Lakota Sioux Myths of Place::

The Racetrack

Like all myths, several versions of the Racetrack Story exist. The following is a reconstruction of a story told by Nicholas Black Elk.

One time, all the animals and birds of the universe gathered at the Black Hills to run a race that would decide who would thrive and who would struggle. The two-legged were considered with the birds on one side, and the four-legged were on the other. If the two-legged and the birds won the race, they would eat the four-legged, but if the four-legged won then they would eat the two-legged and the birds. The race began and the animals and birds ran around the Black Hills.

Because the race took a long time, a magpie decided to perch on the ear of a buffalo and stay there. At times a big gust of wind would hinder the birds' progress but not that of the four-legged; at other times a blazing hot day would render the four-leggeds useless but not seem to bother the birds. The birds were in the lead, until the rains poured down and killed some of them. Still the clever magpie was sitting on the buffalo's ear.

In the end, it looked like the buffalo was in the lead. All the four-legged began to cheer. Winning the race would mean the four-legged would have supremacy over all the other species. But as the buffalo neared the winning line, the magpie suddenly flew off his ear, up into the air and beat the buffalo at the goal.

The magpie had won the race on behalf of the two-legged and the birds. The Thunderbeing officially declared the magpie the winner and presented him with a rainbow - which is why the magpie's tail is today so colourful. He also declared that the birds could move as they pleased, all year round. The two-legged humans were presented with a bow and arrow. The Thunderbeing told their representative, "With this weapon the tribe shall expand and be mighty. So you go back to your people and teach them to make these bows. Hereafter you can shoot the buffalo" (DeMallie 1984: 310).¹ The Thunderbeing also told the humans that the location of the race was the heart of the earth.

Some accounts of the Racetrack state that in the struggle and effort to run and then win the race, the animals and birds shed much blood. This blood created the colour of the track that circumscribes the Hills. Others say that the race itself created the Black Hills - that is, before the race the region was simply a lush and gentle uplift, but that the pounding of the ground by the racers so shook the earth that the track was pushed down and the ground within it rose even higher. Today, many young Lakota organise marathon races around the Black Hills to honour it and the first great run.

Notes::

• 1 - Raymond J. DeMallie, ed. 1984. The Sixth Grandfather: Black Elk's Teachings Given to John G. Neihardt. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.