THE MAN AND THE OAK

 

 

 

There once lived a Sioux couple who had two children, a boy and a

girl. Every fall this family would move away from the main camp

and take up their winter quarters in a grove of timber some

distance from the principal village. The reason they did this was

that he was a great hunter and where a village was located for the

winter the game was usually very scarce. Therefore, he always

camped by himself in order to have an abundance of game adjacent

to his camp.

All summer he had roamed around following the tribe to wherever

their fancy might take them. During their travels this particular

year there came to the village a strange girl who had no relatives

there. No one seemed very anxious to take her into their

family, so the great hunter's daughter, taking a fancy to the poor

girl, took her to their home and kept her. She addressed her as

sister, and the parents, on account of their daughter, addressed

her as daughter.

This strange girl became desperately in love with the young man of

the family, but being addressed as daughter by the parents, she

could not openly show her feelings as the young man was considered

her brother.

In the fall when the main village moved into a large belt of timber

for their winter quarters, the hunter moved on to another place two

days' travel from the main winter camp, where he would not be

disturbed by any other hunters.

The young man had a tent by himself, and it was always kept nice

and clean by his sister, who was very much attached to him. After

a long day's hunt in the woods, he would go into his tent and lie

down to rest, and when his supper was ready his sister would

say, "My brother is so tired. I will carry his supper to him."

Her friend, whom she addressed as sister, would never go into the

young man's tent. Along towards spring there came one night into

the young man's tent a woman. She sat down by the door and kept

her face covered so that it was hidden from view. She sat there a

long time and finally arose and went away. The young man could not

imagine who this could be. He knew that it was a long distance

from the village and could not make out where the woman

could have come from. The next night the woman came again and this

time she came a little nearer to where the young man lay. She sat

down and kept her face covered as before. Neither spoke a word.

She sat there for a long time and then arose and departed. He was

very much puzzled over the actions of this woman and decided to

ascertain on her next visit who she was.

He kindled a small fire in his tent and had some ash wood laid on

it so as to keep fire a long time, as ash burns very slowly and

holds fire a long time.

The third night the woman came again and sat down still nearer his

bed. She held her blanket open just a trifle, and he, catching up

one of the embers, flashed it in her face; jumping up she ran

hurriedly out of the tent. The next morning he noticed that his

adopted sister kept her face hidden with her blanket. She chanced

to drop her blanket while in the act of pouring out some soup, and

when she did so he noticed a large burned spot on her cheek.

He felt so sorry for what he had done that he could eat no

breakfast, but went outside and lay down under an oak tree. All

day long he lay there gazing up into the tree, and when he was

called for supper he refused, saying that he was not hungry, and

for them not to bother him, as he would soon get up and go to bed.

Far into the night he lay thus, and when he tried to arise he could

not, as a small oak tree grew through the center of his body and

held him fast to the ground.

In the morning when the family awoke they found the girl had

disappeared, and on going outside the sister discovered her brother

held fast to the earth by an oak tree which grew very rapidly. In

vain were the best medicine men of the tribe sent for. Their

medicine was of no avail. They said: "If the tree is cut down the

young man will die."

The sister was wild with grief, and extending her hands to the sun,

she cried: "Great Spirit, relieve my suffering brother. Any one

who releases him I will marry, be he young, old, homely or

deformed."

Several days after the young man had met with the mishap, there

came to the tent a very tall man, who had a bright light encircling

his body. "Where is the girl who promised to marry any one who

would release her brother?" "I am the one," said the young

man's sister. "I am the all-powerful lightning and thunder. I see

all things and can kill at one stroke a whole tribe. When I make

my voice heard the rocks shake loose and go rattling down the

hillsides. The brave warriors cower shivering under some shelter

at the sound of my voice. The girl whom you had adopted as your

sister was a sorceress. She bewitched your brother because he

would not let her make love to him. On my way here I met her

traveling towards the west, and knowing what she had done, I struck

her with one of my blazing swords, and she lies there now a heap of

ashes. I will now release your brother."

So saying he placed his hand on the tree and instantly it crumbled

to ashes. The young man arose, and thanked his deliverer.

Then they saw a great black cloud approaching, and the man said:

"Make ready, we shall go home on that cloud." As the cloud

approached near to the man who stood with his bride, it suddenly

lowered and enveloped them and with a great roar and amidst flashes

of lightning and loud peals of thunder the girl ascended and

disappeared into the west with her Thunder and Lightning husband.