MICHELSON. ] ORIGIN OF THE WHITE BUFFALO DANCE. 135 
“Then for the first time he (the Gentle Manitou) began instructing 
me. And then I was instructed a long time. Then it seemed as if 
my ears were opened. It seemed soon my ears opened, and so I do 
not forget what I was told, because I was told slowly. And I was 
instructed just how I should think of the people, even what to think 
of a child, never to speak to it crossly, was what I was told. 
“That we should think equally alike of each other who belong to 
one name, that was impressed upon me yery strongly. That is just 
what I very much desire these (persons) to do. That they should 
speak kindly to their fellow-people, is what I desire of them. 
“Then after I was instructed, I imagined myself coming down. I 
imagined I came right down here. I must have been sleeping a long 
time, because I could not possibly have died. 
“Then also I was instructed about this sacred pack and the speech. 
That also was not told me in a little while, but I was probably being 
instructed for several years, not within a short time. But it was just 
the same as a short time, I thought. 
“Then I was awake for a little while. Then again my mother 
moved my wickiup. Then after making it for me I told her about my 
father. That she should not accept the evil medicine from him, was 
what I told her. ‘Do not ever accept it from him,’ I told my mother. 
So she did just what I said to her. Then, ‘he will not live to see me,’ 
I told her. To be sure it was so with him. 
“Then I must have slept a much longer time. Then I saw the 
manitous (doing) just as we have been doing now. They sang for a 
long time. They used the same songs we have just used. They 
sang exactly like that.” And he told them, “ What I said is exactly 
what they said. I was instructed plainly how we should carry on 
the ceremonies, that was the reason why I saw them. The manitous 
were the only ones I saw. And our sacred pack here, I saw how it 
was fixed and placed at the gens festival. How we have performed 
the ceremony was just the way I had seen. And the way we were 
seated was the same way they, the manitous, were seated. The way 
we have been singing is just the way they sang. Even when I first 
heard these gourds I liked their sound very much indeed. And when 
they began singing I loved to hear them. Soon they thereby made 
me consider very carefully. I gradually thought seriously of my 
life and how wretched it was. I knew my body was wretched. 
Gradually they made me feel very sad. What was it I had heard 
with pleasure? They were not sung sportively, but humbly. That 
is the reason these songs are sung the way they are. Then I imagined 
they were through with the gens festival. 
