The life of Dull Knife,the Cheyenne,is a true hero tale.Simple,child-like yet manful,and devoid of selfish aims,or love of gain,he is a pattern for heroes of any race.
Dull Knife was a chief of the old school.Among all the Indians of the plains,nothing counts save proven worth.A man's caliber is measured by his courage,unselfishness and intelligence.
Many writers confuse history with fiction,but in Indian history their women and old men and even children witness the main events,and not being absorbed in daily papers and magazines,these events are rehearsed over and over with few variations.Though orally preserved,their accounts are therefore accurate.But they have seldom been willing to give reliable information to strangers,especially when asked and paid for.
Racial prejudice naturally enters into the account of a man's life by enemy writers,while one is likely to favor his own race.
I am conscious that many readers may think that I have idealized the Indian.Therefore I will confess now that we have too many weak and unprincipled men among us.When I speak of the Indian hero,I do not forget the mongrel in spirit,false to the ideals of his people.Our trustfulness has been our weakness,and when the vices of civilization were added to our own,we fell heavily.
It is said that Dull Knife as a boy was resourceful and self-reliant.He was only nine years old when his family was separated from the rest of the tribe while on a buffalo hunt.His father was away and his mother busy,and he was playing with his little sister on the banks of a stream,when a large herd of buffalo swept down upon them on a stampede for water.His mother climbed a tree,but the little boy led his sister into an old beaver house whose entrance was above water,and here they remained in shelter until the buffalo passed and they were found by their distracted parents.
Dull Knife was quite a youth when his tribe was caught one winter in a region devoid of game,and threatened with starvation.
The situation was made worse by heavy storms,but he secured help and led a relief party a hundred and fifty miles,carrying bales of dried buffalo meat on pack horses.
Another exploit that made him dear to his people occurred in battle,when his brother-in-law was severely wounded and left lying where no one on either side dared to approach him.As soon as Dull Knife heard of it he got on a fresh horse,and made so daring a charge that others joined him;thus under cover of their fire he rescued his brother-in-law,and in so doing was wounded twice.
The Sioux knew him as a man of high type,perhaps not so brilliant as Roman Nose and Two Moon,but surpassing both in honesty and simplicity,as well as in his war record.(Two Moon,in fact,was never a leader of his people,and became distinguished only in wars with the whites during the period of revolt.)A story is told of an ancestor of the same name that illustrates well the spirit of the age.
It was the custom in those days for the older men to walk ahead of the moving caravan and decide upon all halts and camping places.One day the councilors came to a grove of wild cherries covered with ripe fruit,and they stopped at once.Suddenly a grizzly charged from the thicket.The men yelped and hooted,but the bear was not to be bluffed.He knocked down the first warrior who dared to face him and dragged his victim into the bushes.
The whole caravan was in the wildest excitement.Several of the swiftest-footed warriors charged the bear,to bring him out into the open,while the women and dogs made all the noise they could.The bear accepted the challenge,and as he did so,the man whom they had supposed dead came running from the opposite end of the thicket.The Indians were delighted,and especially so when in the midst of their cheers,the man stopped running for his life and began to sing a Brave Heart song as he approached the grove with his butcher knife in his hand.He would dare his enemy again!
