The Journey of Tai-me

"Tai-Me" is a traditional medicine bundle used by the Kiowa in their Sun Dance. The bundle has been handed down from generation to generation, through the nineteenth century and into the twentieth. N. Scott Momaday made this discovery when he began his journey to learn about the Kiowa and his paternal lineage. Following the death of his beloved Kiowa grandmother, Aho, in 1963 Momaday set out on his quest to learn and document the Kiowa heritage, stories, and folklore. His Kiowa-speaking father, artist Al Momaday, served as translator when Scott visited tribal elders to ask about their memories and stories. Scott gathered these stories into The Journey of Tai-Me. Originally published only in a limited edition in 1967, The Journey of Tai-Meis recognized as the basis from which Momaday's more popular The Way to Rainy Mountaingrew. When compiling The Way to Rainy Mountain, published by the University of New Mexico Press, Momaday added his own memories and some poems.

N. Scott Momaday (1934–2023) was a writer, poet, storyteller, and illustrator who won the Pulitzer Prize for his first novel, House Made of Dawn. Kiowa by way of Jemez Pueblo, he was the author of the classic Kiowa origin story The Way to Rainy Mountain and several books of poetry, including In the Bear’s House, In the Presence of the Sun, and Again the Far Morning (all from UNM Press).