THE KIOWA AND OTHER AMERINDIAN PEOPLES’ ORAL TRADITION

The Arrowmaker

If an arrow is well made, it will have tooth marks upon it. That is how you know. The
Kiowas made fine arrows and straightened them in their teeth. Then they drew them to the
bow to see if they were straight. Once there was a man and his wife. They were alone at night
in their tipi. By the light of the fire the man was making arrows. After a while he caught sight of
something. There was a small opening in the tipi where two hides were sewn together.
Someone was there on the outside, looking in. The man went on with his work, but he said to
his wife: “Someone is standing outside. Do not be afraid. Let us talk easily, as of ordinary
things.” He took up an arrow and straightened it in his teeth; then, as it was right for him to
do, he drew it to the bow and took aim, first in this direction and then in that. And all the while
he was talking, as if to his wife. But this is how he spoke: “I know that you are there on the
outside, for I can feel your eyes upon me. If you are a Kiowa, you will understand what I am
saying, and you will speak your name.” But there was no answer, and the man went on in the
same way, pointing the arrow all around. At last his aim fell upon the place where his enemy
stood, and he let go of the string. The arrow went straight to the enemy’s heart.

From The Way to Rainy Mountain by N. Scott Momaday. University of New Mexico Press,
1969.

The Kiowa Brothers

On a raid against the Utes, one of two brothers was captured. The other, alone and of
his own will, stole into the Ute camp and tried to set his brother free, but he too was captured.
The chief of the Utes had respect for the man’s bravery, and he made a bargain with him. If he
could carry his brother on his back and walk upon a row of greased buffalo heads without
falling to the ground, both brothers would be given horses and allowed to return in safety to
their home. The man bore his brother on his back and walked upon the heads of the buffalo
and kept his footing. The Ute chief was true to his word, and the brothers returned to their
own people on horseback.

From The Way to Rainy Mountain by N. Scott Momaday. University of New Mexico
Press, 1969.

The Death of Sitting Bear

Set-angya, or Sitting Bear, was chief of the Kaitsenko Society, the Crazy Dog or dog
soldier organization of the Kiowa tribe. It was composed of ten men only, the ten most brave.
They were the first and last security of the people. If they should die, everyone should die.
Each one of them wore a long sash, so long it trailed the ground, and carried a sacred arrow. In
the time of battle, each of these Kaitsenko warriors must, by means of his sacred arrow, fix his
sash to the ground, and he must stand his ground to the death.
 Set-angya was imprisoned at Fort Sill. Along with two other chiefs, White Bear and Big
Tree, he was placed in the bed of a wagon, to be taken to the railroad, then sent to Fort
Richardson to be tried for the raid on the Warren wagon train. As they were going along in the
wagon on the grounds of the fort, Set-angya began to sing the song of the Kaitsenko. At this,
the others became very upset, because that song was sacred. It could only be sung in the face
of death. And when he had sung the song, he said to Set-tainte and Big Tree, “You see that
cottonwood on the side of the road ahead? By the time we reach that tree, I will be dead.” He
then pulled a knife, which he had somehow hidden about him, and he attacked the teamster,
stabbed him in the leg. The guards, riding close beside the wagon, shot him dead. But he was
true to his word.

Adapation of a story from The Ancient Child by N. Scott Momaday. New York: Harper
Perennial, 1999.

Kiowa Origin Myth

“You know, everything had to begin, and this is how it was: the Kiowas came one by one into
the world through a hollow log. There were many more than now, but not all of them got out.
There was a woman whose body was swollen up with child, and she got stuck in the log. After
that, no one could get through, and that is why the Kiowas are a small tribe in number. They
looked around and saw the world. It made them glad to see so many things. They called
themselves Kwuda, “coming out.”

From The Way to Rainy Mountain

– N. Scott Momaday

from The World on the Turtle’s Back

– Iroquois creation myth

“In the middle of the Sky-World there grew a Great Tree which was not like any of the trees
that we know. It was tremendous; it had grown there forever. It had enormous roots that
spread out from the floor of the Sky-World. And on its branches there were many different
kinds of leaves and different kinds of fruits and flowers. The tree was not supposed to be
marked or mutilated by any of the beings who dwelt in the Sky-World. It was a sacred tree that
stood at the center of the universe.”

(text, p 23)

“The woman decided that she wanted some bark from one of the roots of the Great Tree—
perhaps as a food or as a medicine, we don’t know. She told her husband this. He didn’t like
the idea. He knew it was wrong. But she insisted, and he gave in. So he dug a hole among the
roots of this great sky tree, and he bared some of its roots. But the floor of the Sky-World
wasn’t very thick, and he broke a hole through it. He was terrified, for he had never expected
to find empty space underneath the world”
“But his wife was filled with curiosity. He wouldn’t get any of the roots for her, so she set out
to do it herself. She bent over and she looked down, and she saw the ocean far below…She fell
through the hole…And so she began to fall toward the great ocean far below…

Birth & Infancy

Lullaby

Baby, sleep, sleep sleep
Father has gone to find turtle shells
He said he will come back tomorrow
tells us about the love of the father for the son. but also tells us that this
people lived close to the sea, as turtles live in the sea. they are hard
working people. the message is not for the baby, is toward the woman
to find some confort. it says that there is a tomorrow

Baby, sleep, sleep, sleep

- Creek

Cradlesong

sleep, little one, your father is bringing

something that protect th child, which is the necklacemade from
a spotted deer to be your pet, the rabbit's ear. the father is giving something that protects but is
also a toy. perhaps the fruits are something to eat not only a toy.
a rabbit’s ear to be your necklace,

spotted bramble fruits to be your toys.

- Mbya

When the Child is Named

The mother and the godmother stand on the housetop before dawn; the godmother speaks:

My sun!

My morning star!

Help this child to become a man.

I name him

Rain-dew Falling!

I name him

Star Mountain!

The mother throws a live coal; the godmother throws sacred meal.

- Tewa

A Song of the Girl’s Puberty Ceremony

When the earth was made;

When the sky was made;

When my songs were first heard;

The holy mountain was standing toward me with life.

At the center of the sky, the holy boy walks four ways with life.

Just mine, my mountain became; standing toward me with

life.

The dancers became; standing toward me with life.

When the sun goes down to the earth, where Mescal Mountain

lies with its head toward the sunrise,

Black spruce became; standing up with me.

- White Mountain Apache

Love Songs & Love Magic

The Dream

Last night I dreamed of you.

I dreamed you were walking on the shore pebbles

and I was walking with you.

last night I dreamed of you.

and as though I were awake,

I dreamed that I followed you,

that I wanted you like a young seal,

that you were wanted by me

the way a hunter

wants a young seal

that dives when it feels it is being followed.

that’s how you were wanted

by me,

who dreamed of you.

- Ammassalik Eskimo
Medicine Man’s Prayer

Listen, my dream!

This you told me should be done.

This you said should be the way.

You said it would cure the sick.

Help me now.

Do not lie to me.

Help me, Sun person.

Help me to cure this sick man.

- Blackfeet