Bowers] HIDATSA SOCIAL AND CEREMONIAL ORGANIZATION 239 



the enemy. This they did to frighten the Hidatsa boys so that they would not 

 be brave. The Hidatsa all thought that they would surely not be able to save 

 their lives. 



When the Sioux were all properly painted to show their honors and medicines, 

 the battle began. Three Coyotes picked out his two best men to be at the corners. 

 One was Black Shield; he was a good shot. His medicine was the gun and when- 

 ever he fired it, he was sure to get something. The arrows flew toward the wash- 

 out in great curves like grasshoppers dropping into the grass. 



Before the battle. Black Shield wet some gunpowder and painted his face; 

 he put white cloth on his head and white paint on his lips and eyes just as he had 

 seen these things in his dream. He had a young man beside him who loaded 

 the gun each time. They agreed to make a great noise each time an enemy was 

 killed so that the enemy would be afraid to come into the fort. Each time Black 

 Shield shot, an enemy was killed; then they came closer to get their dead for fear 

 the Hidatsa would go out and scalp them. After a while, one of the Hidatsa 

 would go out of the fort, shoot an enemy, and run back. Just as he went out, a 

 Prairie Dog Owl flew above him and the others knew that he was not shot because 

 this bird was his god. 



When the dead were taken back to camp, the Hidatsa could hear the relatives 

 crying. All the while the older Hidatsa would repeat to the young men who had 

 not been out before, "They will cut your scalps off, but be brave and do not cry." 



While the Sioux were taking back their dead, the Hidatsa painted themselves 

 anew for they knew that the enemy were not done fighting. They could not 

 leave the fort or the Sioux would run them down. During the lull in the fighting. 

 Guts said to a friend, "Let's go up on top of the hill and sing our war songs. I 

 think there are some Sioux women who can hear us from there." 



So they went up on the hill and sang their war songs and when they had finished, 

 the Sioux howled in recognition of their bravery. Then the Sioux sang their war 

 songs for the Hidatsa who were showing such bravery. 



Then the two Sioux bands went together. They knew then that their enemy 

 was brave so the Sioux selected a man who impersonated a bear, and could not 

 be shot through, to lead for he was so brave. He was their greatest medicine 

 man. The Bear man was ahead and Black Shield would shoot at him but he 

 would not fall down. Then Black Shield knew that the Bear man really had 

 great supernatural powers. When Black Shield had dreamed of the gun, his gods 

 had told him if his life was ever in extreme danger he should hold the gun to the 

 north, pour powder from his left ear, shot from the right ear, and put the powder 

 and shot in the gun while he sang the song that should be used only in extremely 

 critical situations. 



So Black Shield did. He shot at the Bear medicine man who fell down. Black 

 Shield shouted so the enemy could hear, "You were foolish; you didn't have any 

 power. You should have known that mine was greater." 



When the Bear man fell, the Sioux stopped fighting and took his body away, for 

 they did not want to give the Hidatsa the honor of scalping their holiest man. 

 Then the Sioux set the prairie on fire so that the smoke would cover their advance. 

 Some of the enemy went onto the hill where Guts had sung the war songs. They 

 hit the sickly young man who had been filling Black Shield's gun and one other 

 but the Sioux would not attack the fort. Again the fighting stopped. The 

 Sioux dragged their dead away so that they could not be scalped and as word got 

 around in their camp, the women set up a loud howl as they cried for their dead 

 relatives. 



The Hidatsa were tired and thought that they would surely lose their lives the 

 next time. There was brush about a mile away. Some thought they could run 



