--- title: The Blindness of Pi-waṕ-ōk — The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian S… · full text with trees · page 2 description: The Blindness of Pi-waṕ-ōk, «The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories» by George Bird Grinnell: the whole chapter, every sentence with its dependency tree and pragmatics. It begins: Pi-waṕ-ōk, Flint-knife, was a Blood warrior; he was brave and ambitious, seldom passing a day idly in hi --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66596/13/page/2/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Punishment of the Stingy, and Othe…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66596/) / The Blindness of Pi-waṕ-ōk # The Blindness of Pi-waṕ-ōk · page 2 [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66596/13/) **2** “Yes,” the man replied, “it has a nest here, and just as I came in I saw it carrying something to feed its young.[70](../../70/ "tree and pragmatics") Far up on the cliff by which we are camped is a short pine-tree, growing out from the climbing rock; there, in the branches, the bird has built its home.”[71](../../71/ "tree and pragmatics") “Friend,” Pi-waṕ-ōk cried; “it is as I thought: my chance has come.[72](../../72/ "tree and pragmatics") I beg you to guide me to that place, for I believe the traveller of the sky can cure me.”[73](../../73/ "tree and pragmatics") “Hai-yu,” the friend exclaimed, “you know not what you ask.[74](../../74/ "tree and pragmatics") With my good eyes, and seeing plainly where to cling and step, it would be a hard task to reach that height; for you it would be sure death to attempt the climb.”[75](../../75/ "tree and pragmatics") “Even so,” the blind one replied, “yet must I try to do it.[76](../../76/ "tree and pragmatics") Death comes in many ways.[77](../../77/ "tree and pragmatics") It stares us in the face at every turn.[78](../../78/ "tree and pragmatics") Wherever we go, whatever we do, it lies in wait for us, like a panther for the deer by a forest trail.[79](../../79/ "tree and pragmatics") I am not afraid; have pity and help me try to reach that nest.”[80](../../80/ "tree and pragmatics") Í-kai-si cried, and begged him to think no more of such a dangerous thing; the friend told how straight and high the cliff was, how difficult to climb, but they talked in vain.[81](../../81/ "tree and pragmatics") He said that if no one would help him, he would go alone, on until he fell and died.[82](../../82/ "tree and pragmatics") At length, seeing that he was not to be turned from this which he had set his mind upon, the friend consented to be his guide, and they started.[83](../../83/ "tree and pragmatics") It was but a few steps to the foot of the cliff, where the fallen rocks made a sloping hill; they soon surmounted this, and then the climb began.[84](../../84/ "tree and pragmatics") Sometimes they were side by side, the leader guiding the blind one’s hands and feet, and again he was ahead, and reaching down would pull Pi-waṕ-ōk up on a narrow shelf.[85](../../85/ "tree and pragmatics") All the people of the camp stood watching them with wide-staring eyes, and as the two went on, higher and higher, over places where it seemed there was no jutting rock to offer foothold, they held their breath, fearing, expecting, that the next step would be the climbers’ last.[86](../../86/ "tree and pragmatics") Pi-waṕ-ōk’s courage won.[87](../../87/ "tree and pragmatics") At last, tired and breathless, they came to where the gnarled and stunted tree hung to the cliff’s face by its giant roots.[88](../../88/ "tree and pragmatics") “Hai!” said the guide; “I never thought we would reach it; here we are at last.[89](../../89/ "tree and pragmatics") And now, what next?”[90](../../90/ "tree and pragmatics") “Help me up into the nest.”[91](../../91/ "tree and pragmatics") “That I cannot do.[92](../../92/ "tree and pragmatics") There is no room for more than one.[93](../../93/ "tree and pragmatics") The limb would break if both of us were on it.”[94](../../94/ "tree and pragmatics") “Then,” said Pi-waṕ-ōk, “I will go alone,” and he began to climb out on the trunk, his friend telling him just where to reach for a hold on the spreading branches.[95](../../95/ "tree and pragmatics") Then came the most dangerous feat of all, to climb over the rim of the wide and loose-sticked nest; but that too was accomplished, and the tired man lay down in its hollow beside the scared and hissing fledglings.[96](../../96/ "tree and pragmatics") “Go,” he called out to his friend, “go and leave me for a time here alone.”[97](../../97/ "tree and pragmatics") The young man climbed on up to the summit of the cliff, and walked away to a distant point, where he waited until he should be called.[98](../../98/ "tree and pragmatics") Pi-waṕ-ōk lay motionless; the young birds ceased their frightened cries, and all was still save for the breeze, which sung through the tree-top with a mournful sound.[99](../../99/ "tree and pragmatics") If the limb on which the nest was built gave way from his added weight, he knew that he would fall upon the rocks far below, a crushed and shapeless mass.[100](../../100/ "tree and pragmatics") It was an uneasy and frightful thought.[101](../../101/ "tree and pragmatics") And now from afar the parent bird espied him in the nest, and swooped down with a terrible rushing roar, like far-off thunder.[102](../../102/ "tree and pragmatics") Down, down, she came, swift as an arrow, to the very edge of the nest, and then soared upward with a bound, the rushing air behind swaying the tree as if a hurricane was passing.[103](../../103/ "tree and pragmatics") Again and again, four times in all, the bird made a rushing dive at the helpless man, and each time he heard its nearing cry he prayed, crying out that he had not come to harm its young, but to ask its aid.[104](../../104/ "tree and pragmatics") And at last the whitehead seemed to understand, for after the fourth fierce rush, it slowly sailed around and settled on the edge of the nest.[105](../../105/ "tree and pragmatics") “Hai-yu,” Pi-waṕ-ōk cried, “be you male or female, father or mother of these young birds, as you love them, pity me.”[106](../../106/ "tree and pragmatics") “I am their mother,” the bird replied, “and, since you have called upon me in their name, say what is in your mind; I will help you if I can.”[107](../../107/ "tree and pragmatics") Then the blind one told of his affliction, and how through great danger and sore distress of mind he had climbed the cliff, hoping the great bird might cure him.[108](../../108/ "tree and pragmatics") “Alas,” said the whitehead when he had finished, “what you ask is beyond my power; nor could my husband, who is away hunting, help you.[109](../../109/ "tree and pragmatics") None of my kind could make you see again, for we have never had occasion to treat the eyes.[110](../../110/ "tree and pragmatics") We live to great age, but our eyes remain strong and clear to the very end.”[111](../../111/ "tree and pragmatics") Pi-waṕ-ōk wept.[112](../../112/ "tree and pragmatics") “Alas!” he cried, “how my hopes have fallen.[113](../../113/ "tree and pragmatics") This long and dangerous climb, after all, brings no relief.”[114](../../114/ "tree and pragmatics") “Not so,” said the bird.[115](../../115/ "tree and pragmatics") “I cannot give you sight, but in other ways I can do much for you.[116](../../116/ "tree and pragmatics") Here is a feather from my tail; take it, and keep it carefully, and you shall live to old age.[117](../../117/ "tree and pragmatics") And since you are helpless in your blindness, I will do more.[118](../../118/ "tree and pragmatics") I will teach you many wonderful things, and will give you power to heal the sick.[119](../../119/ "tree and pragmatics") Then you will not sit sad and idle in your lodge.[120](../../120/ "tree and pragmatics") The people will keep coming for you to go here and there to heal them and to practise your mysterious rites, and you will be so busy that you will forget your blindness.”[121](../../121/ "tree and pragmatics") Then the bird began, and through the long morning taught Pi-waṕ-ōk, showing him the secret of many wonderful things, telling him how and what to use for certain ailments.[122](../../122/ "tree and pragmatics") It took a long time to explain it all, and just as the bird finished, the blind one fell asleep.[123](../../123/ "tree and pragmatics") After a little he awoke.[124](../../124/ "tree and pragmatics") “Put out your hand and feel,” the whitehead said.[125](../../125/ "tree and pragmatics") He did so and found he was lying on grassy ground.[126](../../126/ "tree and pragmatics") “You are on the prairie at the top of the cliff,” the bird continued; “your friend is sitting away over there on a point.[127](../../127/ "tree and pragmatics") Rise up and motion him to come, for I must leave you now.”[128](../../128/ "tree and pragmatics") When the young man saw him beckoning, he came running with all his might.[129](../../129/ "tree and pragmatics") “Ah!” he cried, as he came near, “you are cured.”[130](../../130/ "tree and pragmatics") “No,” Pi-waṕ-ōk replied.[131](../../131/ "tree and pragmatics") “I am still as blind as ever.”[132](../../132/ "tree and pragmatics") “Then how came you here?[133](../../133/ "tree and pragmatics") How could you climb that awful cliff and still be blind?”[134](../../134/ "tree and pragmatics") “I do not know,” said Pi-waṕ-ōk.[135](../../135/ "tree and pragmatics") “I was asleep in the whitehead’s nest, and when I awoke I was here.”[136](../../136/ "tree and pragmatics") The way home was easy, for they followed the rim of the valley to a point beyond the cliff, and then descended a sloping hill.[137](../../137/ "tree and pragmatics") And when they had arrived at camp the people came crowding around to hear all that had happened.[138](../../138/ "tree and pragmatics") As the whitehead had said, Pi-waṕ-ōk became a great medicine man and healer of the sick, and, through the secret power that the bird gave him, he was able to do many strange things.[139](../../139/ "tree and pragmatics") He and his wife, Í-kai-si, lived to a great age.[140](../../140/ "tree and pragmatics") He was the greatest healer the Bloods have ever had.[141](../../141/ "tree and pragmatics") [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66596/13/) **2** - ← previous: [page 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66596/13/) - next →: [Ragged Head](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66596/14/) - ↑ back to [The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66596/)