A Sioux Love Story, part 2

In the past three years Curly had seen three Indian camps destroyed or abandoned because of the whites. And now, this strange thing had happened with the soldiers and their sabers. Not only that, the soldiers had been put on the land belonging to the Sioux to protect the whites from the Sioux as the wagon trains of the whites moved westward.

All of this gave Curly much to think about as he rode along. They were things he needed to think about and consider for, after all, he was no longer a child.

Curly also thought about how the whites, by now, had taken the Platte River Valley away from his people and claimed it as their own.

He considered that no Indian village by its self could stand up to an attack by the white warriors. The Sioux, as individual groups, were far outnumbered by the whites. Although Curly was on the brink of being an adult, he had yet to realize that even if all of the Sioux united as one huge group they would still not outnumber all of the whites. He did not want to consider that the whites were chasing away and killing the buffalo that all Plains Indians needed to survive. But it was true, so he could not help pondering on that, as well.

All of these adult thoughts swirled through Curly’s mind as he neared Bear Butte were over 5,000 Sioux where camped. All of the Sioux had been called to Bear Butte for a great council and Sun Dance.

Here would be his father, mother, sister, and his younger brother Little Hawk. Here, also, he would again see his friends Young Man Afraid of His Horse, Lone Bear, and Pretty One who was even more different from the other boys than Curly was—far more different.

His friend Pretty One would not be a warrior someday soon, not ever. Pretty One had other talents, such as doing beautiful beadwork that was highly prized and considered very valuable. He liked to sew and make moccasins. Pretty One would never take a wife but this was his choice, which was respected by all of the other Sioux.

Curly probably did not quite understand that part of Pretty One’s choice, that of never sleeping with a woman, because Curly was just at that age when he was beginning to think of such things. The though of girls probably caused Curly to hurry his pony just a little faster for at the council there would lots of pretty girls.

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