the way to rainy mountain by in scott momaday illustrated by almo midi the going on chapter 12 an old man there was who lived with his wife and child one night the woman was pounding meat and her little son wanted to taste it she gave him a ball of meat and he went outside to eat it then he returned and wanted more she gave him another ball of meat and again he went outside a third time he came and asked for meat the old man began to be afraid he told his wife to give the child a large ball of meat and to act as if these things were all right when the little boy came in again there was an enemy with him the enemy said there are many of us and we are all around we came to kill you but your son has given me food if you will feed us all we will not harm you but the old man did not believe his enemy and while his wife cooked fat upon the fire he crept out and led their horses upstream when he was well away he called out in the voice of a bird then the woman knew that it was time to go she was she set fire to the fat and threw it all around upon the enemies who were sitting there then she took up the little boy in her arms and ran upstream this is how the old man and the woman and their child got away from a safe distance they could see the fire and hear the screams of their enemies in the winter of 1872 273 a fine heraldic tepee was accidentally destroyed by fire known as the dual Jia Jia Liu wat tepee with battle pictures it was ornamented with fine pictures of fighting men and arms on one side and wide horizontal bands of black and yellow on the other the duel Jia Jia GU odd belong to the family of the great chief du Hassan and occupied the second place in the tribal circle on ceremonial occasions there are meadow larks and quail in the open land one day late in the afternoon I walked about among the headstones at rainy Mountain Cemetery the shadows were very long there was a deep blush on the sky and the dark red earth seemed to glow with the Setting Sun for a few moments at that particular time of the day there is deep silence nothing moves and it does not occur to you to make any sound something is going on there in the shadows everything has slowed to a stop in order that the Sun might take leave of the land and then there is the sudden piercing call of a bobwhite the whole world is startled by it chapter 13 if an arrow is well made it will have tooth marks upon it that is how you know the Kiowas made fine arrows and straighten them in their teeth then they drew them to the bow to see if they were straight once there was a man and his wife they were alone at night in their teepee by the light of the fire the man was making arrows after a while he caught sight of something there was a small opening in the teepee where two hides were sewn together someone was there on the outside looking in the man went on with his work but he said to his wife someone standing outside do not be afraid let us talk easily as of ordinary things he took up an arrow and straightened it in his teeth then as it was right for him to do he drew it to the bow and took aim first in this direction and then in that and all the while he was talking as if to his wife but this is how he spoke I know that you are there on the outside for I can feel your eyes upon me if you are a Kiowa you will understand what I am saying and you will speak your name but there was no answer and the man went on in the same way pointing the arrow all around at last his aim fell upon the place where his enemy stood and he let go of the string the arrow went straight to the enemy's heart the old men were the best arrow makers for they could bring time and patience to their craft the young men the fighters and hunters were willing to pay a high price for arrows that were well made when my father was a boy an old man used to come to mama daddy's house and pay his respects he was a lean old man in braids and was impressive in his age and bearing his name was Jimmy and he was an arrow maker every morning my father tells me Jenny would paint his wrinkled face go out and pray aloud to the Rising Sun in my mind I can see that man as if he were there now I like to watch him as he makes his prayer I know where he stands and where his voice goes on the rolling grasses and where the Sun comes up on the land there at dawn you can feel the silence it is cold and clear and deep like water it takes hold of you and will not let you go chapter xiv the Kiawah language is hard to understand but you know the storm spirit understands it this is how it was long ago the Kiowas decided to make a horse they decided to make it out of clay and so they began to shape the clay with their hands well the horse began to be but it was a terrible terrible thing it began to ride slowly at first then faster and faster until there was a great commotion everywhere the wind grew up and carried everything away great trees were uprooted and even the buffalo were thrown up into the sky the Kiowas were afraid of that awful thing and they went running about talking to it and at last it was calm even now when they see the storm clouds gathering the Kiowas know what it is that a strange wild animal roams on the sky it has the head of a horse and the tail of a great fish lightning comes from its mouth and the tail whipping and thrashing on the air makes the high hot wind of the tornado but they speak to it saying pass over me they are not afraid of man kawaii for it understands their language at times the plains are bright and calm and quiet at times they are black with the sudden violence of weather always there are winds a few feet from the southwest corner of my grandmother's house there is a storm cellar it will be there I think when the house and the Arbor and the barn have disappeared there are many of those crude shelters in that part of the world they conform to the shape of the land and are scarcely remarkable low earthen mounds with heavy wooden trapdoors that appear to open upon the underworld I have seen the wind drive the rain so hard that a grown man could not open the door against it and once descending into that place I saw the whole land at night become visible and blue and photos phosphorescent in the flash of lightning whipping and thrashing on the air chapter 15 couette OTA was a good-looking young man and a great warrior besides one of many bearers wives fell in love with him and they carried on after that quo at otay went out one day and he was crossing the river many bears came out of a hiding place on the bank and shot him with an arrow then he ran away couette O'Day went back to the camp and someone pulled the arrow out of him he was very sick and he had lost a lot of blood the medicine man worked over him for a long time and the next day Coweta day was all right you know he made up his mind to take many bears wife away after that some of the men wanted to raid in Mexico it was the custom to have a dance on the night before the men went away there was a lot of singing and now and then someone got up to say brave things many bearers wife got up and called attention to herself she said all of you listen to my song something will happen tonight then she sang and you know the old people still remember her song I'm going to leave my belongings I'm going to leave my home again I say I am going to leave my son Coweta they took that woman away and they roamed with the Comanches for 15 years when at last they returned to their own people many bears was the first man to welcome them couette thought eh he said from this time on you and I will be brothers now I give you six horses the artist George Catlin traveled among the Kiowas in 1834 he observes that they are superior to the Comanches and Wichitas in appearance they are tall and straight relaxed and graceful they have fine classical features and in this respect they resemble more closely the tribes of the north than those of the South Catlins portrait of caught such TOA is the striking figure of a man tall and lean yet powerful and fully developed his life and he knows beyond any doubt of his great strength and vigor he stands perfectly at ease the long drape of his robe flowing with the lines of his body his left hand rests upon his shield and holds a bow and arrows his head is set firmly and there is a look of bemused and infinite tolerance in his eyes he is said to have been nearly seven feet tall and able to run down and kill a buffalo on foot I should like to have seen that man as Catelyn saw him walking toward me or away in the distance perhaps alone and against the sky