Bowers] HIDATSA SOCIAL AND CEREMONIAL ORGANIZATION 233 



record of the village chief was as long as he gave an adequate per- 

 formance of this rite. If he were successful in warfare, that was so 

 much to the good. When the Hidatsa-proper and Awaxawi united 

 with the Awatixa to build Fishhook Village, we find duplicate and 

 competing bundles and chieftainship. Guts represented the Hidatsa- 

 proper and Poor Wolf the Awaxawi. They were equally proficient 

 in the performance of the rites. Poor Wolf had a good military 

 record but Guts was accused of bringing endless misfortune to any 

 war party that he accompanied. 



Four Dancers supplied the following account of his paternal grand- 

 father, Guts, which is reproduced here in condensed form to show 

 the group attitude toward one who was entitled to a high position 

 in the ceremonial life of the people but who had suffered considerable 

 embarrassment because of his bad luck in warfare. 



My grandfather, Guts, inherited the Earthnaming bundle while he was living 

 in Hidatsa village on the Knife River before the smallpox of 1837. Because he 

 got the bundle of his parents, he had the right to pray to all of the living things 

 on the earth. He was taught that in the beginning all the gods would meet at 

 the hole on top of Killdeer Mountains to sing. But he was never lucky in war- 

 fare; nine times he went out and succeeded in killing the enemy but nine times 

 when he was out, someone was killed by the enemies. It was not that he did 

 not try. During his earlier years he was one who wanted to succeed but later 

 when his son. Bobtail Bull, was old enough he sold his rights to my father for 

 my father was lucky at everything he did even though he followed the same 

 rules my grandfather gave him. Then the people looked to my father, for he 

 could pray to all the living things, and did not pay so much attention to Guts 

 when he talked for he had been unlucky. The people respected my father because 

 he could pray to all the living things. Poor Wolf was jealous and tried to find 

 something wrong with my father's record. The only thing he could find wrong 

 with my father was that he was younger than Poor Wolf. I think it would 

 have been better if there had been two villages; then there would not have been 

 this trouble between the two Earthnaming bundle owners. At last there was 

 so much jealousy that some of the people told my father that they would follow 

 him if he would find a new place to build. That was when we went to Fort 

 Buford about 1870. 



Guts liked to go on war expeditions, but it was strange — every time he went 

 out with a bunch, they always had bad luck. The others were afraid to go out 

 if he came along. So he would not be invited but he would wait 2 or 3 days 

 after the others had left and then he would join them. The others would not 

 like that but each time they would think that his bad luck must surely come to 

 an end sometime. 



One time 10 men went out with Big Bull as leader; this was from Knife River. 

 They went west and crossed the Badlands and Yellowstone River. They had a 

 good time eating the meat the scouts brought in. One day the scouts saw two 

 riders and came back to report. They painted up, fixed their sacred objects, 

 and then killed the two enemies. Eight men struck honors on the two enemies. 

 Big Bull was very happy and as they rode along, coming home, they sang the vic- 

 tory songs. 



They had killed the enemies early in the morning; at noon they stopped to fix 

 the scalps and eat. While the leader fixed the scalps on long poles, singing the 



