May, 1903. The Arapaho Sun Dance — Dorsey. 21 



but it stands for those little snakes which are found by the edge of 

 the water in ponds. The circumference stick stands for the sun ; the 

 eagle feathers are those of the Thunderbird ; the blue beads stand for 

 the sky or heaven; and the marks on four places typify the Four-Old- 

 Men, being wind; they are the sentinels over the people and animals. 



"At another time, a man who had the Wheel by right, died. 

 When he was buried, the Wheel was hung over his grave one day. 

 After the people had gone away from it and were moving their camp, 

 this Wheel was seen flying by the people, and it lighted in front of 

 them. Il changed to an eagle. This occurrence made them think 

 more of the Wheel than ever, and they reverenced it." 



The following brief statement concerning the Wheel among the 

 northern Arapaho is also not without interest. 



It is said that the Wheel escaped from the people by flight. After 

 it was gone for some time an Offerings-lodge was pledged for, but it 

 could not be carried out, so the people, old and young, congregated 

 to see if it could be made like the original. There was nobody that 

 could tell how it was made, until finally a young boy moved before the 

 crowd and directed the making of it. 



About seven years ago, one of Weasel-Bear's daughters went out 

 of the tipi during a wind storm to brace a pole bearing the Wheel 

 against the back of the tipi. As she was lifting the pole the wind 

 came and took the pole and Wheel down to the ground, breaking it 

 slightly across the center. So Weasel-Bear, before another Sun Dance 

 was pledged for, invited all the old men and <51d women to gather 

 together to renew it. The Wheel being an important factor, the people 

 gathered, provided the necessary food and brought various kinds of 

 young standing bushes. 



For a day or two, the men could not bend the stick of wood into 

 a perfect circle. Most of the sticks would break, but men kept on 

 trying to shape the bow for the Wheel, Finally, a young man brought 

 in a long stick of a kind of wood which had a dark red, slippery back, 

 and grows very tall, standing near the river banks. The Indians cut 

 the bushes and made breastpins, and stake-pins for the tipi, and bent 

 it into a perfect circle. The men who were present expressed their 

 gratitude to the young man for his luck and therefore asked more food 

 to be brought in for him. 



While this man was making or carving the symbolic features of 

 the Four-Old-Men, a little spider, descending, lighted on one of the 

 markings (monuments of the old men), but the man kept himself busy 

 at the work, at the same time offering a prayer of thanksgiving to the 

 Father. 



