Howdy folks and greetings from the Great Plains of North Texas! We're in a series about the Wild West and the story of an 11 year old German boy, Hermann, who was captured by an Apache war party from his family's farm in 1870 in Central Texas.
In yesterday's post Hermann's band got tired of sitting around while the soldiers were keeping track of their every move so one day when the soldiers weren't there the band took off for New Mexico. They had a great time there of hunting deer, bear, and wild sheep and living in total freedom.
Those mountain sheep were big animals and good eatin:
Everything was going great until some type of deadly disease or pestilence broke out among them and they started dropping like flies. One of those that died was Hermann's adopted mother, the wife of the chief, so this was a great loss for the tribe.
Especially for Hermann because he was known as her property because she had taken him in and accepted him as her own. Remember when that warrior died on the battlefield and they killed his horse and put it beside his grave?
Well, it was their custom to put everything that the person cherished, their valuable possessions, with them at burial. If the person had a horse they killed the horse. The chief's wife had two dogs which she loved so they killed the two dogs and buried them with her.
Nothin personal kid, this is tradition
The problem for Hermann was that he was considered one of her possessions so they were getting ready to kill him too! He was already in shock that she had died, being the only kind and loving person that he knew there and now he was being led to his own death.
He was escorted to a spot close to the burial plot and several warriors had their arrows in their bows and he figured he was about to leave this earth when suddenly a young Indian maiden rushed up to him and threw her arms around him, hugged him tight and started pleading for them to spare his life.
And they did. For some reason they let the scrawny white boy live! It was one of many miracle deliverances that Hermann experienced.
I think his mom and family never stopped praying for him. He thought they were all dead but his brother Willie had made it back home and told them that Hermann was still alive and with the Indians. So I think this is an example of Divine Providence.
Meanwhile..
The sickness was wrecking havoc on the tribe and many were dying. The Medicine Man couldn't figure out what to do so he went up on top of the mountain and spent the night praying to the Great Spirit about what to do to save his people.
Hermann said it was so cold he thought the old guy would freeze to death but he came down the next day with a plan. Apparently the Great Spirit had told him what to do!
Here's a photo of a genuine Apache Medicine Man. I don't know who this one is but who knows, it could be the one from Hermann's tribe! At any rate, I think of him as looking something like this:
The Medicine Man told them to go dig a hole by the river, start a fire and put big rocks in that hole. When those stones were red hot they were put into a Wigwam which they'd made as close to air-tight as they could get.
The treatment
Next the people who were sick were stripped down and put in there and sweated it out like crazy, very detoxifying I reckon, get those poisons out.
They stayed in until they couldn't take it any longer(and these people were tough so I bet they were in there a good long time) and as soon as they came out they were submerged in the nearly ice-cold river water!
Yeah they were instructed to keep them in the water for several minutes.
Then they were pulled out and rubbed real hard with wet grass and rough blankets. Then they were wrapped in buffalo robes and given a very strong, bitter tea made from a local plant.
Unfortunately Hermann didn't know what plant it was but it was made from the root of a local one.
Everyone had to undergo this treatment, the sick first, then the well. Not a single other person died from the sickness, it healed them all!
Hermann's adventures continue on the next post.
Thanks for reading folks, God bless you all!
-jonboy
Texas
These stories really hit me strongly. It was such a short time ago and yet it's like it could be a thousand years old. Things have changed so much. And people haven't really changed at all.
Howdy sir rossfletcher! That is so true. When I research history it strikes me as them having the same human race problems that we have today so I don't think we're changing much. Unfortunately! But thank you so much for reading and commenting!
So glad that Herman didn't suffer the same fate as the dogs.
It sounds like they had a powerful medicine man!
Howdy Melinda! yes it sounds like the medicine man had real power or connections, that whole part of the story surprised me!
Hello janton, that poor skinny little white kid is facing all kinds of threats and thankfully being always saved at the last moment. Not his time to go I think, he was meant to live and write about his adventurous life with the Apache.
Otherwise you would not be entertaining us so much janton.
Indigenous tribes were and are very spiritually connected to Spirit, so I am not at all surprised to read of the Medicine Man receiving a cure through mediation, chanting and prayer, etc.
I had a lot to say today, lol and haha.
Howdy angiemitchell! Thanks so much for all the comments, I couldn't agree with you more.
yes Hermann had a remarkable time with the Indians and narrowly escaped death many times.
And now we get to read his story, thanks jonboy janton.
My pleasure angiemitchell! thanks so much.
That’s the real Medicine Man! He had magic!
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Howdy there kaminchan! yes he was the real deal apparently!
Thanks so much for commenting!
Another close shave with death. Hermann must have nine lives.
howdy sir Vincent! I'm tellin ya, he had a prayin mamma, I've seen miracles like that my whole life because of praying mammas or grandma's! lol.
Hi, @janton!
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thanks so much for the upvote steem-plus!
Howdy Sir @ janton
Wow! I know exactly how that little boy felt staring at their arrows. A while ago two guys waited for me at our church premises and as I put the key into the gate's lock they grabbed me. Of course I resisted so the one guy put a gun to my head while the other guy held my arms clamped to my sides and goaded him to shoot. But he didn't and instead they took my phone and watch and ran away.
I reported the theft to the police and a few weeks later the same guys were trapped at a robbery and both were killed in a shoot out with the police.
That was the day that I learned a valuable lesson; "What will be will be".
Had all of the Apaches been wiped out by the pestilence, their story would soon be forgotten and so they were kept alive as a reminder of man's folly.
Just my own personal opinion.
Blessings!
wow sir papilloncharity! you dang near got executed. But God had more work for you to do! lol. Praise God. That's amazing.
I like your theory of why the tribe wasn't wiped out. My first thought was the prayers of Hermann's mom because I bet her and her family were praying everyday. My thought was that God gave the remedy to the Medicine Man so that Hermann's life would be spared. That's my theory. But both theories work for me! lol.
In fact, he barely escaped death time and time again so I think that was why.
Howdy Sir @janton, it happened with a gun twice in my life, as in the other case it was an drunken ex brother in law that beat up my sister, but he didn't have the guts to pull the trigger and I sorted him out.
We do not realize the power in prayer and I also like your theory, as I am convinced that it was my grandmother's prayers that protected my own life. Only God could have given the remedy to the Medicine Man.
Blessings!
Howdy sir papilloncharity! wow, twice you had guns pointed at you! Not many people can say that. I agree about the Medicine Man and I've seen, and I'm sure you have too and even in your own life, it seems like there was always a Godly grandmother somewhere praying that saved the grandkid's lives. We've seen that over and over again, there's something about that connection that God honors and is moved by.
circulation and herbal medicine under the direction of divine intervention..excellent story .. great medicine man
Howdy rebeccabe! That healing process made sense didn't it? I mean I don't know how much the tea played in the healing process but sweating out the poison and then getting the circulation stimulated made sense.
Wow, sounds like he had an admirer! Too bad he was too young to be interested in girls yet. Was it the same one he was offered to trade a saddle for? lol
haha! I don't know, it could have been but I agree, too bad he wasn't interested in marriage yet!
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Unbelievable Janton! The whole story, from the beginning to the end!!! One could think this is a myth if it wasn't based on the true experience. But still, poor Hermann, lost the one loving person he had in his life, but escaped his own death again. What a dump tradition, honestly!!! By the way I heard some Hindu sects had similar tradition too. But as far as I am aware of, it is only man who's wife has to be burned with him if he dies. Also some other Asian clotures get burred with their possessions even maids. But they buried them alive in the tombs. Yup, people can be very evil!!!
Howdy tonight Miss Lena! I'm so glad you find the story amazing, I do too. Yeah I've heard of wealthy people in some cultures when they die that all their servants are buried with them! wow, that's hard to grasp isn't it? It's bad enough with animals.
The good news is that we live in a culture that such a rituals are against the law, which means humanity is moving towards more compassionate existence. Even if we are not perfect yet, there is a chance that one day we will be 😊
I agree Miss Lena, most things in this story could never happen today! lol. Although sometimes I could use a good slave, especially for just the cost of a horse! lol..just teasing of course!
You are so bad, lol.
Man oh man...poor Hermann! To have is adopted mother die and then he himself facing death just because she loved him. Thank goodness his life was spared once again. Divine intervention for sure. That is amazing how the medicine man cured everyone and kept sickness away from the healthy ones. But they all had to go through pure hell to get to that point. I wonder if all medicine men from different tribes were as good as this one.
Howdy Butterfly! Yeah Hermann has gone through it hasn't he? I love his story. At least so far. lol. That's a good question about the medicine man, I think it's hard to know. Much of the knowledge has been lost and what remains is kept from the white man on purpose.
A lot of things are being kept from all of us about so many different things.
I love Hermann's story too and I am glad he told it.
Very true Butterfly..I think by wiping out most of the tribes there was tons of herbal medicine knowledge that was lost, among other things about nature.
And that is why we now have big pharmas. Don't even get me started!
yeah but that's why steemit has smithlabs! lol.
HaHa! Good one! Thank goodness for smithlabs! Is that his user name? I would like to visit his blog.