Free Wild Inferno by Sandi Ault Page B

her head, then held it high and made three percussive stabs in the air. She opened her eyes and looked out at the silent gathering. “They say there were two brothers who loved the same woman. It was a long time ago, when the People were moving all the time from camp to camp, and they had stopped one time for a long while to pick serviceberries. This woman was very beautiful and both the brothers wanted to have her for a wife, so they all the time tried to help her make up her mind. While she was out picking berries all day, they would hunt up a rabbit or a deer and leave it in front of her lodge. Each brother had a way of painting his arrows so that she would know which one of them had brought her meat, because they would leave the arrow in there.
    â€œIt took the woman a long time to make up her mind, and she had a lot of good meals for her and her parents while she was trying to decide. Finally, her dad told her that she had to choose or the brothers would get tired and neither one of them would want her for a wife. Well, both the men were handsome, but one of them was a lot bigger than the other. He had a big, strong chest, and he stood taller than his brother by a head. She thought the big one would make a better husband in certain ways…”
    At this, all the women giggled, and Mary Takes Horse smiled and waited until the laughter subsided.
    â€œSo anyway, she told the big man she would marry him, and off they went to the wedding lodge. Now, this was in the summer, okay? And when they were together that night, big man told her she could sleep next to him, but that he was not going to make her his wife until spring.”
    The women in the audience all groaned and hissed. Again, Mary Takes Horse waited, smiling.
    â€œSo the next day, this woman talks to her mother and tells her what big man is doing. Or what he is not doing.”
    A round of laughter ensued from men and women alike.
    â€œAnd her mother told her all kind of things to try to make big man change his mind. ‘Put bear grease in your hair, make it shine like a river,’ her mother would say. Or ‘Cook the rabbit with this herb so the whole camp will smell it and be hungry for what you made.’ But nothing the beautiful new bride did would make big man change his mind. One night, she was combing her hair when big man got ready for sleep. He opened his buffalo robe, inviting her to come lie beside him. ‘Why won’t you make me your wife?’ she asked him. He told her that she must wait until spring. That next day, she put his things outside the lodge and this told the world they were no longer married.”
    The audience applauded. The man to my right put two fingers between his teeth and whistled loudly. Mary Takes Horse held up her hand.
    â€œBut that’s not the end. This beautiful woman decides she will take the other brother, the little guy.”
    The women hissed and booed.
    â€œSo the first night they are together, little man gets right down to business. He takes his pleasure from the woman, smacks her on her bottom, and turns his back and goes right to sleep.”
    More hissing and booing from the women, but a few of the men nodded and winked at one another.
    â€œAnd the next day, you know the woman is back talking to her mother again, saying how unhappy she is with this one. But the mother tells her she has made the stew and the meal is already cooked, so she can only eat it now, there is nothing else to do.
    â€œWell, things go on and little man is happy to take pleasure from his beautiful young wife any night he wants, but he does not make sure she is happy in return. And the summer goes on.
    â€œPretty soon, the frost is there every morning and the People are leaving for a winter camp. They choose a place out by Red Hill, along the river, and they settle in for the winter. Meantime, that little man starts gambling with the men, and he rides off for long times saying he is hunting elk, but he