Credits
Penciller(s):
?
Inker(s):
?
Colorist(s):
?
Letterer(s):
?
Subject Matter
Genres:
adventure, western
Character(s):
Young Hawk (an American Indian of approximately 14 years, a full Mandan warrior separated from his tribe by chance); Little Buck (his running-mate, younger by approximately 2 to 3 years, a full Mandan warrior); Tumbleweed (Little Buck's puppy dog); Medicine Horse (Young Hawk's pinto pony); Black Cloud and his un-named cougar-killing hunting partner (two warriors of the Sioux, enemy of the Mandan); a prairie chicken; a cougar; Gitchie Manitou (the Great Spirit addressed in prayer by Young Hawk and acknowledged by Young Hawk as having heard that prayer)
First Line:
Escaping from a prairie fire, Young Hawk and Little Buck have been carried far down the canyon of a flooded river into a territory that is new to them.
Synopsis:
Little Buck's salvation by Gitchie Manitou (answering Young Hawk's prayer) from cougar and Sioux attracted by smoke of a cook-fire mis-made by LB disregarding Young Hawk's admonishment, comes through their deaths by the agency of: Young Hawk's wounding the cat, his flint knife's breaking, his true aim of a blunt arrow, a fortuitous root, and a fortuitous sharp rock. Young Hawk honors as great warriors the cougar and Sioux who died fighting each other (unlike Dark Cloud who stumbled and hit his head). The boys' loot? A KNIFE OF RINGING STONE! In fact? TWO steel knives; & two quivers of arrows!
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:
Miscellaneous
Pages:
6
Notes:
Writer credit as per Copyright Entries.
This is the first appearance of the steel knife. It becomes part of the series.
Three to four tiers per page, of six to seven panels per page. 6 pages, 40 panels, 38 illustrations.
This episode contains elements characteristic of Du Bois's writing.
• It abounds in animals. Typical of Du Bois, animals are intrinsic to the plot, as characters.
1) Hunting food astride Medicine Horse, Young Hawk, takes mid-flight with his arrow a flushed out prairie chicken on the wing.
2) Tumbleweed, Little Buck's pup: as Little Buck sets out to disregard Young Hawk's instructions, he rationalizes his actions to Tumbleweed.
3) Scenting the predator, Medicine Horse pulls up short, snorting his fear, an alert to Young Hawk of nearby danger. Cougar! The relationship of human and horse here involves Young Hawk's understanding the meaning of Medicine Horse's behavior.
4) The cougar's twitching tail catches Young Hawk's eye. Wounded by Young Hawk's arrow, the big cat leaps with a screech of fury. and lands fighting mad. A death match with one of the stalking Sioux concludes with the combatants' mutual demise. The corpse of the Sioux lies atop the corpse of the cougar. They died as warriors.
•The eulogy Young Hawk delivers of the Sioux and cougar dying as warriors, in combat, is a sort of backdoor didacticism of the tribal worldview. World cultures didacticism is characteristic of Du Bois's writing. Over the course of the Young Hawk series/feature the boys encounter many different tribes throughout North America from Mexico to Canada, from east to west, bringing forth aspects of tribal way. As here, a warrior ethos combines with the personalization of an animal, the cougar, as a warrior; and elsewhere in the story, the references to Gitchie Manitou, and prayer; so the spiritual in plains Indian life.
• It revolves around Little Buck's childish misdeed motivated by desire for food. Children taking food they shouldn't is found in a good number of Du Bois's other stories, especially Raggedy Ann, but also Oswald, Uncle Wiggily, etc. (Little Buck's appetite becomes a long-running gag in the series.)
Detail
Dell
1 
Notes:
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