Myths and Legends of the Great Plains

<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg&nbsp;110]</SPAN></span></p> <h2>WHY THE TETONS BURY ON SCAFFOLDS</h2> <p class="subtitle">Teton</p> <p><span class="dropcap">I</span>n the olden days, the people buried some men on a hill. Then they removed their camp to another place. Many winters afterwards, a man visited the hill; but there were no graves there. So he told the people.</p> <p>Then many men came and dug far down into the hill. By and by a man said, &ldquo;There is a road here.&rdquo;</p> <p>There they found a road, a tunnel, large enough for men to walk, stooping. Other roads there were. They followed the first road and they came to a place where a strange animal had dragged the bodies of those who were buried in the hill.</p> <p>Therefore the people refused to bury their dead in the ground. They bury them on scaffolds where the animals cannot reach them.<SPAN name="FNanchor_M_13" id="FNanchor_M_13"></SPAN><SPAN href="#Footnote_M_13" class="fnanchor">[M]</SPAN></p> <div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3> <div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_M_13" id="Footnote_M_13"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_M_13"><span class="label">[M]</span></SPAN> At the present day, the Teton gives three reasons for not burying in the ground: animals or persons might walk over the graves; the dead might lie in mud and water after rain or snow; wolves might trouble the bodies.</p> </div> </div> <hr style="width: 45%;" /> <p><SPAN name="SCAFFOLD_CEMETERY" id="SCAFFOLD_CEMETERY"></SPAN></p> <div class="figcenter"> <SPAN href="images/mlgp15.jpg"> <ANTIMG src="images/mlgp15th.jpg" width-obs="400" height-obs="299" alt="" /></SPAN> <span class="caption">Indian Scaffold Cemetery on the Missouri river</span></div> <p class="center">(From Schoolcraft)</p> <p class="center"><i>Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution</i></p> <hr style="width: 45%;" /> <p><SPAN name="OMAHA_VILLAGE" id="OMAHA_VILLAGE"></SPAN></p> <div class="figcenter"> <SPAN href="images/mlgp16.jpg"> <ANTIMG src="images/mlgp16th.jpg" width-obs="400" height-obs="276" alt="" /></SPAN> <span class="caption">An Omaha Village, Showing Earth Lodge and Conical Tepees</span></div> <p class="center"><i>Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution</i></p> <hr style="width: 65%;" /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />