MYTHS AND LEGENDS
OF THE GREAT PLAINS
SELECTED AND EDITED BY
KATHARINE BERRY JUDSON
Author of“Myths and Legends of California and the Old Southwest,”“Myths and Legends of the Pacific Northwest,” “Montana,” “Myths andLegends of Alaska,” and “When the Forests are Ablaze.”
ILLUSTRATED
CHICAGO
A. C. McCLURG & CO.
1913
Copyright
A. C. McCLURG & CO.
1913
Published November, 1913
W. F. Hall Printing Company
Chicago
BY THE SAME AUTHOR
MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF CALIFORNIAAND THE OLD SOUTHWEST. Over fiftyfull-page illustrations. Small quarto. $1.50 net.
MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF ALASKA. Beautifullyillustrated. Small quarto. $1.50 net.
MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE PACIFICNORTHWEST. Especially of Washington andOregon. With fifty full-page illustrations.Small quarto. $1.50 net.
MONTANA: “The Land of Shining Mountains.”Illustrated. Indexed. Square 8vo. 75 cents net.
WHEN THE FORESTS ARE ABLAZE. Illustrated.Crown 8vo. $1.35 net.
A. C. McClurg & Co., Publishers
BIANKI’S VISION
(Kiowa Drawing)
The ghost-dance among the Sioux was based on the belief that the deadIndians would all come to life and drive out the white intruders. Thenthe buffaloes, which were disappearing, would come back in the immenseherds of the olden time.
The vision of one of the dreamer priests is represented. Afterreaching the spirit world, Bianki found himself on a vast prairiecovered with innumerable buffaloes and ponies. He went through theherds (dotted lines) until he came to a large Kiowa camp, with itsornament tepees. He met four young women who had died years before,and asked about two of his brothers, also dead. He soon met themcoming into camp, with buffalo meat hanging from their saddles.
Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution
PREFACE
From the edge of the Darkening Land, wherestand the mountains which encircle the earth-plain,eastward toward the Sunland, lie the greatplains of America. Smooth and flat and green theystretch away, hundreds of miles, rising from a deadlevel into a soft rolling of the land, then into the longgreen waves of the prairies where rivers flow, where thewater ripples as it flows, and trees shade the banks ofthe gleaming water.
Here, amidst the vast sweep