How the miniature “Mato Tope” (Four Bears) came about
Four Bears occupies a particular place among the Prairie Indians and the Plains Indians: in fact, he is the only one whose fame is not based on political or military importance in the opposition against the world of the whites but became “famous” for having been handed down through the written works of Maximilian zu Wied and the paintings of Catlin and Bodmer.
Four Bears was not only a great warrior, but his character also presented deep noble traits. In battle he always stood up to his fame, distinguishing himself with innumerable acts of courage. Risking his own life, he led a delegation of the Assiniboine tribe to Fort Clark, the latter having come to Min-Tutta-Hangkusch to bring peace, while his own people did not want to take into consideration the peace proposals and who attacked them with a consistent rain of arrows and lead. Four Bears, after having tried in vain everything that was in his power to eliminate all animosity, led his enemies, with cautious steps through shots and arrows, excusing himself for the reprehensible behaviour of his people.
The XXII tableau of (Bodmer’s) Atlas shows one of these heroic acts represented by the same Four Bears. During a raid on foot, accompanied by a few Mandans, he met four Cheyennes (their worst enemies) on horseback. When the chief of the latter realised that the enemy were on foot and that the fight would have been unequal, he ordered his men to dismount their horses and it was only then that the fight started. The two chiefs shot at each other, both missed the target and so went on to use other arms. The Cheyenne chief, a strong and robust man, held a dagger while the more slender Four Bears held a battle-axe. When the former was going to stab the other, the latter grabbed the other one’s knife by the blade and seriously injured his hand, but in this way, he succeeded to disarm his opponent and stabbed him, forcing the Cheyennes to escape … Four Bears was not only noble and courageous but he also gave great importance to beautiful clothes. Maximilian zu Wied relates how the chief went to visit him, always wearing different clothes. Vain like all the Indians, this man stayed immobile for several days so that his portrait would turn out well. The travel tales do not contain only the portrait of Four Bears but also the relative description: Four Bears carried a long knife like a hand, sculpted in wood and painted in red, inserted horizontally in his hair, since he had stabbed an Indian chief with a knife; further down six wooden sticks, coloured in red, blue or yellow, held high with a yellow nail, which meant to indicate the bullet wounds that he had suffered. As a reminder of an arrow wound, he had in his hair a turkey feather and on the lower part of his head he wore an owl feather coloured in red as a symbol of the Meniss-o-chata.