Myths as Historical Sources

1. Summarize this legend in 2 - 3 sentences.
This legend is basically about how there was a man named Smallpox, who ran into a man named Saynday (one of the Kiowas ) The man named Smallpox talks of how he brings death to all he encounters and that their are rarely any survivors. Saynday ends up saving the Kiowas by distracting Smallpox and having him go to the Pawnees rather than the Kiowas.


2. What changes does Saynday notice when he looks at the landscape?
When Saynday looks at the landscapes he notices how a lot of once lovely things are now ugly and/or dead. For instance, he notices how the buffalos look like white faced cattle. Another thing he notices is how the one clear river now looks as if it's flowing with red mud. Basically all the life has been sucked out of everything within the landscape.


3. What is the relationship between Smallpox and white men?
The relationship between Smallpox and the white men is that they are alliances. The white men are Smallpox's people, as are the Kiowas to Saynday, as the reading said.

4. According to this legend, in what ways do the Kiowas see themselves as different from white people?
The Kiowas see themselves differently from the white men because they don't "count" live men as the white men do like cattle. But they both "count" the enemies the touch. However, the white men use the term destroy.

5. What do you think was the relationship between the Kiowas and the Pawnees?
The relationship between the Kiowas and the Pawnees was obviously bad because Saynday never would have sent Smallpox over to kill them all if they hadn't been enemies. He said that the Pawnees nearly wipped out all of the Kiowas and that is why there are so few. It's almost like Karma, the Pawnees wipped out a lot of Kiowas, so Saynday sent Smallpox over to do the same to the Pawnees as they did to the Kiowas.