Buffalo Woman asked Braveness's parents if she could stay with
them and become the young man's wife. "If Braveness wants you for
his wife, we will be 
pleased," said Snow Bird, the medicine man.
"It is time that he had someone to love."
And so Braveness and Buffalo Woman were married in the custom of the Caddo people and lived happily together for several moons.
One day she asked him, "Will you do whatever I may ask of you, Braveness?"
"Yes," he replied, "if what you ask is not unreasonable."
"I want you to go with me to visit my people."
No comments:
Post a Comment