While we know our northern friends may not feel it, in the South, Spring is
here. So we thought we'd share a few of our gardening sites appropriate
for this time of the year. Along with gardening, there's grilling, and getting
ready to diet so that you can fit back into that bathing suit this summer!
About forty years ago, Ahak-tah,
"The Male Elk," was taken sick with a sore throat. It was in the
winter too, and sickness and cold together are hard to bear.
Want was an evil from which they were suffering; though the
Dahcotahs were not so poor then as they are now. They had not
given so much of their lands to the white people; and they
depended more upon their own exertions for support than they do
at present.
The medicine men did all they could to cure Ahaktah;
they tried to charm away the animal that had entered into his
body; they used the sacred rattle. But Ahaktah's throat got
worse; he died, and while his wives and children wept for him,
he had started on his long journey to the land of spirits.
He was wrapped in scarlet cloth, and laid upon a
scaffold. His wives sat weeping in their teepee, when a cry from
their young children drew their attention to the door. There
stood he for whom they mourned. The dead man again took his
place among those who sat beside the household fire. Tears of
grief were shed no more food was given to Ahaktah, and when he
was refreshed he thus addressed his wondering family:
"While you were weeping for me, my spirit was on its
way to the great city where our fathers, who have taught us all
the wonders of our sacred medicine, of Haokah the giant, and of
the Thunder bird, are now living. Twice has the sun ceased to
shine since I left you, and in that short time I have seen many
strange things. First, I passed through a beautiful country; the
forest-trees were larger than any you have ever seen. Birds of
all colors filled them, and their music was as loud as when our
medicine men play for us to celebrate the scalp dance. The broad
river was full of fish, and the loon screamed as she swam across
the lakes. I had no difficulty in finding my way, for there was
a road through this country. It seemed as if there must have
been many travelers there, though I saw no one.
"This great road was made by the spirits of those who
were killed in battle. No warrior, however brave he may have
been, has ever assisted in making this road, except those who
sang their death songs under the tomahawk of their enemies.
Neither did any woman ever assist. She is not considered worthy
to touch the war implements of a Dahcotah warrior, and she was
not permitted to do anything towards completing the path in
which the braves of the Dahcotahs would walk, when they joined
their forefathers in the land of spirits.
"As I pursued my journey, I saw near the banks of the
river a teepee; I entered it, and saw paint and all that a
warrior needed to dress himself in order to be fit to enter the
city of spirits. I sat down and plaited my hair, I put vermilion
on my cheeks, and arranged the war-eagle feathers in my head.
Here, I said to myself, did my father rest when he was on the
same journey. I was tired, but I could not wait I longed to see
my friends who had traveled this path before me I longed to tell
them that the Dahcotahs were true to the customs of their
forefathers I longed to tell them that we had drunk deep of the
blood of the Chippeways, that we had eaten the hearts of our
enemies, that we had torn their infants from their mothers'
breasts, and dashed them to the earth.
"I continued my journey, looking eagerly around me to
see some one, but all was desolate; and beautiful as everything
was, I would have been glad to have seen the face of a friend.
"It was evening when a large city burst upon my sight.
The houses were built regularly on the shores of the river. As
far as I could see, the homes of the spirits of my forefathers
were in view.
"But still I saw no one. I descended the hill towards
the river, which I must cross to reach the city of spirits. I
saw no canoe, but I feared nothing, I was so near my journey's
end. The river was wide and deep, and the waves were swiftly
following one another, when I plunged among them; soon I reached
the opposite shore, and as I again stood on the land, I heard
some one cry, 'Here he comes! here he comes!' I approached the
nearest house and entered; everything looked awful and
mysterious.
"In the corner of the room sat a figure whom I
recognized. It was my mother's brother, Flying Wind, the
medicine man. I remembered him, for it was he who taught me to
use my bow and arrow.
"In a bark dish, in the corner of the room, was some
wild rice. I was very hungry, for I had not eaten since I left
the earth. I asked my uncle for some rice to eat, but he did not
give it to me. Had I eaten of the food for spirits, I never
should have returned to earth.
"At last my uncle spoke to me. `My nephew,' said he, 'why are
you traveling without a bow and arrow? how can you provide
yourself with food when you have no means of killing game? When
my home was on the Mississippi, the warriors of the Dahcotahs
were never without their bows and arrows either to secure their
food or to strike to the hearts of their enemies.'
"I then remembered that I had been travelling without
my bow and arrows. `But where,' said I to my uncle, `where are
the spirits of my forefathers? where is my brother who fell
under the tomahawk of his enemy? where is my sister who threw
herself into the power of Unktahe, rather than to live and see
her rival the wife of the Sun? where are the spirits of the
Dahcotah braves whose deeds are still told from father to son
among us?'
"'The Dahcotah braves are still watching for their
enemies the hunters are bringing in the deer and the buffalo our
women are planting corn and tanning deer-skin. But you will not
now see them; your step is firm and your eye is bright; you must
return to earth, and when your limbs are feeble, when your eye
is dim, then will you return and find your home in the city of
spirits.'
"So saying, he arose and gave me a bow and arrow. I
took it, and while trying it I left the house; but how I do not
know.
"The next thing that I remember was being seated on the
top of the cliffs of Eagle's Nest, below Lake Pepin. I heard a
sound, and soon distinguished my mother's voice; she was
weeping. I knew that she was bending over my body. I could see
her as she cut off her hair, and I felt sad when I heard her
cry, 'My son! my son!' Then I recollect being on the top of the
half-side mountain on Lake Pepin. Afterwards I was on the
mountain near Red Wing's village, and again I stood on a rock,
on a point of land near where the waters of the Mississippi and
St. Peter's meet, on the 'Maiden's Jumping Rock;'14
here I recovered my right mind."
The daughter of Ahaktah says that her father retained
the "wahkun" bow and arrow that was given him by his uncle, and
that he was always
successful in hunting or in war; that he enjoyed fine health,
and lived to be a very old man; and she is living now to tell
the story.
14: Near Fort Snelling is a high rock called
the Maiden's Jumping Rock; where formerly the Dahcotah girls
used to jump for amusement, a distance of many feet from the top
to the ground.
The books presented are for
their historical value only and are not the
opinions of the Webmasters of the site.
Dahcotah, Or Life and Legends of the
Sioux around Ft. Snelling
