Chapter XIV
Several miles from the village, Songbird saw the hunting party comingtoward her, and she dug her heels sharply into Star's side to urge himfaster on the way. Star did not need pushing, for he knew that Quannahwas riding Running Deer. The greeting between the colt and his motherwas as affectionate as that between the father and daughter.
Side by side Star and his mother loped happily, while Songbird chatteredto her father, who looked at her with loving pride as she sat gracefullyon her pony's back, her cheeks pink from the touch of the breeze and herexcitement showing in her dark, glowing eyes.
Back of Quannah and his little daughter rode the warriors, leadingponies laden with antelope and buffalo meat, while still other poniescarried rolled buffalo hides.
The meat that had been obtained on the hunt would be cut into thinstrips and dried in the sun. This would preserve it for use without anydanger of its spoiling, and the robes would be tanned and used for manypurposes. No lack of food or warm robes need be feared now, and wherethe tepees needed mending it could be done without trouble. The extrarobes would be exchanged by the Quahadas for articles which they mightdesire from some other tribe, or even traded for more ponies.
So there was much rejoicing when the hunting party reached the villagean hour later, and preparations were rushed for a great celebration. Inaddition to the successful hunt it was time for the Festival of theGreen Corn. This was the Quahada Thanksgiving Day, when they thanked theGreat Spirit for an abundance of maize and other necessities of theirdaily lives.
Songbird, turning Star loose, wandered about the camp and watched thesquaws at work. Children ran from their tepees to the place where thecamp fires had been built. Each family had a separate fire for thecelebration, and when everything was ready big bunches of corn werecarried by each to the special family fire, where the squaws roasted theears of maize.
While they were doing this the men formed in a large circle about thefires. The Medicine Man, Karolo, and Quannah, with Gray Beard, SpottedLeopard, and Big Wolf, were in the centre. The other men who formed thecircle danced around the chiefs, and as they danced they shouted theSong of the Green Corn. This was accompanied by monotonous music made bythe pounding with dry buffalo bones on skins tightly drawn over hoops ofbent wood.
When the dancing was over, the men all sat down close together, whileKarolo spoke to them and made a prayer of thanksgiving to the GreatSpirit. Each of the chiefs spoke after him. Then Karolo walked aroundthe circle of little fires and lifting his hands above each heap ofroasted corn, he blessed it.
After he had blessed all the corn, the Quahadas, men, women, andchildren, began to eat it, talking and laughing or calling across to oneanother as they enjoyed the feast that the Great Spirit had provided andblessed through Karolo.
The children listened to the talk of their elders as they sat beside thefires after the feast. There were stories of brave deeds, tales ofmighty hunters, and then all were silent as Moko related the story ofhow the buffaloes were sent to the Comanches. Moko was not only thePicture Maker of the Quahadas, but also the Story Teller. It wasthrough the Story Teller of the tribe that the younger people knew ofthose who had gone to the Happy Hunting Grounds long before thegrandparents of old Moko had been born. And Moko was the oldest livingperson among the Quahadas. So all of them, young and old, men and women,listened respectfully as she spoke.
"So many moons ago it happened, that the Indians cannot count them now,"she said, poking the ashes with a long stick. "The Sun Spirit, angeredbecause the Thunder Bird had flown across the sky day after day, made atrap and caught him. So the Sun held the Thunder Bird captive that itmight not fly across the sky and make shadows with its great blackwings. Because of this there was no rain and the earth grew thirsty.Then the grass died and the young corn shrivelled away.
"The ponies grew thin and weak, the streams shrank to small threads ofwater and many of them became dry sand. The antelopes moved away or diedbecause there was no grass, and though the Medicine Man planted hisprayer-sticks and begged the Great Spirit to help his children, theGreat Spirit did not listen to his voice.
"Then a young man of the Quahadas, and his wife, knowing that theirpeople would starve, wandered away together, hand in hand, to seek theGreat Spirit and offer him their own lives for the sake of their peoplewith whom the Great Spirit was angry.
"For three days before they started neither of them had eaten even amouthful of maize, nor had they taken any water, so that there might bemore left for the others who were not so strong as they were.
"Across the desert of hot sand that burned like fire against their barefeet, they two wandered alone. For many days they found nothing butheat, thirst, and hunger, and often they lay down on the scorching sand,too weak to go farther. But when they had rested a few minutes, theyremembered their people, and so they rose wearily and continued theirsearch for the Great Spirit.
"And one day the Great Spirit, who had been watching them all the time,appeared before them and said that because he had seen their great loveand pity and knew that their own sufferings had not made them weaken intheir search for him, their prayers would be answered, and the sacrificeof their lives was not desired by him. He touched the dry sand, and astream of clear water ran past their feet, so they fell upon the sandand thanked the Great Spirit. Then they laid their lips in the coolripples, and drank their fill.
"As they arose they saw food before them and many strange beautifulfruits, which the Great Spirit bade them eat. Then he told them of theSun Dance and how the big Sun Lodge must be built, and how the chiefsand the Medicine Men could vanquish the Spirit of the Sun when it heldthe Thunder Bird captive.
"After they had eaten and had thanked the Great Spirit, they promised todo as he bade them. Then the man and the woman returned rejoicing oftheir people and gave the message to them.
"And the Quahadas obeyed the Great Spirit, and made a prisoner of theSun, so the Thunder Bird was free. Then it stretched its broad wings andflew swiftly over the land. The rain fell from the black feather tipsuntil the land was flooded and the grass leaped up, the flowersbloomed, the antelopes returned, the ponies of the Quahadas grew fat andstrong and the whole tribe rejoiced because the Great Spirit smiled uponthem and their children.
"One day they saw a great black mass like a thunder cloud sweepingacross the prairie close to the ground. As it drew nearer they saw thatit was not a cloud, but a vast herd of strange, big, black animals, suchas none of them had ever seen before, and of which no one had ever toldthem or their forefathers. Then the Quahadas hid their faces, for theyheard the voice of the Great Spirit speaking from the sky.
"Because you have obeyed me, my anger has passed away and I give youthis new food. Kill these buffaloes when you need meat, when you needclothes, when you need tepees. These are all mine and I give them toyou, my children. You must take only what you need. If you slay themwhen you have enough food, clothes, robes, or tepees, I will take allthe buffaloes away, and I will also take from you again the grass andwater."
"So the buffaloes were given to the Indians; and we must never forgetthe words of the Great Spirit as he spoke to our forefathers that day,many, many moons ago. So many moons that none of us can count them now!"
Shaking her white head and muttering to herself, old Moko went to hertepee, and Songbird, with the other children, sat watching the gamesplayed by the men and women.
Some of the men held arrows, which they tossed while other men threwtheir own arrows to try to stop the flight of the first arrow as it wentswiftly past. It required great skill and a keen eye to measure theflight of the arrow and break it.
Other men, holding netted bats, like tennis rackets, played with a balland kept it moving between them for a long time. The players had to keepthe ball from falling to the ground and the rule was that if any mantouched the ball with his hand, he must leave the game and pay a fine.
The younger men wrestled in pairs, each one striving to throw the otherto the ground and hold him down unt
il Big Wolf, Spotted Leopard, or GrayBeard had decided which one was the winner.
Little Songbird, sitting among the other children, cracked nuts betweenstones, and with a sharp, stout cactus thorn picked out the meats andate them, until at last, too tired to keep her eyes open any longer, shecurled herself on a buffalo robe and went to sleep.
So soundly she slept that she did not awaken, even when her father foundher and carried her to their tepee home.