Pawnee Hero Stories and Folk-tales: With Notes on the Origin, Customs, and Character of the Pawnee PeopleIn the late 1880s the ethnologist and writer George Bird Grinnell visited the Pawnee Agency in Indian Territory. To Eagle Chief, whom he had known for many years, he explained the object of his visit: "Father, we have come down here to . . . ask the people about how things used to be in the olden times, to hear their stories, to get their history, and then to put all these things down in a book." The chief meditated for a time and then said: "It is good and it is time. Already the old things are being lost, and those who know the secrets are many of them dead. . . . The old men told their grandchildren, and they told their grandchildren, and so the secrets and the stories and the doings of long ago have been handed down." The result of Grinnell's field work was Pawnee Hero Stories and Folk-Tales, first published in 1899. Here are stories about a Pawnee youth who serves as a peacemaker and a warrior's quest for lost joy, and such tales as "The Dun Horse," "The Bear man," "The Snake Brother," and "The Ghost Wife." Extended notes describe the origins and migrations of the Pawnees, their customs, methods of warfare, and later history. George Bird Grinnell's Blackfoot Lodge Tales: The Story of a Prairie People, The Cheyenne Indians: Their History and Ways of Life, By Cheyenne Campfires, and The Punishment of the Stingy and Other Indian Stories are also available as Bison Books. |
Contents
HERO STORIES | 11 |
COMANCHE CHIEF THE PEACEMAKER | 25 |
LONE CHIEF SKURARA LESHAR | 45 |
Copyright | |
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animals asked bands bear began bird bluff brave brother buffalo called camp Chau-i Cheyennes child Comanches corn counted coup dance doctors dried meat dun horse Dunbar enemy father fight fire Frank North Frank White Grinnell ground hand Head Chief heard herd hill hunt Indian Territory Indians killed Kit-ke-hahk'-i knew Kut-a'wi-kutz Le-shar leader Lipans lived lodge Lone Chief looked Loup Loup River Major North morning mother Nahu'rac Nebraska nees night Number Pa-hu-ka'-tawa party passed Pawnee language Picts pipe Pita-hau-erat Platte Platte River ponies prairie pray to Ti-ra'-wa ride River robe rode Running Chief sacred bundles sacrifice scalp shot side Sioux Skidi skin smoke snake spoke spotted horses started stood story take pity talked Tall Bull tell things thought told Tonkaways took tribe village warpath Wichitas wolves woman women young