Gros Ventre Medicine Man and Three Wives Story 6/6/1975
By: Ben Stiffarm Sr.

This story that I am telling is a true story that had been told to me by my uncle John Stiffarm, a long time ago; however the names of the people involved here, have been forgotten.
A long time ago there lived among the Gros Ventre people a medicine man that people said that he had strong medicine, real powerful and some of the cures and the feats that he did bordered on the supernatural. Therefore he was in great demand for his services. Whenever someone got sick or in need of help then they called on him. So then he became a wealthy man and could afford to have three wives.
One day a strange Indian came to this camp, and inquired where the medicine man stayed, as he wanted to see him. So he was directed to this medicine man’s house, and he was invited in and taken to this medicine man. This medicine man directed one of his wives to bring some lunch to them, so she brought some bread and tea and they ate lunch together. When they were finished eating, the medicine man brought out his pipe and they had a good smoke together.
This stranger told this medicine man, that he had came along way off, and that he wanted to meet him so that he could ask him for a demonstration of his power. He stated he was well known all over for having strong medicine, and he wanted to see for himself a demonstration of this power. He said that he brought a few gifts for him, some dress goods and some tobacco. So this medicine man sat there and thought for a long time, finally, he told one of his wives to take the dress goods and tobacco and put them away somewhere. Then he told this stranger, alright I’ll show you what power that I have. What I will do is, I will lie down and die, and in a few days I will come back to life again. If you will come back here tomorrow about this time, then we will get started. So they said good-bye to each other and parted. So this stranger went to stay with some friends, and they talked about what this medicine man was going to do.
It did not take very long for the story to circulate among the camp as to what this medicine man was going to do. So the next afternoon people started to arrive at this medicine man’s house to get a good seat and see what was going on. As it was the custom for the people to watch whenever these medicine men was going to perform. So at the allotted time, this stranger arrived at this medicine men’s house with his relatives, they all had to sit on the floor as it was the custom in those days.
One of the medicine man’s wives brought them some bread and tea and they had a little lunch. And again the medicine man got his pipe and they had a good smoke together. After the medicine man put his pipe away, told this stranger, this is what I will do. My wives will spread this buffalo robe on the floor, and I will lay down on it and I will die. I will die I will be dead, tonight, all day tomorrow, tomorrow night, and the next day about this time I will come back to life again. You and these people that are here can come over here and touch me, look at me and examine me and make sure I’m dead. When you are satisfied that I’m dead, then they can go home and come tomorrow and examine me again.
After everyone left for the night, my wives will change my clothes and dress me in my good buckskin outfit. And then they will tie me up in this buffalo robe. But they will leave my face uncovered so that the people will know that I’m still here then they will carry me and put me on the double bed where I will lay for the next few days. So when he told his wives that everything was all ready, one of them brought a cup of tea over to him, he drank it and then layed down on the buffalo robe and died. So that’s what happened, the next day people came and went and were satisfied that he was dead. His body was cold and had all the characteristic of being dead. The next night, well after midnight when all the people were gone, just the three wives were sitting with him all alone. One of them spoke up and said, this sure was a mean man, he was always getting after-me, bawling me out when other people were around and just made life miserable for me.
Another wife said, yes he sure was mean man, he gusto slapped me around, made me hurry up and wait on him and just made life miserable for me. The last wife said, yes he sure was mean, he gusto hit me on my legs with that buggy whip, and he even slapped me around. He sure was a mean man. One of the wives’s said, look at this root, he gave it to me to make tea out of it, and I’m to pour it in his mouth tomorrow and then he will come back to life again. I sure have a good notion to throw it away, another one, said lets go ahead and do that. Lets bring the wagon around and put him on it and we will take him out somewhere and bury him. So that’s what they did, they harnessed up the team and brought the wagon to the house and loaded him up into it. So then they got their own possessions and drove out of town real slow in case anyone seen them. They found a nice place by some rocks where they laid him, and they piled rocks on him so that wild animals would not get at him. Then they found a coulee where they left the wagon, and un-harnessed the horses so they could go home.
What is the moral of this story, the medicine man did not commit suicide, because he was demonstrating his power. The medicine man did not commit suicide, because, he gave one of his wives the antidote. One of the wives’s had the antidote; yet they did not murdered him because everyone said that he (the medicine man was dead, and would bring himself back to life). The truth of this story is that you cannot trust women.