Part 4 (1/2)
I Games and Sports
THE Indian boy was a prince of the wilderness He had but very little work to do during the period of his boyhood His principal occupation was the practice of a few simple arts in warfare and the chase Aside from this, he was master of his time
Whatever was required of us boys was quickly perfora us We felt veryand war--each one strove to excel all the others
It is true that our savage life was a precarious one, and full of dreadful catastrophes; however, this never prevented us fro our sports to the fullest extent As we left our teepees in the le from a pole in the afternoon! It was an uncertain life, to be sure Yet we observed that the fawns skipped and played happily while the gray wolvesforth from behind the hills, ready to tear them limb from limb
Our sports were molded by the life and customs of our people; indeed, we practiced only e expected to do when grown Our games were feats with the bow and arrow, foot and pony races, wrestling, swi and imitation of the custohts with mud balls and ands; we played lacrosse, made war upon bees, shot winter arrohich were used only in that season), and coasted upon the ribs of aniether than, as a usual thing, they divided into squads and chose sides; then a leading arroas shot at randoround a volley from the bows of the participants followed Each player was quick to note the direction and speed of the leading arrow and he tried to send his own at the saht, so that when it fell it would be closer to the first than any of the others
It was considered out of place to shoot by first sighting the object aimed at This was usually impracticable in actual life, because the object was almost always in motion, while the hunter hiallop Therefore, it was the off-hand shot that the Indian boy sought to aenerally confined to the men
The races were an every-day occurrence At noon the boys were usually gathered by some pleasant sheet of water and as soon as the ponies atered, they were allowed to graze for an hour or thile the boys stripped for their noonday sports A boy ht say to some other whom he considered his equal:
”I can't run; but I will challenge you to fifty paces”
A former hero, when beaten, would often explain his defeat by saying: ”I drank too es were paired for a ”spin,” and the little red men cheered on their favorites with spirit
As soon as this was ended, the pony races followed All the speedy ponies were picked out and riders chosen If a boy declined to ride, there would be shouts of derision
Last of all ca tail, while the latter, with only his head above water, glided sportively along Finally the anirass and we turned our attention to other gaame and was confined entirely to the Sisseton and Santee Sioux shi+nny, such as is enjoyed by white boys on the ice, is still played on the open prairie by the western Sioux The ”h sometimes played by the boys, was intended ht was rather a severe and dangerous sport A luy and and thrown as boys throw apples from sticks, with considerable force When there were fifty or a hundred players on each side, the battle beca to arouse the bravery of Indian boys see was largely indulged in by us all It reat many boys at once--from ten to any number on a side It was really a battle, in which each one chose his opponent
The rule was that if a boy sat down, he was let alone, but as long as he re within the field, he was open to an attack No one struck with the hand, but allwith the knees was allowed Altogether it was an exhausting pastia athlete could really enjoy it
One of our most curious sports was a war upon the nests of wild bees
We iined ourselves about to make an attack upon the Ojibways or some tribal foe We all painted and stole cautiously upon the nest; then, with a rush and hoop, sprang upon the object of our attack and endeavored to destroy it But it seemed that the bees were always on the alert and never entirely surprised, for they always raised quite as ht upon the nest was ended, we usually followed it by a pretended scalp dance
On the occasion of my first experience in this mode of warfare, there were two other little boys ere also novices One of thee in an exploit of that kind
As it was the custom of our people, when they killed or wounded an enemy on the battle field, to announce the act in a loud voice, we did the same My friend, Little Wound (as I will call hi quite small, was unable to reach the nest until it had been well trae with such vigor as to repulse and scatter our numbers in every direction However, he evidently did not want to retreat without any honors; so he bravely jumped upon the nest and yelled:
”I, the brave Little Wound, to-day kill the only fierce enemy!”
Scarcely were the last words uttered when he screamed as if stabbed to the heart One of his older companions shouted:
”Dive into the water! Run! Dive into the water!” for there was a lake near by This advice he obeyed