THE MARKED APACHE AND THE RATTLESNAKE
Apache Knife Fighting & Battle Tactic 7
By Snake
Blocker, Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas
The Marked Apache and
the Rattlesnake
The Apaches would teach their young to respect all
life. The Apache elders would say “Respect
all that our One Creator has made.
Respect all people; respect the trees, the rivers, the rocks, all land
creatures, and all sky creatures.” Most
the Apaches would follow this command, but there was a young Apache boy who
would not respect nature, and he would hunt without blessings or giving thanks
to the One Creator. The boy would kill wild life without using all the parts of
the animals. He would only take the best
meat and leave the carcass on the ground.
The Apaches would often reprimand the boy, but he would continue to
disrespect his elders and disobey their commands. One day, Old Rattlesnake came near the
Apache camp. The Apache elders said,
“Leave the snake alone, for it is merely passing by.” The
Apache boy ignored the elders and kicked Old Rattlesnake with a powerful
kick. Old Rattlesnake struck at the boy,
but was too late, as it flew back in the air from the kick and landed in the
bushes. Young Rattlesnake saw what had
happened and came closer to the scene. Old Rattlesnake began moving away, but
the boy ran over to it and kicked it again as hard as he could. Old Rattlesnake struck at the boy, but again
it was too late, as it became airborne from the kick and landed near a large
rock. Young Rattlesnake crawled on the large rock to watch. Old Rattlesnake coiled up and began rattling
at the boy, but the boy came near and kicked the snake once more. Old Rattlesnake struck at the boy, but being
bruised, old, and tired was too slow. As
the boy laughed, Young Rattlesnake sprang at the boy’s hip from the large
rock. Young Rattlesnake sunk its fangs into the
Apache boy’s hip at a forty-five degree angle and released all its poison into
the boy. The boy screamed in pain and
ran to Medicine Man. Young Rattlesnake
was still attached to the boy’s hip and would not release its fangs. Medicine Man cut away Young Rattlesnake from
the boy’s body, but could not release the fangs. The boy became deathly ill, as the poison
entered his body from inside. The fangs
stayed in the boy’s hip. Medicine Man
tried every herb, song, and prayer but the boy was getting worse. Medicine Man told the elders, “You must take
the boy to Great Medicine Man, who lives at the top of Green Mountain.” The elders took the boy with them and
journeyed four days to Green Mountain.
Great Medicine Man examined the boy and said, “The boy will die unless I
remove all the poison from his body, which has now spread from head to
feet.” Great Medicine Man took some
sinew, and string from his bow, and used it to cut the boy in half, vertically
down the middle. The boy was cut from
his head to below the hip. The boy was
split in half and the white poison from Young Rattlesnake gushed out of the
boy. Great Medicine Man quickly sewed
the boy back with horizontal patterns that ran up and down the boy’s body from
below the hip to the top of his skull.
Great Medicine Man treated the boy with herbs, songs, and prayer for
four months. The boy recovered and returned back to his tribal camp. He had learned his lesson and respected all
creation from then on. The boy would
never forget the lesson, for Young Rattlesnake’s fangs remained in the hip of
the Apache the rest of his life. His
face and body was marked so badly that the tribe called the boy, Marked Down
with Zigzags. The zigzag patterns of the
boy are reflected in Apache pottery, clothes, blankets and battle tactics.
When an Apache Warrior strikes their enemy in a zigzag
pattern from high line to low line or low line to high line in a horizontal
angle (Crosswind) across the body, it is called the Marked Down with Zigzag
tactic. The Apache Warrior carries their
knives on an angle at the side of their hip to emulate the fangs of Young
Rattlesnake that stayed in the hips of Marked Down with Zigzag.
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