Dakota Datebook: Indian legend

There once was a legend of a young Chippewa boy, the son of a prominent chief, who was captured by the Sioux. Rather than ransom him, the Sioux would place the young lad at the front of a raid on Chippewa bands and rather than risk killing their chief’s son, the Chippewa warriors would withdraw. For eight years, the boy remained among the Sioux and his captors had come to believe that he had lost all interest in his own tribe.

One morning, upon awakening, the Sioux Chief Iron Heart discovered that his daughter, who had been promised in marriage to a noble warrior, had sneaked out of camp during the night with the young Chippewa. The jilted warrior, learning of this treachery, immediately decked himself in war paint and started on the trail.

The lovers were overtaken on the hill near Medicine Lake in what is now Eddy County and the young warriors prepared for battle over the hand of the beautiful young lady. Armed with dirk knives, the two combatants fought furiously and within a short period of time, both lay dead from their wounds.

The heartbroken maiden made her way to the shores of Devils Lake and on the high bluffs overlooking the south shore of the lake, dressed in her fi nest light deerskin dress, she sang a beautiful love song and wailed at the loss of her lover. After several days, she ascended Battle Ax Hill, and with her hair streaming in the wind, she threw herself into the waters of Devils Lake some two hundred feet below.

Legend states that each year, on this date, a mermaid appears and basks in the waters of the lake for a few hours, only to disappear once again for another year.

Legends are a curious blend of fact and fi ction, and often it is difficult to separate the two, for on October 27 in 1900, Mr. J. M. Mulvey, while hunting near Medicine Lake, stumbled upon the skeletons of two young men and beside each lay a dirk knife.

On an early autumn day, across the bay from Fort Totten, some have claimed to hear the lyrical love song of the maiden. Possibly, ever so briefly, through the morning mist a form can be made out playing along the shore, or perhaps it’s merely the white froth from the waves slapping against the rocks below Battle Ax Hill.

Dakota Datebook written by Jim Davis.

“Dakota Datebook” is a radio series from Prairie Public in partnership with the State Historical Society of North Dakota and with funding from the North Dakota Humanities Council. See all the Dakota Datebooks at prairiepublic.org, subscribe to the “Dakota Datebook” podcast, or buy the Dakota Datebook book at shopprairiepublic.org.“