All my life I have tried to remember what he told me this first time that he talked with me, for it was good advice, and came to me from a good man, who afterwards became one of the chiefs of the tribe.

One day, soon after he had returned from one of his warpaths, he said to me, early in the morning:  “My son, get your bow and arrows, and you and I will go over into the hills, hunting.  We will try to kill some rabbits, and perhaps we may find a deer.”

I was glad to go with my uncle; no grown man had ever before asked me to go with him, and to have him speak to me like this made me feel glad and proud.  I ran quickly and got my bow, and we set out, walking over the prairie.  We walked a long way, and I was beginning to get tired, when we came to a place where we started first one rabbit and then another, and then a third.  I shot at one, but missed it; and my uncle killed all three.  After this we went up to the top of a high hill, to look over the country.  We saw nothing, but as we sat there my uncle spoke to me, telling me of the things that he had done not long before; and after a time he began to tell me how I ought to live, and what I ought to do as I grew older.

He said to me:  “My son, I am going to tell you some things that will be useful to you; and if you listen to what I say, your life will be easier for you to live; you will not make mistakes, and you will come to be liked and respected by all the people.  Before many years now you will be a man, and as you grow up you must try more and more to do the things that men do.  There are a few things that a boy must always remember.

“When older people speak to you, you must stop what you are doing and listen to what they say, and must do as they tell you.  If anyone says to you, ‘My son, go out and drive in my horses,’ you must go at once; do not wait; do not make anyone speak to you a second time; start at once.

“You must get up early in the morning; do not let the sun, when it first shines, find you in bed.  Get up at the first dawn of day, and go early out into the hills and look for your horses.  These horses will soon be put in your charge, and you must watch over them, and must never lose them; and you must always see that they have water.”

“You must take good care of your arms.  Always keep them in good order.  A man who has poor arms cannot fight.”

“It is important for you to do all these things.  But there is one thing more important than anything else, and that is to be brave.  Soon you will be going on a warpath, and then you must strive always to be in the front of the fighting, and to try hard to strike many of the enemy.  You must be saying all the time to yourself, ’I will be brave; I will not fear anything.’  If you do that, the people will all know of it, and will look on you as a man.”

“There is another thing:  if by chance you should do anything that is great, you must not talk of it; you must never go about telling of the great things that you have done, or that you intend to do.  To do that is not manly.  When you are at war you may do brave things, and other people will see what you have done, and will tell of it.  If you should chance to perform any brave act, do not speak of it; let your comrades do this; it is not for you to tell of the things that you have done.”