Читать книгу The Element Encyclopedia of Magical Creatures: The Ultimate A–Z of Fantastic Beings from Myth and Magic - John Matthews - Страница 248

The ancient bison of the cave paintings of Lascaux in southern France is the same animal that is misleadingly called the ‘American buffalo’. (The buffalo is a completely different bovine animal.) The bison is an immense, heavy animal which yielded much meat, a tough skin and warm hide to help our ancestors survive the rigours of the Ice Age. Immense herds of buffalo used to roam the North American Plains, amply supporting the Plains Indians in the same way. When food was short for the Mandan Indians, their warriors performed a bison dance designed to change the direction of the herds’ wanderings and bring them near to their village. The dance continued, with new dancers replacing the hunters who were fatigued, until bison were sighted.

The Blackfoot Indians tell a story that takes us back to our ancient ancestors who stampeded bison (or buffalo as they are in this story) over cliffs. (See next page.)

The legend of how the American buffalo were first released upon Earth tells how a powerful being called Humpback owned all the buffalo, keeping them in a corral in the mountains north of San Juan. Humpback refused to share any of the beasts, so Coyote called a council in which their release was planned. Scouts went out to see how this might be accomplished, but the stronghold seemed impregnable. Coyote then noticed that Humpback’s young son had no pet. Coyote turned himself into the bird that the tribes call the kill-deer. Pretending to have a broken wing, he loitered by a spring where Humpback’s son took pity upon him and led him into the stronghold. Coyote planned to fly over the corral, causing the buffalo to stampede; however Humpback said the bird was good for nothing and ordered his son to cast it out. The next morning, Coyote turned into a little dog and the boy brought him home. Humpback tested the dog to see that it was what it claimed to be, by holding a coal from the fire near the dog’s eyes. As the fire drew close, Coyote gave three barks. Satisfied, Humpback allowed his son to retain the dog, but as soon as dark fell, the dog ran among the buffalo nipping at their heels until they stampeded right into Humpback’s house, smashing it down. As they cleaned up the damage, the boy wept for his dog, whom he assumed had been killed in the stampede. ‘That was no dog, but Coyote the trickster,’ growled Humpback, and that is how buffalo were released into the world.

The tribe were growing increasing cold and hungry, but whenever the bison were driven towards the cliff, they merely swerved right and left. One young woman looked at the escaping herd and cried out in despair, ‘If only one of you will jump into the corral, I will marry you’. Immediately, animals began to fall over the cliff but one leapt over the corral wall and took her at her word, taking her away. After cutting up the newly-killed bison, the girl’s father missed her and went searching for her. He got the help of Magpie, who showed her where his daughter lay. The bison-husband killed his father-in-law by trampling him to pieces. As his wife mourned, the bison remarked, ‘Now you see what it is like when our people are stampeded and killed. But if you can succeed in bringing your father back to life I will let him return to his people.’ The women asked Magpie for help, who searched and found a piece of her father’s backbone. She covered it with a robe and sang until the robe was covering a whole body which began to breathe again. The bison was impressed by the holy skill of human beings to bring the dead back to life again, and he bade his wife to return with her father and teach their people how to dance and sing like the buffalo. Ever since that time, the Blackfoot have danced the Buffalo Dance, wearing the head and skin of the buffalo.

(See Buffalo, Ptesan-Wi, White Buffalo Calf Woman.)