The Girl Who Lived with the Indians

By Hampie Roberts

Sally rescued by the Comanche Indians, given the name Yacke-pete, finds herself adopted into a culture that lived in harmony with nature, honored the spirit, didnt believe in a punishing God, did not cover their nakedness and practiced polygamy. As a young maiden she falls in love with and is promised to Blue Sky, her Indian brother. When the soldiers find her, they insist on returning her to her white civilization. Forced back into her white world, she is always referred to as, the girl who lived with the Indians. She will never give up her love for her Comanche people, her wild free spirit and her Indian ways.

She falls in love with and marries Martin a rancher, whom she will always love deeply, but Blue Sky is still her hearts love. Believing as her people that sex is a natural act shared between a woman and man, sometimes with feelings of love, sometimes with only the need for peace and comfort. She will try to divide her heart between the men she loves, but her heart cannot divide or subtract, it can only add and multiply. She believes, as the Indians that our life is decided by destiny, that we cannot fight it. It will lead us down a path that was decided before our birth into this world. We make choices but fate might turn it all around and lead us where we are to go.

This is a historical romance based on true events; one woman torn between two cultures must follow her heart to determine whether her choices will decide her destiny.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Apr 5, 2011
• ISBN: 9781450298100

Hampie Roberts

HAMPIE ROBERTS was born and raised in Oklahoma, but traveled to many countries while her husband served in the military. An avid reader who enjoys studying anthropology and Indian culture, she currently lives in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, where she manages a popular retro restaurant. This is her first book.

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

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She had been listening to our conversation. I didn’t realize she recognized our Shoshone words. You should write the story of your life after living the most formative years of your life with the Indians. I’m a writer, and even I could not dream up a story like your life or determine what the ending will be. The two of you are so much in love. How will you ever be able …?

Yes, but he has two wives, I’m just his woman. My husband also has two wives besides me, I’m his third wife. We practice polygamy, we don’t count loves. Your God demands that man have but one mate. There is no sin like adultery in our religion.

That’s what I’ve observed, but how will you ever untangle all of this? How do you discern your love for one another?

I have read many novels. That’s a hobby with me, and I don’t believe I have the vocabulary to write a novel, I told her.

But that’s what I mean; write it in your words as you lived it, she encouraged me.

That was many years ago, but I’ve never forgotten her words. I think the story of my life will make a good story. I have lived a strange life, so I have decided to write it, as I lived it. I was born white, but I spent many years with the Indians. The Comanche, they are my people. The best I can figure, I was born in the year of l837–38.

My name is Sally; that’s the name my mama gave me. My Indian name is Yack’e-pete. It means Crying Daughter. So this is the story of my life. I have written it in my voice as it happened.

I don’t remember a lot about my early life. I remember my mama. I think I look exactly like her. She had red hair just like mine. She was so pretty, and my daddy, well, he loved her the way our kind love. You know white people. I would see them kiss. He would hold her in his arms and whisper things in her ear he didn’t want me to hear. When they would see me watching, they would turn away from each other, like they had been caught doing something I shouldn’t see.

I remember living in a house, Daddy putting wood in the stove that kept our house warm. I remember my bed; it was so warm and soft. It had covers that didn’t let me get cold at night. I get sad when I remember my mama and daddy and the time I lived in that world. I could remember a lot more, but it makes me sad. I have their picture. It was made on their wedding day. That’s what white people call being taken. I hold it close to my heart at night, and I talk to my mama. Sometimes I try not to think about them, because it makes my heart sad.

I don’t remember much about when we left our house. We were going … out west to the new land, a place called Texas. We would go in a covered wagon with many other people. Daddy said we would have land he would farm and we would have cows and horses and chickens.

We were in the wagon a long time. The day I remember last was the day we left the other wagons that had been on the trail with us.

That’s what we called it—the trail. We had to follow it onto our new land. Daddy shook the hands of all the men, and Mama hugged the other women.

We were leaving them because our new farm was not far away. Daddy said he made sure that there were no bad Indians where our farm was. He said it was a peaceful place. It was close to a good town, where a lot of people from his country had settled. They had signed a treaty with the Comanche Indians. It would never be broken. Indians don’t break their treaties. He was from Germany. The town was called Fredericksburg.

We had been by ourselves in our wagon for two days when it started to rain. It rained and rained. The horses started to jump around. They were sliding backward, and Daddy could not stop them. Then the wagon came loose from the horses and they ran away. They had stopped sliding. The last words I heard my mama say was, We are going over the side.

When I woke up, I was lying on the side of a hill. I looked down the hill and saw our wagon. It was broken into pieces. It was hard to get down the hill without falling. My mama and daddy were so still. I could not get them to move.

Now I know what dying is, but then I wasn’t sure. My grandma had died. She didn’t move anymore. Mama said she had gone to a place in the sky called heaven where people go when they die. I think it’s the same as what we call the Happy Hunting Ground … where the Great Spirit lives.

Then the Indians came. They had our horses. I hoped they were the good Indians that Daddy told us about, but I was still scared, really bad. I started to cry. One of the Indian men pulled me against him and held me. He patted me, and I knew he was trying to comfort me. Later I would know him as Standing Feather. He was the chief. He would become my father. There are many tribes of Indians. He was a Numunu. In the white man’s words, that means Comanche.

The other Indians buried my mama and daddy.

The Indian man picked up a bag that flour comes in and gave it to me. He showed me what he wanted me to do—to take what I wanted because we were leaving. I knew my daddy had the money to pay for our farm. He had it hid in a secret place. I found it, and I filled the bag with the things I wanted to keep: the brush and comb for my hair and my mama and daddy’s picture.

The Indian man put me on the horse with him, and we rode away. I wish I knew where my mama and daddy were buried, so someday I could put flowers on their graves, like we did my grandma’s.

We rode a long time. I was hoping the Indians were taking me to the people that were in the other wagons. I tried to tell them where I wanted to go, but they didn’t understand. They talked a different way. Their words sounded funny to me.

The first time I saw the tepees they lived in, I knew they were the same as houses, and the Indians lived in them. They took me to one of the tepees and called out to a woman. Her name was Rain. They said some of their words to her, and she took me into her arms and carried me into the tepee. They gave her the bag I had saved from the wagon.

She put her arms around me, and we sat down. She began to sing a song. It wasn’t like the way white people sing; it was kind of a humming sound. Later when I learned all the songs, it was the song of sadness when something is lost and your heart hurts. I cried while she sang. She took my parents’ picture from my bag, and I held it while I cried. She became my new mama because my other mama was gone. The Indian word for mama is pia. I was too young to understand, but the way the Indians believe, when someone dies, you are never to say their name again. This is one of their beliefs I would never accept. That’s getting ahead of my story, though.

Then they all came. They would become my brothers and sisters. At first, I was strange to them. They stared funny at me. They touched my hair and my skin with amazed looks on their faces. I had freckles, and they were strange to them. They were talking to each other with their words. It sounded like gibberish to me. They kept touching my face. They put their faces close to mine, peering into my blue eyes. They could see my tears and knew I had been crying. I was the first white child they had seen. They touched my hair and started saying their strange words all at the same time. After their curiosity was satisfied, they huddled close to me. They knew something bad had happened and wanted to comfort me. They just didn’t know how.

I cried for my mama and daddy. I missed my mama. My new big sister, White Cloud, stayed with me all the time, so she could put her arms around me when I cried for my mama. My big brother was always there too. They never let me be alone. They kept their protective arms around me all the time. They knew I was sad for my mama and daddy. After a while, I got used to not being with my mama and daddy. I got used to knowing I would never get to be with them again. They had gone up to heaven, where my grandma was.

Now, I had brothers and sisters, two sisters and two brothers. They had funny names. My sisters were White Cloud and Silver Star. My brothers were Blue Sky and Dark Moon. Mama Rain said they were all named after the heavens. Before long, I came to love my new family.

We had fun just doing things together. We all slept in the tepee, the girls on one side and the boys on the other. Our daddy was the chief. We had to be careful around him, but Rain was always in charge. He always did what she told him to do. The women were always in charge of everything around the camp.

The men did what they wanted to, mostly hunting. They watched out for us kids. The mothers were busy with their work, so the men tended to us. They never punished us. They spoiled us and let us get by with things our mothers wouldn’t. They’d play some of our games with us, and we loved them greatly. They mended our wounds and held us.

At night, they danced and sang a lot of songs. The white man always called our songs chants. We had a lot of different dances. Children didn’t get to dance with the grownups, but they were fun to watch. We children had our own dances.

I had to learn to talk their words. My brothers and sisters taught me. They had a word for most of our words, but sometimes there were three of our words for one of their words. They made signs for some of their words. They said their sentences backward, and their words had different sounds. I had to learn to move my mouth and tongue different to say the words. Now I know, it’s because their words don’t have vowels like ours.

The winters were cold, but the summers were fun. We swam in the river and climbed the hills. We would find new ways to go; our main game was playing make believe adults. We had our own little tepees and pretended to be husband and wife. The boys were warriors and had to go off to war. They rode stick horses and carried a stick that, like the warriors, was their war pony. We enacted all the responsibilities of our adult parents. We had dolls or puppies for our babies. I believe that is why, as young children, we often picked our mate. The sadness would come when we realized we would not always be able to choose our mate. This was often done by brothers and fathers.

We moved a lot. Whenever we got ready to move, we took down the tepees. We would put them back together when we found our new home. I had to learn to sew and tan the hides. We helped cook the food and got wood for the fires and carried the water. I learned to sew, but I was not good at doing the beads. The girls did all the work. The boys got to ride and hunt. They practiced shooting their arrows. The old men in the camp showed the boys what they needed to learn to be a brave. Someday they wanted to be warriors. That way they could defend us if bad people came. The bad people were what they called rangers or soldiers. Rangers didn’t like Indians.

I loved all my brothers and sisters, but my older brother, Bavi, his name was Blue Sky. He was the one I was closest to. We called him Sky, Tomobi. He was my favorite because he always looked out for me. He taught me how to swim under the water a long way. I had to breathe a lot of air before I went under. He showed me how to ride a horse without bouncing up and down. I had to learn how to move with the horse. Indian boys learned to ride a horse as soon as they could walk. Usually, I just rode behind him. He said someday he would show me how to ride with the wind.

We couldn’t wait for the warm air to come when the sun got hot. We could swim in the river. My skin was different, and it always got real red and burned a lot. Then it would get little spots with water in them. After that, the skin would peel away. Rain said that happened because my skin was white. I would get more freckles. The other kids would point at them and laugh.

Something happened when I was about twelve, but we didn’t know my age for sure. We think I was eight when I came to live with them. My body started to change; we always swam without our clothes. I started to grow hair on by body, and it was red like the hair on my head. The other kids pointed and laughed. All their hair was black. Sky made them stop laughing; he stood in front of me, covering my body with his. He told them because I was from the white people’s world, I was different and they should not laugh. They didn’t laugh ever again. He was the son of the chief, and no one ever argued with him.

I had learned to talk the Indian way, so I taught Sky most of our words. One day we would speak my words, and the next day, we would talk the Indian way. I wanted to be able to remember the way my daddy and mama said their words. I worried. I was afraid I’d forget my words, so I would make Sky talk to me in my words. He had to ask about some of our words, but he learned them good.

I talked all the time. What I mean is I always had a lot to say. Once I started to say something, it took me a while to get it all said. Indians don’t talk very much, so they laughed at me. I guess they decided all white people talked all the time like me. Sometimes it takes me a long time to say what I want to say. Even my white mama would tell me to slow down, and she always said I talked too much. The Indians don’t say many words. They just sit and stare into space a lot, and they sing a lot. I was never still. My body wanted to keep moving all the time. My daddy said I had too much energy, whatever that means.

My two sisters were older than me. White Cloud was the first to be taken. Taken is the same as what the tosi tivo (white man) calls getting married. Marriage could only take place after a suitor had won consent from a girl’s father or guardian males. Young people were still permitted to court privately. Usually, they secretly picked each other.

Indian boys are very shy, so the girls usually have to make the first move. The boy will not approach the girl until she gives him some signal that she might be interested. Usually this is accomplished by looking at each other. If they allow their eyes to meet, that means they are willing to go further. If either looks away, that means no.

When a girl has decided she likes a boy, she goes to the tepee of the boy and calls out his name. He comes out, and she asks him if he would like to be her promised one. If he goes back into the tepee, that means his answer is no.

The man must offer a wife’s price, and if accepted, he has five years to accumulate his offering. When the promised time is over and they have decided to stay together, the boy has usually paid his bride’s price. Sometimes a girl is being courted by as many as five or six boys. Usually, the parents do whatever the girl wishes. They will refuse a gift sometimes if the offer is from someone the girl would be unhappy with. This is the reason the parents prefer the daughter choose her mate. The boy can go back into the tepee, and all is forgiven and forgotten.

This sometimes causes a lot of pain and heartbreak for the young lovers. When we were not helping with the work around the camp, us girls were always together. We secretly knew each other’s feelings.

White Cloud had picked a boy she wanted, Fast Wind, but we knew he had his girl secretly picked out. We would see them looking at each other and going to the water together. We could always tell when a romance was going on because the boy would watch the girl and follow her when she went for water or wood. There were some restrictions regarding sexual activities for the unmarried ones. It was considered a natural act, with no shyness or shame. Virginity was not required; however, the girls were encouraged to remain maidens until marriage. Courtship could last as long as five years. Usually, a young man had to prove his bravery as a warrior and offer a gift before taking a wife.

Pregnancy before marriage was not forbidden. A pregnant woman was very desirable and quickly married. They were preferred to a possibly barren wife. There were many problems where courtship was concerned. The young boys were secretly pursued by the older girls, but privacy was rare. Everyone seemed to know who was secretly lying with whom. It was just considered an experimental stage for the youth.

Sex and love were not always tied together, except in youth. The young were allowed to experience their emotions of love and longing, but it was considered just the foolishness of youth. A woman had no choice if she was forced into marriage according to the gifts her husband could afford, usually an older man who had become a warrior and had many horses, from raids, that he could offer.

The young men had nothing to offer, so usually their love of youth would be only a memory. That’s why courtship could last up to five years. That gave a young man time to accumulate his wealth. He could even pay a down payment in the beginning and pay out the gift in installments. Sometimes they were allowed to live together as husband and wife until the debt was paid.

The adults tried to stay out of our romances, but parents can object and often do. Like I said, usually couples picked each other at a very young age. Sometimes at eight or ten years old, they imagined that they would choose each other someday, and they kept it a secret. Indians were taught at a very young age to keep their feelings to themselves. It was a weakness if you didn’t. But they would secretly smile at one another and look into each other’s eyes.

We always knew who was interested in who. They couldn’t keep their eyes away from each other. The boy always looked what we called moon sick. I think that was because what the white people called courting, the Indians called mooning. During the day, the Indians were too busy doing the work around camp, but at night, when the moon was out, they could pursue other activities, mostly dancing and singing their songs.

Once the boys started training to be brave, so someday they could be warriors, they didn’t hang around with us girls anymore. They stayed together all the time practicing to shoot arrows and all the other things that would make them brave.

Sky could stay with me because I was his sister. A brother was always very protective of his sister and sometimes picked her mate with the help of her father. The mother had little say, but she would sometimes side with the daughter regarding her chosen mate.

Sky said because I was white, I was not as strong and could easily be frightened. For that reason, he said, he must protect me and stay close. He would never let me go into the woods alone. He said danger lurked there sometimes. He said he would teach me everything I needed to learn to stay safe. Even though I was small in size, I could climb the trees fast and jump from the high places.

White Cloud was very unhappy about her situation. It was time for her to choose someone, since the average courtship could last up to five years. What will I do if Fast Wind turns me down, but if he doesn’t, will he be wishing I was her? she asked Mama Rain.

We could always discuss anything about our feelings with our pia. She was our guide and councilor concerning our affairs of the heart. He will not turn you away, because you are the daughter of the chief. This might bring him disfavor with the chief. Maybe you should wait and pick someone who would want you even if your father was not the chief. Mama Rain was trying to help.

But it’s time for me to choose or be chosen. I will get too old. White Cloud was very upset. I think she was seventeen.

I would learn later, I mean when I went back to the white world, that the Indians lived much more with the feelings of the heart. Many were very unhappy, the girls because they had been forced into marriage. Without love in her heart for her man, she would make life miserable for him. We always knew the unhappy ones. So there were many separations. The women would throw his clothes from the tepee or move back in with her parents.

Because there were many unhappy marriages, there was much of what Mama Rain called sneaking under the tepee going on. The women secretly knew what was going on. A man would become very angry if he found his wife was cheating on him, but he would have to answer to her brothers if he harmed her. Since she was considered his property, she was of more value to him alive, so he would barter her to her lover for horses or whatever was agreed on, or he would demand his bride price back from her parents. Usually, he would throw her away.

Most Indian girls found a mate by the time they were around fifteen. I was younger than White Cloud and I had not yet chosen anyone. I never saw anyone I wanted to choose, but some of the boys had been looking at me. I would just turn away. Sometimes I would tell my brother Tomobi; that’s the Indian name for Sky. Sky would never approve of anyone. He’d always find something wrong with anyone I might consider.

There was one I was beginning to like. His name was Ho’neohvo’ Komaestse (White Wolf). His father was the Cheyenne chief, and like Sky, he too might be a chief someday. We would ride to the Cheyenne camp, because their braves and our braves liked to practice at being warriors someday. The Arapaho would practice too.

I loved to go to the Cheyenne camp because they were fun-loving people. They were very spiritual and loved to dance and sing. They had their sun dance once a year and it would last for four days. It was a spiritual ceremony concerning reincarnation of the soul. They believed, there was no true end to life, but a cycle of deaths and rebirths … all life, on earth is intertwined and dependent on one another.

Their culture was much different than the Comanche concerning courtship. The girl was required to remain a maiden, or she would be known as an outcast and no man would claim her. That was the way of their culture. The Cheyenne maidens were the most chaste of the Indians other than the Sioux.

They were called the beautiful people. The Cheyenne warriors wore much paraphernalia: necklaces, and bands on their wrists with bells, and when they danced, they wore a strap right below the knee with many bells that jingled as they danced. They also wore bells hooked unto an ankle band or their moccasins that jingled as they walked. Many feathers and even their horses were painted and decorated with feathers. They all carried lances and shields that were painted bright colors. If you ever hear their war cry, you would never forget the fear it makes you feel. They were friendly with some tribes, but they were known as the most fierce and vicious of the tribes. Their trade was warring. You didn’t want to be their enemy. They were brothers with the Sioux, the other most warring tribe.

The Arapaho were their close allies and also very spiritual. But like all the Indian tribes, their culture was much different. The Arapaho maidens were allowed complete sexual freedom with no restrictions. I believe that is why the Cheyenne warriors aligned with the Arapaho warriors. Unlike their own encampments, sexual activities were unlimited with the Arapaho maidens, but the Cheyenne culture allowed no intermarriage.

The Ute and Pawnee were their most fierce enemies.

White Wolf would always stay close by me, and he looked at me all the time. Every time I would look at him, he would be looking at me. He always found excuses to talk to me. Their words were different than our words, but I learned them fast. He was very good to look at. He was tall, and he had a way about him, the way he walked and moved, and the way his bells jingled when he moved. He had a perfect step to his walk. His eyes could look inside of you.

Sky had noticed White Wolf looking at me. Do you like White Wolf? You look at him and he looks at you many times.

Like I told you before, when a boy and girl let their eyes meet and linger past hello, that means they are interested. It’s kind of a maybe, we will see invitation. White Wolf and I could not keep our eyes away from each other.

I like to look at him because he is good to look at. He was tall, and I could see his muscles. They would make him very strong. He says nice things to me.

What does he say to you?

He says when he looks at me it makes his heart sing. The Indians say that when they are happy. They say their heart is singing.

Yack’e, you must remember, he is Cheyenne. He will pick a Cheyenne woman for his wife. You are Comanche. He only wants to look at you and think about things he would like to do with you. He would never pick you for a wife. He sounded very upset with me. He had never been mad with me before.

I think you’re wrong. No one has ever looked at me like he does. He likes to look at me. When he sees that I have noticed him looking at me, he doesn’t look away because he wants me to see the look in his eyes. It is a look more than like. I was trying to make Sky understand.

That’s the way it was with the young Indians. We were always in some dilemma about our feelings and our future mate.

I had noticed one of the boys looking at White Cloud. Standing Tall is always looking at you and watching us wherever we go. Do you not think you would like him?

Maybe I would, but my heart only wants Fast Wind.

Mama Rain told us we should always pick our heart’s choice. That we felt it in our hearts when we loved someone and wanted to be their mate.

One day, I had gone to the river to get water, and Standing Tall followed me. May I speak, and no one else will know? he asked me.

I knew he was probably going to ask about White Cloud. Do you think she would like to be my promised one or do you think she has picked another one already? He had a sad look on his face.

I think you should tell her. I knew she already knew he liked her, but I didn’t want to tell him.

What if she says no to me? He looked worried.

It is a disgrace for the boy to be turned down. The girls get used to it and just take it in stride. I have gone back into the tepee three times now because my heart is waiting for her.

Make her think she would be loved by you with more power than anyone else could ever love her. I think she would like to hear that.

I had seen White Cloud was very sad and disheartened. She needed to know someone cared for her. It’s not just because she is the daughter of the chief that you want her for your woman? I questioned him.

No, I want her because my heart wants her. He put his hand over his heart.

Then, you should tell her that.

I promised him I would not tell White Cloud about our conversation. I think I would like Standing Tall if I were you. He is very good to look at, I told her.

Then why don’t you pick him for yourself, if you think he looks so good?

He would never look at me like he looks at you. That would make my heart sad. I will choose someone who looks only at me. I was trying to make her see.

You don’t want to be one of the ‘unhappy ones’ do you? The unhappy ones were the married couples that were obviously not happy in their marriage.

White Cloud didn’t talk to anyone for a while. That’s what the Indians call looking into yourself. That means you are trying to make an important decision about something.

I have made my choice, White Cloud whispered to me one night. She had been out wandering around, I supposed, trying to make up her mind.

I have chosen Standing Tall. We met secretly tonight. He said he must tell me something. He told me his heart loved me like no other would ever love me. When I looked into his eyes, my heart spoke to me. It said he was the one I should choose.

The chosen time could last up to five years or longer. That was the time given for either to change their mind. This was the period for each to make up their mind for sure. Often they would discover or decide they did not want to be together. Either could change their mind during this time. This caused many broken hearts. Once they were married, they had two moons to change their minds. It was said until two people actually lived together and shared their mat, they could not be sure. After that, they were considered husband and wife.

I hugged her, Now you will have the one who loves you more. Does he know you will choose him?

No, I want it to be right. I will go to his tepee and call him out. That is more exciting, don’t you think?

We told Mama Rain and the chief. They would go with White Cloud to the family tepee of Standing Tall. We waited until after we had eaten. That is the quietest time in the camp. We kids are not allowed to go, but we can hide and watch. That is what Sky and I did.

White Cloud walked up to the tepee and called out to Standing Tall. His parents came out first. They walked over to Mama Rain and the chief. They stood back so as not to interfere in any way.

I wish I could say the way Standing Tall looked when he saw White Cloud. I guess the best word would be a look of joy and happy feeling mixed together. If the boy picks the girl, who has offered herself to him, he must reach out and touch her. That is his answer, yes. Standing Tall reached out and touched White Cloud. He touched her face, and then the look of joy turned to the look of love. As I watched, I wished that someday a man would look at me like that.

They stood there for a while, and then they took each other’s hand and walked into the night, so they could be alone for the first time. When an Indian boy and girl pick each other secretly, they often meet secretly, in hidden places. Sometimes if you walk or ride through the woods at night, you see a lot of this, but because we are young, we always pretend we don’t see. The expression, Going into the brushes had two meanings; one was when a boy wanted to be alone with a girl for illicit activity.

White Cloud and I were trying to find someone for Sky. All the girls were looking at him, but he would just turn his head. That was a, No, I don’t want you for the Indians.

He was always interested in our talk about the boys. He would ask us questions when he knew we were discussing the boys. He said since he was the big brother, he should watch out for us. He would need approval of anyone we picked. Sometimes the brothers of a maiden would pick her mate. She would be forced to go along with their choice. Of course, this caused many broken hearts, but often this was a good thing for the maiden, because the brothers were very particular about their choice for her.

Sky was very concerned about any choice I would make. When we were alone, he would ask me questions about what or whom we were talking about.

White Cloud and I had been talking about me choosing someone, and we had been laughing. She was naming some of the boys who had been looking at me. I would find something wrong with anyone she would mention. Then she mentioned White Wolf. I had told her about him, and she had seen him when he came to our camp. If he was not Cheyenne, I would pick him, I said.

Yack’e likes White Wolf. She was laughing. But all the girls like him; he could have anyone, that’s why he comes here to our camp. I know he has at least two girls he secretly meets here. He is so strong, and he is good for a woman to look at. He backs his stallion all the time, and he looks so brave and fearless.

And he will have many wives. They will be Cheyenne or Sioux. His tribe is like brothers with the Sioux, Sky told us.

I will be the only wife of the man I choose. That’s the way it was with my mama and daddy. I liked to remember my mama and daddy.

My brother Sky was two years older than me, we think. He was very good-looking. He had lots of muscles and broad shoulders. Indian boys get muscles fast because they ride the horses. I loved being with him.

I would notice him staring at me. He would always smile when he noticed that I had seen him staring at me. When we walked through the woods at night, he would always put his arm around me. He said it was because there was danger in the darkness.

CHAPTER TWO

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Indian children are allowed a lot of freedom as far as behavior is concerned, but they have strict standards around the camp. The boys must spend time learning to hunt and how to shoot the arrows and how to use a knife. They must be excellent horsemen. The older men work with the young men helping them master these skills.

The women and girls do all the work around the camp—cooking and tanning the hides. They are the laborers; they also have to maintain order. The men don’t interfere unless they are asked. The women of one family always work together. The older women are the councilors and advisors.

The boys got to train their horses to run fast through the trees. After a while, the horses would learn to not hit the trees, and it was not easy to stay on a horse that was running fast in the woods. Sky wouldn’t let me ride with him when he was doing that. He was afraid I would fall off. Finally I got my own horse. They had gotten new horses from the wild herd. Sky said I could pick out my own horse. It had to be a girl horse. The he horses were too dangerous for a girl.

You must look good at the wild horses. Some are not strong and don’t stand right.

When they rounded up the wild horses, the ones that were not strong on their legs were kept separate and not allowed to breed. In the winter, they were slaughtered for food. Because of their size, it was better to slaughter them in the winter, when the meat could be preserved longer. Indians loved horse meat. It was considered a delicacy.

Why is that? They all look all right to me, I told him.

Sometimes a wild horse will mate wrong. A stallion mates with his sister horse and the colt is not strong. That is why we keep our horses separated, so a horse can’t breed with its own family, he tried to explain.

Indians were very particular about their horses. Without a good horse, it would be impossible to be a brave or a warrior. An Indian pony was small and agile and could run easily through the bushes and hilly terrain.

They loved their horses, and the horses loved them. They believed the horse’s spirit united with their own spirit. Only its owner could approach it without fear. He tamed it, and it could only be managed by him. Otherwise it was still like a wild beast.

Sky explained to me that when a warrior went into battle, his horse took over and knew how to move. The warrior guided him with his knees. He pressed them certain ways, and the horse moved accordingly. He said they became one. If you were in danger, the horse immediately felt your fear. He said sometimes a horse would go another way than you wanted it to, and then you would see it had saved you. They practiced riding their horses by leaning different directions. They put a surcingle strap around their horses, and this allowed them to slip under the horse’s neck and stomach. It would be hard for the arrows to hit you, if you were fighting your enemy. They could ride under the horse’s neck or its belly. I loved watching them. I think that is why Indian boys had so many muscles.

At the time, I didn’t understand everything, so I decided to let him pick my horse. I wanted one that was different colors. They purposely breed their horses to be spotted. Sky explained a solid color horse did not blend in with its surroundings and could be easily seen. warriors had to know how to hide from their pursuers.

The horse I picked was different colors. I liked that kind of horse. He would show me how to tame my horse. I had to do it, so its spirit would join with my spirit. That way I could ride with the wind. When you ride with the wind, your spirit can talk to you, and I was getting old enough to ride with the wind.

Once I got my horse, I had to stand near her, not too close, because she might jump and hurt me. After the third day, I could stand closer. Every day, I could get closer and I could move around. I couldn’t get real close yet. Then one day she walked over to me and smelled me. Sky said that was the sign she had accepted me.

The next day, he said I could walk up to her and see if she would let me touch her. She did, so Sky told me to see if she would let me lean against her. That was when I was to breathe my breath into her nose and mouth. That would make our spirits one. I had to talk to my horse. She would learn my voice.

I would bring her sweet berries. She liked anything sweet. I had to learn a special whistle, and she would come to me. The field would be full of horses. That way you didn’t have to find your horse. You could just whistle and it would come.

Sky said it was better for a horse to never know anyone else but his one rider. I knew all the warriors had their one special horse. That’s the way I tamed my horse. Sky showed me how to put the bridle around her neck and through her mouth. The bridle was made of braided hides, and it had reins to hold on to. We had a saddle pad that allowed the rider to guide the horse with his knees. Most of the women used a frame saddle with sides. I preferred the pad. That’s what the men used. He said I would develop strong muscles in my thighs if I used the pad. I wanted to be able to jump off and on my horse like the boys, so I practiced. The more I practiced, the stronger I got. I started to notice muscles on my legs. The Indian girls had more fat on their legs than I did. Sky said he liked my legs once when I complained about them being so skinny.

One day I finally got to ride my horse. I had to teach her to turn with the bridle in her mouth. Sky stayed close with his horse. Horses always follow each other. It was a long time before I learned how to ride good enough to ride with the wind. Then one day Sky said I was ready. When you ride with the wind, you have to lean forward close to your horse, so your body doesn’t stop the wind. That way the horse can run faster.

Now that I had my own horse, Sky and I would ride our horses for hours through the woods and up the hills. We would ride to the Cheyenne camp because it was close by.

Sky practiced with the rope a lot, and he would let me practice with him. We were learning to rope something that was moving. That’s how we caught the wild horses.

After I learned to ride my horse good and rope good, I could go on the buffalo hunts. The women had to go along on the buffalo hunts to set the camp up and butcher the buffalo. We saved the hides for tanning. The women were teaching me to help with the butchering. Several of us did it at the same time, and it went real fast. We packed the meat in the lining of the stomach bag. The women worked hard, but they worked as a team, so it went fast. I could get by with a lot of things, because my father was the chief. I could ride with the braves, so I stayed close with Sky and Dark Moon.

We practiced our war cries together. The Cheyenne had their own cry. It was so shrill, it even scared me. You know the Cheyenne are fierce warriors. Only the Sioux can match them. The Cheyenne and Arapaho spoke different words than we did, but we could speak with them easily. They spoke our words too. Most of the Southern Plains Indians could speak the different Indian dialects. The Apache and the Kiowa’s words were similar to the Cheyenne and the Arapaho. Even though they were different than ours, I learned them fast. Once you learn to talk one Indian way, you can learn them all.

There would be Cheyenne and Arapaho with us. The Arapaho were not great warriors like the Cheyenne, but they rode together. Dark Moon would go with us.

He and I were the same age, we think. I didn’t spend as much time with him as Sky, but I loved him greatly. He and I were allowed to tag along. I felt safe because I had two brothers to watch out for me. White Wolf was my friend too. Sky thought White Wolf liked me too much.

White Wolf tries to be close by you, and he looks at you too many times, Sky said to me. He didn’t look happy.

After riding all day in the heat, we would camp near a stream and bathe. Indian men always bathed early in the morning, and I saw this as a normal event. When we bathed, I would always stay close to Sky and Dark Moon, but I would secretly watch White Wolf, the way he walked with his perfect step. He was tall, and you could see the muscles that covered his body. Like I said, he was good for a woman to look at.

White Wolf was a good friend of Sky’s. They both hoped to be a chief someday. White Wolf wanted to be a great warrior. Sky was different. He wanted to be a warrior, but only to protect his people. We didn’t like the Apache. They would steel our horses. The Kiowa were not our friends sometimes, but they were friends with the Apache. The Tonkawa were bad.

Sky was friends with the young Arapaho and Cheyenne braves. The braves would ride with the warriors, taking the warriors’ extra horses. Someday they would be warriors. To be a warrior, you had to do coup. That’s what you do when you get close enough to your enemy to touch them with your lance. The more coups you could do, the closer you came to being a warrior.

At the time, our only enemies were the Apache and the Tonkawa. We hated the Tonkawa. They were cannibals. The Kiowa were friends most of the time.

Sky showed me how to train my horse to do whatever I wanted her to do. I named my horse Wild One, because I had chosen her from the wild ones. He said I must let my body always move with the horse. He said