ARAPOOASH - Part 2

(Cont. from last week)
Published in the Hysham Echo February 18, 1926 & December 20, 2013

The Great Up-Sah-Ro-Ku Chief and Medicine Man --- His Story of the Mysterious Under-Water People

 

The Thoughtless Indian Girl

“These, my sons are a few of the things that I remember about Arapooash, but another incident has been told to me by our old men many moons ago, and I believe it is true. This happened when Arapooash was a young man and when your people still lived on the Arkansas river. Our people were at war with four tribes, the Arapahoes, the Chepennes, the Powder People and the Wolves, but the Crows were very powerful then and were not afraid of all of these enemies. Once the scouts came in and reported a large village of the enemies higher up the river, and when starting out against this camp, it was decided to leave the women and children behind. They were ready to start when someone said to the warriors, ‘You are fools to go on this war party without Arapooash. You have not asked him about it. Go now and ask him to be your leader.’

“The Crows considered this counsel and looked for Arapooash, finding him seated in his lodge. They asked him to come with them and be their leader, and he refused.

“‘Why,’ they asked, ‘will you not bear the pipe for us?’

“‘Because I do not like the style of your party,’ was his reply. ‘There are too many boys and young men whose silliness will produce mischief.’

“‘But you must go,’ they said, ‘We cannot succeed without you.’

“’Well,’ said Arapooash, ‘if you say so, and as I wish the Crows success, I will go with you, but only on one condition - no one must kill or injure a single bird during our march upon the enemies camp, otherwise harm will befall us.’
The warriors promised this and the party started out. All remembered what Arapooash had said and were careful that not even by accident should even one bird be injured. It was in the spring and the young birds were beginning to fly. It happened that one of these young birds fluttered past a squaw, when she thoughtlessly struck at it with her whip and unfortunately killed it. This was reported to Arapooash, who went to the spot and for some time stood gazing at the frightened girl.

“‘It might have been more serious,’ he said, ‘but, for the killing of the bird, one man’s life shall be lost, and this girl’s brother shall fall in the battle that we are to fight at the village.’

“The war party moved on and reached the village. Here a fierce battle was fought and the enemies were defeated with great loss, but only one was killed among the Crows and that was the brother of the girl who had killed the bird with her whip.

“Arapooash, my sons, was one of our greatest chiefs and medicine men. He was our great leader when the whites first found us in this great Crow country. Arapooash greatly loved his people and the wonderful land in which they had settled.

After the old chief had passed the pipe, he reached into the corner of his lodge and brought forth his medicine bag, and smoothing down its flap, he said:

“These stories that I tell you, my sons, are our sacred history. Just as this medicine bag and what it contains are a part of our life, just so, are these tales our sacred and honored beliefs. They are our history and our religion, and they mean just as much to you and your people as does the white man’s belief which he gets from his books, and it is ours to say that our beliefs mean just as much to us.

“Listen, my sons, and I will tell you a story that was told me by the great Arapooash, when I was still a very young warrior.

The Under Water People

“Since the very earliest days, Arapooash said, the Crows have believed that all rivers and other bodies of water contain spirits or strange animals, who are always hungry, and ready to kill and devour human beings. Thus it is that when the Crows start to cross a stream, they throw food into the water first to feed these spirits so that they may spare them. The Crows in the earlier days also believed that by painting their bodies with spots and stripes of bright colors it would frighten the spirits away and allow them to cross the water in safety. Arapooash said that the Crows had often seen these spirits, and that they were always of the same form as men, except that they were fat and their legs and arms were very large.
Arapooash said that once on the Tongue river one of them was found dead with part of its face gone, and his hair was like wool. Another time on the Rosebud river, another was seen swimming in the water and making a great disturbance as it moved about. One of the three Crows who saw it raised his gun to shoot, but it suddenly raised itself in the water and looked so horrible that the Crow dropped his gun in fright and he and his companions ran from the place as fast as they could. Another time, on the Little Big Horn, three of them were seen together, playing in the water like children, and they really seemed to be spirit children. Arapooash says that the Crow who sat on his horse and watched them in wonder, was startled when there came a flash across the water, like a flash of lightning, and this lashed the water into foam, bewildering the Crow and so frightening his horse that he reared and threw him. When he recovered from the shock, the spirits were all gone, but the track of the flash could be seen by a muddy line.

The Devil of the Yellowstone

Many, many moons ago, said Arapooash, when the great Crow camp was on the Big Horn river and Rotten Grass creek, which is part of the Tongue river, a party of about 60 braves went to war against the Piegans. They crossed the Yellowstone and went up through the pass of Fleishman’s creek, and when they reached the top of the divide they saw the smoke of a hostile village on the West Gallatin river. They approached the enemy camp very carefully, and made off with a number of horses. When they reached the Yellowstone river all of the party got safely across except Slender Woman who rode the finest horse in the party. This horse had never before shown any fear of water, but he now was struck with great fear upon approaching it and several times he turned back from it in spite of all the efforts of Slender Woman. Finally he plunged in, but when about the middle of the stream, he reared wildly and unseated his rider and turned back to the shore leaving Slender Woman to get by as best he could. Slender Woman did not want to lose so fine a horse, so he started back across the stream after him. He secured the horse, and again they plunged into the water. When they were half way across, the horse did as he had done the first time, leaving Slender Woman struggling in the river.

“At this point, the water was very swift, but Slender Woman did not float with the water, and presently he arose out of the stream until his body was in sight from the waist up, and there he remained as if he were fastened there. His friends asked why he did not come to shore and he replied that something was holding him there. Warm Horse, a young brave, who was Slender Woman’s friend, then took his knife and plunged into the water to save his companion, but just as he reached the spot, Slender Woman sank from sight and was seen no more. Warm Horse returned to the shore, and after waiting for some time, Slender Woman’s companions went on their way and mourned him as dead, telling the sad tale when they got to the Crow camp.

“After the time of mourning had passed, Thunder Medicine, who was a relative of Slender Woman and a great medicine man set out to get the remains of the lost man. His friends tried to get him to give up the undertaking, but he would not, and together with Long Horse, who had been with the war party, they went to the spot where Slender Woman had gone from sight. At that time, the river was high and the water was very swift. Thunder Medicine stripped himself to enter the water.

“He ordered Long Horse to leave the shore for some distance and not once to look back toward the river lest he should break the medicine charm. At last Thunder Medicine went into the water. He had expected to sink into the stream beyond his depth, but found himself supported to the depth of his waist on a soft bottom that felt like a grassy carpet, and over this he walked to the point where Slender Woman had disappeared. At this point the soft bottom did not support him any longer and he sank beneath the water, and felt himself carried swiftly along the bottom. He had been carried for some distance, how far he did not know, when he stumbled over a rock and found himself on a dry spot on the bottom of the river.

“This spot was surrounded by high walls of rock, and over his head he could see nothing but the muddy water of the river, as it rushed past the peculiar opening. In the center of this space stood a worn out old lodge, and as he came near to this the door was opened by a little girl, and walking in he found himself in front of a very old man and an old woman who sat on the left side of the lodge with their heads bowed.

“He sat down opposite these strange people. He saw that the old couple were wrinkled, ragged and quite poor. Then the old woman said to her husband: ‘My child has traveled a long ways to the country of his enemies to get the body of the man you drowned. I begged you not to eat his body as his friends would come to claim it, and you see now they have.’

“He may have what is left of his friend,’ said the old man. ‘He will find it near the door.’

“Then Thunder Medicine looked in the place indicated and found all the bones of Slender Woman except the skull. While he was examining these remains, the old man led up a horse which looked like those used by the whites except that the hair was like that of those animals that live in the water. This horse the old man offered to Thunder Medicine, and when he was about to take it, the old woman said: ‘Don’t take it, my child.’

“Thunder Medicine did not understand this, and the old woman said: ‘That horse is not like the horses of your people, and you will be an enemy to your people if you take him. He will bite the Crows and what he bites, dies. I warn you, do not take the horse.’

“Upon hearing this, Thunder Medicine thanked the old man, but refused the horse. This pleased the old woman, and as if afraid to have him stay longer, she said:

“‘My child’s friend stands on the bank of the river crying for him, thinking he has perished like Slender Woman who he came to seek. Let him go that he may comfort his friend, and return to his people with the bones of Slender Woman.’

“‘Very well,’ said the old man, ‘Let him stand upon the palms of my hands and shut his eyes.’ and he placed his hands on the ground so that Thunder Medicine could step into them.

“Thunder Medicine did as he had been told and felt himself going very rapidly through the air, and not knowing how it had been done, he found himself standing on dry land on the opposite side of the river from Long Horse, who was walking up and down beating himself an mourning for him as one who had died. Thunder Medicine called out to him and great was his surprise to see him alive.

“After his strange experience in the water, Thunder Medicine was a little afraid to enter into it again, but soon he ventured and to his amazement he found himself held up by the same soft bottom that had held him up before and he crossed with safety bringing the remains of Slender Woman with him. He walked across without sinking deeper than his waist in water that was many feet deep.

“His friend met him at the shore, saw that he had the remains of Slender Woman, and listened with wonder at the story of Thunder Medicine’s terrible experiences. The remains of Slender Woman were buried, and this made Thunder Medicine a more prominent medicine man among the Crows. Such, my sons, is Arapooash’s story of the Under-Water-People.

“Arapooash, my sons, was killed in a fierce battle against an enemy tribe, not far beyond where Fort Benton now is.”
“Such is the story of the great Arapooash, one of the greatest among all your people. Ho!”

For the substance of the story of Arapooash, and the Water-People legends, I am indebted to the manuscript of Lieut. James H. Bradley, a contribution to the Montana Historical Society. Print this post