Myths as Historical Sources

1.      Summarize this legend in 2 - 3 sentences.

Saynday, a trickster hero of the Kiowa, meets Smallpox, who appears to him in the form of a man and realizes that Smallpox will be certain death for all the Kiowa people. He convinces Smallpox that the Kiowa are too few and too poor to bother with so Smallpox agrees to first visit the Pawnee who live in large numbers close together. Saynday then sets up a ring of protective fire for the Kiowa, after Smallpox tells him that fire is the only thing he fears.

2.      What changes does Saynday notice when he looks at the landscape?

When Saynday looked at the landscape he saw that the buffalo herds, the deer, the antelope, and the tipis had disappeared. Instead, he saw white faced cattle, settler’s soddies, and a river full of red mud rather than clear water. Saynday realizes the lives of the Kiowa have now changed forever as the white settler’s westward expansion into Indian lands continues.

3.      What is the relationship between Smallpox and white men?

The relationship between smallpox and white men is that smallpox had infected the white population of Europe and then the United States. Smallpox was then spread from the white population to the Indian population. Smallpox explains how he had devastated the white population by saying that he was “one” with the white men. He said that he was their companion, that he lived with them, and that he was always with them. Smallpox was a part of their lives.

4.      According to this legend, in what ways do the Kiowas see themselves as different from white people?

The white men counted everything and everyone whereas the Kiowas counted only their enemies that they touched. The white men brought white faced cattle with them for food whereas the Kiowa had hunted buffalo and deer. Also, the white people brought smallpox, disease the Kiowa did not have.  

5.      What do you think was the relationship between the Kiowas and the Pawnees?

I don’t believe that the relationship was a good one and in fact they were most likely enemies. Saynday said that the Pawnee’s were the ones who almost wiped out the Kiowas and that was why the Kiowas were so few and so poor. The Kiowas were afraid of the Pawnees, Saynday said they ran from strangers, afraid that they might be Pawnee. The Kiowa were also probably jealous and resentful that the Pawnee had a large population, big houses, and were rich. To try to save the Kiowa, Saynday told Smallpox to go to the Pawnee instead, knowing that he was sending death to the Pawnee.