1 20 A nthropological Papers A merican Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXI , 



is still at Lodge Grass: Hunts-the-enemy had it until his death. All 

 the people are afraid of it. The owner was Muskrat's adoptive father. 

 She continues as follows: 



One day Old-man-doing-foolish-things invited me and my comrade to see the 

 pygmies. We were afraid for we were young and free in our actions. However we 

 had not had any sexual intercourse recently, so the pygmies were not in embrace 

 and their owner said, ''itse ar^kuk" (Well, i.e., safely, you have seen them), and 

 wrapped them up again. This man made a weasel (emblem) for me, called in all the 

 members and gave me the weasel, whereupon I started the Weasel branch. My hus- 

 band saw another weasel and I took that also. 



Soon after this my younger brother was killed, 1 and mourning I carried the weasel 

 to the peaks of the Wolf Mountains. I slept by a high red peak near the site of Park- 

 man and myself saw a weasel. Thus I had three weasels, my adoptive father's, my 

 husband's, and my own. I looked for a fourth before organizing the branch. Two 

 weasels were killed nearby and both were given to me. Then I started the chapter. 

 I used to make belts for the members, but one day I brought out my weasels, then all 

 wanted to purchase them and bought all except the one given to me by my 'father.' 

 When I was adopted, the chapter had no name, it was just referred to as Old-man- 

 ' doing-foolish-things' people. When I saw plenty of weasels in my vision I thought 

 there would be many members. I adopted a good many; all the weasel^emblems 

 were made by me. 



Reverting to her visionary experiences, Muskrat said : 



While in a half -a wake condition I felt things running all over me. I thought it 

 was some mice. Before sunrise I lifted the blanket gently from my face and beheld 

 two weasels looking at me. I looked at them. They went on each side of my body, 

 then disappeared over a rock above my head. After they had left me, I cried again 

 till I was tired, then I kept still. An eagle came soaring close and alighted a short 

 distance from me. He looked at me and hopped to within a few paces from me. 

 We both looked at each other. It began to drizzle; when the eagle flapped his wings, 

 it seemed as though the rain ceased, then it would begin again. The eagle began to 

 speak. "I was coming to you first, but the weasels got ahead of me. You had better 

 go home." He dropped a plume from the base of his wing. "This I give you, now go 

 home." He soared off, while I kept watching him for some tune. When I got back, 

 I attached the plume at the back near the crown of the head and tied a weasel to each 

 side of the head. I had been told [in the vision] to use weasels found near my home, 

 then on the Little Bighorn. I saw four weasels, going into two holes by pairs. A girl 

 drowned them out, and on the same day I got a fifth. I have obtained several weasels 

 since, but my adoptive children got nearly all of them. Through this medicine I got 

 a great deal of help, receiving horses in payment for the weasels. 



Not knowing what to do with the weasels, I went back to the same place to fast, 

 but then I heard some one tell me to go to another place a short distance thence. 

 There I saw a dance lodge with weasels strung out in front of the dancers. I rose to 



^rom a subsequent explanation it appears that this was Wraps-up-his-tail, famous for his uprising 

 in 1890. 



