March, 1905. The Cheyenne — Dorsey. 51 



flows from the hillside near by, where each has received instructions. 

 Then they entered the spring together and encountered the mythical 

 grandmother, who gave the magic food which they took to their 

 people, and that night the buffalo came forth from the mountain. 



In the next tale, which relates the origin of the medicine-arrows, 

 we have an account of the culture hero, who at an early age mani- 

 fested extraordinary powers as a medicine-man of the wonder- 

 working type. Continuing, the tale relates how he slew a mean chief, 

 fled to his grandmother's lodge and made his escape in the vapor 

 arising from an overturned vessel over the fire. He was pursued, 

 four times transformed himself into a wolf, and later reappeared at 

 the camp on five different occasions, each time dressed in a different 

 costume and his body differently painted. Thus he laid the founda- 

 tion of the five warrior societies. He then disappeared for a period 

 of four years, during which time he visited a high mountain peak, 

 was admitted to the lodge in its center and there, during the four 

 years, obtained instruction. At the end he was given a bundle 

 containing the sacred arrows and received full instructions concern- 

 ing the arrow ceremony. He returned to his tribe, which in the 

 mean time was slowly starving, and performed the medicine-arrow cere- 

 mony, which caused the buffalo to appear. This culture hero, called 

 Standing-Medicine, or Standing Sweet-Grass (Motzeyouf), is also 

 referred to in No. 2 of this series, in the account of the medicine- 

 arrow ceremony. There, as here, he is culture hero of a tale which 

 has a fairly wide distribution over the plains, and is often entitled 

 The Poor Boy and the Mean Chief. After slaying the mean chief in a 

 fit of anger, he goes to a mountain and returns with four arrows. He 

 then organizes the tribe, placing the guardians of the arrows first, 

 then the medicine-men, the chiefs, and finally the warriors. These 

 he organizes into five distinct societies. He was not only an organ- 

 izer, but a prophet, and foretold many things. 



The last myth, entitled The Origin of the Sun-Dance, relates to 

 a culture hero having many elements in common with Standing- 

 Medicine. This culture hero belonged to the so-called Half -Cheyenne, 

 or Sutayo band, and later came to be known as Erect-Horns. The 

 scene of the tale is in the North, where famine prevails. The tribe 

 is camped in a circle. Being commanded by the chief to perform 

 a ceremony in pairs, one of the men — the culture hero — selects the 

 wife of the chief of the tribe, and with her he sets out on a forty- 

 day journey. During this time they fast and finally arrive at a 

 forest in the midst of which is a lofty mountain. They enter the 

 mountain by means of a door, and find that the interior resembles 



