The Chemawa American, January 26, 1927, Image 1

The Chemawa American
Printed at Chemawa, Oregon, and Devoted to the Interests of Indian Education
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Vol. XXVIII
3
MAY
Wednesday, January 26, 1927
THE TALE OF THE LOST CHILDREN
The following legend of the Blackfeet Indians was
written by Josephine Redstone, a Sioux:
This legend has been handed down through the ages
by the whole tribe of Blackfeet Indians. At the time
of this story the tribe roamed the prairies near the
Rocky Mountains. This tale was told to me by the
granddaughter of the Blackfeet chief. She began thus:
Once in the days when the white man had not yet
discovered our country, America, the whole tribe was
camped on one of their numerous camping grounds.
This place they liked especially well because it was
where game was plenty, water was available, and the
feed for horses was abundant.
While camped here the chief’s son and some of the
children of the same age were playing outside of
the camps among the hills. Now the chief’s son was
playing with a very pretty necklace of beautiful shells
which his father had made for him. While the
youth was playing he broke the string and the shells
scattered all over the ground. The children he was
playing with had always admired them so they began
to pick them up and fight over them, leaving none for
the chief’s son. So he went back to his father’s
campcrying. When the chief had heard about it, he
commanded the people to break camp and go in differ­
ent directions, so that the children would not see them
or follow their trail.
When the children had played for a while they sent
a little girl to go see w’hat the chief’s son was doing,
but she came back crying and told them that the whole
place was deserted. Instead of finding out whether it
was true they began to tease her and said she was only
lying. But when they found out that the camps were
gone they began to cry, and wandered out into the
mountains.
As the sun was setting and twilight had settled on
the land they were in a weird place along the mountain
side. All of a sudden they heard a voice calling,
“Come right this way my grandchildren.” When
they followed the voice it led them to a tepee right at
the foot of the mountain. When they neared it a
shrill voice welcomed them, and as they went in, there
sat an old witch gray and withered from age.
Many a time had these children heard their fathers
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tell of the old woman who ate people. She must have
been this cannibal, but she showed them the very best
hospitality that one could show in those days, and the
witch told the children that they could spend the night
with her. She then gave them supper, which they ate
heartily, and after their supper she told them tales.
When they were ready to go to bed she told them that
they should sleep with their heads toward the fire
which was in the middle of the tepee, giving as an
excuse that her pet snakes would bother them.
Now one of these little girls had her brother with
her, and she told him to wake her if anything should
happen. So he lay awake. Just at midnight the old
witch arose and took her hatchet and set a large pot
on the fire, and began chopping off the heads of the
children. Just as she was nearing the boy’s sister, he
woke her up, and at this she jumped up and begged
the witch to spare her life and her brother’s, promis­
ing she would do anything for her for the rest of her
life. The witch agreed, and sent the children for
some water to a lake near by. When they reached
the place, there was a water buffalo standing there,
and the girl readily saw her chance to make an escape,
so she asked the buffalo if he could take her across.
But he said, “Before I take you, you will have to take
a sliver out of my head, as it bothers me.” So she
took it out. Then he swam across with the two chil­
dren on his back.
Just as they reached the other side, the witch called
for them from the tepee, but a buffalo head, lying near
the door, answered her saying, “Yes, we’re coming.”
When she called the second time she heard this head
talking instead of the children and became very angry,
and chopped the head into pieces.
By this time the buffalo that took the children across
had swam back and the witch saw the children, so she
ran to the lake and asked the buffalo to take her across.
He made her the same excuse he had given the chil­
dren, at which she became angry. However, the buf­
falo said she could ride him across, so she got on his
back and just as they reached the middle of the lake
he turned over and drowned her.
The children had now reached a path which led them
to a valley where there were some camps. Here they
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