376 THE WINNEBAGO TRIBE [eth. ann. 37 



ancestors told their descendants, as it has passed down from mouth 

 to mouth to us, that whosoever pays careful attention to all that per- 

 tains to tliis ceremony, that whosoever has a good memory, he is the 

 one to whom it should be taught. Thus they spoke. 



"My son, you alone have been good to me," he said. "This cere- 

 mony you will learn. Our son, He-who-stands-on-a-cloud, and you 

 have been kind to me. Both of you will live a long life. Never 

 divide this ceremony in two. Never keep anything separate, but do, 

 the two of you, counsel about everything. If one of you knows any- 

 thing, tell it to the other. Two people are necessary to make the 

 ceremony truly efficacious for either one. Never dislike one another. 



"My younger brother, you are going to be a chief. No one else 

 pays attention to this ceremony. You alone are doing it. If at any 

 time I should leave your presence, when I am about to go I know that 

 you, oh my son and brother, I will leave behind me, peacefully travel- 

 ing along. Thus I will tliink as I am about to depart. Thus my 

 ancestors told me." 



Thus in trying to obtain information I made myself pitiable. 

 I tried to be blessed. I performed all kinds of work. Even woman's 

 work I did. Thus I kept myself in a pitiable condition, and for that 

 reason my brother-in-law blessed me. He blessed me with the cere- 

 mony of his ancestors. He told it to no one else but to me; and if 

 anyone else, at the present time, narrates the ceremony as told by 

 our band, he is not telling you the truth. Up to the present time this 

 ceremony was an Indian ceremony, and not a second time will I tell 

 it to a member of the white race. 



This ceremony molded me. I paid the most careful attention to 

 it ; I worshiped it in the best way I knew how. I was careful about 

 everything in my life. I never drank. A holy life it was that I 

 sought and most earnestly did I pray that I might live over again. 

 That is what I yearned for. If I do everything that this ceremony 

 enjoins upon me well, I will return to Earthmaker, they told me. 

 Tliis is what I wished. I was doing well as a medicine man and 

 everyone loved me. This ceremony was made with love. 



I knew all the songs. Indeed, the leader of the dance would make 

 me sing the songs for him. As many medicine men as there were, 

 they all liked me. I was not overbearing, but modestly did I com- 

 port myself right along. All the medicine men told me that I was 

 doing very well, and they offered thanks in my behalf. 



2. J. C.'s account of how he came to join the medicine dance: This 

 is how it was. A gi-andmother of mine was the cause of it. She said 

 that the Creator's son -' was called the Hare ; that he came on earth 

 and brought life, she said. She said that whoever did this would live 

 well, that their souls would always return to the place where the 



21 J. C. is a prominent member of the Peyote cult and, in common with other members of this cult, he 

 has identified the Hare with Christ. 



