294 THE WINNEBAGO TBIBE [eth. ax.\. 37 



If he (my father) blessed a man he would do as follows: He would 

 take his bow and arrows and, holding them in both of his hands, 

 take the man around the hill and then into the lodge (i. e., into the 

 hiU). There he and the man he wished to bless let their breath 

 pass into the middle of the lodge (i. e., into the hill). There stood 

 a stone pillar and upon this stone pillar, at about arm's length, he 

 drew the pictures of different animals. My father had only one 

 arrow, but that arrow was a holy one. Then my father danced 

 around the stone pillar and sang some songs, and when he was finished 

 he began to breathe upon the stone pillar; and, walking around it, 

 he shot it. When he looked at it, he saw that the stone had turned 

 into a deer with large horns. This deer fell dead at his feet. He 

 repeated this a number of times and the little spirits who were fol- 

 lowing him breathed with him and said, "Winnebago, whenever you 

 wish to kill a deer with one horn, do as you have done here. Then 

 offer tobacco to us and you will be able to obtain whatever you 

 wish." 



"Now, my son, I want you to be able to do as I do. I want you 

 to be able to kill deer whenever you wish, and at any particular time." 

 My father was a very good hunter and I wanted to be very much 

 like him. I knew that what he was saying was true and that it 

 would be good to follow his advice. I was also told that if I traveled 

 around the hill where these spirits lived, then all earthly things 

 would agree with me and that I would be the gainer thereby. If I 

 did this, they told me, then I would never suffer any pains in my 

 body and I would never be troubled in any way. 



And this they told me about the ghost village — that when I go 

 there I will be able to steal a costly shawl from the spirits and be 

 able to escape with it; that then all the inhabitants of the ghost 

 village would chase me, but that they would not be able to over- 

 take me and would be compelled to turn back as soon as I reached 

 the earth. In tliis ghost village there are no grown-up children.' 



Now, all that I have spoken of, I dreamed. I really dreamed 

 that I was stealing a costly shawl and that I would have plenty of 

 them all the time. I dreamed that I would obtain ten or even more 

 shawls in one j'ear and that I would not have to pay anything for 

 them. What the spu-its meant by shawls was supplies. However, 

 all this took place before I ate the peyote. Since then I know that 

 these tilings were not true, and that what I must depend upon is not 

 supernatural power, but myself, and my own endeavors. Super- 

 natural powers do not come from anywhere. They do not exist at 

 all. The blessings I had received were not holy and I am not holy. 



' He is evTdently referring to the spirit home of the Herok'a, or Those-who-cry-like-babies. 



