Buffalo Woman, A Story of
Magic
Snow Bird, the Caddo medicine man, had a handsome
son. When
the boy was old enough to be given a man's name,
Snow Bird called
him Braveness because of his courage as a hunter.
Many of the
girls in the Caddo village wanted to win Braveness
as a husband,
but he paid little attention to any of them.
One morning he started out for a day of hunting,
and while he was
walking along looking for wild game, he saw someone
ahead of him
sitting under a small elm tree. As he approached,
he was
surprised to find that the person was a young
woman, and he
started to turn aside.
"Come here," she called to him in a pleasant voice.
Braveness
went up to her and saw that she
was very young and very
beautiful.
"I knew you were coming here," she
said, "and so I came to meet
you."
"You are not of my
people," he replied. "How did you know that I
was coming this way?"
"I am Buffalo Woman," she said. "I have seen you
many times
before, from afar. I want you
to take me home with you and let me
stay with you."
"I can take you home with me," Braveness answered
her, "but you
must ask my parents if you can stay with us."
They started for his home at once, and when they
arrived there
Buffalo Woman asked Braveness's parents if she
could stay with
them and become the young man's wife. "If Braveness
wants you for
his wife, we will be pleased," said
Snow Bird, the medicine man.
"It is time that he had someone to love."
And so Braveness and Buffalo Woman were married in
the custom of
the Caddo people and lived happily together for
several moons.
One day she asked him, "Will you do whatever I may
ask of you,
Braveness?"
"Yes," he replied, "if what you ask is not
unreasonable."
"I want you to go with me to visit my people."