Rain-In-In-The-Face's The Story Of A Sioux Warrior

In "The Story of a Sioux Warrior", Rain-in-the-Face's selection of details and his accompanying commentary reveal his own values and those of the Sioux nation because he tells the story of his life, which influences the reader because Rain-in-the-Face describes Sioux life and culture as well as the life of Sioux warriors. The Sioux had to work for themselves. The Sioux people, especially the warriors, made each other promises and vows that showed the care, love, and trust Sioux people showed for each other. The Sioux warriors were very respectful of the dead warriors. Since Rain-in-the-Face is accused for killing the Long-Haired Chief, he tells the story of his life to tell the reader that some members of the Sioux nation were irresponsible for their actions. Rain-in-the-Face reveals the facts that he is a good warrior and that the Sioux life and culture is both bad and good.

The Sioux people must work for themselves, no matter what type of person they are.

"On my mother's side I had some noted ancestors, but they left me no chieftainship. I had to work for my reputation." Some of Rain-in-the-Face's ancestors were chiefs, but he did not inherit the chieftainship. He had to work for being the chief of his tribe. As a warrior, Rain-in-the-Face and the other warriors are fighting the Gros Ventres, another tribe of Native Americans. "We stole some of their horses, but were overtaken and had to abandon the horses and fight for our lives." Rain-in-the-Face and his fellow warriors stole the Gros Ventres' horses, who are the Sioux's enemies. They had to work for the horses but didn't get to keep them. Rain-in-the-Face had to work to become the chief of the Sioux nation, and the band of warriors worked to temporarily achieve the

horses.

The Sioux people have vows and challenges that they gave to each other; this shows that they loved each other. During the raiding of the Assiniboine, Wapaypay, who is the bravest man among the Rain-in-the-Face's tribe, also known as the Fearless Bear, gave Hohay, Sitting Bull's captive, a dare. "He dared Ho- hay to make the charge. Hohay accepted the challenge..." The Sioux were making dares and challenges for their own people, which is part of their lifestyle. "Wapaypay an I in those days called each other 'brother-friend.' It was a life-and-death vow. What one does the other must do; and that meant that I must be in the forefront of the charge, and if he is killed, I must fight until I die also!...' The Sioux warriors Wapaypay and Rain-in-the-Face had a trustful vow that they would do everything the other person does. It shows that they were loving each other very much and cared for each other. The reader can assume that all Sioux people were caring, loving, and trusting each other.

The Sioux were very skilled warriors with good sport, but they were also fierce and hostile. The Sioux were having a very diligent plan to fight the white men. "This was the plan decided upon after many councils. The main war party lay in ambush, and a few of the bravest young men were appointed to attack the wood-choppers who were cutting logs to complete the building of the fort. We were told not to kill these men, but to chase them into the fort and retreat slowly, defying the white men; and if the soldiers should follow, we were to lead them into the ambush. They took our bait exactly as we had hoped! It was a matter of a very few minutes, for every soldier lay dead in a shorter time than it takes to annihilate a small herd of buffalo...." The Sioux warriors were very smart warriors because they led the white soldiers into their trap, just as they had predicted. As a result, the white men died very quickly. "In the spring the hostile Sioux got together again upon the Tongue River." This shows that the Sioux warriors were hostile and fierce, and they can defeat the white army in war. The Sioux were doing their usual post-battle ceremony. "After the first rush was over, coups were counted as usual on the bodies of the slain. You know four coups [or blows] can be counted on the body of an enemy, and whoever counts the first one [touches it for the first time] is entitled to the 'first feather.'" The Sioux Indians were very respective of the dead, so they counted the dead warriors in battle. Also, they counted coups on the slain so that they can tell who is capable of being the 'first feather'. The hostile, yet skilled Sioux warriors, were very respectful for the dead warriors because they counted the slain warriors.

Rain-in-the-Face was accused of killing the Long-Haired Chief, but he actually didn't kill him, which shows that some Sioux Indians were irresponsible. As the Sioux Indians wonder who the murderer of the Long-Haired Chief was, they started blaming on the other people. "There was an Indian here called Appearing Elk, who died a short time ago. He was slightly wounded in the charge. He had some of the weapons of the Long-Haired Chief, and the Indians used to say jokingly after we came upon the reservation that Appearing Elk must have killed the Chief, because he had his sword! However, the scramble for plunder did not begin until all were dead. I do not think he killed Custer, and if he had, the time to claim the honor was immediately after the fight.
Many lies have been told of me. Some say that I killed the Chief, and others that I cut out the heart of his brother [Tom Custer], because he had caused me to be imprisoned." Appearing Elk and Rain-in-the-Face were the two suspects for killing the Long-Haired Chief. Because Appearing Elk had the Long-Haired Chief's sword, people thought he killed him. Rain-in-the-Face didn't believe Appearing Elk did it because the murderer of Long-Haired Chief should take the honor right after the fight. However, some other people said that Rain-in-the-Face killed him because others rumored that he killed the Long-Haired Chief's brother, who imprisoned him. Rain-in-the-Face shows the paragraphs about blaming to show that the Sioux sometimes were irresponsible.

Rain-in-the-Face showed the life and culture of Sioux warriors in his descriptive autobiography. The Sioux had to work for their things, and weren't granted their riches, honor, etc. The Sioux warriors were hostile and skilled, but were also respectful for the dead. Some Sioux people weren't responsible for their actions, and blamed the murder of the Long-Haired Chief on Rain-in-the-Face. Rain-in-the-Face showed the life and culture of Sioux warriors and other Sioux people, that the warriors were very hostile, skilled, and respectful for the dead, that some Sioux people were irresponsible for their actions, and that the Sioux weren't granted anything.