Week 11 Storytelling: How the Ponca Discovered Horses

Long ago, there was an Indian tribe that lived in what today is known as the state of Nebraska. They called themselves the Ponca and had been living in the area for many years. One day, the men of the tribe went on a hunt for buffalo. The men of the tribe would always go to the same location where they previously had killed buffalo because they would always come back. This time, there were no buffalo in the area and the men started to hesitate. Led by their chief, Standing Bear, he commanded that they go a little further over a mountain to see if they could spot any from above. Not too far in the distance, they could see the herd of buffalo running around with other animals not familiar to the Ponca.

(A Herd of Buffalo in Nebraska: National Geographic)

The herd of buffalo finally escaped the odd animals, but a few had been killed off. They then saw a man jump off of the animal and the Ponca realized that these animals were being controlled by other men not from their tribe. Standing Bear was furious seeing that his tribe was being robbed of their game. He ordered his men to shoot their bow and arrows towards the other men to try and scare them off. They did not even flinch because they had never seen bow and arrows before. The weapons that these men used were simply clubs made out of animals they had killed. One of the men with the strange animals mounted his animal and rode towards Standing Bear and his tribe. He did so calmly with a hand in the air as if he was saying he was going peacefully. Standing Bear then started to approach the mysterious man and yelled “Go no further for my men will pierce you with arrows if you and that creature take another step.”

“I am Short Horn of the Padouca tribe, why is it you have come into our territory?” asked the man on the animal.

Standing Bear looked around at his men and together they started laughing “Your territory? The Ponca have owned this land for many many years and have never had such encounter with man and beast.”

“This here is called a horse and it is friendly to mankind” replied Short Horn. “I see that we talk the same language, could we sit down and talk as peaceful men?”

(Ponca Indians Meeting on Horses: Texas History)

Standing Bear nodded and Short Horn jumped off of his horse. They talked for a good hour or so and got along just fine. Standing Bear offered Short Horn that he and his men could come to his village to celebrate their alliance. Short Horn was honored and gathered his men and horses then followed the other tribe back to their village. They had brought back two of the buffaloes they had killed to have a feast that same night.

The two tribes gathered around fired and had a great night getting to know one another. Everybody was in high spirits and then Standing Bear made an announcement, “My people come together as our new friend Short Horn has asked for the right to marry one of my descent to unite both tribes as one.” Everybody shouted and danced in excitement but there was one man who did not look so happy.

Short Horn’s younger brother had been watching the horses and keeping a distance from the people. “What fool my brother is whenever our people are waiting for the days killing to feed the tribe” thought his brother. 

He had always been envious of Short Horn since his older brother had the command and now would marry another woman. He quickly got together a few of his men and started insulting them and making them feel bad for agreeing to come to this village while their own tribe was starving. He convinced the men that they would all wake up dead in the morning for all Standing Bear and his tribe wanted was their horses. As soon as the feast was over and everyone was fast asleep, Short Horn’s brother and the men attacked. They left nothing but bloodshed and burned the village to the ground. Short Horn had been killed by his own brother, and the command of the tribe was now his.

Author's Note:

The original story is called “Tradition of Finding Horses” and it involves both of the Ponca and Padouca tribes as I mentioned in my story. The Ponca were following the Missouri River and finally crossed it after finding a shallow spot. Once they crossed, they spotted the Padouca and would eventually have several battles with them. The Padouca were mounted on horses and the Ponca thought that the man and horse were one whole beast until a man was shot off his horse during one of the battles. Everyone stopped fighting and one of the Padouca came up to the Ponca and asked him who they were. They finally settled for peace after one of the Padouca told them a spirit had come to him out of a grave and taught him how to speak the Ponca’s language. Both tribes taught each other what they knew and the Padouca even gave some of their horses to the Ponca. Once the Ponca knew how to ride horses they went to war again with the Padouca and ended up running them out of the area and stealing their horses. I didn’t really know how to go about my story so I tried making it a little similar to the original story. I introduced two characters (Standing Bear and Short Horn) for each tribe and added some dialogue to the story. In the end once the two tribes agree to form peace, the brother of Short Horn is gets jealous and ends up gathering his men. They kill all the Ponca and retain their horses, then he is the leading commander of the Padouca.

Bibliography:

"Tradition of Finding Horses" from Great Plains by Katharine Berry Judson. Web Source