DENSMORE] MANDAN AND HIDATSA MUSIC 83 
it something would come out of it which would resemble snow. It 
was her intention to bring the snow to punish the two men for 
frightening the little boy. So she told the boy to blow in the end 
of the sunflower stalk and taught him to play the following melody 
on it. A. number of Mandan and Hidatsa said this melody “ sounded 
right,” though they did not recall hearing the exact succession of 
tones played on the flageolet. The rhythmic form of the melody is 
clear and the structure is harmonic (fig. 4). 
_ Granny clothed the boy from head to foot in smoked buffalo hide 
and told him exactly what to do. She told him to travel in four 
circles, each smaller than the other, and to play his flute all the 
time. The first circle was to be at the foot of the clouds (horizon), 
89 
Fic, 4.—Flageolet melody. 
the next a little smaller, until the fourth would bring him near the 
hunters. Granny said, “ When you come near to your fathers, they 
will know it.” The boy started out and traveled in a circle at the 
foot of the clouds, playing on the cornstalk flute which Granny had 
made for him. The two men were hunting as usual, and when the 
boy began to play, the snow began to fall. The two men said, 
“Something is wrong.” They made a lodge to stay in until the 
snow should stop falling, but the snow came faster and faster, cov- 
ering the lodge until only the peak was above the snow. Their medi- 
cine bow was gone, and they could kill no game. ‘Then the more 
sensible of the two men said, “Someone is causing this.” And the 
other said, “It must be so.” 
The boy kept circling closer and closer, playing on his flute, and 
the snow kept falling. The hunters had no food, and they had only 
