DENSMORE] MANDAN AND HIDATSA MUSIC 91 
went to the lake to look at his trap and found a white goose, whom 
he married also. The third day he went to the lake to look at his trap 
and he found a crane, whom he married also. The next day he went 
again and found another bird, a heron, whom he married. The 
next day he got a duck and married her, and the day after that he 
found a diving duck with a white bill, whom he married also. 
‘The porcupine woman said, “ How is this? You said we would 
have birds to eat but you marry them all.” 
The next day the man went over to the lake and caught a little 
yellow bird, whom he married. The next day he went and got a big 
bird (Mandan term, vst), and married her also. The man said, 
“ We will all dance.” The wives said, “ How are we going to dance?” 
He said, “ Wait for me.” This was in the fall of the year. He went 
out and got a great deal of “ white fox” (a plumed grass) and gave 
each of his wives as much as they could hold; he also gave them white 
and yellow corn. Then he said, “I have to make a drum before we 
dance.” He went out and saw a leaf and said, “This will be a drum, 
and the cover will be antelope hide, trimmed with a pattern of goose 
tracks around the side.” Then the leaf turned into a drum covered 
with antelope hide and with a pattern of goose tracks around the 
edge. He took another leaf and said, “This will be my rattle.” So 
the leaf turned into a rattle. 
When they started to dance he said to the porcupine woman, “ You 
must dance last, behind the birds.” The first goose whom he married 
was the leader. The man said,“ We are going to dance four days and 
the dance will be called the Goose Dance.” So they went out to 
dance and they danced four times and then went back to their house. 
The second day that they danced the man was out also, and one of 
the geese said to him, “ Winter is coming. Perhaps you will kill us.” 
This was in the late fall and it was snowing. The man sang every 
day while they danced and he always shut his eyes. On the third 
day when the man shut his eyes the same goose said, “ If you sing and 
shut your eyes again we will fly away and save our lives.” They 
went out to dance on the fourth day and the man shut his eyes again 
as he sang. Before that day the geese had sung with the man, but 
on that day, after his eyes had been shut for a while, he noticed 
that the birds were not singing. Then he opened his eyes and saw 
them all flying away. He ran after them and said, “ Do not fly 
away. I have always loved you.” But the geese and all the birds 
kept flying away toward the south. 
After the birds had flown away he went back to his house to find 
the porcupine woman, but she was gone too. 
