A Medicine Story. Number II by Jeremiah Curtin

Name: A Medicine Story. Number II
Author: Jeremiah Curtin

"A Medicine Story: Number II" by Jeremiah Curtin is a brief Native American narrative centered on the power of spiritual medicine and the role of a healer named old Koé in saving a young boy from death. The story begins when a husband and wife leave their small son alone at home while they go hunting, instructing him to stay put. Not long after their departure, a supernatural being known as a Skoks arrives. The Skoks appears to the boy as a grayish white fog containing a woman whose face is divided between black streaks and the color of ashes. When the creature calls out to him, the boy is so terrified that he screams and falls dead on the spot. The mother hears his scream, rushes home, and finds her child cold and lifeless. She cries out for help, and an elderly woman named old Koé responds. Koé immediately begins a healing ritual, removing the child's clothing, rubbing his body with ashes, and painting his face with coal and ash in a pattern that mirrors the appearance of the Skoks. She then summons her own Skoks, which serves as her personal medicine spirit. Koé explains to the grieving mother what has happened. The child's soul had begun to follow the Skoks when she called to it, but because the boy had turned his left shoulder rather than his right when he first looked at the creature, the Skoks had not been able to fully seize his spirit. This detail is presented as critical, since turning the right shoulder would have allowed the Skoks to take the spirit completely and irreversibly. Because the spirit had not traveled far, Koé's own Skoks is able to pursue it, overtake it, and return it to the boy's body, restoring him to life. When the boy revives and is asked to describe the Skoks, he says she had fingernails longer than her hand and that he could not see her clearly but heard her voice calling him. The mother offers Koé valuable gifts including beads and porcupine quills in gratitude, but Koé refuses all payment, stating that her only desire is to rescue as many spirits as she can. This refusal underscores her role not as a transactional healer but as a spiritually motivated protector of life. The story then moves forward in time. The boy grows up quickly and becomes a great kiúks, a term indicating a person of spiritual power or status. When men ask him as an adult to describe his Skoks, the spirit that watches over him during dreams, he gives a detailed and vivid account. He describes her as having red eyes like fire in the night, nails longer than her fingers, hot ashes for face paint, one white side of her face marked with black tears, and the other side marked with red tears resembling blood. The narrative functions as an origin or confirmation story for the spiritual power that defines the boy's identity as a healer or spiritually gifted individual. His near-death experience, the intervention of old Koé, and his subsequent relationship with a guiding Skoks all combine to establish him as someone chosen or marked by the spirit world. The story also highlights the importance of directional and symbolic details within this cultural framework, where something as specific as which shoulder a child turns can determine life or death. Old Koé is portrayed with deep respect as a selfless practitioner whose medicine is potent and whose motivations are purely altruistic.

By Jeremiah Curtin · First published 1912 · Genre: Folklore, Native American Literature, Magical Realism · 499 words

First lines

A man and his wife went off hunting and left their little boy at home. The mother said: "Stay here and watch things; don't go away anywhere."

The boy was afraid; he didn't want to stay alone. The father and mother had not been gone long when the boy heard a noise like a whirlwind in tall grass. A Skoks had come for him, but he didn't know that. He looked out, looked over his left shoulder, and saw a kind of grayish white fog. In that fog was a woman; one side of her face was painted in black streaks, the other side was the color of ashes. She called out to the boy: "Come here, little fellow! " The child didn't go; he screamed and fell dead.

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A Medicine Story. Number II is listed on Textopian as a fable by Jeremiah Curtin, dated 1912 CE.

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Work type: Fable
Author: Jeremiah Curtin
Date: 1912 CE
Language: English
Genres: Folklore, Native American Literature, Magical Realism, Spiritual Fiction, Children's Literature
Length: 499 words
Structure: 1 section, 8 paragraphs
Reading fit: Very Easy (5th Grade or below)

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Work identity for A Medicine Story. Number II by Jeremiah Curtin
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Genres

Folklore — The narrative is structured as a traditional folk tale with archetypal characters, supernatural elements, and a moral lesson typical of oral storytelling traditions.
Native American Literature — The story incorporates Indigenous spiritual concepts, characters like Skoks and Koé, and reflects Native American beliefs about spirits, medicine, and shamanic healing practices.
Magical Realism — The narrative seamlessly blends everyday domestic life with supernatural elements such as spirit beings and magical healing without treating them as extraordinary.
Spiritual Fiction — The work explores spiritual themes including death, resurrection, the soul's journey, and the power of healing medicine within a metaphysical framework.