Research source

When a Comanche dies he is buried on the western side of the camp, that his soul may follow the setting sun…

Date of account: Published 1896
Source: Myths and Legends of Our Own Land — Complete
Reference: Myths and Legends of Our Own Land — Complete · selected passage 174
Rights: public_domain
Language: English
Record updated: 2026-08-24

Record summary

When a Comanche dies he is buried on the western side of the camp, that his soul may follow the setting sun into the spirit world the speedier

Published source text

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Source passage

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When a Comanche dies he is buried on the western side of the camp, that his soul may follow the setting sun into the spirit world the speedier. His bow, arrows, and valuables are interred with him, and his best pony is killed at the grave that he may appear among his fellows in the happy hunting grounds mounted and equipped. An old Comanche who died near Fort Sill was without relatives and poor, so his tribe thought that any kind of a horse would do for him to range upon the fields of paradise. They killed a spavined old plug and left him. Two weeks from that time the late unlamented galloped into a camp of the Wichitas on the back of a lop-eared, bob-tailed, sheep-necked, ring-boned horse, with ribs like a grate, and said he wanted his dinner. Having secured a piece of meat, formally presented to him on the end of a lodge-pole, he offered himself to the view of his own people, alarming them by his glaring eyes and sunken cheeks, and told them that he had come back to haunt them for a stingy, inconsiderate lot, because the gate-keeper of heaven had refused to admit him on so ill-conditioned a mount. The camp broke up in dismay.

Historical context

Contextual commentary · mention only

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Modern context

Contextual commentary · mention only

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