Edward S. Curtis (1868-1952)

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Edward S. Curtis - Plate 146 Sitting Elk - Apsaroke - Vintage Photogravure - Portfolio: 22 x 18 inches - Born about 1828-1830. River Crow of the Never Shoots, Packs Game clan and Fox organization, which he joined at about thirty, having chosen to take the place of a friend who had been killed. He never fasted. "I cannot help it, " he remarked; "it is the truth." But when he was six years of age he was taking part in a sham fight with mud balls thrown from sticks. A ball that had not been rolled in the sparks of the fire and consequently could not be seen as it came, struck him in the eye, which soon swelled shut. The next evening the boys were playing again, and a woman relative said chidingly, "Foolish boy, go and get your eye hurt again!" He went, but stood at the end, and was the last to charge and the first in the retreat. Soon a mud ball struck the same eye, and it seemed as if his "brains would fall out." A sister-in-law cared for him that night. Toward morning he fell asleep and dreamed. He saw the sham fight continued; gradually it changed, and he suddenly saw two opposing war-parties contending. A man with a lance decorated with hawk-feathers stood forth, sang three songs and charged among the enemy. As he entered their ranks he became a chickadee. Soon he reappeared without a scratch on his body. Having had a vision and obtained songs, Sitting Elk felt that it would do no good to fast; yet with some doubt, fearing that it might have been merely a dream, he said nothing about his medicine. At forty he began to feel certain that it had been a real vision from the spirits, and therefore used the songs and made his medicine known.
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Title:
Plate 146 Sitting Elk - Apsaroke
Date:
1908
Size:
Portfolio: 22 x 18 inches
Medium:
Vintage Photogravure
 
Born about 1828-1830. River Crow of the Never Shoots, Packs Game clan and Fox organization, which he joined at about thirty, having chosen to take the place of a friend who had been killed. He never fasted. "I cannot help it, " he remarked; "it is the truth." But when he was six years of age he was taking part in a sham fight with mud balls thrown from sticks. A ball that had not been rolled in the sparks of the fire and consequently could not be seen as it came, struck him in the eye, which soon swelled shut. The next evening the boys were playing again, and a woman relative said chidingly, "Foolish boy, go and get your eye hurt again!" He went, but stood at the end, and was the last to charge and the first in the retreat. Soon a mud ball struck the same eye, and it seemed as if his "brains would fall out." A sister-in-law cared for him that night. Toward morning he fell asleep and dreamed. He saw the sham fight continued; gradually it changed, and he suddenly saw two opposing war-parties contending. A man with a lance decorated with hawk-feathers stood forth, sang three songs and charged among the enemy. As he entered their ranks he became a chickadee. Soon he reappeared without a scratch on his body. Having had a vision and obtained songs, Sitting Elk felt that it would do no good to fast; yet with some doubt, fearing that it might have been merely a dream, he said nothing about his medicine. At forty he began to feel certain that it had been a real vision from the spirits, and therefore used the songs and made his medicine known.
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