Thence the chief's son sent a messenger to announce to his father that he was bringing home a stranger, and to ask whether or not he should be allowed to enter the village. "His appearance," declared the scout, "is unlike that of any man we have ever seen, and his ways are mysterious!"When the chief heard these words, he imme- diately called his council- men together to decide what was to be done, for he feared by admitting the mysterious stranger to bring some disaster upon his people. Finally he went out with his wisest men to meet his son's war-party. They looked with astonishment upon the Black Robe.
"Dispatch him! Dispatch him! Show him no mercy!" cried some of the council-men.
"Let him go on his way unharmed.Trouble him not," advised others.
"It is well known that the evil spirits some- times take the form of a man or animal. From his strange appearance I judge this to be such a one. He should be put to death, lest some harm befall our people," an old man urged.
By this time several of the women of the village had reached the spot. Among them was She-who-has-a-Soul, the chief's youngest daugh- ter, who tradition says was a maiden of much beauty, and of a generous heart.
The stranger was evidently footsore from much travel andweakened by fasting. When she saw that the poor man clasped his hands and looked skyward as he uttered words in an unknown tongue, she pleaded with her father that a stranger who has entered their midst unchallenged may claim the hospitality of the people, according to the an- cient custom.
"Father, he is weary and in want of food. Hold him no longer! Delay your council until he is refreshed!" These were the words of She- who-has-a-Soul, and her father could not refuse her prayer. The Black Robe was re- leased, and the Sioux maiden led him to her father's teepee.
Now the warriors had been surprised and in- deed displeased to find him dressed after the fashion of a woman, and they looked upon him with suspicion. But from the moment that she first beheld him, the heart of the maiden had turned toward this strange and seemingly un- fortunate man. It appeared to her that great reverence and meekness were in his face, and with it all she was struck by his utter fearless- ness, his apparent unconsciousness of danger.
The chief's daughter, having gained her father's permission, invited the Black Robe to his great buffalo-skin tent, and spreading a fine robe, she gently asked him to be seated. With the aid of her mother, she prepared wild rice sweetened with maple sugar and some broiled venison for his repast. The youthful warriors were astonished to observe these attentions, but the maiden heeded them not. She anointed the blistered feet of the holy man with perfumed otter oil, and put upon him a pair of moccasins beautifully worked by her own hands.
It was only an act of charity on her part, but the young men were displeased, and again urged that the stranger should at once be turnedaway.Some even suggested harsher measures; but they were overruled by the chief, softened by the persuasions of a well-beloved daughter.
During the few days that the Black Robe remained in the Sioux village he preached ear- nestly to the maiden, for she had been permitted to converse with him by signs, that she might try to ascertain what manner of man he was. He told her of the coming of a "Great Prophet" from the sky, and of his words that he had left with the people. The cross with the figure of a man he explained as his totem which he had told them to carry. He also said that those who love him are commanded to go among strange peoples to tell the news, and that all who believe must be marked with holy water and accept the totem.
He asked by signs if She-who-has-a-Soul be- lieved the story. To this she replied:
"It is a sweet story--a likely legend!I do believe!"Then the good father took out a small cross, and having pressed it to his heart and crossed his forehead and breast, he gave it to her. Finally he dipped his finger in water and touched the forehead of the maiden, repeating mean- while some words in an unknown tongue.
The mother was troubled, for she feared that the stranger was trying to bewitch her daugh- ter, but the chief decided thus:
"This is a praying-man, and he is not of our people; his customs are different, but they are not evil. Warriors, take him back to the spot where you saw him first! It is my desire, and the good custom of our tribe requires that you free him without injury!"Accordingly they formed a large party, and carried the Black Robe in his canoe back to the shore of the Great Lake, to the place where they had met him, and he was allowed to depart thence whithersoever he would. He took his leave with signs of gratitude for their hospi- tality, and especially for the kindness of the beautiful Sioux maiden. She seemed to have understood his mission better than any one else, and as long as she lived she kept his queer trinket--as it seemed to the others--and per- formed the strange acts that he had taught her.
Furthermore, it was through the pleadings of She-who-has-a-Soul that the chief Tatankaota advised his people in after days to befriend the whitestrangers, and though many of the other chiefs opposed him in this, his counsels pre- vailed. Hence it was that both the French and English received much kindness from our peo- ple, mainly through the influence of this one woman!
Such was the first coming of the white man among us, as it is told in our traditions. Other praying-men came later, and many of the Sioux allowed themselves to be baptized. True, there have been Indian wars, but not without reason; and it is pleasant to remember that the Sioux were hospitable to the first white "praying- man," and that it was a tender- hearted maiden of my people who first took in her hands the cross of the new religion.
