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The Horse and the Buffalo

by Elmer Echo Hawk, Grade Four

This story appears in Carlisle Arrow and Redman, Carlisle Indian School, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, February 14, 1908. Elmer Echo Hawk was a Kitkahahki who was born in 1892 and died in 1942. He was a son of Echo Hawk (a Kitkahahki / Chaui Pawnee, 1854-1924) and Choorix (Taylor) Echo Hawk (born about 1864, died 1902). Elmer married a Pitahawirata named Alice Jake and they had four sons and one daughter.

Pawnee Indian say that at night when the star are shining bright you can see two white lines cross the sky. They say that is where the horse and buffalo had a race. Indians say you can see lines which look like dust. One line which buffalo made is shorter than the other one. The shorter line was one made by buffalo and the long one by the horse. The horse beat the buffalo and that is why there are more horses than buffaloes.

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