March, 1905. The Cheyenne — Dorsey. 41 



the people went to their lodges and began watching the spring closely, 

 and in a short time they saw a buffalo jump from the spring. It 

 jumped and played and rolled, and then returned to the spring. 

 In a little while another buffalo jumped out, then another, and an- 

 other, and finally they came out so fast that the Cheyenne were no 

 longer able to count them. The buffalo continued to come out until 

 dark, and all night and the following day the whole country out in 

 the distance was covered with buffalo. The buffalo scented the 

 great camp, for they left a long, narrow space where the wind went 

 from the camp. The next day the Cheyenne surrounded the buffalo. 

 Though they were on foot they ran very fast. For a time they had 

 an abundance of buffalo meat. In the spring-time they moved their 

 camp to low, swampy land, where they planted the corn they had 

 received from the medicine spring. It grew rapidly, and every 

 grain they planted brought forth strong stalks, and t>n each stalk 

 grew from two to four ears of corn. The Cheyenne planted corn 

 every year after this. 



One spring, after the planting of their corn, the Cheyenne went 

 on a buffalo hunt. When they had enough meat to dry to last them 

 for a considerable time, they returned to their corn-fields. To their 

 surprise they found that their corn had been stolen by a neighboring 

 tribe. Nothing but the stalks remained, not even a kernel for seed; 

 so it was a long time before the .Cheyenne planted any more corn. 

 They trailed the footprints of the enemy for several days from their 

 fields, though the thieves had visited them about one moon before. 

 They fought with two or three tribes of Indians, but could not trace 

 the thieves, nor could they learn anything regarding the stolen corn. 



17.— THE ORIGIN OF THE MEDICINE-ARROWS. 



After the Cheyenne had received their corn, and while they were 

 still in the north, a young man and young woman of the tribe were 

 married. The young woman became pregnant, and carried her 

 child four years in her womb. The people observed the woman with 

 great interest to see what would happen to her. During the fourth 

 year she brought forth a beautiful boy. The child's father and 

 mother died before he was able to take care of himself, and so his 

 grandmother, who lived alone, took care of him. The Cheyenne 

 regarded the birth of the child as extraordinary, and they looked 

 upon him as supernatural. Soon the boy walked and talked. As 

 soon as the boy could walk he was given a buffalo calf robe to wear, 

 and was shown how to wear it. He at once turned the hair side of 



