den8more] teton sioux music, 375 



Personal Narrative by Red Fox 



Red Fox (Tokala-lu'ta), plate 56, gave the following narrative, 

 telling how ho cntorcul on the career of a warrior: 



My mother was a good and beautiful woman. She wore her hair in long braids, 

 and I rememl)er how she looked as she said, "If my son ever goes on the warpath I 

 shall take a lariat and hang myself." I was a very little boy, and it made a great 

 impression on me, as my mother intended it should do. Of course, she did not really 

 mean it,' but she did not want me to run away and go with a war party. Yet that 

 is exactly what I did. 



One day when I was about 12 years old I took my bow and arrows and went to 

 shoot birds. The arrows were the blunt arrows that children used. I noticed there 

 were a number of men going away from the village, gaily dressed, and followed by 

 little boys carrying packs. I said to another little boy, "Where are they going?" 

 He replied, "They are going north on the warpath." This was the first time I ever 

 saw a war party. The other little boy said, "They are our friends jvho are carrying 

 those packs; let us go, too." So we followed the war party. We did not go home 

 nor take any extra moccasins; we had only the little calfskin robes we wore and the 

 blunt arrows with which we were going to kill birds, but we overtook the war party 

 and went with them. Of course the boys who had started with the warriors were 

 well supplied with clothing and provisions. 



In every war expedition there is an advance party, which precedes the main body 

 of men. My father was one of the warriors in this company, and I afterward learned 

 that my cousin Hairy ('bin was in the advance party. W^e had gone a long distance 

 before any of the older members of the party saw me. Then one of them called to my 

 father and said, "here is your boy." Aly father told me to sit down beside him and 

 questioned me, saying, "Did you have permission from your mother?" I said, "No;. 

 we were hunting birds and we just came along to join you." He said, "You had 

 better camp with the advance party when we overtake them; you will have better 

 food and bed than if you stay with us." I learned that the advance party always 

 has a good camp, while the others sleep as best they can. The day we left hoftie the 

 rear party killed a buffalo, and they shared the tneat with the advance party who 

 were waiting for them on a butte. 



When my cousin saw me he came over and said, "^^^ly did, you come, brother-in- 

 law?" ['] I replied, "We were hunting birds." He said, "Come with me." So he 

 took me to his camp. "\Mien we entered all the men said, "\\Tiat a little boy to go on 

 the warpath!" I leaned over my dish, and began to cut and eat my meat. While 

 I was eating I heard the men say, "There is some one coming on horseback, singing." 

 The man came nearer and we could hear him saying, "The news is flung about the 

 camp that a little boy ran away with the war party, and that his mother took a lariat 

 and hung herself." Then I began to cry, and I said, "That must be my mother; 

 she said that she would do that if I ever ran away with a war party." 



One man said: "They are doing that to make your heart strong. They are only 

 fooling you. You \\ill be fooled many times while you are on the warpath. ' ' But that 

 did not make any difference. I thought of my mother, and I kept on crying. 



After 10 days' journey we came on a previous war party of six Sioux, all of whom 

 had been killed by the Crows. I remember the names of only four; they were Mato''- 

 ina^pa (Bear Appears), Kaggi^-^ugka^ (Crow Dog), Ma^za-ska (White Metal), and 

 E''gna-ii)^yar)ke (Runs Amidst). When I saw the dead bodies lying there with the 

 heads scalped, I asked, "\Miat are these?" The reply was, "These are our friends 

 who went on the warpath." I said, "By whom were they killed?" The reply was, 



P A term used in familiar speech without necessarily implying relationship.] 



