Good remark Grahame.
But most likely, Sandoz got this "Spotted Tail's sister story" from Hyde who had published it 5 years earlier in his Red Cloud's Folk book.
It is interesting to notice for how long time this "Spotted Tail's sister story" has been around.
It started with Hyde in 1937 [1] and has been repeated uncritically over and over for about 70 years - almost a century !
No writer gives a reference to any source regarding the affirmation that Spotted Tail's sister was Crazy Horse's 3 mother/stepmother !
Neither a testimony of a contemporary of Crazy Horse 3 nor a modern Lakota oral tradition.
First only 1 sister of Spotted Tail was in the story. Later it became 2 sisters.
First the Spotted Tail's sister was supposed to be Crazy Horse's 3 mother. Then writers turned her into his stepmother.
Perhaps after some writer had found out who was Crazy Horse's 3 real mother, and others writers followed the example without critical thinking.
It was Hyde (1937 & 1961) and Sandoz (1942) who wrote that Spotted Tail's sister was a mother of Crazy Horse 3.
Other writers said she was his stepmother, as detailed below.
In 1937 Hyde wrote [1];
"Crazy Horse was supposed to be about 33 years old when he died. His father was an Oglala named Crazy Horse and his
mother was Spotted Tail's sister."
In 1942 Sandoz wrote [2, 3];
a) "his
mother who had died was a Brule and the sister of Spotted Tail, as was his second mother, in the custom of the Lakotas." [2]
b) "for it was well known that his
mother was the sister of Spotted Tail, the Brule." [3]
In 1961 Hyde wrote [4];
"Two of his (meaning Spotted Tail) sisters were married to an Oglala Sioux medicene man named Crazy Horse, and the famous Crazy Horse of Custer battle fame was the son of Spotted Tail's sister."
In 1985 Hardorff wrote [5];
"This second marriage was with two of Spotted Tail's sisters, Brules, one of whom bore him a son circa 1846. Known as Little Hawk".
In 1998 Hardorff wrote [6];
"Worm married two sisters of Spotted Tail, one of whom gave him a son named Little Hawk".
In 2000 Sajna wrote [7];
"he (meaning Worm) eventually married two sisters, siblings of the Brulé Lakota chief Spotted Tail."
In 2004 Marshall III wrote [8];
"They were sisters, quiet and polite as they walked into the circle of their new life as the wives of Crazy Horse and the mothers of his daughter and son. They were the younger sisters of a man renowned among his own Sicangu people, one whose name was spoken often in reference to courage and leadership: Spotted Tail."
In 2004 Cozzens wrote [9];
"The woman with Worm was not Crazy Horse's mother, Rattle Blanket Woman, who had committed suicide in 1844, but rather the old man's second wife, a sister of Spotted Tail."
Finally in the year 2006, this was sorted out.
When both the Clown family published their DVD [10] and Kingsley Bray published his book [11].
Then it became clear it is WRONG that Spotted Tail's sister was Crazy Horse's 3 mother or stepmother. I think what lies behind the various versions of "Spotted Tail's sister(s) story" is a mixture of 4 parts of facts:
1. Crazy Horse's 3
mother was the Mnikĥówožu Rattle Blanket Woman, who commited a suicide in 1845 [10, 11].
2. Worm married the Mnikĥówožu daughters of Corn in 1844 [10, 11]. These sisters became Crazy Horse's 3
stepmothers.
3. Mnikĥówožu sisters of Rattle Blanket Woman came to Worm's Oglála camp in 1845 and took part in their sister's role in raising up Crazy Horse 3 [10, 11]. These sisters became Crazy Horse's 3
fostermothers.
4. Crazy Horse's 3
mother-in-law was a "sister" of the Brulé Spotted Tail [12].
Because Black Shawl's mother, the Brulé Red Elk Woman, was 1 of 2 daughters of the Brulé Old Spotted Tail (Spotted Tail 1) who adopted the famous Spotted Tail (Spotted Tail 2) [12].
The Brulé Red Elk Woman married the Oyuhpe Oglála Red Feather. Together they had the daughter Black Shawl, who Crazy Horse's 3 married in 1870 [11].
Upon the marriage of Crazy Horse 3 and Black Shawl, Worm and Red Elk Woman (Spotted Tail's sister) became related as parents of "the groom and the bride".
The various stories about Crazy Horse's mother/stepmother being a Spotted Tail's sister are a different mix of the above mentioned facts. With the 4th part above as the most influental in the "Spotted Tail's sister story".
The first published version of the Spotted Tail's sister story" was published in 1937. Which is many decades and up to a century after the happening of the events which the story describes. Giving enough time for a biased story.
Originally, this misunderstanding was perhaps a pure translational error. Or because of the difference in the meaning of the word mother between 2 cultures. With the meaning of the word mother much more "open" in the Lakota culture.
In Lakota culture it is an important factor to make as much and strong bonds between people as possible, as pointed out somewhere (on this website ?) by Kingsley Bray (and perhaps others also). For the better good for the society and as a form of a welfare system in times of difficulties.
A further complicating factor behind this "Spotted Tail's sister story" is the possibility that Crazy Horse's 3
paternal grandmother[/u] and/or
paternal great-grandmother[/u] was a Brulé. As described above in reply #2.
Hreinn
References:
1. Red Cloud's Folk by George E. Hyde (1937), page 298.
2. Crazy Horse by Mari Sandoz (1942), page 18.
3. Crazy Horse by Mari Sandoz (1942), page 42.
4. Spotted Tail's Folk by George E. Hyde (1961), page 15.
5. The Oglala Lakota Crazy Horse by Richard G. Hardorff (1985), page 32.
6. The Death of Crazy Horse by Richard G. Hardorff (1998, 2001), page 56.
7. Crazy Horse by Mike Sajna (2000, 2005), page 27.
8. The Journey of Crazy Horse by Joseph M. Marshall III (2004), page 11.
9. Eyewitness to the Indian Wars 1865-1890 - The Long War for the Northern Plains (2004) by Peter Cozzens page 672.
10. DVD disc: The Authorized Biography of Crazy Horse and His Family, Part One - Creation, Spirituality and The Family Tree, made by Reel Contact in association with Tashunke Witko Tiospaye (2006) (www.reelcontact.com)
11. Crazy Horse - A Lakota Life by Kingsley M. Bray (2006)
12.
amertribes.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=teton&action=display&thread=118 
?
