Iktomi, he was alone one day, sitting on a hill, smoking his pipe and watching Buzzard as he flew around in great circles in the sky. “How wonderful it must be to fly,” Iktomi thought. “I could do that,” he boasted to himself, “but I bet I would get sweaty, because it must be like work. I don’t want to be sweaty, because I want to look good. It’s hard to be good-looking when you are working. I think I will call Buzzard here and get him to take me for a ride.” So Iktomi began to think really hard. Now, that is hard for Iktomi, for long ago he traded his good mind for a good-looking face. Still he gave his thoughts wings. “Buzzard, come here; take me for a ride. Buzzard, come here; take me for a ride.” As soon as he thought the thought, Buzzard began to drop down from the sky lower and lower, nearer and nearer until he landed on the earth beside Iktomi.
“Get on my back, Iktomi, let me take you for a ride.” Smiling to himself, Iktomi climbed onto Buzzard’s back and with a beat of his great wings, Buzzard lifted off the earth. Soon they were circling high in the sky. From where he sat on Buzzard’s back, Iktomi looked out and in all directions, saw the great hoop of the earth. It was a beautiful view. “It is good that the earth is so beautiful,” Iktomi thought. “Like I am beautiful. Iktomi only likes to look at good-looking things.” Just at that moment, Iktomi looked down right in front of him. Ah, there was something that wasn’t good-looking. It was Buzzard’s head! “EEEHH,” thought Iktomi, “it is UGLY!!” Where there should be feathers there were just a few coarse hairs. It was red as though it had been burned by the sun, lumpy and bumpy and wrinkled. “Eeehh!” thought Iktomi, “Buzzard is not good-looking like Iktomi.”
Now, there are no words in the Lakota language to curse or swear. There are words to insult somebody, but they are serious and can cause much trouble between people, so I will not say those words to be heard and maybe, foolishly, to be repeated. But, like all people, there are rude gestures. And, right then, Iktomi was thinking of those words and that gesture. He clenched his fist and quickly flicked it open behind Buzzard’s head. This is a gesture that, if it is seen, is so disrespectful that it will cause hard feelings or even a fight. “But Buzzard can’t see me,” thought Iktomi, “and he probably can’t hear me either.” So, he made that gesture again and again, and as he said the words, the wind tore them out of his mouth and threw them over his shoulder, away from Buzzard’s ears. Iktomi laughed and laughed at how clever he thought he was and how stupid he thought Buzzard was, not to know what he was doing.
He was so amused with himself at what he was getting away with that he forgot that all peoples were given gifts and Buzzard’s gift was strong vision that allowed him to see from high in the sky down to the earth so he could find foods to eat. Right then, he was using his vision to look far below where he saw the shadow of Iktomi’s hand behind his head. “Iktomi mocks me. I give him the gift of flight and he disrespects me! I will have to find a special gift for my foolish friend.”
And so Buzzard circled around looking for just the right gift for Iktomi. At last, he saw it It was a sheared-off tree stump that had been struck by lightning and left in the open plains. Buzzard circled nearer and nearer until he was just above it and then he flew upside down and dumped Iktomi headfirst into that stump.
Iktomi was stuck. He struggled, he screamed, he raved, he kicked and the more he struggled and screamed, the more he became stuck. “Poor Iktomi is stuck,” he cried. “Why would Buzzard do such a cruel thing to his friend Iktomi? Iktomi will die upside down if no one hears him—and he won’t be good-looking!” He was there for a long while when suddenly he heard a noise of thunder. Suddenly, his problems grew worse as he felt raindrops falling on the bottoms of his feet as he hung there upside down. The water began to pool around Iktomi’s head. “Oh no!” thought Iktomi. “Iktomi is going to drown! I am going to die for sure and it is all because of Buzzard. And Iktomi won’t be good-looking when they find him drowned, upside-down in this tree stump.”
Just then, the rain that had begun to gather in that old stump began to be soaked up by the dry wood. But as that old, rotten wood soaked up the rain, it began to swell and squeeze Iktomi. “Poor Iktomi,” he cried. Now he knew he was going to die. “Iktomi will not be good-looking when he is dead and crushed in this tree stump. Why would someone be so unkind to a friend?” and he began to cry and pray.
Iktomi usually only prays for himself—when he is in trouble or wants something. But, suddenly, Iktomi realized it was HE, not Buzzard, who had gotten him into such a bad place. As he cried and prayed, he began to truly feel sorry for what he had done—sorry for how disrespectfully he had treated Buzzard. He became truly pitiful in his heart that he made such foolish mistakes. As he became pitiful, he began to shrink. He got smaller and smaller until at last, like a worm, he was able to craw out of that tight spot his choices had put him in. And, for the rest of that day, he was respectful to all he met, for he had learned his lesson.
But, remember, (because he will not) Iktomi traded his good mind for a good-looking face, so he never remembers the lessons he learns. That is why we have so many stories of Iktomi; but that is where this one ends.
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