the young man who received the Mouse power

Also known as: Mouse-Man · Family: Arikara · Role: warrior · First appears: Tale 23 · The Boy Who Received the Mouse Power

At the sacred buffalo robe, the young man who received the Mouse power took the Mouse-woman’s young ones from their nest and carried them back to her. In the night, the Rat-Man gave him a war-club and the power to turn into a mouse and evade enemies; the Mouse-woman then declared him her son and told him that mice were his relatives.

After returning home, he told his mother to give him a little meat. He became a great warrior, leading pony-capture parties and killing many enemies with the club. At last, he fought the young man with the power of a Bear, and “These two fought until both of them fell down dead, one killed by the other.”

Relationship record

Life events

• He took the Mouse-woman’s young ones from the nest and carried them back to her.(Tale 23 · The Boy Who Received the Mouse Power · 📍 the sacred buffalo robe)
  • “The young man stopped crying, took the nest with the young ones, put them in his blanket and left the tipi.”
• The Rat-Man gave the young man a war-club and the power to turn into a mouse and evade enemies.(Tale 23 · The Boy Who Received the Mouse Power · 📍 the lodge)
  • “The war-club was given to him, and he was told that he was now powerful and that he could go home.”
• The Mouse-woman declared the young man her son and told him mice were his relatives.(Tale 23 · The Boy Who Received the Mouse Power)
  • With: the woman who was a Mouse
  • “The woman was standing outside the lodge, and she told the young man that he was now her son, and that he should tell his mother that when they returned home to their lodge, if they should see any mice they should not kill them, for they were the young man’s relatives.”
• The young man became a great warrior who led pony-capture parties and killed many enemies.(Tale 23 · The Boy Who Received the Mouse Power)
  • “This man became a great warrior. He led many parties out to capture ponies, and when he went into the enemy’s camp he turned himself into a Mouse, and when he got to the ponies he would cut the ropes, then drive the ponies out of the camp, and if he was found out he again turned into a Mouse, so that the enemy could not find him. In battles, he was a brave man. He killed many enemies with the club that had been given him.”
• The Mouse-Man and the Bear-powered young man fought and both died.(Tale 23 · The Boy Who Received the Mouse Power)
  • With: the young man with the power of a Bear
  • “These two fought until both of them fell down dead, one killed by the other.”

Tale 23 · The Boy Who Received the Mouse Power

• parent: the young man's mother “The young man went to his mother’s tipi and told her to give him a little meat;”
• enemies with the young man with the power of a Bear “These two fought until both of them fell down dead, one killed by the other.”

Also listed in Arikara — Minor Figures

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Extracted from the original text of Traditions of the Arikara. Made with Rho MD.