Myths as Historical Sources

1. Summarize this legend in 2 - 3 sentences.

A legendary trickster hero of the Kiowas, Saynday, walks through the once beautiful land to see it totally taken over by the Europeans. He then sees a man riding from the east, and discovers the man is Smallpox, the disease that ravaged Native Americans upon the arrival of the European settlers. Smallpox proceeds to lightly threaten Saynday and his people with death, but Saynday convinces him to attack the Pawnees as there are more of them, then lights a fire around the Kiowa camp to protect his people.  

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

Saynday notices that instead of buffalo on hillsides grazing there are cattle. He sees the once amazingly clear Washita River covered in red mud. He sees a lack of wildlife in the plains as well. Fields of flowers are gone and in their place there lie settlers’ soddies. Essentially he is noticing all of the changes that have occurred since the white man came to his country. He is looking at them with sadness, as demonstrated when he says, “the world I live in is dead.”

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

Smallpox claims to be as close to the white men as Saynday is the Kiowa.  This means he is an intrinsic part of the white man and what he brings. Whether he “lurks behind” or “travels ahead”, along with all the changes to the landscape, the white men always bring this death called Smallpox. Essentially to the Kiowa, the white men and Smallpox are the same, and Smallpox and death are the same, therefore the white men bring death.

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

The white men count everything. They count their cattle, sheep, chickens, children, living, and dead. To the Kiowas this is the same as treating women, children, and men the same as their dead enemies or their livestock. According to Saynday, the Kiowas only count the “enemies they touch.” The Kiowas also left the landscape exactly the same, while the white man altered it for profit. This counting and disregard of nature represent a core difference in their culture. The Kiowas treat living things the same, respecting that they have a life to live. The white men keep count in order to maximize profit from cattle, people they can fit in one area, etc. Generally, this represents the Kiowas being much less wasteful.

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

The relationship between the Kiowas and the Pawnees was not good. The reason the Kiowas were so poor and there were so few of them was due to the Pawnees. They had warred and the Pawnees had won, gaining wealth, riches, and land. The Kiowas and Pawnees were rivals.