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The Child Who Was Stolen by a Brush Indian
- University of Nebraska Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
gaither paul The Child Who Was Stolen by a Brush Indian There used to be Brush Indians who stole children and that’s why they came here. And here I’ll tell you now how a child that had been stolen by a Brush Indian was saved. I’ll tell you about that. A man was out hunting. On a ridge above where a hill sloped down, on the ridge, toward his home, as he went along toward his home way down in a draw, down in that draw, he heard a child crying. As he listened he heard that it was a child crying. He knew there was no child down there, not from his home, the girls Tanacross were not there. He knew that and so he thought right away that Brush Indians steal children. So down there he ran and got ready for him. And in a while the Brush Indian came walking along toward that man. The man hid from him with his arrow ready. As he came up to that man who was hiding the Brush Indian was holding the child by his hands and walking along saying ‘‘mḿ’, mḿ’, mḿ’.’’ He was saying that so that the child would sleep he found out. Then as he got to where the man was he jumped up and holding his arrow on him, ‘‘put down that child,’’ he told the Brush Indian. The Brush Indian was surprised and holding the child he began to walk backward. He carefully stepped backward. And so that man kept holding his arrow on him and [18.206.76.45] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 06:26 GMT) gaither paul: the child who was stolen by a brush indian ‘‘Put that child down. Go away,’’ he told him. Even so the Brush Indian didn’t do it and as he still held the child then quickly he swung the child to his chest and put it there. So that the man would not shoot he put the child on his chest. Then he walked backward. So the man ‘‘I’ll kill you right through that child. So put the child down,’’ he told him. Even so the Brush Indian walked backward away from him and then in a moment the Brush Indian swung the child around onto his back and with the child there he started to run. The man was strong and kept right up with him. Even though the Brush Indian ran very fast, the man also ran right behind him and ‘‘I’ll kill you right through that child,’’ he told him. So then the Brush Indian realized that he could not run away from the man and so putting the child down he ran away from there. Tanacross So the man let him go and, thinking the child was from his home, he picked up the child. That’s all he wanted and so he let the Brush Indian go. Then, picking up the child, he was not from his home. He was from somewhere else. Even though he knew that the child was stolen from somewhere else he took it back.1 After that a long time passed and the man sent a message to the people in other places and since there were none missing there, to other places they sent the message to where there was a missing child. They kept passing on the message and long afterward, when much time had passed, they found where the child had been stolen. Then they sent the child back to where he had been stolen. note . That is, he took it home with him. – – Eds. ...