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Source: "Legends & Lore of the American
Indians", by Terri Hardin
Chill breezes had long forewarned the geese of the coming cold season,
and the constant cry from about of "honk, honk," told the Indians that the
birds' migration was in progress.
The buffalo-hunters of the Blackfoot, an Algonquin tribe,
were abroad with the object of procuring the thick robes and the rich meat
which would keep them warm and provide good fare through the desolate
winter moons.
Sacred Otter had been
lucky. Many buffaloes had fallen to him, and he was busily occupied in
skinning them. But while the braves plied the knife quickly and deftly
they heeded not the dun, lowering clouds heavy with tempest hanging like
a black curtain over the northern horizon.
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Suddenly the clouds swooped
down from their place in the heavens like
a flight of black eagles, and
with a roar the blizzard were upon them. Sacred Otter and his son
crouched beneath the carcass of a dead buffalo for shelter, but he knew
that they would quickly perish unless they could find some better
protection from the bitter wind.
So he made a small tipi, or tent, out
of the buffalo's hide, and both crawled inside. Against this crazy
shelter the snow quickly gathered and drifted, so that soon the inmates
of the tiny lodge sank into a comfortable drowse induced by the gentle
warmth. As Sacred Otter slept he dreamed.
Away in the distance he saw a great tipi, crowned with a color like the gold of sunlight,
and painted with a cluster of stars symbolic of the North. The ruddy
disc of the sun was pictured on the back, and to this was affixed the
tail of the Sacred Buffalo. The skirts of the tipi were painted to
represent ice, and on its side had been drawn four yellow legs with
green claws, typical of the Thunder-bird. A buffalo in glaring red
frowned above the door, and bunches of crow-feathers, with small bells
attached, swung and tinkled in the breeze.
Sacred Otter, surprised at
the unusual nature of the paintings, stood before the tipi lost in
admiration of its decorations, when he was startled to hear a voice say:
"Who walks around my tipi_ Come in---come in!"
Sacred Otter entered, and
beheld a tall, white-haired man, clothed all in white, sitting at the
back of the lodge, of which he was the sole occupant. Sacred Otter took
a seat, but the owner of the tipi never looked his way, smoking on in
stolid silence. Before him was an earthen altar, on which was laid
juniper, as in the Sun ceremony.
His face was painted yellow, with a
red line in the region of the mouth, and another across the eyes to the
ears. Across his breast he wore a mink-skin, and round his waist small
strips of otter-skin, to all of which bells were attached.
For a long
time, he kept silence, but at length he laid down his black stone pipe
and addressed Sacred Otter as follows: "I am Es-tonea-pesta, the Lord of
Cold Weather, and this, my dwelling, is the Snow-tipi, or Yellow Paint
Lodge. I control and send the driving snow and biting winds from the
Northland. You are here because I have taken pity on you, and on your
son who was caught in the blizzard with you. Take this Snow-tipi with
its symbols and medicines. Take also this mink-skin tobacco-pouch, this
black stone pipe, and my supernatural power. You must make a tipi
similar to this on your return to camp."
The Lord of Cold Weather then minutely explained to Sacred
Otter the symbols of which he must make use in painting the lodge, and
gave him the songs and ceremonies connected
with it. At this juncture Sacred Otter awoke.
He observed that the storm
had abated somewhat, and as soon as it grew fair enough he and his son
crawled from their shelter and tramped home waist-high through the soft
snow. Sacred Otter spent the long, cold nights in making a model of the
Snow-tipi and painting it as he had been directed in his dream.
He also
collected the "medicines" necessary for the ceremony, and in
the spring, when new lodges were made, he built and made the Snow-tipi.
The power of Sacred Otter waxed great because of his possession of the
Snow-lodge which the Lord of Cold had vouchsafed to him in dream.
Soon was it proved.
Once more while hunting buffalo he and several companions
were caught in a blizzard when many a weary mile from camp. They
appealed to Sacred Otter to utilize the "medicine" of the Lord of Cold.
Directing that several women and children who were with the party should
be placed on sledges, and that the men should go in advance and break a
passage through the snow for the horses, he took the mink tobacco-pouch
and the black stone pipe he had received from the Cold, maker and
commenced to smoke. He blew the smoke in the direction whence the storm
came and prayed to the Lord of Cold to have pity on the people.
Gradually the storm-clouds broke and cleared and on every side the blue
sky was seen. The people hastened on, as they knew the blizzard was only
being held back for a space. But their camp was at hand, and they soon
reached it in safety.
Never again, however, would Sacred Otter use his
mystic power. For he dreaded that he might offend the Lord of Cold. And
who could afford to do that_
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