500 A STUDY OF SIOUAN CULTS. 



OMENS. 



BODILY OMENS 



§ 307. Eingiiig in one ear signifies one of two tilings. Some one will 

 come without his family, and he must be entertained, or j'ou will hear 

 news. The direction whence the person or news will come is shown by 

 the ear that is aii'ected. 



If the eye twitches involuntarily some one will weep. If anj^ other 

 part of the body twitches involuntarily some one will hit the person 

 there or he will be stabbed or shot there. If the palm of the hand 

 twitches often he will soon strike some one, or else he will become angry. 

 When a woman has a son sick somewhere, or if he has been killed on 

 the way home, her breasts are often very painful. 



If one sneezes once his special friend or fellow, his son or his wife 

 has named him; so the sneezer calls out, "My son." If he sneezes 

 twice he exclaims, "My sou and his mother!" 



ANIMAI OMENS. 



§ 308. When whip-poor wills sing together at night, saying, " Hohiq, 

 hohiij," one says in reply, "No." Should the birds stop at once it is a 

 sign that the answering person must die soon. But if the birds con- 

 tinue singing the man will live a long time.' 



The uyguagicala (gray screech owl) fortells cold weather. When the 

 night is to be very cold this owl cries out, so the Teton say, just as if a 

 person's teeth chattered. When its cry is heard, all the people wrap 

 themselves in their thickest robes and put plenty of wood on the fires. 



The Ski-bi-bi-la is a small gray bii-d, with a black head, and spotted 

 here and there on the breast. It dwells in the forest, and is said to 

 answer the [)erson who calls to it. When this bird says, " GH huij wo," 

 i. e., " Has it returned?" the people rejoice, knowing that the spring is 

 near. When a boy hears this bird ask the question, he runs to his 

 mother and learns from her that he must reply, "No; it has not yet 

 returned." The reason for giving this reply has not been obtained. 



When the people first hear the cry of the night hawk in the spring, 

 they begin to talk of going to hunt the buffalo, because when the night 

 hawks return the buffalo have become fat again, and the birds bring 

 the news, for they never cry in vain. 



OMENS FROM DREAMS. 



\S 309. There are some animals which are esteemed as briugiug better fortunes than 

 others. Hawks are lucky. Bears are not so good, as the hear is slow and clumsy, 

 and apt to be wounded ; and although savage when cornered, is not as likely as some 

 animals to escape harm. Among some tribes in this family of Indians to dream of 

 the moon is regarded as a grave calamity.- See § 30. 



1 Tliis is also an Omaha belief. 



■'Miss Fleteher. " Elk Mystery of the Ogalalla Sioux," iu Kept. Peabody Museum, Vol. Ill, p. Ml 

 note. 



