Aggo-dah-gauda

: Folk-lore And Legends: North American Indian

Aggo-dah-gauda had one leg hooped up to his thigh so that he was

obliged to get along by hopping. He had a beautiful daughter, and his

chief care was to secure her from being carried off by the king of the

buffaloes. He was peculiar in his habits, and lived in a loghouse, and

he advised his daughter to keep indoors, and never go out for fear she

should be stolen away.



One sunshiny morning Aggo-dah-gauda p
epared to go out fishing, but

before he left the lodge he reminded his daughter of her strange

lover.



"My daughter," said he, "I am going out to fish, and as the day will

be a pleasant one, you must recollect that we have an enemy near who

is constantly going about, and so you must not leave the lodge."



When he reached his fishing-place, he heard a voice singing--



"Man with the leg tied up,

Man with the leg tied up,

Broken hip--hip--

Hipped.



Man with the leg tied up,

Man with the leg tied up,

Broken leg--leg--

Legged."



He looked round but saw no one, so he suspected the words were sung by

his enemies the buffaloes, and hastened home.



The girl's father had not been long absent from the lodge when she

began to think to herself--



"It is hard to be for ever kept indoors. The spring is coming on, and

the days are so sunny and warm, that it would be very pleasant to sit

out of doors. My father says it is dangerous. I know what I will do: I

will get on the top of the house, and there I can comb and dress my

hair."



She accordingly got up on the roof of the small house, and busied

herself in untying and combing her beautiful hair, which was not only

fine and shining, but so long that it reached down to the ground,

hanging over the eaves of the house as she combed it. She was so

intent upon this that she forgot all ideas of danger. All of a sudden

the king of the buffaloes came dashing by with his herd of followers,

and, taking her between his horns, away he cantered over the plains,

and then, plunging into a river that bounded his land, he carried her

safely to his lodge on the other side. Here he paid her every

attention in order to gain her affections, but all to no purpose, for

she sat pensive and disconsolate in the lodge among the other females,

and scarcely ever spoke. The buffalo king did all he could to please

her, and told the others in the lodge to give her everything she

wanted, and to study her in every way. They set before her the

choicest food, and gave her the seat of honour in the lodge. The king

himself went out hunting to obtain the most delicate bits of meat both

of animals and wild-fowl, and, not content with these proofs of his

love, he fasted himself and would often take his pib-be-gwun (Indian

flute) and sit near the lodge singing--



"My sweetheart,

My sweetheart,

Ah me!



When I think of you,

When I think of you,

Ah me!



How I love you,

How I love you,

Ah me!



Do not hate me,

Do not hate me,

Ah me!"



In the meantime Aggo-dah-gauda came home, and finding his daughter had

been stolen he determined to get her back. For this purpose he

immediately set out. He could easily trace the king till he came to

the banks of the river, and then he saw he had plunged in and swum

over. When Aggo-dah-gauda came to the river, however, he found it

covered with a thin coating of ice, so that he could not swim across

nor walk over. He therefore determined to wait on the bank a day or

two till the ice might melt or become strong enough to bear him. Very

soon the ice was strong enough, and Aggo-dah-gauda crossed over. On

the other side, as he went along, he found branches torn off and cast

down, and these had been strewn thus by his daughter to aid him in

following her. The way in which she managed it was this. Her hair was

all untied when she was captured, and as she was carried along it

caught in the branches as she passed, so she took the pieces out of

her hair and threw them down on the path.



When Aggo-dah-gauda came to the king's lodge it was evening. Carefully

approaching it, he peeped through the sides and saw his daughter

sitting there disconsolately. She saw him, and knowing that it was her

father come for her, she said to the king, giving him a tender

glance--



"I will go and get you a drink of water."



The king was delighted at what he thought was a mark of her affection,

and the girl left the lodge with a dipper in her hand. The king waited

a long time for her, and as she did not return he went out with his

followers, but nothing could be seen or heard of the girl. The

buffaloes sallied out into the plains, and had not gone far by the

light of the moon, when they were attacked by a party of hunters. Many

of them fell, but the buffalo-king, being stronger and swifter than

the others, escaped, and, flying to the west, was never seen more.



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