EADiN] SHAMANISTIC AXD MEDICINAL PRAt'TICES 271 



in lack of food. The^- are nevertheless very happy beings and have 

 many dances." 



"At another time I became transformed into a little bird. When 

 the weather is good the life of the birds is very pleasant. But when 

 it is cold they are compelled to undergo many hardships on account 

 of the weather as well as on account of lack of food. When it was 

 very cold I used to go to the camp of some people who were living 

 in the neighborhood and try to steal some meat from their racks. 

 A little boy used to stand near these racks and we were very much 

 afraid of him because he carried something in his hands with which 

 he shot and which made a dreadful noise. Whenever he shot it we 

 would all fly away. What the boy was using was a bow and arrow. 

 At night we slept in a hollow tree. If I entered the tree first and 

 the others came in behind me I would be almost squeezed to death. 

 If, on the other hand, I waited until the last I would sometimes have 

 to stay outside and when the weather was cold I might have frozen 

 to death. 



"At another time I became a buffalo. The cold weather and the 

 food did not worry me much then, but as buffaloes, we would always 

 have to be on the alert for hunters. 



"From my buffalo existence I was permitted to go to my higher 

 spirit-home, from which I originally came. The one in charge of 

 that spirit-home is my grandfather. I asked him for permission to 

 return to this earth again. At first he refused, but then after I had 

 asked him for the fourth time, he consented. He said to me, 'Grand- 

 son, you had better fast before you go and if any of the spirits take 

 pity upon you (i. e., bless you), you may go and live in peace upon 

 earth.' So I fasted for four years and all the spirits above, even to 

 the fourth heaven,' approved of my coming. They blessed me. 

 Then I fasted 10 days more and then 20 and then 30. Finally all 

 the spirits blessed me, even those under the earth. When I was 

 ready to come to this earth, the spirits gathered together in a council- 

 lodge and 'counciled' about me. All the spirits were present. 

 They told me that I would never fail in anything that I wished to 

 do. Then they decided to make a trial of my powers. They placed 

 an invulnerable spirit-grizzly bear at one end of the lodge and sang 

 the songs that I was to use when I returned to earth. Then I walked 

 around the lodge holding a live coal in the palm of my hand and 

 danced around the fireplace saying wahi-! and striking the hand 

 containing the coal with my other hand. The invulnerable bear 

 fell forward prone upon the ground and a black substance flowed 



» This is commonly postulated of both the life ol the fishes and that of the snakes. 

 ' Helsprobablyrelerringtothefourearths. although it is, of course, possible that there were four heavens. 

 However, I never obtained the slightest indication of such a belief. 



