• All 
 
 09 B9 1 
 
 :opy 1 
 
ef9 B9 
 
Class tALJ- 
 
 Book 
 
 ,^?B3 
 
LEGENDS OF THE OZARKS 
 
 ^/>=- 
 
 J. W. BUEL, 
 
 Of the St. Louis Press. 
 
 SAINT LOUIS: 
 
 W. S. BRYAN, Publisher, 
 
 1880, 
 

 5 I "3 U (* 
 
 Copyrighted, iSSo, by W. S. BRYAN. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Introduction, 5 
 
 The Mysterious Cave, 7 
 
 The Hegira of the Wannepellos, . . .16 
 
 The Eidolon of Happy Hollow, . . . 29 
 
 The Mountain of Tears, 37 
 
 The Field of Silver, 46 
 
 The Legend of the Arlington, . . . .54 
 Combat between the Great Spirit and the Dragon, 58 
 Condemnation of the Pokanees, .... 64 
 Teponah's Fatal Wooing, ..... 68 
 
 The Devil's Cave, 76 
 
 The War in the Happy Hunting Grounds, . 81 
 
 The Lovers and the Twin Springs, ... 85 
 
 The Old Indian's Vision, 99 
 
 Hot Springs, ........ 104 
 
 3 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 But a few years will elapse w^hen the wild, untu- 
 tored fathers of America will have departed forever; 
 the last generation of the Red Man will disappear 
 like shadows before the zenith flash of Caucasian 
 civilization, and only their wierd traditions and 
 bright-fancied legends will remain to remind the 
 white man of the primeval settlers of the greatest 
 Republic that floats a banner 'neath the stars. The 
 beautiful imagery and day dreams of the savage, the 
 paradise of his hopes, the ambition of his unexam- 
 pled nature, the love which he never otherwise ex- 
 hibited, and the superstitions which the wild and 
 lonesome forests created in him, are worthy of per- 
 petuation. They serve to soften the aspersions cast 
 upon the Indian's character and ennoble a nature 
 which, in the eyes of the progressive and unsympa- 
 thetic white man, is pronounced immovable and des- 
 titute of moral instincts. 
 
 Where now reposes a graceful city in the valley of 
 the Ozark mountains, enlivened by the steady hum 
 of an ever active business; under the shadow of that 
 long range from out whose base the never-ceasing 
 
6 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 flow of life and health-imparting waters carries joy in 
 its murmuring accents, long years ago lived a band 
 of painted Red Men, in the smoke of whose camp- 
 fires, the branches of the trees, the clouds overhead, 
 or in the chirrups of the forest songster, they saw the 
 hand of destiny or divined the immediate future, and 
 built their castles of imagery. The wraith of the 
 mountain and the elf of the valley spoke to them 
 in the whispering winds, and the thunder from the 
 clouds drove them into a propiation to their angry 
 Spirit-Father. There was fire and wrath in their war 
 hearts, but fear and trembling controlled them in 
 their solitudes. Such a people cannot help weav- 
 ing legends, and their traditions must bear the im- 
 press of an exaggerated imagination. It was the 
 Good Spirit who gave them happiness, and an Evil 
 Spirit, with hideous visage, who interposed obstacles 
 or visited them with sickness. 
 
 The writer has succeeded in recovering from the 
 musty relics of the past some of the most interesting 
 legends having their origin with the Indians and the 
 famous Hot Springs of Arkansas, and now seeks to 
 preserve them by issuing this little book, containing 
 the stories illustrative of the exquisite im.agination 
 and veneration of the ancient tribes of America. 
 
LEGENDS OF THE OZARKS. 
 
 THE MYSTERIOUS CAVE, 
 
 In the lap of the eternal sun reposed the Massa- 
 tonguas. Purgation from every sin against the Great 
 White Spirit gave them a land in which perfection 
 was seen in every contour of nature, and happiness 
 was as illimitable as the spiced breezes these favored 
 children breathed. Birds of exquisite plumage filled 
 the branches of the trees and carolled their music, 
 like sweetest symphonies, unceasingly. It was in a 
 charming plain the Massatonguas lived, through 
 which flowed a pearly river whose bosom was as 
 graceful as the swe'U of a maiden's, and whose banks 
 were hidden by a profusion of flowers the exhala- 
 tions from which were as incense to the air. The 
 arch of heaven bordered the confines of this beautiful 
 land, and the happy Massatonguas were ruled by the 
 White Spirit who, during every hour, gave them new 
 blessings and evidences of her love. 
 
 Thus lived in undisturbed peace and happiness the 
 Massatonguas through the long years, like a song the 
 
 7 
 
8 LEGENDS OF THE OZARKS. 
 
 melody from which grows sweeter to the close, and 
 with faint and dying echo leaves its beauty in our 
 memory. The river which bathed this lovely plain 
 had its source hidden in the edge of the ethereal 
 paradise, but its outlet was a cave the mysteries of 
 which none were allowed to explore. This was the 
 only condition imposed by the ruling White Spirit, 
 an observance of which was the guarantee of per- 
 petual happiness to the Massatonguas. But ages of 
 pleasure, with ignorance of pain, at length created 
 discord and restlessness among the tribe. Curiosity 
 excited a desire to explore the mysterious cave, in 
 the recesses of which it was fabled there were beau- 
 ties greater than the eye of mortal had ever seen ; 
 that it was the portal of a new world peopled by 
 elves of surpassing loveliness, whose wigwams were 
 of precious stones and the rivers of molten gold. The 
 White Spirit besought them to abide their already 
 happy condition and avoid the penalty which disobe- 
 dience would entail. Her words were like drops of 
 crystal on the rocks, they gave back a sound but 
 made little impress upon the adventurers' purposes 
 A council was called which all the tribe attended. 
 The wise men, whose conceit had impaired their 
 wis lorn, addressed the assembled multitude and re- 
 pir.ited the stones of the mysterious cave, the portal 
 
iiiiaiiiRII 
 
 sm'^^ 
 
THE MYSTERIOUS CAVE. 1 1 
 
 of a new world. The witchery of these myths cre- 
 ated an ambition in the tribe never felt before ; there 
 succeeded to a contented disposition a consuming 
 desire for a new condition. The harmony of the 
 birds, the incense-laden air, the beauty of the land- 
 scape with its graceful undulations garlanded with 
 rare exotics, lost all their charms in the wild infatua- 
 tion for the exploration of the forbidden cave, and 
 soon the sound of the sharp stone axes was heard 
 like a tone of bewailing and ominous destiny, min- 
 gling with the music of the plumed foresters. The 
 boats were built and, when launched, floated so ma- 
 jestically upon the pearly river that a shout of joy 
 went up to the very heavens from the Massatonguas, 
 which caused the White Spirit to weep in copious 
 rain and show her anger in the loud peals of thunder 
 and flashes of fire which dashed across the now black 
 and portentious sky. Many of the tribe were stricken 
 with terror, but when the sun again shone through 
 the riven clouds and a calm hung over their beauti- 
 ful land, fear was dispelled and their determination 
 renewed. 
 
 The tribe again assembled on the margin of the 
 river and, amidhuzzahs of delighted anticipation, the 
 embarkation commenced. More than a hundred 
 canoes, freighted with a score of Massatonguas eachi 
 
12 LEGENDS OF THE OZARKS. 
 
 glided gracefully out upon the beautiful water and 
 v/ere borne swiftly towards the black portal. The 
 camp fires died out, and hushed was the music of 
 the birds. A strange rushing of the winds was heard 
 overhead and the river rolled uneasily, torturing its 
 course like a wounded serpent. The sun was again 
 veiled by inky clouds, and from out the boiling ele- 
 ments came the voice of the White Spirit : " Thou 
 shalt see a new world indeed, but the penalty will be 
 eternal sorrow." But onward sped the boats, and 
 with minds drunk with fancy the Massatonguas' hearts 
 were light, and merrily they drifted. 
 
 Two days did the journey thus continue, but at 
 eventide the boats approached the yawning and mys- 
 terious cave out of which poured startled birds of 
 fihiiy wings terminating with bony claws, and teeth 
 like serpents' fangs. The last boat having floated 
 within the entrance of this dark cavern, suddenly a 
 peal of thunder sounded which shook the arch of this 
 now sepulclire and made the water boil, while a sti- 
 fling odor arose and volumes of steam filled the space 
 almost to suffocation. Looking backwards the Mas- 
 satonguas saw the portal close and shut out the light 
 of day from them forever. The river sank in its bed 
 and from the depths of that beautiful stream the 
 White Spirit upheaved the earth and left a range of 
 mountains now called the Ozarks. 
 
THE MYSTERIOUS CAVE. 1$ 
 
 Still live the Massatonguas in eternal sorrow. Un- 
 der the mountains, in the pall of perpetual darkness, 
 they weep and toss their pain-laden bodies in despair. 
 Their tears have worn crevices in the rocks through 
 which they trickle unceasingly. In the quiet of the 
 night at the base of Crystal Mountain the moans of 
 the imprisoned Massatonguas may often be heard, 
 and the rush of strange wings sweeps over the Ozark 
 range once every year, but never the voice of the 
 Great White Spirit is heard again. 
 
 Note. — The weeping rocks are located about five miles south of Hot 
 Springs, and are well worth a visit. The water seeps through the pores 
 of the mountain rocks and is constantly trickling down their sides. 
 
THE HEGIRA OF THE WANNEPELLOS, 
 
 The Wannepellos were a peaceful tribe of Indians 
 whose country was in the far east. It abounded with 
 abundant game and teemed with the most luscious 
 products of nature. They never encroached upon 
 the territory of neighboring tribes, and opposed an- 
 tagonisms of every kind. Not so the Olgondas who, 
 living within a short ride of their peaceful neighbors, 
 made frequent incursions upon the Wannepellos and 
 despoiled them of their possessions, killed their game, 
 and made captive the most beautiful maidens of the 
 tribe. Emboldened by the success of their depreda- 
 tions and the timidity of the less powerful Wanne- 
 pellos, the Olgondas at length reduced them to a 
 state of captivity. The men were bound with thongs 
 and scourged with withes under the slightest pretexts, 
 while the women of the unhappy tribe were com- 
 pelled to perform the menial labor of the camp. 
 This cruel bondage continued for many years and 
 until a deliverer was born and raised up among 
 them. 
 
 Mannetata — "child of the sun" — was the daughter 
 of one of most humble women of the tribe ; she was 
 visited in a dream and told that the Great Father had 
 i6 
 
THE HEGIRA OF THE WANNEPELLOS. 1/ 
 
 witnessed the sorrow of the Wannepellos and would 
 reward their contrite spirit by delivering them from 
 bondage and giving them a new land in which they 
 should abide in uninterrupted happiness; that He 
 would make her the instrument for their deliverance, 
 but that obedience and faith were requisite to the 
 safety and happiness of the tribe. She was enjoined 
 never to despair; that her guide would be a bright 
 star, following which the path of duty would be plain 
 before her. For twelve successive nights did the 
 Great Father visit Mannetata in the same dream 
 when, on the last morning, she arose and took coun- 
 sel with her mother, and then with the wise men of 
 her tribe. While half doubting and undecided a star 
 was seen to leave the heavens and fall directly in front 
 of her, resting in suspension a few feet from the 
 ground. Suddenly Mannetata felt an inspiration, 
 and an impulse to obey the injunctions of her dream. 
 She approached the star and saw that it rested above 
 the head of the fierce chief of the Olgondas. Moved 
 by the spirit of the Great Father, thus spoke Manne- 
 tata : " Mantesee, Chief of the Olgondas, the com- 
 mon Spirit-Father of all tribes has grieved long for 
 the bondage of the Wannepellos ; they who have 
 humbled themselves before Him and have departed 
 not from the ways of peace should not be made the 
 
1 8 LEGENDS OF THE OZARKS. 
 
 servants of men. . The birds of the forest are free and 
 the game He gives you are alike for all people. 
 These are your brothers ; unbind their strangled 
 limbs and bid them go to their freedom. Let not the 
 moon of another night visit the Wannepellos in sor- 
 row, nor another dream steal upon them with delusive 
 freedom. Bid them be free." 
 
 Mantesee was heartless as the cougar that dallies 
 with its prey, and twice the moon went round with 
 the Wannepellos still in fetters. The star again ap- 
 peared to Mannetata and she again responded to its 
 purpose. Then she was told that on the succeeding 
 night a profound sleep would fall upon the Olgondas ; 
 to arouse her people, whose fetters would fall from 
 their limbs, and follow the star. 
 
 When the shades of twilight were gathering, the 
 Olgondas were seized with slumber, each one falling 
 where he stood, and in the quiet of the camp the 
 Wannepellos stole softly out and followed Mannetata 
 and the star, pausing not throughout the long nighty 
 but pressing forward with cheerful feet and hearts 
 full of thanks for their release from a bondage the 
 beginning of which was with a generation long since 
 departed to the land of shadows. Forward pressed 
 they onward, and when the dawn appeared they 
 were many leagues from their cruel masters. 
 
THE HEGIRA OF THE WANNEPELLOS. 1 9 
 
 The sun was mountain high in the heavens when 
 the Olgondas brushed the drowsy languor from their 
 eyes and found their captives gone from among 
 them. Mantesee, the fierce chief, arose with anger 
 impressed on his brow. He tossed back the tangled 
 tresses o'er his shoulder and, in a voice of vengeful 
 determination, bade his every brave to follow and 
 bring back or slay the Wannepellos. With bows 
 strung for fighting and war clubs tethered to their 
 horses, mounted the Olgondas, and rode they furi- 
 ously in the track of the fleeing tribe. Beautiful 
 Mannetata, with step as lithesome as the deer which 
 fled before her, kept her eyes fixed upon the star 
 which led her onward, and the tramp of the Wanne- 
 pellos was measured with the rhythm of freedom. 
 Over the purling streams, through the verdant prai- 
 ries, under the soughing trees, cheered by the merry 
 music of the forest warblers, strode they forward 
 without resting. On the second "day, weary of feet 
 and weak of fasting, Mannetata paused before the 
 resting star and bade her people pitch their tents and 
 light the camp fires. The abounding game gave 
 meat to the hungered tribe and the mellow turf fur- 
 nished couch magnificent for their wearied limbs. So 
 passed they many hours in the peace of liberty and 
 the quiet of the forest, 
 
20 LEGENDS OF THE OZARKS. 
 
 The repose was broken by the sound of horses' 
 feet echoing through the wood, and before the star- 
 tled vision of the Wannepellos appeared the fierce 
 Mantesee with his tribe of cruel warriors. Onward 
 rushed the wild Olgondas, but when the bows were 
 bent and ere the arrows had left the string, a mighty 
 wall of fire swooped down from heaven and a cry of 
 anguish lingering in the fretted air told how the con- 
 suming swathe had avenged the wrongs of the Wan- 
 nepellos. Under the paling moon, beside the musi- 
 cal brook, on the verdant margin of the stream, 
 Mannetata built a pyre whereon still burns the fire 
 of sacrifice, in the blaze of which may be read the 
 prayerful thanks of a delivered people. 
 
 When the day god threw his glintling rays through 
 the forest again the star of direction cast its light 
 athwart the path of Mannetata and, lifting her infant 
 brother to ease the fatigue,of her mother, the journey 
 was continued. From the plain of verdant beauty 
 came the pathway up a mountain, over rocks of sharp 
 projections, through the briars and prickly brambles. 
 Still the star led through the thickets and Mannetata 
 followed full of hope, but sometimes despairing. The 
 game grew less abundant and the streams of darker 
 color; murmured now the Wannepellos that their 
 path was steeper growing and their burdens and 
 
21 
 
 Mannetata and her Brothers, 
 
THE HEGIRA OF THE WANNEPELLOS. 23 
 
 afflictions greater. Forgetting now the soreness of 
 their bondage, and the deHverance from their cruel 
 masters, greater still became their complaints. Some, 
 more angered than the others, said : ** Sure this 
 witch, this Mannetata, will lead us to destruction ; 
 already are our feet sore and our bodies weary, 
 while hunger enfeebles us and almost stays our jour- 
 ney. Who is this maid whose lowly mother has 
 brought up to bring us out of bondage into a land of 
 ills, unto destruction?" Thus many spoke, and 
 anger flamed up in the hearts of the Wannepellos 
 against the beautiful maiden, the sun-child Manne- 
 tata. 
 
 When midnight came, and anger in the hearts of 
 the Wannepellos blended with their dreams of bond- 
 age, the Spirit-Father appeared to Mannetata, and in 
 a voice of rage and passion told his vengeance to the 
 maiden : " Have I not delivered them from bondage, 
 from out the land of sorrow, with my promises of a 
 land wherein their pleasures shall be forevermore ? 
 Now seek they for your pure life, and have turned 
 their backs upon me. But I will temper their spirits, 
 and as the wall of flame swept up their enemies so 
 shall their disobedience entail a like punishment upon 
 them." 
 
 Mannetata, with head bowed in deepest reverence. 
 
24 LEGENDS OF THE OZARKS. 
 
 and eyes bathed with tears ; grieving for her people 
 and regarding not the anger against herself, with 
 voice of suplication, answered : " Praise be to thee, 
 O, Father of the Wannepellos, thy tribe whose dis- 
 obedience has turned thy love to anger, and whose 
 afflictions have stolen their remembrance of thy 
 providence. If their sins require human sacrifice I 
 implore thee, Great Spirit-Father, to accept this offer- 
 ing. I am but one while they are many ; a new 
 generation may beget the humility of our fathers, and 
 from the loins of anger may spring again thine own 
 people humbled before thy name." Thus answer- 
 ed the pure and lovely maiden, and the Spirit-Father, 
 moved from his purpose by the sacrifice and abne- 
 gation of Mannetata, with voice of tender feeling 
 replied : ** Thou art my child and thy sacrifice can- 
 not atone for the sins of thy people. I will spare 
 their lives, but their disobedience shall be punished 
 by ills of the flesh. I will visit them with afflictions ; 
 grievous pains shall seize them and they shall lan- 
 guish in extreme suffering; but the period of their 
 punishment will end after forty moons, and I will 
 bring them to the land I promised, but it shall be as 
 a vision soon departed." Thus replied the Spirit- 
 Father, and then vanished. 
 
 Again the morning dawned, but though the plain 
 
THE HEGIRA OF THE WANNEPELLOS. 2$ 
 
 below was visible and the end of the treacherous and 
 difficult pathway seen, no joy succeeded, for there 
 arose loud lamentations, as each manifested their 
 suffering-, and henceforth the Wannepellos were 
 agonized with unremitting pains. Slowly the journey 
 was renewed, many pulling themselves along the 
 ground, others tottering like the stricken deer, whilst 
 others were carried by the less afflicted. No longer 
 were there mutterings against Mannetata, for she 
 alone remained free from the plague, and the Spirit- 
 Father had enlightened the tribe to the cause of 
 their punishment. Contrition and veneration suc- 
 ceeded, until in the midst of their agony they ack- 
 nowledged the justice of the penalty. 
 
 Thus languished the Wannepellos until forty 
 moons had been driven across the heavens, and they 
 had entered a country whose lovely landscapes were 
 like the fabled meadows of paradise. Here ran the 
 purest water in its many devious ways, some of which 
 was like nectar to the taste, whilst some was hot and 
 sent forth clouds of vapor. Here in this beautiful 
 valley rested the suffering Wannepellos. Mannetata 
 saw the star guide drop into a pool of liquid crystal, 
 and with a blessing upon the water bathed her feet, 
 and again the camp-fires blazed up brightly. This 
 was the Eidouranion, the Land the Great Spirit had 
 
26 LEGENDS OF THE OZARKS. 
 
 promised. Abode they in this lovely valley in the 
 morning, but when the evening came a cloud arose 
 from the purling stream until hidden was the land- 
 scape ; then it drifted slowly upward until lifted was 
 the shadow with the meadows and the streams of 
 liquid crystal ; behold ! from the mist of circling vapors 
 saw the tribe the changing country ; where lay the 
 plain of promise now arose the Ozark mountains. 
 Sad of heart were now the Wannepellos ; grieved 
 they for the loss of the land of promise, and suffered 
 still with their afflictions. Then came the gentle 
 maiden, the sun child Mannetata, and her magic 
 power revealing smote the base of the rock-ribbed 
 mountain. Out gushed the smoking water till it ran 
 in laughing gambols ; till it laved the disease-stricken 
 Wannepellos, and washed their pains with healing 
 virtues. The lame grew strong, their sores were 
 healed, the swollen muscles became like the sinewy 
 oaks, and the wrinkles of age were smoothed till the 
 flesh was like childhood. Happy then were the 
 Wannepellos, free from pain and freed from bondage. 
 So they builded here a temple at the apex of the 
 mountain, from out whose base gushed the healing 
 waters. High of head was the sacred temple, a 
 monument of thanks to the Great Father and to 
 Mannetata. 
 
THE HEGIRA OF THE WANNEPELLOS. 2/ 
 
 Long lived the tribe on the mountain and in the 
 valley, while the water still kept flowing, giving 
 health to all afflicted. Then there came from out 
 the heavens a cloud of fire before the vision of the 
 Wannepellos, and it rested on the temple. Then did 
 Mannetata know it was a message from the Spirit- 
 Father; that her duty was now ended and she must 
 leave her people. Gathering them about her, thus 
 she spoke, with tears of sorrow at the parting, with 
 words of joy for the meeting with the shadows gone 
 before : " The fire cloud on the temple bids me hence 
 to the hereafter, to the loved ones of our people long 
 since departed. Ere I go receive my blessing and 
 remember that from out the sky above still will the 
 eye of Mannetata watch the conduct of the Wanne- 
 pellos. Love thou each his brother and the land of 
 promise will be before you, gained at last with Man- 
 netata." So the sun-child, still a maiden, yet with 
 many moons upon her, reached the temple and from 
 its portals waved her hand and ascended slowly up- 
 ward, till the cloud of flame shone in the ether like 
 a star of radient splendor. Straight above us in the 
 heavens, like a diamond in its setting, lives the mai- 
 den Mannetata, while around her in the evening, 
 happy in the Land of Promise, laugh and sing her 
 joyous people. 
 
28 LEGENDS OF THE OZARKS. 
 
 The heated waters, still washing the base of the 
 mountain, were the gift of the Great Father, and will 
 flow forever, singing his praise and healing all peo- 
 ple. 
 
 Note. — The location of the temple from whence Mannetata as- 
 cended was on the apex of Hot Springs Mountain, almost on the site 
 now occupied by an observatory. It is reached by a winding roadway 
 about one mile in length, beginning near the depot of the Hot Springs 
 Railroad, and also by a pathway from the Arlington Hotel. The east 
 side of the mountain is precipitous, with a ledge of rocks overlooking 
 a broad and beautiful valley many miles in extent. Many of the large 
 stones bear evidences of Indian handiwork and there are numerous 
 indications of ancient ruins found scattered over the entire mountain. 
 
THE EIDOLON IN HAPPY HOLLOW. 
 
 MiNNEOLA was the daughter of Nanketuka, chief 
 of the Petonahs. Her beauty was warm and mellow 
 as the sun, and her form graceful as the bow of heaven. 
 The dews of paradise were in her eyes and the sym- 
 phony of shadow musicians in her voice. Flowers 
 sprung up from her footsteps and out of her midnight 
 tresses she flung the stars. Pocotacus, the athlete, 
 loved Minneola like the spring buds love the sun; he 
 bathed in the life-giving light of her eyes and drooped 
 like a perishing flower in her absence. So loved Min- 
 neola, but Nanketuka, the lion father, whose heart 
 was as inflexible as the mountain, hated Pocotacus 
 and sought to bend the love of his lovely child toward 
 VVonomeda, the crafty warrior of the tribe. Failing 
 thus in his endeavors, Nanketuka imprisoned Minne- 
 ola in a lonely mountain cave with secret only known 
 to Wonomeda, who visited the maiden and poured 
 his love into her fretful ear, promising her freedom 
 and the rarest jewels the womb of earth could bear. 
 But she saw no favor in the offer, for her heart was 
 like the dew-d ops which sparkle only in the sun, 
 and pined she for Pocotacus, the elixir of her life. 
 
 Unrelenting in his purpose, the chief considered not 
 
 29 
 
30 LEGENDS OF THE OZARKS. 
 
 the happiness of his lovely daughter and with bitter 
 rage he seized Pocotacus and cast him into a cave 
 on the opposite side of the mountain. Here he 
 lingered in great anguish, caring not for his affliction, 
 but with grief for Minneola. Here while kneeling in 
 devotion pouring out his lamentations, in the damp 
 and dungeon cavern, cast his useless eyes around 
 him and perceiving in the distance a light of flicker- 
 ing brightness, his heart leapt with emotion, then with 
 anguish lest it be the messengers from Nanketuka to 
 execute his death. But when nearly it approached 
 him he perceived the bearer was a lady on whose 
 head was a crown of starry splendor, — it was the 
 Spirit of the Cave. Coming nearer she addressed 
 him : ** Why hast thou invaded the precincts of the 
 phantoms, come into the shadows where mortals 
 must not be? Speak, lest the fire I hold consume 
 thee, and thy life be taken here." Then answered 
 Pocotacus and told his love for the maiden, and with 
 head bowed low before her bade the spirit consume 
 his anguished heart. But the anger of her face up- 
 lifted and with pity stealing o'er her, she gave her hand 
 to the lover and answered, ** Follow me." Straight- 
 way the two went forward and the cavern walls rolled 
 backward, clearing a pathway before them until, sitting 
 in the distance, wailing and despairing, he saw his 
 
31 
 
 Pocotacus, the Athlete. 
 
THE EIDOLON OF HAPPY HOLLOW. 33 
 
 Minneola, and soon clasped her in his arms. It was 
 like the blending of the waters, the meeting of the 
 sunbeams, the union of the flowers or the kissing of 
 sweet incense, so clasped they one another lest some 
 sorrow should come between. 
 
 While the lovers were thus raptured, dwelling in 
 the fragrance of their own sweet meeting, the tramp 
 of Nanketuka and Wonomeda and their angered tone 
 of vengeance, came ringing through the cave. Fear 
 and sorrow brooded o'er the lovers, but the Spirit of 
 the Cavern gave them promise of protection. Then 
 the rocks heaved heavily and one by one rolled to- 
 gether until the granite walls enclosed them and of 
 earth they saw no more. Still the chieftain sought 
 his daughter, the lovely Minneola, sought in the caves 
 and forests, mourned her long and prayed for pity, 
 but he found her nevermore. There beneath the 
 mountain, where runs the crystal water through the 
 valley and the trees, lives the athlete Pocotacus and 
 his sweet wife Minneola. Passed from life into the 
 shadows, from the body to the soul-life, without 
 passing through the portal where the body rusts and 
 bleaches, passed they into life eternal with the Spirit 
 of the Cave. There they live in blissful splendor, 
 with the beautiful Stalacta, in the cavern walled with 
 diamonds and with floors of precious gems ; corridors 
 
34 LEGENDS OF THE OZARKS. 
 
 with golden columns, arched with porphyry, and 
 studded with emeralds from the sea. Music floats 
 throughout this bright elysian with swells and undu- 
 lations like the swimming air, and the laugh of happy 
 spirits rings its melody through the halls. Down in 
 Happy Hollow, when the brook dries up its babble, 
 and the pipers of the forest hush their music with the 
 trees; in the peace of perfect quiet may yet be heard 
 faintly the peals of joyous laughter from Minneola 
 and her lover in the palace of happy spirits, in the 
 paradise of Stalacta, in the cave of love eternal. 
 
 Note. — Happy Hollow separates Hot Springs mountain from Park 
 mountain. It contains a chalybeate spring and runs out into Hot 
 Springs Valley one block west of tlie Arlington Hotel. 
 
35 
 
 The Head of Happy Hollow, 
 
THE MOUNTAIN OP TEARS. 
 
 In the mountains and the Hot Springs valley was 
 the land of the Piowas, while below them twenty- 
 leagues, to the margin of the blue Ouachita, lived 
 the war-like Chocatacas. There was strife and hate 
 between them, until at last, poaching upon the terri- 
 tory of each other, the snake-skin, filled with eagle's 
 feathers, was exchanged and the war-dance round 
 the camp-fire was the signal for the conflict. In the 
 valley and on the mountain flew the arrows and 
 gleamed the knives, while the war-whoops and the 
 charges drove the birds from out the forests and the 
 game sought other country far away. Still they 
 fought and the battle-grounds grew mellow, while 
 the river changed its color to a wounded hue. Sor- 
 row sat by every camp-fire and the wailings of the 
 women, mingling with the stricken warriors, hurtled 
 through the air like a besom of destruction. Thus 
 the fighting still continued until famine came stalk- 
 ing like a wraith between them. Then the blazing 
 eyes of anger dropped their light and became like 
 ashes ; the weakened hands unclasped their weapons 
 and the ghastly stare of hunger was like a truce 
 which stops a battle. Fain would they have drunk 
 
 37 
 
38 LEGENDS OF THE OZARKS. 
 
 the blood of one another, but the veins became as 
 sunken furrows, and the strength to kill and draw- 
 had vanished. Dimly now burned all the camp-fires, 
 and the reeling smoke grew into spectres, while the 
 weazened faces of the women wore the visage of the 
 gnomes. Not a sign of game was visible, and the 
 birds had flown affrighted from the tumult of the 
 fights. The children wailed for food which was not, 
 while the little papoose drew the dugs of its famished 
 mother and, wisting not its portion, stretched its 
 withering limbs and died. And the mother, without 
 nourishment, but the instinct, threw her fleshless form 
 upon the ground, and with fingers clenching the hard 
 earth tried to suck the grasses and the gravel and to 
 blow the life again into her famished babe. 
 
 The very air seemed sick with hunger, for it lin- 
 gered through the branches like a drowsy beetle in 
 the winter, and the clouds above were motionless as 
 the sea that awaits the storm burst. " How slowly 
 death comes to the tortured," this was all the armies 
 uttered, and the waiting still continued. 
 
 On the seventh day of this dreadful famine above 
 the mountains rose a black cloud, but the lining was 
 of tinselled silver. Moving slowly like the cohorts 
 of an army came the cloud until it rested and blew 
 its shadow over the famished camp and camp-fire. 
 
The War Dance. 
 
The mountain of tears. 41 
 
 Then from out the lowering vapor across the tinseled 
 border appeared a woman clothed in sun-rays, so 
 bright that it closed the eyes from weakness. In her 
 right hand she held a tray of silver, and in her left a 
 cup of gold, while from her lips she flung the breath 
 of life. Slowly she approached the quiet armies, 
 and passing softly among the dead and dying, from 
 the tray she ministered food, and from the cup she 
 gave sweet water. And thus were fed the warriors 
 and the women, but still the store of food was not 
 exhausted. 
 
 For many days did the sun-clothed spirit move 
 among the stricken armies, until famine had departed, 
 and the red Ouachita ran its blue threads again along 
 the grass-grown margin, till the game and forest 
 warblers came speeding back to the peace-hushed 
 countryl whence they left. 
 
 Then breaking a cleft from the lime-stone, the 
 Spirit fashioned it into a peace-pipe, and fixing a stem 
 from the fire-tree, she filled the bowl with the leaves 
 of the woodland, and drawing the smoke like a 
 whirlwind, she scattered its wreaths till the cerulean 
 cloud covered aU the people. And thus spake the Spir- 
 it of Peace ere she took her departure : " The Great 
 Father bestows his gifts alike upon all ; He gives you 
 the sun in whose light you may see His blessings; 
 
4^ LEGENDS OF THE OZARKS. 
 
 and the moon that you may never be cast into dark- 
 ness. The forests are filled with your food, and the 
 water flows free to your uses. Why seek you strife 
 when peace clothes all things with happiness ? why 
 grieve the Great Father with your anger when He 
 visits you alone with compassion? The phantoms 
 of those gone before you, now at peace in the here- 
 after, are moved with sorrow at your fighting. Now 
 build you a pyre for the dead and make a peace- 
 offering to the Great Spirit; let your tears of contri- 
 tion fall like the showers of the spring-time, that 
 love and forgiveness may rest with you forever." 
 Then slowly ascended the spirit, but dropped from 
 her hands the silver tray and the golden cup, till 
 gathered in the vapory clouds she disappeared from 
 their vision. 
 
 Brightly blazed now the smouldering camp-fires, 
 and the two tribes mingled into one like the meeting 
 of the waters. So they collected their dead, and 
 midway between the lands of the two the tribes built 
 the pyre they were commanded. Thereon they laid 
 the dead, the victims of war and famine, and the rays 
 of the sun set fire to the faggots till the flames reached 
 into cloud-land, and in the smoke from the pyre they 
 saw the spirits of the offering, and the land of happy 
 hunting. 
 

THE MOUNTAIN OF TEARS. 45 
 
 The Piowas and Chocatocas, now blended into one 
 tribe, when the first moon rose above them packed 
 their camp, and journeyed to the shrine and pyre 
 they builded. Here, with the silver tray of choice 
 food and the golden cup with purest water, their 
 offering renewed and poured their tears out like the 
 spring-time showers. Every tear became a crystal, 
 like the amber of the sorrowing sea-bird weeps, till 
 there grew a crystal mountain with a crown of 1am- 
 bient iris. Then the Father accepted the offering of 
 his people and gave them peace eternal. 
 
 Note. — Crystal Mountain can scarcely be said to belong to the 
 Ozark Range. It is about thirty miles south of Hot Springs, and is 
 the center of a very beautiful landscape. The mountain is composed 
 largely of quartz-crystal, agates, porphyries and Hot Springs diamonds, 
 out of which very handsome jewelry is made. Some of the crystal 
 formations are as peculiar as they are lovely. Many of them are found 
 bearing beautiful architectural appearances. In some of the larger 
 blocks will be seen pillars of crystals supporting a smooth ceiling, the 
 pillars being placed equi-distant from each other and every part in 
 admirable proportion. The Hot Springs diamonds have a brilliancy 
 equal to the Brazilian pebble. There is a good road leading to Crys- 
 tal Mountain, which furnishes a fine drive for invalids. 
 
THE FIELD OF SILVER, 
 
 After the return of Ponce de Leon from his vain 
 search for the Fountain of Youth, several of his 
 adventurous voyageurs, hearing the stories of the 
 fabulous wealth which, like a mirage before the vision 
 of the parched traveler, disappeared only to appear 
 again, concluded to make a second journey into the 
 wilderness. Replenishing their stores they recrossed 
 the Gulf of Mexico and landed near the Balize, under 
 the leadership of Valisco Bazaare, one hundred 
 strong. They were clothed in beautiful armor and 
 their weapons were the most effective that date 
 afforded. 
 
 The company struck the Mississippi river near 
 where the city of New Orleans is now located and 
 followed that stream until their course was obstructed 
 by another stream, on account of the peculiar color 
 of which they named the Red river. Here they met 
 a band of Indians who manifested great fear, believ- 
 ing the Spaniards to be descendants from the sun, and 
 as a propitiation which they believed was required 
 the Indicins built a great fire upon which they intended 
 sacrificing several of their maidens. The sacrilegious 
 sacrifice was interrupted by a conference obtained 
 
 46 
 
THE FIELD OF SILVER. 4/ 
 
 through an Indian boy whom Bazaare had secured 
 from de Leon. After learning the nature of their 
 strange visitors the Indians indicated their pleasure 
 at the meeting by many evidences of friendship. 
 Bazaare showed them pieces of silver and by aid of 
 the interpreter explained to them that he and his fol- 
 lowers were in search of that precious metal. The 
 chief of the tribe told the Spaniards that towards the 
 north, near the source of another river which flowed 
 into the one on the banks of which they were 
 encamped, there was a large and beautiful field of 
 silver but that it was guarded by the spirits of the 
 mountain, at the base of which the field lay. The 
 chief charged the white adventurers not to attempt 
 the exploration of the silver country, for around the 
 mysterious land there was a fatal vapor which poi- 
 soned everything that came within its misty circle. 
 
 The Spaniards took no regard for the danger they 
 were told of and, on the following morning, they 
 crossed Red River in the canoes kindly furnished by 
 the natives and, being directed in their course, in a 
 few days they struck the stream (the Ouachita), near 
 the head of which the Indians told them was the 
 Field of Silver. 
 
 Their journey lay mostly through an uneven coun- 
 try, and the progress was slow and painful. At 
 
48 LEGENDS OF THE OZARKS. 
 
 length they pitched their camp upon a level plain, 
 through which flowed the bright blue river and, in 
 the distance, they beheld the mountains, raising up 
 their sun-clothed heads like the leviathan in his 
 gambols. 
 
 In the purple of the morning the Spaniards saw 
 the gray mists circling and expanding, and in the 
 vapory rifts were gleams of light like burnished sil- 
 ver. Then their hearts grew gladsome and the cross 
 was lifted, while the forest re-echoed the first sound 
 it had ever caught of the devotional Te Deum. The 
 camp was hurriedly folded and the journey taken 
 towards the mist of the valley, which bathed the feet 
 of the mountains. 
 
 There before them lay the Field of Silver, bare 
 and desolate in its solitude, with no motion save the 
 vapor which moved about it, and the gleams of light 
 that were shooting from it. Who would dare to en- 
 ter this Field of Silver, to cross the fatal vapor line 
 and pluck the precious metal from its ancient bed? 
 Then the Priest, with his crozier uplifted, in the 
 name of God and Ferdinand, strode across the va- 
 por, but the Field of Silver melted, while the circling 
 mists rose upward and the Priest, with all the Span- 
 iards, were left standing among the rocks and pine 
 trees. 
 
THE FIELD OF SILVER. 49 
 
 Though Bazaare was disappointed, yet his heart 
 beat with his purpose, and in the field of beautiful 
 mirage the Spaniards pitched their tents and, 
 with tools provided, they dug the earth for silver. 
 Their labor was rewarded, for scarcely had they 
 reached a man's depth when they found the 
 ore so rich that it needed little smelting. These 
 hardy adventurers toiled with well-paid labor, and 
 each day carried the product of the digging to the 
 river (the Ouachita), where they built boats to send 
 the precious metal to the Gulf, from whence it could 
 be transported to Spain. But although a shaft was 
 sunk to the depth of a hundred feet, the boats were 
 not quite loaded, yet the share of each was now a 
 fortune. 
 
 In the mountains there was a tribe of Indians called 
 the Shoshgones, whose fierce chief was always bent 
 on cruel deeds. He had seen the Spaniards working 
 but believed they were children of the sun-God, who 
 could dispel the poison vapor of the sun-field. But 
 this delusion was dispelled by an accident which cost 
 the life of a Spaniard whose remains were buried in 
 the sight of the cruel chief 
 
 At midnight shortly after, when the moon had left 
 the heavens, Bazaare was awakened by the footsteps 
 pf a little Indian maiden. Quickly, when the torch 
 
50 LEGENDS OF THE OZARKS- 
 
 was lighted, by many strange and curious gestures 
 she told the Spanish leader how the chief had 
 planned his murder and the death of all his comrades ; 
 that when the next full moon ascended it was the 
 signal for the slaughter and to slay and spare not 
 was the order. 
 
 In the early morning Bazaare told the warning of 
 the little maiden and ordering the shaft filled up with 
 stones, they broke their camp, marked well the loca- 
 tion, gained their boats and casting away stole down 
 the river. For many days they drifted, until at last 
 they reached the gulf and, coasting along the shore 
 when the weather was propitious, they reached at 
 length the Keys of Florida. Meeting here with re- 
 turning voyagers they shipped for Spain carrying 
 with them a large and ample treasure. 
 
 These hardy Spaniards never returned to America 
 again, but beside the blazing Yule-log they told their 
 story to their children, and gave the marks of the 
 location. Long years thereafter, when the boundary 
 of the states had marked the confines of America's 
 civilization, there appeared a man with no compan- 
 ions save his staff and compass, wending his tedious 
 way along the banks of the Ouachita, observing the 
 bends of the trees, the ledges of stones, and the path- 
 way of the river. He was searching for the Field of 
 
j^Ml 
 
tttfi FiELb OP siLVEk. §3 
 
 Silver by the light of the legends of his fathers ; the 
 Field has disappeared but still there is silver for the 
 digging. 
 
 Note. — This legend is founded upon facts which are now clearly 
 established. In truth, it may be said, with the possible exception of 
 the Field of Silver — which may have been a mirage — the record of this 
 legend is a narrative of valuable history. The topography of the 
 country and the peculiar nature of the surroundings compared with 
 the description transmitted by Bazaare and his followers, which is still 
 preserved, accords with wonderful exactness with a locality about two 
 miles from Hot Springs. Not only does the topography of the spot 
 indicate the location of the great silver mine, but there is also the evi- 
 dence of a shaft once sunk and then filled up. A gentleman of means 
 is now engaged in reopening the mine, and with the labor of each day 
 his belief in the truth of the story, as given in the legend, increases and 
 that he is digging the thrown-in-stones and earth from the original 
 shaft. That the country about Hot Springs is rich with silver admits 
 of no question, in view of the discoveries in Montgomery county and 
 near the new town of Silver City recently made by Col. Joseph Rey- 
 nolds, generally known as Diamond Joe. There is now a great rush 
 to this new mining region which has every prospect of importance, 
 equal, in fact, to the best mining camps in the west. Assays of average 
 ore raised in March, 1880, from a shaft twenty feet in depth, in Mont- 
 gomery county, showed $200 to the ton. 
 
LEGEND OF THE ARLINGTON. 
 
 The Pinnetahs were the pigmies of American 
 Indians. They occupied the Hot Springs valley, so 
 the legend tells us, ** when the sun was young, and 
 green were the heads of all the mountains." They 
 were so small that the valley supported nearly fifty 
 thousand, and their game was birds and beetles. 
 Although exceedingly small, their bravery was like 
 the king of the forest, and their industry like the 
 bees, the honey of which they gathered. 
 
 The great enemy of the Pinnetahs was a large, 
 ferocious bird called the Bakka. It was represented 
 as having an eye like the sun, a head like a bear, the 
 claws of the congar, and a beak as long and sharp 
 as the buck's antlers. Its wings reached across the 
 valley, and wherever it flew its shadow fell over the 
 earth like the clouds of an impending storm. 
 
 The Bakka had its nest on the peak of a neigh- 
 boring mountain and daily, when the sun was in the 
 zenith, the bird of evil omen would wing his ambling 
 flight over the crags to the valley and, with a swoop 
 like the whirlwind, would scatter the brands of the 
 camp-fire and seize in each talon his prey from 
 among the unfortunate Pinnetahs ; then mounting 
 
 54 
 
LEGEND OF THE ARLINGTON. 55 
 
 on high Hke a flame of destruction would leave the 
 wails of the victims' relations behind him. And thus 
 fed the Bakka upon the flesh of the helpless Pinne- 
 tahs, till their bones had covered the mountain; till 
 their dead was like the leaves of the forest. 
 
 The Arlingtongees were the pixies of the Indians ; 
 the little sprites of good intention who, making 
 themselves invisible at their pleasure, often gave 
 assistance to the needy, and abated oppressions suf- 
 fered by the goodly. 
 
 Suffering at great length, the Pinnetahs gathered 
 in their council and decided to pay penance for their 
 transgressions and to solicit the aid of the Arling- 
 tongees, to destroy their enemy, the Bakka. For seven 
 days the fires were not allowed to smoulder, and in 
 the smoke they scattered incense, till the air was like 
 the breath of the flowers and the woods grew mel- 
 low like the spring-time. 
 
 In the balm of early sun-shine, the twitter of the 
 song birds and the perfume of the valley stood an 
 army of the Arlingtongees, clothed like the web of 
 the spider, with their coats of hazy thistle-down and 
 their caps of velvet azure. They were ready for the 
 battle, with their spears of crimson gossamer ; they 
 would aid the little Pinnetahs to fight the mighty 
 bird, the Bakka. Then these little tribes of people, 
 
S6 LEGENDS OF THE OZARKS. 
 
 strong in union and subtle in their purpose, built a 
 wall of great dimensions ; built it high and strong as 
 stone could make it; then they covered it with 
 branches, strewed leaves and branches on it, and 
 above it they cut and bent the pine trees till they 
 hung impending over the inclosure, ready to fall on 
 it when the trigger should be broken. Next the 
 little workers dug an exit through which they might 
 escape when the bird should drop upon them, and 
 their labor being finished they waited till the morn- 
 ing for the bird of evil omen. When the gray of 
 dawn uplifted and the burnished rays of morning 
 came straggling o'er the mountain, then they saw the 
 winged monster, in his shambling flight, cast his 
 shadow till it was flung down in the valley and en- 
 veloped the Pinnetahs and their tree-capped walls 
 built to slay the cruel Bakka. 
 
 Poising like the fisher, holding his great body in 
 suspension, while the pigmies entered the walled en- 
 closure and through the exit to their safety, swooped 
 down the mighty bird of evil, crashing through the 
 branches and the brambles, till the falling of the 
 cover sprung the trigger that sustained it, and the 
 heavy pine trees broke like thunder in their fall upon 
 the Bakka, which they crushed like the grinding of 
 the rocks when they tumble from the mountain. 
 
LEGEND OF THE ARLINGTON. $7 
 
 From the dying bird of evil rose a vapor dyed in 
 crimson, till it spread across the heavens like a blan- 
 ket wet with murder; then it lifted and expanded, 
 drifting slowly northward till it vanished from the 
 vision, leaving a smoke and stiffling odor in its trail. 
 Thus the bird of evil died, by the cunning of the Ar- 
 lingtongees, and the labor of the pigmies, and released 
 were all the phantoms held in torment by his cruel 
 and mysterious power. Then the pixies called the 
 wind to aid them, to blow the carcass of the Bakka 
 to the regions it had sprung from, and out of the 
 spot where lay the dead bird gushed a hot and 
 soothing water that would heal all pains that flesh 
 was heir to ; that from out the source of evil might 
 flow a compensation as a proof of the compassion 
 which the Great Spirit feels for all his people. 
 
 Note. — The Indians first met with by Ponce de Leon — the descend- 
 ants of whom related the legend, — after repeating the story, pointed 
 to the head of the Hot Springs valley as the place where the Bakka, 
 the bird of evil, was destroyed, and on the exact spot now occupied 
 by the magnificent Arlington Hotel. 
 
COMBAT BETWEEN THE GREAT SPIRIT 
 AND THE DRAGON 
 
 In the mountains of the Ozarks, in a cave as dark 
 as midnight and so deep it could not be sounded, 
 lived the Dragon Mogmothon, who feasted on the 
 souls of the departed. His eyes were like globes of 
 livid fire, which lighted up the cavern and his voice 
 was the thunder of the heavens. When he walked 
 the earth his head was hid in the clouds and his feet 
 were so large that they covered the valleys. His 
 breath was so hot that it set fire to the forest and, 
 when angered, the lightning flashed from his eyes 
 and the clouds were riven asunder. When the storm 
 burst over the mountains Mogmothon fought with 
 the Great Spirit, but when the sun, which he sought 
 to steal, broke through the rifts again it was the sign 
 that the vanquished Dragon had returned to his 
 cavern. His power was seen in the earthquake, and 
 his cruelty in the disease and pestilence he scattered. 
 
 Thus lived the monster Mogmothon, the Fiery 
 Dragon, and all the tribes were in dejection, wailing 
 for the souls of the departed. Then they called a 
 council of all nations for a period of invocation to the 
 Father of all people to compass the destruction of the 
 
 58 
 
COMBAT WITH THE GREAT SPIRIT. 6 1 
 
 Dragon. For seven years the councils offered sacri- 
 fice, till they purged themselves of all transgressions, 
 and the father looked upon them with an eye of love 
 and pity. Then He resolved to fight Mogmothon, to 
 call the winds from their abiding, and to summon all 
 just spirits. The sun should withhold his brightness 
 until the air was frigid, and the atmosphere was 
 turgid. 
 
 With a voice of strong intention the Great Spirit 
 called the Dragon ; called until the forests trembled 
 and the mountains shook like leaves in autumn. The 
 winds were freighted with the winter and blew a 
 sheet of frosted ice across the heavens. Then the 
 fierce and mighty Dragon heard the challenge of the 
 Great Spirits, and, shaking his sides with rage till the 
 earth heaved like the waves of the ocean, he came 
 forth from his cave breathing flames and sulphurous 
 vapors. His voice was like the roar of the tornado 
 and, swinging his ponderous limbs over the valleys 
 and mountains, he stretched his massive head into 
 the clouds and hurled defiance at the Father of all 
 people. The battle then begun and waged until its 
 fury blackened the air through which hurled the 
 engines of the savage combat. The deep toned 
 thunder was the voice of Mogmothon and his darts 
 were pointed with the fire th^it never dies. Occasion- 
 
62 LEGENDS OF THE OZARKS. 
 
 ally through the rifts and fragments of the black 
 clouds, could be seen the blaze of pestilential flames, 
 and the arrowy shafts of fiery worlds vaulting from 
 the hands of the Great Father, smiting the armored 
 hide of the Dragon. 
 
 For seven days this mighty contest lasted, until all 
 the stars were gathered in the hand of the Great 
 Spirit and hurled at Mogmothon ; then the chill and 
 freezing air numbed the arms and froze the breath of 
 the Evil Spirit ; turned his eyes of fire into orbs of 
 ice, and his blood was stiff and turgid. Heavy and 
 blinded like the mortally wounded bear, Mogmothon, 
 the Evil Spirit, plunged about without a purpose, 
 until weak of limb and stricken sorely he fell like the 
 avalanche that swoops down the crag, or the hurricane 
 blast that levels the forest. Thus ended the fight and 
 the Dragon was thrown in his cavern where, wounded 
 and shorn of his power, he languished like one whose 
 soul is lost forever. The Great Spirit closed the cave 
 that Mogmothon might never again reappear upon 
 earth to breath his poisonous vapors nor feed upon 
 the spirits of the departed. He cannot die, but the 
 anguish from his pains becomes sometimes so great 
 that the Dragon lashes the walls of his underground 
 prison until the earth trembles, and volumes of flame 
 ^nd smoke issue from the peaks of the mountain^. 
 
COMBAT WITH THE GREAT SPIRIT. 63 
 
 Although Mogmothon can never again walk the 
 earth to destroy its people, yet the Great Spirit has 
 placed a sign in the sky to remind all Indians of his 
 fight and victory with the Evil Spirit. When the 
 thunder roars and the lightning flashes through the 
 black portentious clouds it is the image of the battle ; 
 and when the bow of beautiful colors throws its grace- 
 ful arch like a shadow on the sky it is the token that 
 the Great Spirit spans the earth with peace. 
 
 From the spot where fell the Dragon the Father 
 broke the crust of the earth and from the rent gushed 
 forth the healing waters of life which shall flow for- 
 ever as His special gift to all His people. 
 
 Note. — This legend is one of the oldest in the ancient history of the 
 tribes which occupied the Hot Springs valley. It was natural for these 
 ignorant children of the forest to believe in the personality of the storm 
 and all the violent changes of nature. That there have been active 
 mountains, or volcanoes, in the Ozark range, admits of little doubt. 
 The evidence of this fact does not depend entirely upon the tufa which 
 covers Hot Springs mountain particularly, many feet in depth, but a 
 stronger proof is found in the la)^ers of undoubted lava running through 
 the largest stones. This lava is unmistakable and can be accounted 
 for upon no other reasonable hypothesis than that of an extinct volcano. 
 It is a singular fact that of the many tribes of Indians who have visited 
 the Hot Springs, each one has had some legend or tradition locating 
 a mysterious cave under Hot Springs mountain. This belief was gen- 
 eral and the variety of these legends gives good reason to believe that 
 they were not transmitted from one tribe to another, but that each one 
 had a separate and distinct origin. 
 
CONDEMNATION OF THE POKANEES. 
 
 The Pokanees were a vain tribe of cruel and hard- 
 hearted Indians who came from the land of the set- 
 ting sun and settled along the banks of the blue 
 Mackasach, in the Hot Springs valley, a century 
 before the face of the* white man gazed upon the dales 
 and mountains of the Indians' Country — America. 
 The Mackasach was a beautiful stream which strung 
 its azure length through the Ozark range and emptied 
 its pure waters into the Ouachita a few miles east of 
 where the city of Hot Springs now stands. 
 
 The Pokanees combined extreme indolence with 
 their cruelty and regarded the Great Spirit with dis- 
 like, because they attributed all their misfortunes to 
 His anger. They made no sacrifices, except once 
 each year they offered one of their maidens as a pro- 
 pitiation to the Evil Spirit whose favor they sought 
 to obtain. They fought bitterly among themselves 
 and the victor drank the blood of his victim like the 
 beasts of the forests. Thus lived the Pokanees until 
 the tribe had greatly diminished and the remnant 
 had more idle grown than their fathers. Too indolent 
 for the chase they found their food in the fishes that 
 swam in the beautiful Mackasach. Decked with 
 
 64 
 
CONDEMNATION OF THE PQKANEES. 65 
 
 wampum and feathers, and in vanity always appear- 
 ing, they caught the fish with their lances, made from 
 the heart of the birch and the pine tree, and languidly 
 lived like the drones in the bee-trees. 
 
 Throwing the spear, under the burning sun of the 
 sultry summer, became labor unseemly and painful, 
 so the indolent tribe concluded to catch their food by 
 means of the blood-red berry, the juice of which 
 would steal the sense of the fishes and cause them 
 to float hke the fallen leaves on the water. The 
 women were sent to the woods to gather the intoxi- 
 cant berries, and soon returned laden with the fruits 
 of their visit. Into the purling stream the berries 
 were thrown, scattered for leagues in the waves of 
 the blue Mackasach, that all the fish might eat and 
 become prey to the indolent Pokonees. Then up- 
 rose from the midst of the stream a being of beauty 
 resplendent, in whose hair hung the pearls of the 
 river, and on her breast she wore the purple and 
 crimson of sun-set. In her hand was a lance pointed 
 with a stone like frozen blood, and her eyes blazed 
 like a faggot in the camp-fire. Thus spoke the 
 nymph of the water to the indolent tribe of Poka- 
 nees : '' The father of all, the mighty White Spirit, 
 fills the forests with game for your hunting and He 
 peoples the streams with fish for your feeding. He 
 
66 LEGENDS OF THE OZARKS- 
 
 gives them into your hands when you seek them, 
 and thus manifests His care for your living. His 
 people cannot Uve without labor, nor will He suffer 
 your wanton destruction of the food that He has in 
 nature provided. Since you have besought evil and 
 made of yourselves a tribe of cvuel and unworthy 
 people, His justice and love for all that he has cre- 
 ated will not permit you to longer remain in your 
 present condition, therefore prepare for the change 
 that awaits you." So saying, she lashed the water 
 until it rose in a spray and spread over the heads of 
 the Pokanees, until the air was filled with blue vapor. 
 Then a marvellous change stole over the affrighted 
 tribe, and when the mist blew off from the stream 
 the Pokanees leaped into the water, for from Indians 
 dressed in their rainbow garbs, they had grown into 
 fishes, with all of their instincts within them. 
 
 Thus were the Pokanees condemned, for as many 
 moons as there are stars in the heavens, to live in 
 the waves, around the rocks and in the eddies, pro- 
 tected against the snares of the angler and the juice 
 of the blood-red berry. 
 
 Note — Hot Springs creek is supposed to be the dwarfed Macka-' 
 sach river, and there are many evidences of its having, at a remote 
 ^ate, been a stream of considerable size. 
 
 The wyiter^ during a vi^it to Hot Springs in 1878,, had his attention 
 
CONDEMNATION OF THE POKANEES. 6/ 
 
 drawn to the peculiar color of the fish which live in Hot Springs creek 
 above the Arlington Hotel. These fish are from two to three inches 
 in length, and in shape are like the clear water chub, but in color they 
 are like the rainbow. Perceiving a number of them lying quietly in 
 ihe water under the direct rays of the sun, the sight was curiously 
 enjoyable. These peculiar little fish resisted all efforts to capture 
 them by means of hook and bait, but after many trials the writer suc- 
 ceeded, by throwing large stones near them, in washing one of the 
 fish out upon the level shore. Out of the water it lost all its beautiful 
 rainbow hues, but when thrown back again the original color at once 
 returned. 
 
 There is no living thing in Hot Springs creek below the Arlington 
 Hotel, the point where the hot water empties into tlie creek. 
 
TEPONAH'S FATAL WOOING. 
 
 Teponah was the son of Wild Eagle, chief of the 
 Minetarees, a branch tribe of the Southern Sioux. 
 He was a handsome youth and strong athlete, whose 
 muscles were like the oak, and his arrows flew straight 
 and strong where he wist them. Beloved was Tepo- 
 nah by all of the maidens, for soft was his voice and 
 cunning were all his expressions. His wooing he 
 made for ill purpose and many a flower that bloomed 
 to shed its fragrance in the camp of fond parents was 
 plucked from its stem and crushed by the sensual 
 Teponah. Like the siren that sits on the beach and 
 plays its sweet melodies to entice admirers to their 
 destruction, was the handsome son of Wild Eagle, 
 whose eyes were like flashes of love and his tongue 
 was as musical as the trills of the woods' sweetest 
 songster, but his heart was as cold as the blasts of 
 winter. 
 
 One evening, when the sun had fallen behind the 
 backs of the mountains, Teponah repaired to the 
 brook which babbles its way down the valley, the tryst- 
 ing place, to meet Monetah, the beautiful daughter 
 of old Shewaugan whose eyesight was lost in defend- 
 ing Wild Eagle in a fight with the Dakotahs. Mone- 
 
 6^ 
 
69 
 
 Teponah. 
 
tEPONAH'S FATAL WOOING. 7* 
 
 tah came not, for she saw a queer light when she 
 approached the mouth of the valley and frightened 
 she was from her ruin. 
 
 While waiting the coming of Shewaugan's beautiful 
 
 daughter darkness had climbed down the valley and 
 
 Teponah was shrouded with night. Casting his eyes 
 
 to the heavens he saw a troop of sorrowing maidens 
 
 clad in robes of white, gossamer texture. On their 
 
 heads were the leaves of autumn and in their hands 
 
 were brown twigs from the pine tree. Circling down 
 
 towards him and throwing a mellow light about them, 
 
 Teponah saw the pale faces of those he had mocked 
 
 with deception ; then the shadowy forms disappeared 
 
 but the light in the valley grew much brighter, until 
 
 day seemed to bask in delight o'er the mountains. 
 
 From the head of the valley Teponah saw coming 
 
 towards him a being whose beauty bewitched him. 
 
 His eyes were dazed by the light of her face and his 
 
 heart leapt with emotion. She came like the measure 
 
 of song, with rythm in every footstep, and when she 
 
 spoke it was with voice whose cadence was sweeter 
 
 than music. She approached Teponah and sat down 
 
 by his side, and he saw that her form was ethereal. 
 
 The robes which she wore were like the hues of the 
 
 rainbow, and in her beautiful hair which trailed at 
 
 her feet were the jewels which flash from the heavens. 
 
^2 Legends of the ozarks. 
 
 With melody that falls on the ear like the sound of 
 a distant flow of waters, mingling its musical splash-' 
 ing with the songs which float through the forests, 
 thus spoke the Bright Being to the handsome Tepo- 
 nah: "From my home in the happiest grounds for 
 hunting ; from the fields where blooms the merriest 
 maidens ; from the land where flows the purest water 
 have I come to seek your favor. Take my hand, O ! 
 handsome, brave Teponah, let me follow in your foot- 
 steps, let your sweet voice woo and win me for I 
 cannot be without you." Then she clasped her arms 
 about him and her breath she poured upon him till 
 the woods were filled with incense, till Teponah spoke 
 and answered : " Bright Being, my heart leaps out 
 towards you, I will follow in your footsteps ; I will 
 woo as you have won me, and will be a husband to 
 you," Giving her hand to Teponah she led him up 
 the mountain, while a pathway cleared before them 
 and her light shone like a sunbeam, and her touch 
 was warm and thrilling. Thus they climbed the steep 
 sloped mountain till they gained its rugged sum.mit 
 and stood upon the rocks which overlooked the val- 
 ley. Then before his raptured vision dropped a 
 golden ladder with its base upon the summit and its 
 t')p reaching to the heavens. Ascending on its rounds 
 she beckoned him to follow, but when he raised his 
 
73 View at break of Day from Hot Springs Mountain. 
 
teponah's fatal wooing. 75 
 
 foot the golden mirage faded, and headlong was he 
 flung from the crag down to the valley. When the 
 hot sun came upon him the craving birds that search 
 the valleys found Teponah's bloody body, and they 
 made a feast upon it till the blistered bones were 
 only left to mark the lover's fatal step. 
 
 Note. — The spot where Teponah is represented as having taken the 
 fatal step in his efforts to follow the witch of the mountain is on the 
 summit of Hot Springs mountain, about fifty yards from the observa- 
 tory. The east side terminates abruptly and forms a precipitous bluff, 
 at the head of which is a large stone on which it is said the golden 
 ladder rested, " The trysting spot in the valley" was in Happy Hol- 
 low, through which flows a beautiful brook, of the clearest and sweetest 
 water. 
 
THE DEVILS CAVE, 
 
 In the age primeval, when the earth was fresh 
 from the Creator's hands, and the trees had put on 
 their earliest verdure, the Evil Spirit, whom the Great 
 Spirit had cast out of Paradise, roamed over the 
 earth and had his home in a cave under the moun- 
 tains. When the chill of winter stole over the earth, 
 he retired to his cave and slept like the bear till the 
 warm breath of spring breathed upon him ; then out 
 of his lair, like a beast that seeks prey, the hideous 
 monster came to work evil. He loved the flesh of 
 the dead, and would strip their bones like the sly 
 fox that falls on the rabbit. He spread disease with 
 his breath and killed the ground from producing. 
 When he walked about it was in invisible garb, but 
 his foot-falls resounded like thunder. And thus the 
 Sioux lived in dread, fearing to pursue the game lest 
 they should fall into snares set by the monster. When 
 the Indians lighted their sacrificial fires the Demon 
 would send the rain to destroy it, and the storms 
 were sent by him to scatter the camps and pillage 
 the maize fields. 
 
 With many moons of forbearing the Great Spirit 
 at length determined to avenge the Indian people — 
 
 76 
 
THE devil's cave, 79 
 
 to expel the Demon of Evil from the land he so long 
 had haunted. Unable to withstand the cold, and 
 with mortal dread of water, the Evil Spirit returned to 
 his cave, and the flood gates of heaven opened upon 
 him. The icy winds from the north blew their 
 frosted breaths over the mountains till the water fell 
 down in the gorges and froze into crystals that 
 reflected the black clouds above it. Then the 
 Monster of Evil shook with the cold till the 
 rocks were riven asunder; till the trees shed the 
 ice from their branches, and the water poured 
 through the rifts in upon him. With a voice so 
 loud it lifted the earth from above him, the Demon 
 upheaved his monster proportions and, like the dash 
 of the tempest, he flew through the air away to the 
 southward, leaving the shock of his footsteps and 
 the flames from his nostrils behind him. 
 
 Thus vanquishing the Spirit of Evil, the Great 
 Spirit marked the spot of his living with a lake 
 through whose waters no live thing could move, for 
 poisoned it was with the breath of the Demon. 
 
 Note. — A gentleman who has visited this mysterious lake, — from 
 circumstances connected with which the Sioux Indians circulated this 
 interesting legend — in a letter to one of the St. Louis dailies, de- 
 scribes it as follows : 
 
 *' In the southern part of Webster county, Missouri, in th,Q: Ozark 
 
80 LEGENDS OF THE OZARKS. 
 
 range of mountains, there is a small lake that goes by the euphonious 
 name of the Devil's Den. It is situated on the top of a hill, and cov- 
 ers an area of about two acres. The summit of the hill seems hol- 
 lowed out and lined with a wall of limestone one hundred feet in depth 
 to the surface of the water. This wall is perpendicular, and encloses 
 the lake on all sides but one, where a slight break is made for a depth 
 of sixty feet The remaining forty feet have been covered with lad- 
 ders, and adventurous persons have sought to explore the mysterious 
 waters. No living thing has been discovered in them. No blade of 
 grass nor shrub, nor sprig of moss can be found in the smooth rock 
 that surrounds the dark waters. Some cedar logs float undecaying in 
 the lake, but no cedar grows within a score of miles. A substance 
 like sperm, that will burn like a candle, is gathei-ed from the surface 
 of the lake, which probably with the wild and weird appearance of 
 the vicinity suggested to the superstitious that it was the devil's bath- 
 ing pool." 
 
THE WAR IN THE HAPPY HUNTING 
 GROUNDS, 
 
 When the world was created there was a contest 
 between two factions in the Hunting Grounds of the 
 spirits as to the form that should be given to man. 
 One side, the leader of which was Bogoo, insisted 
 that man should be provided with a tail, and with 
 ingenious argument deduced from the continuity of 
 all other created things : from the likeness in nature, 
 the fowls of the air, the animals of the forests and 
 the fish in the waters, all of which were given tails 
 for a most important purpose, he convinced many of 
 the spirits of this necessary addition to man. Then 
 the Father of all answered, that He would preserve 
 the likeness of those whom he had created ^in the 
 Happy Grounds, so that those who crossed the river 
 to come to them should be as brothers who meet after 
 a long parting. But to assuage the anger of Bogoo, 
 whose ambition was to usurp the Father, the man- 
 achese — the monkey — was created, the appearance 
 of which was so unseemly that many of the followers 
 of Bogoo deserted him and acknowled the wisdom 
 of the Father. 
 
 After the lapse of many moons Bogoo succeeded 
 8x 
 
82 LEGENDS OF THE OZARKS. 
 
 in raising a revolt, first securing the keys to the great 
 box which held the thunder bolts, thinking that with 
 Jiese he could vanquish the Father and obtain con- 
 trol of Paradise. He assembled his host and arrayed 
 them in line of battle before the great gate which 
 closed the entrance to the palace of the Father and, 
 gathering the lightning, he hurled the bolts against 
 the gate until it broke in pieces and permitted them 
 to swarm into the now unprotected house of the 
 Father, the Great Spirit. 
 
 Bogoo shouted with joy, for, thinking that he was 
 unopposed, he would be acknowledged chief in the 
 Happy Hunting Grounds, and then creation would 
 yield obedience to him. But lo ! while proclaiming 
 himself chief of all, the pall of darkness fell upon the 
 rebels until there w^as nothing visible, only the black 
 clouds which roll constantly before the sightless. 
 
 In the Hunting Grounds of the blessed darkness 
 had never before spread its sable curtain, only the 
 golden beams of eternal glory, and the liquid sheen 
 of radiant splendor had bathed the beauties of that 
 happy region. Bogoo was sorely troubled like one 
 who meets a phantom, with a mind diseased and 
 weakened, and he knows not whence it came from 
 nor can solve the object of its visit. Still the dark- 
 ness grew upon them like the thief that sucks the 
 
WAR IN THE HAPPY HUNTING GROUNDS. S$ 
 
 maize stalk, till distressed they fell to fighting; in 
 despair they fought each other, and their cries were 
 like the night beast which wails as though 'twere 
 stricken, and longs for death to ease it. 
 
 For forty moons Bogoo and his army fought 
 among each other, and their eyes still gazed in cir- 
 cling clouds of blackness, still the pall of darkness 
 was upon them. In their throes of anguish and their 
 strokes of vengeance they cleft the Happy Hunting 
 Grounds, and like the rain that falls above us, thus 
 they fell upon the new world, out of Paradise to the 
 world on which man lives, and thus they met the 
 object of contention. So great was the fall, for a 
 hundred moons had waxed and paled while they 
 were falling, that when they struck the earth the 
 ground was broken and they sank into the center, 
 to the cave which they still inhabit, and from out 
 which they send forth evil to afflict the earth and all 
 that's on it. 
 
 Bogoo, the mighty chief of evil, was as large as 
 the greatest mountain, and when he dropped to the 
 earth all people felt the shock, for it was like a 
 mountain burst, or the heavens rent asunder. 
 When the rebels were thus vanquished, the light 
 burst out again on the Hunting Grounds of the 
 blessed, and the Father of all received departing 
 
84 LEGENDS OF THE OZARKS. 
 
 spirits in the image of Himself and the glory He 
 created. 
 
 Note. — This legend, which, as here related, is freed from the many 
 technical Indian phrases which have heretofore characterized it, is still 
 familiar to the Sioux. The spot which marks the fall of Bogoo, who 
 corresponds with Milton's Lucifer, is in the southwestern part of Ore- 
 gon Co., Missouri, in the Ozark range. The surface is a plateau com- 
 paratively level, and, without warning, the traveler suddenly comes 
 upon the opening, which is one hundred and fifty feet deep, fifty to 
 one hundred feet wide, and three-fourths of a mile long. The con- 
 formation of this great depression bears a slight resemblance to the 
 shape of a man lying upon his side, with indentations branching from 
 the body, preserving the shape of arms, and one leg thrown cross-wise 
 over the other. 
 
THE LOVERS AND THE TWIN SPRINGS. 
 
 MoNOLO belonged to the Sanakah tribe whose terri- 
 tory was in the far north. He was a bold warrior and 
 expert hunter, and when his tribe was at peace with 
 their neighbors his bow remained strung and his 
 horse ready for the chase. 
 
 On one occasion, while riding along the shore of 
 the shallow Chockese river, weary in body and almost 
 famished with hunger, Monolo saw speeding before 
 him a buffalo as red of skin as the sun when it falls 
 in the west behind a gauze of mellow clouds. Im- 
 pelled by a curious desire, to secure the animal whose 
 color was so peculiar, he went in pursuit. Though 
 he rode like the wind the buffalo still kept before 
 him, and thus was the chase continued till darkness 
 impeded his progress. Monolo then made his bed 
 on the earth and slept until morning, but his dreams 
 were pictures of the red buffalo. 
 
 When the sun rose up over the tree tops Monolo 
 shook sleep from his eyelids and straight before his 
 startled vision he saw peacefully grazing the red buf- 
 falo. Quickly he mounted his horse and as quickly 
 the chase was renewed, the buffalo flying before him 
 with measured pace like the thistle-down in a strong 
 
 85 
 
S6 LEGENDS OF THE OZARKS. 
 
 wind. All day did Monolo give pursuit, and when 
 evening came he rested while the buffalo fell to graz- 
 ing. For many days did the hunter strive to capture 
 the beast of crimson color, but none of his arrows 
 could touch it and though fleet was his horse he 
 could not approach it. 
 
 Monolo was now far from home In a land where 
 flowers covered the earth and the breath of nature 
 perfumed the forests. The red buffalo was still before 
 him, and now he recalled the story of his mother, 
 who was skilled in all divinings, of the Chief who 
 could change himself to many forms to pursue his 
 works of evil. Then he thought of her instructions 
 how to overcome the Chief with magic powers. So 
 he gathered many handsfuU of the blood-red berry, 
 the juice of which he pressed out and mixed with 
 the sap of a vine that hugs the tall trees. This he 
 placed in the basin of a rock and five times passed 
 around it while he dipped his arrows in the liquid 
 till their heads were red and waxy. Then he bent 
 his bow with all his strength and sent an arrow on its 
 mission ; with the magic that was in it and to prove 
 his mother's knowledge straight the arrow went till 
 it lodged in the back of the red buffalo. Then the 
 animal heaved and staggered, and a second arrow 
 pierced his side, stung his heart and took his life, and 
 
ss 
 
 Wauniti. 
 
THE LOVERS AND THE TWIN SPRINGS. OQ 
 
 before him then Monolo saw the painted face and the 
 eagle feathers of the Chief who had lured him for his 
 evil purpose. 
 
 The evening now was growing, and Monolo knew 
 not where his home w^as nor the land his feet were 
 pressing. But while troubling at his fortune he saw 
 a maiden fast approaching with a wild rose in her 
 hair and a robe of wampum on her. Startled at the 
 face before her, though she saw that he was handsome 
 and his face showed signs of sorrow which at once 
 aroused compassion, thus she spoke to brave Monolo : 
 *' Whither come you, stranger, and where are all your 
 people, for long have I lived in this valley and all 
 faces here but your own are familiar to me ?" Monolo 
 then made reply : " I have come from the north, 
 many days fast ride from here, and my people are the 
 Sanakahs, whom I judge you know not." Then he 
 related his chase with the buffalo and the way he 
 wrought the death of the chief of evil. Spoke the 
 maiden with voice full of compassion : "I am Wau- 
 niti, of the Passaqua tribe, and daughter to the chief 
 Tuscora. Come with me, you shall know how great 
 a deed you have accomplished ; how you have served 
 so well my people." Then the two passed through 
 the wood and up the valley till they saw the smoke 
 curling upward from the camp-fire, and heard the 
 
90 LEGENDS OF THE OZARKS. 
 
 barking dogs keeping watch against intrusions. Wau- 
 niti ran before him and told Tuscora of Monolo and 
 the deed he had accomplished. Joyful shouts at once 
 resounded through the valley and o'er the mountain, 
 and Monolo was received with the honors of a hero. 
 But the joy of others was not like the pulsings of 
 Monolo's heart, for at sight he loved Wauniti, and 
 when evening came he told Tuscora how he loved 
 the maiden, his sweet daughter. But the chief for- 
 bade his wooing, for his daughter was his whole life 
 to him and he could not brook the parting that her 
 marriage would insure. Monolo told Wauniti how 
 his heart leapt out towards her, how he loved her at 
 their meeting in the valley by the body of the evil 
 chief. The maiden blushed and showed her feelings, 
 for she had loved Monolo since the meeting in the 
 valley. But they could not wed till the death of old 
 Tuscora, and thus they parted with their hearts sealed 
 to each other. 
 
 With many fears but full of hope to wed the lovely 
 maiden when the time should come as she had named 
 it, Monolo returned to the north and after wandering 
 for moons like one lost on the prairies, he saw the 
 land of his people and the smoke from their camp- 
 fires. 
 
 Tenderly Wauniti loved and watched by the side 
 
THE LOVERS AND THE TWIN SPRINGS. QI 
 
 of Tuscora, her father, through the sorrow of part- 
 ing from one could she see only the meeting with 
 Monolo, her lover. Long did she wish her father to 
 Hve, yet his life cleft her heart and filled her with 
 sadness. Her face she set to the northward, while 
 her arms clung to the neck of Tuscora, and the 
 anguish which fed on her heart was like the worm 
 that gnaws on the flower. 
 
 Monolo told none of his tribe how he had found 
 the maid of his liking, but he lived as one who feels 
 a constant oppression, and patiently waited the re- 
 turn of the season when he would journey again to 
 meet the beautiful Wauniti. 
 
 Many moons had ela^psed, many journeys were 
 made, when at length Monolo saw in his dreams 
 how Tuscora had died and was buried ; saw the 
 anguish of the maiden at the parting and that her 
 eyes were looking northward. Then he knew that 
 his waitings were all ended, so he bestrode the fleet- 
 est of his horses, and with moments few of resting 
 he sought the fertile valley, the home of sweet Wau- 
 niti. 
 
 Impatient of his coming, the maiden left her peo- 
 ple, and, eager for the meeting, she set her feet 
 towards the north to find Monolo. For many moons 
 she journeyed, till she knew not her direction; till 
 
92 LEGENDS OF THE OZARKS. 
 
 her store of food was exhausted and bitter hunger 
 stalked before her. Her horse grew weak from 
 travehng, until his feet could make no progress ; till 
 dead he lay before her. Still Wauniti kept her jour- 
 ney, finding only food in nuts and sweet herbs, 
 but her way she knew not, only knew that she was 
 seeking for Monolo, that the forests were around her. 
 Sore her feet grew, but she bathed them in hot water 
 which flowed from out the mountain, and still she 
 wearily plodded, while hope grew less of the finding 
 of Monolo. Exhausted at last, with her limbs swollen 
 from the hopeless journey, Wauniti could go no fur- 
 ther. Under the pine trees, in the lonesome wild 
 woods, the maiden lay down where the shadows 
 grow long on the hill side ; where the song birds 
 concert at morning, and the wind through the forest 
 sings a musical dirge in the evening ; there she yielded 
 up her spirit and crossed the deep river to the land 
 of happy hunting. Monolo she found not, but her 
 meeting with Tuscora was the joy she found at the 
 ending of her journey. 
 
 For many moons Monolo sought the maiden, from 
 the land where first he met her to the country of his 
 people, crossed the rivers and the mountains, called 
 her name till the echo seemed to find her, but when 
 the sun sank in the evening he was no nearer her 
 
94 
 
 Monolo in the Forest. 
 
THE LOVERS AND THE TWIN SPRINGS. g$ 
 
 than in the morning, yet still he hoped and searched 
 the forests, but no trace was there of the maiden. 
 When at length despair had seized upon him, in the 
 gloaming of the evening, Monolo found the horse 
 whereon had ridden Wauniti; then he knew that he 
 would never more behold the maiden in the life as he 
 had seen her. In the morning when the sun was 
 risen Monolo ascended up a valley and reached the 
 summit of a mountain when prone upon the earth 
 before him he beheld the lovely maiden in her dress 
 of brightest wampum, with the bridal feathers on her 
 head and the marriage paint upon her features. Then 
 the lover loosed his horse and on the earth he lay 
 beside her while from his belt of deer skin he drew 
 the bone-knife that he carried, and pierced his veins 
 till the blood flowed out like the stream which escapes 
 from the bubbling spring. And thus Monolo yielded 
 up his spirit and crossed the deep river to the land 
 of happy hunting. In the land of the departed 
 he found the lovely maiden at the feet of old Tuscora. 
 So they were wed by the sanction of her father, but 
 their home is behind the clouds, and among the stars 
 brightly burns their camp-fire. 
 
 From the bodies of the faithful lovers, where Mon- 
 olo's blood had stained the earth to crimson, two 
 springs arose and threw their waters down the valley. 
 
96 LEGENDS OF THE OZARKS. 
 
 From one came forth the breath of summer, while the 
 other bore the chill of winter, but they mingled at 
 the outflow and their breath is like two lovers. Day 
 and night they sing their changeless song as a dirge 
 to sweet Wauniti, and compassion for Monolo. 
 
 Note. — The hot and cold, or Twin Springs, are situated about one 
 quarter of a mile from the city of Hot Springs, on Hot Springs moun- 
 tain. They are divided by a strip of earth two feet in width and flow 
 into each other, discharging their water into a brook winch empties into 
 Hot Springs creek. Notwithstanding their immedi j proximity and 
 the mingling of their waters, the temperature of one is one hundred 
 and fifty-seven degrees, while the other is but thirty degrees Fah.; this 
 temperature is maintained throughout the year. The origin of the 
 legend here related is undoubtedly found in the personification of the 
 seasons, and illustrates the union of summer and winter. The waters 
 are possessed of great curative properties, but on account of their inac- 
 cessible location few visit these marvellous springs except to gratify a 
 becoming curiosity. 
 
Twin, or Hot and Cold Springs. 
 
THE OLD INDIAN'S VISION. 
 
 Long years ago a lone Indian, upon whose head 
 many winters rested, sore of foot and sick in body ; 
 whose bones seemed to split at every motion, and 
 the sinews of his flesh were drawn like whip-cords 
 and swollen till his tawny skin showed how much he 
 suffered, straggled from his camp one evening with 
 no purpose save to hide his anguish from those about 
 him. In aimless wandering he found the Hot Springs 
 valley, and, being weary, he sat down upon a shallow 
 bank which bordered the outflow of the heated water. 
 Here long he sat, communing with nature and nurs- 
 ing his body wounded with the arrows of affliction. 
 The moon came lifting itself over the fringe of the 
 mountain, and when its silvery sheen danced down 
 on the purling stream, the old Indian saw floating 
 towards him, in the laughing water, a beautiful In- 
 dian maiden, standing erect in her birch canoe, with 
 a pair of gossamer wings flitting uneasily upon her 
 shoulders, and a wand of silver in her hands. Gam- 
 boling in the water, by the side of the birch canoe, 
 was a bevy of beautiful naiads, their long and lus- 
 trous b.air floating like the lilies, and their lovely 
 arms beating the water into a spray of shower- 
 
 LofC. 
 
100 LEGENDS OF THE OZARKS. 
 
 ing silver. But they were so small that the old In- 
 dian thought he was dreaming, and when he raised 
 his stiffening arm to wipe the^ vision from his eyes a 
 loud and merry laugh rang along the water, and 
 from her canoe of birch and feathers the little mai- 
 den called aloud unto him : "Ancient father, why do 
 you invade our precincts and idly sit upon the bank 
 to intrude upon our duties?" Then the poor old 
 man, in the furrows of whose face were the scars of 
 many years of suffering, reproached himself for hav- 
 ing unconsciously dragged his body within the realm 
 of happy spirits, and begged that he might depart, 
 leaving; no ill will behind him. The meekness of his 
 nature touched the heart of the naiad queen and she 
 told him to draw nearer, to wade i<ito the water and 
 bathe there night and morning till the moon should 
 leave the heavens for her trip to old Nomonis ; that 
 all his pains should leave him and his face would 
 lose its furrows while his limbs would regain their 
 cunning. Bowing low, with faith revealing in his 
 praises, the old Indian saw the canoe and naiads 
 vanish, and, obeying their instructions, he bathed 
 both night and morning till the moon had left the 
 heavens on her visit to Nomonis. His sorrows all had 
 left him, and his face assumed a color like the youth 
 when playing ash-ga (leap frog), and his limbs were 
 
lOI 
 
 The Old Indian's Vision. 
 
Ihe old Indian's vision. 103 
 
 strong and supple like the roe-buck ; then he arose 
 and told his people of the vision that came to him, 
 and the virtue of the water. All the tribe looked on 
 with wonder at the old man's health and vigor, and 
 when they saw how complete his cure was, they 
 called a council and then straightway they built 
 a temple, and they called it " Musgowah-ta-ka " 
 (Praise to the Spirit), on the bank where sat the old 
 man. So all the sickness of the people, all their 
 sufferings in the body, were healed by bathing in the 
 water when the moon was full till she left the heav- 
 ens on her visit to Nomonis. 
 
 Note. — The Indians have a tradition, the relation of which does not 
 properly belong in this little collection of 1 gends, that, after the moon 
 becomes full, it takes a trip afar off, to Nomonis, which is the mo t 
 distant spot from the earth in the universe. Some of the tribes think 
 that the moon rides on the back of the sun the same period that it 
 travels alone in the heavens, and that the moon is a sister to the sun. 
 
HOT SPRINGS. 
 
 Nestling in the beautiful valley like a bird in incu- 
 bation, and sleeping by the pelluced brook which 
 babbles its merry and unceasing song, as happy as a 
 May-day queen, is situated the metropolis of the 
 Ozark range. At the feet of the mountains on whose 
 peaks and sides is a luxurious, tropical growth of 
 forest and flowers, and from out whose base the 
 alchemyst of nature, selecting the most valuable com- 
 pounds from his mysterious laboratory, pours out the 
 magical waters charged with the power for healing 
 the most distressing ills mankind is heir to, sits the 
 lovely city of Hot Springs, the spot whereon the 
 impress of God's own hand is visible, and where His 
 compassion for the afflicted is as boundless as the 
 glorious handiwork which environs the springs in 
 whose waters His blessings are always seen. 
 
 The discovery of these wonderful springs, the date 
 and by whom, no one can tell. More than three 
 centuries ago DeSoto and DeLeon penetrated the 
 wilderness west of the Mississippi and found the Hot 
 Springs pouring out their balsamic waters and mer- 
 rily singing down the beautiful valley and through 
 the primeval forests. A hundred different tribes of 
 
 104 
 
HOT Si^RiNGS. 105 
 
 Indians have doubtless bathed their stricken bodies 
 in these health imparting springs and then, Hke the 
 cadence of a song, quietly departed to the land of 
 shadows, leaving nothing behind them save the 
 legends and traditions marking their existence. 
 
 When civilization founded the western empire the 
 penetrating ken of the white man re-discovered the 
 Hot Springs and adapted the magical waters to his 
 needs. The marvellous cures they performed excited 
 the afflicted, and for many years the wild hill-sides 
 and valleys of Arkansas were lighted by the camp- 
 fires of diseased pilgrims on their painful journey to 
 the springs. 
 
 Notwithstanding the disadvantageous location of 
 this now world-famous invalid resort, hundreds in the 
 feeblest condition performed the rugged trip and 
 returned to their homes blessed with renewed health 
 and youthful vigor. So great had become the repu- 
 tation of the Springs that preceding the war a village 
 of considerable size sprung up in the valley of the 
 Ozarks where visitors were entertained with that 
 abandon characteristic of frontier life. The town of 
 Hot Springs continued to grow and keep pace with 
 the increasing popularity of the disease-curing waters, 
 and in the year 1870, or thereabout, that most enter- 
 prising gentleman, Hon. Thomas Allen, whose fore- 
 
io6 LEGENDS Of the ozarks. 
 
 sight is like an unerring judgment, projected the Iron 
 Mountain Railroad, the completion of which from St. 
 Louis to the Texas line was celebrated in 1874. The 
 road runs within twenty-five miles of Hot Springs, a 
 closer proximity being prevented by the prominent 
 spurs of the craggy Ozark mountains. This gap, 
 however, has been bridged by the enterprise of 
 Diamond Joe Reynolds, who has constructed a nar- 
 row gauge railroad connecting with the Iron Mountain 
 road at Malvern, and runs up the valley to the Springs. 
 The appointments of this narrow gauge will bear 
 comparison with the finest equipped roads in Amer- 
 ica, and the rail advantages now offered for the trip to 
 Hot Springs cannot possibly be improved upon. The 
 orisons of the invalids are daily lifted in their praise 
 and thanks for the energy and public spirit exhibited 
 by Mr. Allen in pushing so grand a highway over 
 the precipitous peaks, ragged glens and dense 
 coverts, converting an almost inaccessible expanse 
 into a luxurious carriage way over which the weakest 
 and most exhausted invalid may pass in comfort to 
 the most potential curative waters in the world. 
 
 The city of Hot Springs contains a population of 
 five thousand souls, and since the advent of the rail- 
 road it has grown out of its original condition into a 
 city noted for its excellent society. All the most 
 
107 View of Hot Springs fiom Hot Spungs Mountain. 
 
HOT SPRINGS. 109 
 
 elevating social exactions are practiced and many of 
 its residences and public buildings exhibit the wealth 
 of its citizens. 
 
 As a resort for invalids suffering from every char- 
 acter of disease, excepting alone affections of the 
 lungs, no place in the world can be compared, for 
 effective results, with Hot Springs. Not alone is this 
 advantage seen in the marvelous efficacy of the waters, 
 but also in the beautiful scenery which environs it. 
 The location, since it has been made so easy of access, 
 is the most favorable that could be found. Embow- 
 ered as it is with the most luxurious forests and 
 flowers, the breath of which incenses the air, it is 
 protected from the chilling winds of winter by the 
 bold mountains which rise so grandly on either side, 
 and yet it lies in a graceful valley, down which an un- 
 ceasing circuit of refreshing air sweeps away the heat 
 of summer, rendering the city comfortable at all sea- 
 sons of the year. A covering of thick blankets is 
 necessary every night in summer and at no season of 
 the year does the thermometer rise above the tem- 
 perature of St. Paul in August or fall below that of 
 New Orleans in January. 
 
 The grandeur of the scenery with its associations 
 of weird legends and footprints of the ancestral race 
 of America, impress the visitor like a place of en- 
 
no LEGENDS OF THE OZARKS. 
 
 cbantment, and pours a distillation of happiness into 
 the most despondent heart. The very atmosphere 
 breathes a soothing balm and lingers around the 
 afflicted like a halo of pleasing memories. 
 

 
 
 \ 
 
 «♦>:-♦»♦!. 
 
 i 
 
^ 
 
11 
 
 1% 
 
 Library of Congress 
 Branch Bindery, 1903 
 
LIBRPRY OF CONGRESS 
 
 II 
 
 014 648 040 8