Howard] THE PONCA TRIBE 145 



tipi because the child would not stop crying. Jealousy of the woman's 

 own daughter, possibly the Beloved Child, was implied. 



I was impressed, while living among the Ponca, at the small amount 

 of physical discipline used with children. Now and then a parent 

 would scold a child for "getting into things," but this was all. No 

 temper tantrums were observed, and little crying. 



A Ponca child's education began as soon as it was able to imitate 

 and learn adult patterns of behavior. Respect for sacred objects 

 was inculcated at an early age. Whitman (1939, pp. 181-182) 

 quotes WBB to the effect that: "Children were taught to respect 

 the bundle. 'When we wanted to play or scuffle, we couldn't do it 

 in the tipi on account of what hung in it.'" He later notes that 

 WBB's father scolded his son for not listening to the father's prayer 

 before breakfast (ibid., p. 182). 



PLC made the following remarks concerning children's education 

 and upbringing: "Some older man or woman taught the children 

 how to act, and told them stories about famous people and battles. 

 There was one thing that they always said to children. They told 

 them 'Get up at daybreak. Go to bed with the sun.' " 



Besides the games mentioned in an earlier chapter, the following 

 children's activities are mentioned by Gilmore (1919, pp. 68, 72-73): 

 Red hay stems were used by little boys as arrows; little girls used 

 Cottonwood leaves to make toy tipis and toy moccasins; whistles 

 were also made of cottonwood leaves on occasion. 



Children had contests involving the eating of unripe wild goose- 

 berries without grimacing (ibid., p. 34). Spiderbean pods were used 

 by little boys to imitate rattles, as were black-rattle-pod and little- 

 rattle-pod pods (ibid., pp. 89-91). Wild sweetpea pods were roasted 

 and eaten in sport by children (ibid., p. 98). 



Violets were used by children in a game of "war," the heads of the 

 violets being snapped by one person at his opponent (ibid,, p. 103). 

 This was apparently similar to the game played by contemporary 

 White children in which dandelion heads are snapped. Elderberry 

 stems were used by small boys for making popguns (ibid., p. 115). 



J. O. Dorsey (1885 a, p. 108) notes that: "The Omaha and Ponka 

 boys catch an insect called the teatata which resembles the 'hobbyhorse,' 

 or praying insect. After saying certain words over it, they think 

 that it turns its head in the directions of the buffaloes, or else in that 

 of the Dakotas. . . . The whippoorwill , . . was often addressed by 

 the children, who thought that it repeated their words." 



An important childhood rite, the ceremony of "Turning the Child," 

 is described by Fletcher and La Flesche (1911, pp. 44-45). During 

 this ceremony a child was led into a sacred tent in which a stone, 

 representing long life, had been placed. The child was led to the 

 stone, made to stand upon it, and then turned by the hereditary 



