Woman Who Became a Horse (a 2nd version)

"There are many subtle elements within stories that direct a people, in this case the Skidi Pawnee. The stories in combination, in relationship with each other guide thought and behavior as they pave their way within the bodies of, and the minds of the People." - Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories

There was a village, and the men decided to go on a warpath. So these men

started, and they journeyed for several days toward the south. They came to

a thickly wooded country. They found wild horses, and among them was a
spotted pony.


One man caught the spotted pony and took care of it. He took it home, and
instructed his wife to look after it, as if it were their chief. This she
did, and, further, she liked the horse very much. She took it where there
was good grass. In the winter time she cut young cottonwood shoots for it,
so that the horse was always fat. In the night, if it was stormy, she pulled
a lot of dry grass, and when she put the blanket over the horse and tied it
up, she stuffed the grass under the blanket, so the horse never got cold. It
was always fine and sleek.


One summer evening she went to where she had tied the horse, and she met a
fine-looking man, who had on a buffalo robe with a spotted horse pictured on
it. She liked him; he smelt finely. She followed him until they came to
where the horse had been, and the man said, "You went with me. It is I who
was a horse."


She was glad, for she liked the horse. For several years they were together,
and the woman gave birth, and it was a spotted pony. When the pony was born,
the woman found she had a tail like that of a horse. She also had long hair.
When the colt sucked, the woman stood up. For several years they roamed
about, and had more ponies, all spotted. At home the man mourned for his
lost wife. He could not make out why she should go off.


People went on a hunt many years afterward, and they came across these
spotted ponies. People did not care to attack them, for among them was a
strange looking animal. But, as they came across them now and then, they
decided to catch them. They were hard to catch, but at last they caught
them, all but the woman, for she could run fast; but as they caught her
children, she gave in and was caught. People said, "This is the woman who
was lost." And some said, "No, it is not." Her husband was sent for, and he
recognized her. He took his bow and arrows out and shot her dead, for he did
not like to see her with the horse's tail. The other spotted ponies were
kept, and as they increased, they were spotted. So the people had many

spotted ponies.

Source: George A. Dorsey, Traditions of the Skidi Pawnee = Memoirs of the
American Folk-Lore Society, vol. 8 (Boston and New York: Published for the
American Folk-Lore Society by Houghton, Mifflin, and Company, 1904), pp.
294-295.

From the Archives of Blue Panther a Skidi Pawnee story