Post by blackcrowheart on Jun 4, 2007 20:11:04 GMT -5
Dance In A Buffalo Skull - Lakota
IT was night upon the prairie. Overhead the stars were twinkling bright
their red and yellow lights. The moon was young. A silvery thread among the
stars, it soon drifted low beneath the horizon.
Upon the ground the land was pitchy black. There are night people on the
plain who love the dark. Amid the black level land they meet to frolic under
the stars. Then when their sharp ears hear any strange footfalls nigh they
scamper away into the deep shadows of night. There they are safely hid from
all dangers, they think.
Thus it was that one very black night, afar off from the edge of the level
land, out of the wooded river bottom glided forth two balls of fire. They
came farther and farther into the level land. They grew larger and brighter.
The dark hid the body of the creature with those fiery eyes. They came on
and on, just over the tops of the prairie grass. It might have been a
wildcat prowling low on soft, stealthy feet. Slowly but surely the terrible
eyes drew nearer and nearer to the heart of the level land.
There in a huge old buffalo skull was a gay feast and dance! Tiny little
field mice were singing and dancing in a circle to the boom-boom of a wee,
wee drum. They were laughing and talking among themselves while their chosen
singers sang loud a merry tune.
They built a small open fire within the center of their queer dance house.
The light streamed out of the buffalo skull through all the curious sockets
and holes.
A light on the plain in the middle of the night was an unusual thing. But so
merry were the mice they did not hear the "king, king" of sleepy birds,
disturbed by the unaccustomed fire.
A pack of wolves, fearing to come nigh this night fire, stood together a
little distance away, and, turning their pointed noses to the stars, howled
and yelped most dismally. Even the cry of the wolves was unheeded by the
mice within the lighted buffalo skull.
They were feasting and dancing; they were singing and laughing -- those
funny little furry fellows.
All the while across the dark from out the low river bottom came that pair
of fiery eyes.
Now closer and more swift, now fiercer and glaring, the eyes moved toward
the buffalo skull. All unconscious of those fearful eyes, the happy mice
nibbled dried roots and venison. The singers had started another song. The
drummers beat the time, turning their heads from side to side in rhythm. In
a ring around the fire hopped the mice, each bouncing hard on his two hind
feet. Some carried their tails over their arms, while others trailed them
proudly along.
Ah, very near are those round yellow eyes! Very low to the ground they seem
to creep -- creep toward the buffalo skull. All of a sudden they slide into
the eye- sockets of the old skull.
"Spirit of the buffalo!" squeaked a frightened mouse as he jumped out from a
hole in the back part of the skull.
"A cat! a cat!" cried other mice as they scrambled out of holes both large
and snug. Noiseless they ran away into the dark.
Old Indian Legends by Zitkala-Sa [1901] and is now in the public domain.
IT was night upon the prairie. Overhead the stars were twinkling bright
their red and yellow lights. The moon was young. A silvery thread among the
stars, it soon drifted low beneath the horizon.
Upon the ground the land was pitchy black. There are night people on the
plain who love the dark. Amid the black level land they meet to frolic under
the stars. Then when their sharp ears hear any strange footfalls nigh they
scamper away into the deep shadows of night. There they are safely hid from
all dangers, they think.
Thus it was that one very black night, afar off from the edge of the level
land, out of the wooded river bottom glided forth two balls of fire. They
came farther and farther into the level land. They grew larger and brighter.
The dark hid the body of the creature with those fiery eyes. They came on
and on, just over the tops of the prairie grass. It might have been a
wildcat prowling low on soft, stealthy feet. Slowly but surely the terrible
eyes drew nearer and nearer to the heart of the level land.
There in a huge old buffalo skull was a gay feast and dance! Tiny little
field mice were singing and dancing in a circle to the boom-boom of a wee,
wee drum. They were laughing and talking among themselves while their chosen
singers sang loud a merry tune.
They built a small open fire within the center of their queer dance house.
The light streamed out of the buffalo skull through all the curious sockets
and holes.
A light on the plain in the middle of the night was an unusual thing. But so
merry were the mice they did not hear the "king, king" of sleepy birds,
disturbed by the unaccustomed fire.
A pack of wolves, fearing to come nigh this night fire, stood together a
little distance away, and, turning their pointed noses to the stars, howled
and yelped most dismally. Even the cry of the wolves was unheeded by the
mice within the lighted buffalo skull.
They were feasting and dancing; they were singing and laughing -- those
funny little furry fellows.
All the while across the dark from out the low river bottom came that pair
of fiery eyes.
Now closer and more swift, now fiercer and glaring, the eyes moved toward
the buffalo skull. All unconscious of those fearful eyes, the happy mice
nibbled dried roots and venison. The singers had started another song. The
drummers beat the time, turning their heads from side to side in rhythm. In
a ring around the fire hopped the mice, each bouncing hard on his two hind
feet. Some carried their tails over their arms, while others trailed them
proudly along.
Ah, very near are those round yellow eyes! Very low to the ground they seem
to creep -- creep toward the buffalo skull. All of a sudden they slide into
the eye- sockets of the old skull.
"Spirit of the buffalo!" squeaked a frightened mouse as he jumped out from a
hole in the back part of the skull.
"A cat! a cat!" cried other mice as they scrambled out of holes both large
and snug. Noiseless they ran away into the dark.
Old Indian Legends by Zitkala-Sa [1901] and is now in the public domain.