XO. 5 NARRATIVE OF A CHEYEXNE WOMAN MICHELSON 5 



ber that when a man touches >-our breasts and vulva he considers that you belong 

 to him.' And in the event that he does not care to marry you he will not hide 

 what he has done to you, and you will be considered immoral. And you will not 

 have a chance to marry into a good family. In short, you will not be purchased, 

 which is surely the ambition of all young women.^ What I mean by marrying 

 into a good family is that the young man's people are not liars, thieves, or lazy, 

 nor have they committed any offensive crime. If you allow the young man to 

 take advantage of you willingly he will make jokes and sing songs with words 

 about you. The people will know and we will be embarrassed and ashamed, 

 especially since you have been brought up and taught in a good way. You must 

 also bear in mind that there will be other young men who will come to see you. 

 They will want to find out if you will succomb easily. If they are serious and 

 approach the subject of marriage, turn them ofif by saying something nice about 

 the young man who had been seeing you previously. In any case, you must 

 never say anything bad or call any one names, nor remark on their looks or on 

 the poverty of their people. The old saying is, " The birds of the air fly up 

 above but are caught some day." ^ If you say bad things or call one bad names, 

 the one insulted will crawl into the tipi and fondle you while you are asleep ; * 

 and he will boast of knowing you. It will also be considered that the man is 

 then your husband. Your denial will not help you. You will be placed at the 

 mercy of gossipers. 



After I had reached the age of young womanhood, I was not single 

 very much longer. One afternoon I was visiting my girl chum. When 

 I came home that evening there were a number of old men in my 

 father's tipi : I also noticed much fresh meat. I asked my mother 



' For touching the breasts compare for the Crow, Lowie, R., The Sun Dance 

 of the Crow Indians, Anthrop. Papers Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. i6, p. 42, 

 1915: for the Thompson Indians, Teit, J., The Thompson Indians of British 

 Columbia, Mem. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist, Anthrop., vol. i, Jesup N. Pac. Exp., 

 vol. I, pt. 4, pp. 323, 324, 1900; for the Lillooet, Teit, J., The Lillooet Indians, 

 Mem. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., Anthrop., vol. 3, Jesup N. Pac. Exp., vol. 2, pt. 5, 

 p. 268. 1906 ; for the Shuswap, Teit, J., ibid., pt. 7, p. 59i, ipOQ ; for the feeling of 

 ownership after touching the vulva, I have abundant confirmatory statements 

 from various Cheyenne informants ; see also Beckwith, loc. cit. ; cf. also Czaplicka, 

 M. A., Aboriginal Siberia, Oxford, pp. 84, 87, 1914. 



"Compare also Lowie, R., Primitive society. New York, 1920; Dorsey, J. O., 

 Siouan sociology, 15th Ann. Rep. Bur. Amer. Ethnol., p. 242, 1897, quotes 

 Matthew to the effect that among the Hidatsa the woman is not merely sold to 

 the highest bidder. Among the Fox Indians of today the exchange of goods is 

 the important point ; it is not purchase. 



^ As is known, proverbs, charades, the story within the story, the riddle, ani- 

 mal tales of the type of " The Fox and the Crow " are either unknown or very 

 rare in aboriginal America. 



^A similar trick was done among the Crow Indians; but the guilty man 

 thereby was automatically barred from leadership in the white clay expedition 

 of the Sun Dance. See Lowie, R., Social life of the Crow Indians, Anthrop. 

 Papers Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist, vol. 9, pt. 2, p. 221, 1912 ; The Sun Dance of the 

 Crow Indians, ibid., p. 42. For the same trick among the Sioux, See Beckwith, 

 loc. cit. 



