Cuts-Wood - Blackfoot Once there was a very poor boy who was an orphan, and he went down to the side of a stream, where he sat and cried. He was very lonesome, and mourned over his hard lot. As his sister was now married, he had no relations in the world. Now Morning Star took pity upon him, and, changing himself into a boy, came down. Morning Star came up, and said, "What are you crying for?" The poor boy said, "I am feeling very badly because I have no relatives. I am poor and hungry." " Well," said Morning Star, "I will show you a way to get food. Finally you will become the leader of the camp. I will get another boy, then there will be three of us to play together." Morning Star went away, and soon returned with another poor boy. Then all went into the brush, where they began to play. Morning Star made a little sweat-house of one hundred willows. Then he made a medicine-woman's lodge. Then he went to the other side, and made a small sun-lodge. When this was complete, he dug a hole for the fire, and made the booth for the weather-dancers. Then, all being complete, they sang the medicine-lodge dance-songs. Then they went out to kill some birds. and squirrels, and put them on top of the centre pole as offerings to the sun. Now the two poor boys did not know that their companion was the Morning Star. After they had played a while, he said, "I will go home and get some food for you." So he went into the brush, and came out with food. After this they played here every day, and the strange boy brought food for them. They did not know who it was. The boys learned the play, and spent most of their time at it. One day, as the brother-in-law of the orphan was sitting in his lodge, he said to his wife, "I wonder how it is with that little brother of yours. We never see him eat anything, and he is out from the camp the whole day. We must watch him. There is something mysterious here." So the next day the brother-in-law went to the top of a hill overlooking the camp to watch the orphan. He noticed that he had a companion, and that they went into the brush at a certain place. Then he stole quietly to the place and saw that there were three boys. He heard them singing, and saw the small medicine-lodge. Then he went quietly home and meditated. After a while he invited some of the head men into his lodge, told them what he had seen, and suggested that they all go out at night to look at the place where the boys played. They all saw it, and wondered much. However, they said nothing about it, for it appeared to be medicine. One day after the orphan-boy had grown up, his sister and his uncle advised him to make up that play; but the young man said, "It is powerful and medicine. I cannot make up a big one." They kept on talking to him, however, until he said, "Well, I will make it up; but my sister must be the woman to take a place in it, and she must make a confession." Then his sister asked him what kind of a confession she must make. He explained that in the first place she must have led a good life, not guilty of stealing, etc., and that if any man not her husband had accosted her to invite her to commit adultery with him, she must tell all of the details in the presence of the people; but if at any time she had been so accosted, and yielded to the temptation, she could neither make the confession, nor take part in the ceremony. His sister said that she had never made a mistake or done any great wrong in her life, and that she could make the confession. Then the orphan-boy promised her that she could go ahead and give the medicine- lodge, after which everybody would live long and be happy. Also the sun and moon would heed her prayers. Now at this time the Indians of the camp had a buffalo-drive, and collected a hundred and fifty tongues. The orphan requested an old woman to get these tongues, and invite all the young married women to come to her lodge, but that only those should accept the invitation who had been true to their marriage-vows. When all these women were assembled, the orphan told them that they must confess, and that if they kept anything back their relations would die off. He told them that they had been invited there to slice all the buffalo-tongues, and that if, in slicing them, any one should cut a hole in a slice, or cut her fingers, it was a sign that she had made a mistake in her life, and had lied in making the confession. Then he painted one tongue black, and gave it to his sister. She sliced it. She did not cut it or her fingers. Then the other women sliced the remaining tongues and everyone had good luck. After this they put up the centre pole in the sun- lodge and did everything as they do now. After the sun-dance was over, the orphan went on the war-path. Now the next season, another woman in the camp wanted to make the medicine-lodge. So she got the tongues and did everything as before; and after the sun-dance was over, the orphan went on the war-path again. Every time he went on the war-path, he cut a stick and painted it black. He left these with his sister, asking her to watch these counting-sticks. (This is the way he got the name of Cuts-Wood.) One time after the sun-dance, while Cuts-Wood was out on the war-path, his sister noticed that one of the sticks was missing. Then she knew that something was wrong. So she went over to the lodge of the woman who gave the last sun-dance and said to her, "You must be a bad woman, because one of the sticks is gone." The sister laid the blame on this woman. After a while a war-party came to the top of the hill. The people watching saw them throw a robe away. Then the sister began to cry, and when the war-party came in, the people heard that Cuts-Wood had been killed. Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History, Vol. II, 1908 Come visit us at. "Keeper of Stories". http://www.newkeeperofstories.com/ or Come visit us. "Native Village" [email protected]