He Dog's older brother Iya

[carlo]

Reading Alex Charging Crow's papers I came across a reference to an Oglala man named Iya (translated as Monster), who was "the oldest brother of He Dog."

He Dog's known brothers were Lone Man, (Grant) Short Bull, and Bad Heart Bull. Maybe Iya/Monster was an alternative name for Lone Man or Bad Heart Bull? Which of these brothers was the eldest? Or was Iya yet another brother?

If he was indeed a fifth brother, then very little information is known about Iya. Charging Crow stated that, unlike his famous younger brother, Iya did not have much of a warrior career, counting coup only once and failing to steal even one enemy horse in his lifetime.

Any additional details on this Iya/Monster are very welcome.

[carlo]

Given the flexible use of the Lakota term for "brother", Iya may also have been a cousin to He Dog. In any case, it's an interesting detail on He Dog's extended family.

[kingsleybray]

don't know any more about Iya than what Alex Adams had to say in his fascinating life story.

There is quite an age spread btw He Dog and his brothers. He Dog himself was born about 1839, and Little Shield and Short Bull were born in the early 1850s. The one I've thought of as the oldest, High White Man or Bad Horse, was born about 1829. From all this I reasoned that their father Black Stone was probably born about 1805 or a little before. But I have recently been told he was significantly older than this, born around 1785. So there seems the possibility of several older children, to an older wife, that we've missed until now. Could Iya be one of them, I wonder?

[kingsleybray]

By the way, Alex Adams is caustic about many Oglala warriors and their war records. Up to and including Crazy Horse! A little bitter! I wouldn't take his criticism at face value.

[carlo]

Yes, could be that He Dog had even more brothers than the ones you mention Kingsley. To be honest, I was under the assumption (based on nothing more than a hunch tbh) that there were only four 'real' brothers, namely He Dog, Bad Heart Bull Sr., Lone Man, and Short Bull. And that the others may have been cousins?

Thanks for the heads up on Alex Charging Crow's comments, I agree that he was quite critical towards others' war records. Always best to balance it out with other primary sources but on Iya I haven't found any yet!

[hreinn]

There is a mention of a wakíčhuŋzA (decider) named Iya in Donald Collier's field notes, based on an interview with Alex Charging Crow:
"When Red Cloud became chief the following were wakitcunZa: Red Cloud, Iron Hawk, í*ya
White Hawk, Shot in the Face, High White Man (Bad Horse)."

Earlier in Collier's field notes, there was a reference to 6 deciders in Bad Face band, therefore í*ya is not an additional name, nickname, Lakota version or description of White Hawk:
"We used to have 6 wakitcunZa. They went afoot in the lead when we moved camp. And there were four head akicita."

This Iya could be He Dog's older brother or the namesake of He Dog's older brother.
This person was a decider in Bad Face band.
But not in Soreback band (He Dog's band).
That can be explained by that He Dog's mother Blue Day Woman was a daughter of a Bad Face woman (Walks As She Thinks) and a Kuhinyan man (Lone Man).
Taken for granted that Blue Day Woman's parents were the same as parents of Red Cloud and that Blue Day Woman was a sister of Red Cloud (but not "sister").


According to Ullrich´s NEW LAKOTA dictionary, the translation of Iya is not exactly monster, but rather a mythical giant eater:

Íya =
1 the giant eater (a character from Lakota myths who ate people)
2 a glutton, a voracious person

iyÁ
1 to speak
2 to speak a language, be a speaker of a language

monster
1 mniwátu (a water monster; a whale)
2 uηkčéğila (a large mythical monster, water monster, large prehistorical animal (their fossilzed remains are found in the Badlands and elsewhere on Lakota territory)

monstrosity
wówaηke (a monstrosity (as an animal or child born deformed), smth curious or weird that attracts attention.))