264 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 194 



it was the custom to marry when one had received first war honors. I did not 

 keep her but I married another shortly afterward. 



When I was 21 I killed a fat deer while we were in winter camp and called in 

 two of my "fathers," Poor Wolf and Sack who belonged to my father's clan. 

 Poor Wolf asked Sack to speak to me and he said, "There are many ways to become 

 a chief; some spend most of their time fasting and striking the enemy. When I 

 was a young man after the smallpox I went out fasting often. Once in my dreams 

 I saw a man so old that he could hardly get up and I expected to get that old. 

 Now that you have fed me, I would rather that you would be the old man instead 

 of me." 



I thanked him saying that I hoped I would be a lucky man, have a good home, 

 and live to become an old man. 



When I was just past 22 I thought that since I had seen the man with the 

 scalps on his leggings, I ought to go out to war and get the horses I had seen, 

 but my father tried to discourage me. He said, "I do not see any wounds where 

 you have been fasting much; I think you ought to do a great deal more fasting 

 and torturing of your body before you go out after those horses." 



He urged me not to take young men out but I was insistent. I said, "I think 

 I have done enough fasting and suffering. When I was 18, I dreamt of a man 

 with scalps on his legs and he was smoking and facing the wind. I think I have 

 the power now to succeed. I fasted at different places; one time I went out 120 

 nights to cry." 



He was not convinced but I went anyway. I picked young fellows of my age, 

 but a number of them could not go as their fathers did not like the idea. I took 

 12 young men my age and appointed Son-of-Star the chief of the scouts and 

 Wolf Ghost, Dog Bear, and Bluebird scouts. We followed the east bank of the 

 Missouri going downstream. North of Washburn the scouts found some horses 

 and colts, and a mule. Wolf Ghost and Bluebird both claimed the horses and 

 they disputed each other's claim to the first discovery so I said to them, "You 

 are trying to get ahead of each other; do not do that; in the future you will dis- 

 cover more horses." 



We went on, and opposite Standing Rock we found a horse grazing, so I sent the 

 scouts to take possession. They crossed to the west side where the enemy dis- 

 covered them so they brought in only one horse. I kept the horse that had been 

 taken from the camp because the scouts did not see it first; by that time the two 

 men had agreed on the division of the other horses. 



Not long afterwards I decided to go out for more of the horses that I had been 

 promised in my dreams. This time my father approved and said to me, "I 

 think you will be successful for on your last trip you showed that you have powers 

 from your dreams. Do not take too many along, for some of them might be 

 careless. If you had to hide from the enemy, a large party would be a handicap. 

 This time take some of my Wolf medicines. Before sending your scouts out, 

 pray to the Wolf to help you." 



Before I left, my father took down his sacred Wolf bundle, tied it on a long pole, 

 and hung it up outside. ^'' He wanted to find out what was going to happen. 

 He did this so he would get a dream that night. He burned some sweetgrass 

 and put the wolf hide in the smoke, singing this sacred Song of the Wolves, 

 "Whenever I need anything, I always say this." 



He said to Sunrise Wolf, "I want you to lead my son who is going out after the 

 enemies," and he sang a second holy song, "You are the holy ones; that is why 

 I say so." 



3' See myth of the Wolf Woman (pp. 412-415) for native beliefs that wolves talk to the bundle owners. 



