From Pawnee Folklore
The man awoke. It was nearly morning. He took his pipe, filled it, and smoked. He gave a few whiffs to the stone, then laid the pipe down and laid his hands upon the stone and said: “Father, I dreamed about you. I saw you as a man. You have told me to go to the Swimming-Mound. May all that I saw in my dream came true, for as soon as the sun appears I shall move with my family to the Swimming-Mound. I will do as you have said. Father, take pity upon me.” He then took his pipe and emptied the ashes by the stone. Then he rubbed his hands over it, saying, “Father, let all these things that I saw last night come true.” Before the sun was up he roused the women and told them to cook some dried meat. The women began to cook, sitting on the east side of the lodge. The man sat on the west side with bowed head and with the robe wrapped around his legs. When all the people were seated around the fireplace the man spoke and said: “My kinfolk, make preparation to move away to the Swimming-Mound upon the Republican River. My father has spoken to me in a dream.” The young men were told to go and drive the ponies from the hollow in the hills. After breakfast the women began to put their things into the cache hole near the entrance. Saddles were placed in the hole, having been made ready to be put upon the ponies. Nothing was said to any of the other people in the lodges. They put their saddles, their meat, corn, tipi, and everything they needed upon the ponies’ backs. By daylight they started in a southwesterly direction.
For many days they journeyed until they came to the Republican River; then they followed up the river. When they came to the Swimming-Mound the man told the women to pitch their tipi in the river bottom. Then he took the stone, folded in his buffalo robe, and went to the mound. As he walked up he noticed that there was no wind, but as soon as he had made a place upon the hill for the stone the wind began to blow up on each side of the mound. The man thought that the mound was blowing its breath upon the stone. Then again he thought that the animals of the mound were sending the wind to blow off from the stone all smells of the people. The man then stood up, as he had been told to do. In the night he heard strange noises coming from the mound. It sounded like the rubbing of sticks, and drumming. The man had no fear. He stayed all night. By morning the wind ceased. He stayed upon the mound all day and neither ate nor drank.
The second night he again heard strange noises, and whistling. He soon heard what sounded like a strong wind. He looked, and there was a big drove of elk around the hill. He closed his eyes and said, “Father, shall I listen to these animals? Are they to give me power?” Then he began to cry. He fainted and fell. He saw a man stand by him. This man was painted with red paint. His head was decked with small downy feathers. He had in his right hand a whistle, made from a reed; he also had over his shoulders an elk skin, and he said: “My son, you see that I am a great man. All these Elks do what I say. Leave this place, for this is our home and we do not like your presence here. If you leave, I will give you this robe and whistle, and I will give you great power. This stone before you came from the heavens. Remove it also, for it draws lightning and will kill many of my people if left here.” The man recovered and stood up again and cried. When the sun rose, the man saw the strange man standing in front of him, and he knew it was the Elk.
The man again stood all day on the mound and cried. By noon he saw many Eagles flying overhead. They lighted around him, and he saw another man with his head decked with soft downy feathers and his body covered with clay. The man said: “My son, leave this place. Take the stone with you and we will give you great power, for I control all of these birds that you see. This mound is our resting place. The stone resting there is from the heavens, and if it stays upon the mound there will be rain here all the time. Some of my birds will be killed.” The man awoke and the birds disappeared. That night he stood by the stone. In the night the strange noises began again. The man seemed to hear people singing and making a noise like that of a flock of geese. Then he looked toward the river and saw fire coming up from it. As he stood and watched he thought he saw all kinds of fish, beaver, mink, and other animals swimming around. He seemed to know that these animals, too, wanted him to take away the stone. The man did not pay any attention to all this, but closed his eyes and began to cry the more. He did not look toward the river any more.
The next day as the sun rose he saw many colors. As the sun rose higher he saw these colors everywhere. He rubbed his eyes, then looked again and saw these colors. They were like many rainbows. Then he looked at the stone and said, “The same colors I see everywhere” (meaning the stone). All day there were many, many colors everywhere.
When night came the man began to get frightened. He began to tremble and think to himself: “What am I afraid of? I have been here all of this time. What can I be afraid of?” He was about to leave, when a green light seemed to shine from the stone. This attracted his attention. He looked at the stone and said: “Father, make me brave. Let me not leave you for fear of the animals.” His fear went from him. He began to cry again, and while he cried he heard strange noises again. He did not pay any attention to them, but soon he heard a loud noise which seemed to come from the timbered country. He became scared and trembled. He thought, “Must I run?” Again he looked at the stone and he saw the green light, and again his fear went from him. He heard the noise again, and as it sounded louder and nearer he opened his eyes to see what the thing was making it. He thought that it was a white-legged horse. When he looked at the stone again, he saw that it gave a bright light. Then the noise, stopped, and there stood before him a man. The light shone so brightly from the stone that he could see the man plainly. The strange man had a bear robe over his shoulder. Around his ankles were bears’ claws. His face was painted red. From his mouth two tusks stuck out, and when the strange being breathed different colored dusts seemed to cover the stone; but the stone’s light seemed to dispel the dust. The strange man then said: “My son, upon this mound is my lodge. I live here with many of my children. I go and kill all kinds of animals and people. You come here upon this mound with the stone, and I do not like it, for the stone is from the heavens. It will bring rain and lightning, and it will kill my children.” The man closed his eyes and cried with a loud cry. The light went out. The strange man turned into a Bear and trotted away. The strange noise continued all night. The morning was cloudy. All day the clouds seemed to roll as if in madness. They rolled abut in the heavens, but there was no lightning or thunder. The man thought that the time was near for it to thunder, and that his dream was to come true. So he took new courage.
Towards evening he looked and saw another, darker cloud coming from the west. He heard sharp thunders and saw lightning that seemed to be making its way to where he was standing. He heard drumming, the rubbing of sticks, the sound of geese, and the howling of coyotes and bears. The clouds from the west seemed to come rapidly, for he now heard thunder overhead. He tried to close his eyes, but the flashing of the lightning opened them. Soon the rain poured down. A noise went by the man that sounded like a hailstorm. Presently his eyes were opened by the lightning. Then it thundered. He thought he saw the lightning strike the ground, for there was fire and smoke upon the bank of the river. Again and again it lightened and struck at the same place. Soon the storm seemed to encircle the man and the lightning struck him down. The storm passed away, and the sky cleared; the man lay stunned. As he lay there he saw a man whom he knew to be the Stone-Man. The man said: “My son, all I have told you to do, you have done. The animals who dwell upon this mound wanted to scare you away. These animals have never been friendly with people, but they have delighted in killing and eating them. Now they shall talk to you in their lodge this very night, and they will give you great powers. Arise, take me and carry me to the place where I told you to see me. You know the place where the bank was struck many times by lightning. There the entrance to the animals’ lodge has been opened to you. Go through the entrance to the animals’ lodge and stay near the animals’ lodge; they will call you themselves. They will ask you to remove me. Do not listen to them. When they have taught you all their secrets then you may come and pick me up and carry me back to your tipi. Place me outside at the west. Hang up the things that the animals shall have given you.”
The man arose and walked to the bank of the river. There he saw where the lightning had struck the bank. He even saw a tree. He went to the tree and beyond there was a hole. He went into the hole, and at the very entrance smoothed a place with his right foot where he placed the stone. He then crawled into the hole for some distance, until it began to grow larger, so that he could stand up. He went on until he heard the noises of drumming and of many Geese. At last he came to where the animals were. He sat down. He heard great noises and saw a small animal coming from the lodge, which was lighted by a big fire. The animal came and passed him and he saw that it was a Mink. The mink went of to the entrance. In a little while it came back and ran past the man. As soon as it went into the lodge the drumming and noises ceased. In a little while there was a great noise among the animals, but there was no drumming. The man hearing the noise of the animals become scared and lay low.
For some time the animals continued the noise, and when the noise ceased a man came forth, who, when he saw the man who had brought the stone to the entrance, sat up. He said to the stranger: “My brother, the animals have sent me to you. They want me to tell you that they want you to remove the stone at the entrance.” The stranger said: “My brother, how did you get in here? Why are you here?” The animal man said: “I am a fire-maker for the animals. I do not care to be among our people any more. There is another man here who is also a fire-maker for the animals. Will you go away and remove the stone?” “No,” said the stranger, “I will not remove the stone until the animals have taken pity upon me and given me the ceremony of the medicine-men.” The man went back to the lodge and for a time there was silence in the lodge. Again the man came and said: “My brother, the animals have agreed to take pity upon you, for you can remove the stone. They are afraid to touch it. The stone is from the heavens, and the animals are afraid of it. Come in where the animals are and they will see you. When you go in you must cry and be meek. Ask the animals to help you and they will do so.” The stranger arose and went with the messenger into the lodge. All the animals arose and walked around the fire. Then all was dark and the man could not see what was going on. When he could see he found himself lying on his back at the south and inside of the lodge. He arose and began to cry, and as he cried he talked. When he stopped crying he was told to stand west of the fireplace. He looked on the ground and saw several things that looked like pieces of ice. The man came and said: “These things were taken from your stomach by the animals. You will now take them into your mouth. As you receive them in your mouth stamp your feet, then they will go down into your stomach again. You are now to possess power to mesmerize and to throw things into people’s stomachs.” The man took one of the things and put it into the stranger’s moth. He dropped one at a time into his mouth and told him to stamp his feet. The man did so, and as each was dropped the thing seemed to melt away in his mouth, and as he stamped his feet on the ground the thing disappeared and returned to his stomach. When this was done the man at the entrance told the stranger that he now had power the same as all of the animals had.
The stranger was then given a seat near the entrance. He looked around and saw all kinds of animals sitting around the circle. One of the men at the entrance was a scalped man; the other who had talked to the stranger gave him an account of his life. He said: “In my youth I knew nothing; my mind was not good and I used to run at random through the village. Once in a while I knew what I was doing, but one time when I seemed to be out of my head some mysterious agency took me into the animals’ lodge. The animals cared for me and cured me. Before my birth my father killed a black-tail deer, so that when I was born I always acted crazy. Now that I am well I always want to stay with the animals and wait upon them.” The strange man was kept in the lodge for several nights and was taught sleight-of-hand performances. He was told, among many other things, that when he should build the animals’ medicine-lodge he should kill several snipe and cranes and take their skins to hand inside the lodge.
When the animals had taught him all of their powers they told him that he must go out and bring in the stone. The man went out and brought in the stone and set it upon the west side of the lodge right in front of the leading animals who were known as the Big-Medicine-Animals. One by one the animals went to the stone and blew their breath upon it. The last to go was skunk. Skunk said: “My son, I know lightning. I get my power from it. I can also make rainbows in the night.” The Skunks gave the stranger power to cleanse people from the lightning shock.
After all the animals had given their breath, they said: “Take the stone with you. The power from the heavens and the animal power you shall have with you. This lodge shall be known as the Stone-Medicine-Lodge. When you decide to have the animals’ ceremony and perform the mysterious rites of the animals’ lodge, you shall set the stone in front of the altar. The other altar shall be of cottonwood and willows. Place the dead Beaver that we shall give you upon the second altar.” The medicine-men’s power to do sleight-of-hand and songs were taught the strange man. When the animals had finished teaching him he was told to go home and bring them some tobacco, a black sick handkerchief, and a shell. He was also told to take the stone with him to his home. He was given many animal skins and soft downy feathers. He took the stone and placed it into the feathers; then he was guided out of the lodge, and it was evening.
Source:
The Pawnee Mythology: Part 1, George A. Dorsey, 1906
Kotharian Lightning 