The Man From Eagle Creek
Copyright© 2018 by JRyter
Preface
Disclaimer:
This is my fictional account of a time period in American history. Though there are historical persons and places mentioned, there was no intention of re-writing history with my fictional accounts of the characters in my story.
I am the author and I own this story. I cordially and politely ask that you, as a courtesy to me, NOT post or re-post this story, in part, or in its entirety on any other site, free or pay, without my express written permission.
JRyter
A Lakota Legend:
This story was told to me by a Santee grandmother:
A long time ago, a really long time when the world was still freshly made, Unktehi the water monster fought the people and caused a great flood. Perhaps the Great Spirit, Wakan Tanka, was angry with us for some reason. Maybe he let Unktehi win out because he wanted to make a better kind of human being.
Well, the waters got higher and higher. Finally everything was flooded except the hill next to the place where the sacred red pipe stone quarry lies today. The people climbed up there to save themselves, but it was no use. The water swept over that hill. Waves tumbled the rocks and pinnacles, smashing them down on the people. Everyone was killed, and all the blood jelled, making one big pool.
The blood turned to pipe stone and created the pipe stone quarry, the grave of those ancient ones. That’s why the pipe, made of that red rock, is so sacred to us. Its red bowl is the flesh and blood of our ancestors, its stem is the backbone of those people long dead, the smoke rising from it is their breath. I tell you, that pipe, that chanunpa, comes alive when used in a ceremony; you can feel power flowing from it.
Unktehi, the big water monster, was also turned to stone. Maybe Tunkshila, the Grandfather Spirit, punished her for making the flood. Her bones are in the Badlands now. Her back forms a long high ridge, and you can see her vertebrae sticking out in a great row of red and yellow rocks. I have seen them. It scared me when I was on that ridge, for I felt Unktehi. She was moving beneath me, wanting to topple me.
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