They said these people were
three times the size of a man of the present day, that they were so
swift and strong that they could run by the side of a buffalo, and,
taking the animal in one arm, could tear off a leg and eat it as they
ran.
These giants, said the Indians, denied the existence of a Great Spirit.
When they heard the thunder or saw the lightning, they laughed and
declared that they were greater than either. This so displeased the
Great Spirit that he caused a deluge. The water rose higher and higher
till it drove these proud giants from the low grounds to the hills and
thence to the mountains. At last even the mountaintops were submerged
and the mammoth men were drowned.
After the flood subsided, the Great Spirit came to the conclusion that
he had made men too large and powerful. He therefore corrected his
mistake by creating a race of the size and strength of the men of the
present day. This is the reason, the Indians told us, that the man of
modern times is small and not like the giants of old. The story has
been handed down among the Pawnees for generations, but what is its
origin no man can say.
CHAPTER VII
One morning, in the spring of 1870, a band of horse-stealing Indians
raided four ranches near the mouth of Fremont Creek, on the North
Platte. After scooping up horses from these ranches they proceeded to
the Fort McPherson herd, which was grazing above the Post, and took
about forty Government animals.
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