Old Indian Legends | Page 3

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OLD INDIAN LEGENDS
OLD INDIAN LEGENDS
RETOLD BY ZITKALA-SA

ITKALA-SA.

CONTENTS
IKTOMI AND THE DUCKS IKTOMI'S BLANKET IKTOMI AND
THE MUSKRAT IKTOMI AND THE COYOTE IKTOMI AND THE
FAWN THE BADGER AND THE BEAR THE TREE-BOUND
SHOOTING OF THE RED EAGLE IKTOMI AND THE TURTLE
DANCE IN A BUFFALO SKULL THE TOAD AND THE BOY IYA,
THE CAMP-EATER MANSTIN, THE RABBIT THE WARLIKE
SEVEN

IKTOMI AND THE DUCKS

1

OLD INDIAN LEGENDS

IKTOMI AND THE DUCKS
IKTOMI is a spider fairy. He wears brown deerskin leggins with long
soft fringes on either side, and tiny beaded moccasins on his feet. His
long black hair is parted in the middle and wrapped with red, red bands.
Each round braid hangs over a small brown ear and falls forward over
his shoulders.
He even paints his funny face with red and yellow, and draws big black
rings around his eyes. He wears a deerskin jacket, with bright colored
beads sewed tightly on it. Iktomi dresses like a real Dakota brave. In
truth, his paint and deerskins are the best part of him--if ever dress is
part of man or fairy.
Iktomi is a wily fellow. His hands are always kept in mischief. He
prefers to spread a snare rather than to earn the smallest thing with
honest hunting. Why! he laughs outright with wide open mouth when
some simple folk are caught in a trap, sure and fast.
He never dreams another lives so bright as he. Often his own conceit
leads him hard against the common sense of simpler people.
Poor Iktomi cannot help being a little imp. And so long as he is a
naughty fairy, he cannot find a single friend. No one helps him when he
is in trouble. No one really loves him. Those who come to admire his
handsome beaded jacket and long fringed leggins soon go away sick
and tired of his vain, vain words and heartless laughter.
Thus Iktomi lives alone in a cone-shaped wigwam upon the plain. One
day he sat hungry within his teepee. Suddenly he rushed out, dragging
after him his blanket. Quickly spreading it on the ground, he tore up

dry tall grass with both his hands and tossed it fast into the blanket.
Tying all the four corners together in a knot, he threw the light bundle
of grass over his shoulder.
Snatching up a slender willow stick with his free left hand, he started
off with a hop and a leap. From side to side bounced the bundle on his
back, as he ran light-footed over the uneven ground. Soon he came to
the edge of the great level land. On the hilltop he paused for breath.
With wicked smacks of his dry parched lips, as if tasting some tender
meat, he looked straight into space toward the marshy river bottom.
With a thin palm shading his eyes from the western sun, he peered far
away into the lowlands, munching his own cheeks all the while.
"Ah-ha!" grunted he, satisfied with what he saw.
A group of wild ducks were dancing and feasting in the marshes. With
wings outspread, tip to tip, they moved up and down in a large circle.
Within the ring, around a small drum, sat the chosen singers, nodding
their heads and blinking their eyes.
They sang in unison a merry dance-song, and beat a lively tattoo on the
drum.
Following a winding footpath near by, came a bent figure of a Dakota
brave. He bore on his back a very large bundle. With a willow cane he
propped himself up as he staggered along beneath his burden.
"Ho! who is there?" called out a curious old duck, still bobbing up and
down in the circular dance.
Hereupon the drummers stretched their necks till they strangled their
song for a look at the stranger passing by.
"Ho, Iktomi! Old fellow, pray tell us what you carry in your blanket.
Do not hurry off! Stop! halt!" urged one of the singers.
"Stop! stay! Show us what is in your blanket!" cried out other voices.

"My friends, I must not spoil your dance. Oh, you would not care to see
if you