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.