Latest / Sandman Stories Presents / EP 330: Sioux- Little Boy Man; The Return Of Little Boy Man (Eastmans)

Transcript

EP 330: Sioux- Little Boy Man; The Return Of Little Boy Man (Eastmans) · Sandman Stories Presents

• 0:25
  Welcome back, listeners to Sandman Stories Presents, a
• 0:27
  folklore podcast where I read you to sleep or until the next
• 0:30
  story. I'm your host, Dustin.
• 0:32
  And if you want more Sandman, there's plenty extra that's too
• 0:35
  spicy for the main feed over on our Patreon.
• 0:38
  And I'll do some shout outs shortly about who's been signing
• 0:42
  up. So anyone who's signed up, thank
• 0:44
  you. Anybody who's listened or told a
• 0:46
  friend thank you. Today we are back in the book of
• 0:49
  Sue folklore, written down by the married couple of the
• 0:51
  Eastmans. Here we are continuing the last
• 0:54
  story of Boy Man and then ending the story of how men and animals
• 0:57
  stop being friends. OK, let's begin.
• 1:03
  The 15th evening. Godfather had scarcely taken up
• 1:08
  his long pipe tonight before the children begin to gather.
• 1:11
  Impatient for the end of the story.
• 1:15
  Tatana has been begging his father to tell him whether the
• 1:17
  little boy man was ever found, but he has been obliged to wait
• 1:20
  for the old man to go on with his tail.
• 1:24
  The return of the little boy man, he who was first created,
• 1:29
  now took the form of a swallow and flew down from the high
• 1:32
  cliffs, skimming over the surface of the water.
• 1:36
  Within a sheltered Cove among the Pines, the water birds were
• 1:39
  holding a feast, some were singing, some were dancing, and
• 1:44
  that great medicine man, the Loon, was among them.
• 1:46
  Blowing his sacred whistle. The lonely one, in the form of a
• 1:52
  swallow, dipped down to the water's edge and addressed the
• 1:56
  loon respectfully, asking for some of the secrets of his
• 1:58
  medicine. The Loon was very kind.
• 2:03
  He taught him several mystery songs and showed him how to
• 2:05
  treat the sick. Now, said the Swallow, if you'll
• 2:11
  permit me to take your form for a short time, I will go down to
• 2:14
  the deep and try to cure Unktahi and his wife of their dreadful
• 2:17
  wounds. The loon made no objection, so
• 2:22
  the new maid conjurer balanced himself upon the Crest of a wave
• 2:25
  and gave his loudest calm before he dwelt down into the blue
• 2:28
  water. There in the watery world, the
• 2:31
  people saw him as if he were sailing down from the sky.
• 2:36
  His path now LED through great forests of seaweeds, now upon
• 2:40
  the broad plains, and finally he came into the deep valley of the
• 2:44
  underworld, where he found everybody anxiously waiting for
• 2:46
  him. He was met by the old turtle,
• 2:50
  who begged him to make haste, for the chief and his wife were
• 2:53
  in great agony. Let all the people retire, for I
• 2:57
  must be alone in order to work a cure, declared the supposed
• 3:00
  medicine man as he entered the teepee of the water monster.
• 3:05
  All went away unwillingly, the turtle last of all.
• 3:10
  He told the others that he had heard the great conjuror whisper
• 3:13
  as his hand touched the door flap.
• 3:16
  Ah, my poor brother. Now this door flap was made by
• 3:20
  the skin of the little boy man. He who was first created when he
• 3:24
  was inside the lodge, paid no attention to the dreadful groans
• 3:27
  of the monsters, but at once took down the skin of his
• 3:30
  brother. And as he did so he saw the
• 3:32
  little water snake spying at him from behind the doorway.
• 3:37
  The others who were suspicious had sent him as a scout to see
• 3:40
  what the Madison man was doing. He called the snake inside and
• 3:45
  made him tell him where he could find the bones of his brother.
• 3:48
  Then for a reward, he painted the snake green and declared
• 3:52
  that as he had served both sides, he should crawl upon his
• 3:55
  belly forever. He who was first created,
• 3:59
  gathered up all the bones and took them with him to dry land.
• 4:03
  There he immediately built a fire and heated stones for the
• 4:06
  first sweat lodge. He also picked a bunch of
• 4:08
  sagebrush and fetched water in a large shell.
• 4:13
  Having carefully wrapped the bones with the dry skin of his
• 4:15
  brother and built over them a low shelter of Willow, he
• 4:19
  covered the lodge tightly with green bows, and then thrust in
• 4:22
  his right arm and began to sprinkle water with a bunch of
• 4:25
  sage upon the heated stones. The steam arose and filled the
• 4:31
  lodge, and with the steam there came a faint sighing sound.
• 4:37
  A second time he sprinkled water and there were rustlings within
• 4:40
  as if the dry bones were gathering themselves together.
• 4:45
  When he put his hand in for a third time, he could hear a
• 4:47
  sound like a far off singing. Immediately after the little boy
• 4:52
  man spoke in his own voice, begging to be let out of the
• 4:55
  lodge. The end.
• 5:01
  OK and the 16th evening. This is a very long story that
• 5:07
  I'm telling you, declares Smoky Day, and many evenings will not
• 5:11
  see the end of it. There are some more adventures
• 5:14
  of the little boy man that must wait for another winter.
• 5:18
  Tonight I will tell you how it happened that the old friendship
• 5:21
  was broken between the man and the animal people, the first
• 5:25
  battle. Now after some time it came
• 5:29
  about that the animals became jealous of the great wit of the
• 5:32
  boy man, and as they feared that he would someday game mastery
• 5:36
  over them, they began secretly to plot against him.
• 5:41
  At about the same time the boy man began to question his elder
• 5:44
  brother and to ask him, Brother, why do all these people have
• 5:48
  weapons such as Spears upon their heads and daggers in their
• 5:51
  mouths, while I am unarmed and naked?
• 5:55
  Then he who was first created replied sadly, My younger
• 5:59
  brother, the time has come to give you weapons, and I'm sorry
• 6:02
  for it. Now at last there is a war in
• 6:05
  the hearts of the animals and of man, but there are many of them,
• 6:09
  and only one of you. Therefore I shall help you.
• 6:15
  Then he gave him a strong bow and arrows with Flint heads, and
• 6:18
  also a spear with the head of stone, and showed him how to use
• 6:21
  them. Afterward he tossed a Pebble
• 6:24
  into the air, and it came down as a wall of rock enclosing the
• 6:28
  dwelling. He tossed up another and another
• 6:31
  until they were defended by high cliffs on every side.
• 6:37
  Upon the flat tops of the cliffs he spread out the new weapons,
• 6:40
  whose stone heads were destined to be scattered far and wide
• 6:43
  when the battle should be over, to be sought out and preserved
• 6:46
  by men as relics of the beginning of warfare.
• 6:50
  The first battle was announced by a single Buffalo bull running
• 6:54
  at top speed over the Prairie. This messenger assigned everyone
• 6:59
  to be part of the attack. Beaver was ordered to dam the
• 7:03
  streams, and the badger to dig trenches under the defenses of
• 7:06
  Boy Man so they might flood his dwelling.
• 7:11
  The rabbit, squirrels, and other feeble folk were to gather food
• 7:13
  for the warriors, of whom the principal ones were the bear,
• 7:17
  wolf, Wildcat, and bison. The swallow served as messenger
• 7:22
  to the birds, and the swift trout carried the news to the
• 7:25
  Finn tribes, for all were to join in this war.
• 7:30
  With the grey dawn came the wolf's long howl, the first war
• 7:34
  whoop, breaking in the silence and peace of the world.
• 7:39
  When the sun rose, dancing for an instant upon the sharp edge
• 7:42
  of the Sky, One after another all of the animals joined in the
• 7:46
  Great War cry, with bellowings and screechings of larger
• 7:49
  beasts, the barking of wolves, the hissing of snakes, and the
• 7:53
  shrill cries of the feathered ones, of whom the crane and the
• 7:57
  loon were loudest. The Boy Man stood erect on top
• 8:02
  of the wall and saw the warriors coming from all directions as
• 8:06
  far as the eye could see. On they came with a mighty
• 8:11
  Thunder of hoofs and trampling of many feet overhead.
• 8:16
  That Great War chief of the air, the Eagle, commanded his winged
• 8:20
  forces, while from below the creepers and crawlers began to
• 8:24
  scale the lofty defenses of the Boy Man.
• 8:28
  There he stood alone and fearlessly let fly hundreds of
• 8:31
  sharp arrows, of which all found their mark, until the ground was
• 8:35
  choked with the fallen. Presently great hosts of the
• 8:39
  smaller winged people descended upon him, who also had been
• 8:42
  provided with sharp and poisonous weapons.
• 8:46
  His elder brother had forgotten to warn him against these, but
• 8:49
  now he was told in haste to strike two flints together and
• 8:53
  to catch the spark that would fall on the dry leaves.
• 8:57
  Soon a great cloud of smoke and flames arose toward heaven, not
• 9:00
  only driving off the little winged warriors, but forcing the
• 9:03
  whole body of the enemy to retreat in confusion, for they
• 9:07
  had never seen fire before, and to this day it is feared by all
• 9:11
  and only used by man. Thus the animals were convinced
• 9:17
  that man is their master. When they sued for peace, all
• 9:21
  agreed to give him their flesh for food and their skins for
• 9:24
  clothing, while he and his side promised to never kill any
• 9:27
  wantonly. The boy man further agreed that
• 9:31
  they might keep their weapons to use in their own defense.
• 9:35
  This was the first treaty made upon the earth.
• 9:39
  The End. Well, I like how this one played
• 10:07
  out. It's a great way to make sense
• 10:09
  of why people hunt and why they shouldn't hunt just for fun.
• 10:13
  I enjoy these stories and I'm looking forward to many more of
• 10:15
  them. There's about 12 more, I think.
• 10:19
  And the podcast shout out is to Effrie Wetu, a wonderful podcast
• 10:22
  that covers African history and geography.
• 10:24
  It's a show about Africa, written and produced by
• 10:26
  Africans. It's a really lovely show.
• 10:28
  Go give it a listen. And the listener shout out is to
• 10:32
  Ahua Chapan, El Salvador. My friend Natalie and her family
• 10:36
  came from El Salvador. My life is so much richer for
• 10:38
  having them in it. I hope to visit one day during
• 10:42
  Dia de Los Farolitos, the day of the little Lights.
• 10:46
  And so I say to my listener in Huachapan, muchos gracias Y
• 10:50
  Buenos noches. Thank you and good night.