Pawnee Hero Stories and Folk-Tales

The title page reads Pawnee Hero Stories and Folk-Tales, with notes on the origin, customs and character of the Pawnee people, by George Bird Grinnell. The note says the writer visited the Pawnee Agency in the Indian Territory and rode over to the house of Eagle Chief, whom, under his warrior name, White Eagle, he had known for many years. The writer says he has refrained from commenting on the stories, though there is abundant opportunity for comment.

A story tells of a young man, about sixteen years old, who lived many years ago in the Ski´-di village; his name was Kut-a´wi-kutz (the hawk). The story says the Pawnees wore their hair in the ancient fashion, cut as the Osages wear theirs, with the whole head shaved except a roach running back from the forehead beyond the scalp lock. The text says the tradition of the migration of the Pawnees from the southwest is evidently much older than the one which tells of their coming from the southeast.