84 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 5::! 



kill a Sioux. The older people told him to "go to sleep and be good," 

 but his young mind was filled with thoughts of war. He refused 

 food, not going awa}^ from home to fast, after the custom of older 

 boys, but remaining in the lodge. At length he dreamed that he 

 shot a Sioux. Again he dreamed that his hair was gray and, pointing 

 to his flowing locks, slightly streaked with gray, the old chief said 

 that his dream had come true, for he was attaining the allotted age 

 of man. 



Later, without leaving home, the boy fasted five days and five 

 nights, hoping for further dreams, but none came. 



In the following spring he went away from home to fast. A few 

 years had passed since the little boy could not "go to sleep and be 

 good," but the purpose of his life had not changed; it had deepened 

 and grown more serious. The birds were just beginning to come 

 when he took his way to the "wilderness." Selecting a large tree, 

 he built in it a "nest" for himself, in which he remained without food 

 day after day. At last, on the fifth night of his fast, he dreamed that 

 he held three scalps in his hand. Then he was sure of himself and 

 of his career. With confidence he joined the warriors, and his faith 

 in his dream remained unshaken and at last the day came when he 

 held aloft three Sioux scalps. 



Thus the boy, grown to manhood, avenged his father's death accord- 

 ing to the custom of his people. 



THE TRAINING OF YOUNG WARRIORS 



(By Ma^djigi^jig) 



Ma'djigi 'jig ("great sky") was a young man when the war parties 

 swept across the prairie. His personal reminiscences were not those 

 of a leader, but he recalled with distinctness the trials which fell to 

 the lot of a recruit. Later he served many times as a scout, and, 

 as a warrior, secured three Sioux scalps. In plate 14 he is represented 

 in the attitude of a scout on the prairie, holding a wisp of grass or 

 bit of brush before his face, and also as telling the story of the three 

 scalps. 



According to Ma'djigi 'jig, "the old warriors treated the beginners 

 as though they were nothing but animals." The young warriors 

 camped a few rods in the rear of the rest of the war ])arty, and united 

 with the main camp only when near tlie enemy. The recruits slept 

 in little shelters, or booths, which they made of boughs, two men in 

 each. The older warrioi-s had plenty of food and even were allowed 

 to eat fat meat, while the recruits were given scanty rations of wild 

 rice, either parched or only partially cooked, and seasoned slightly 

 with maple sugar. Sometimes they were given dried fish or tough 

 smoked meat and occasionally lean fresh meat hardly seared before 

 the fire. 



