270 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 194 



was, for he had struck the enemy, had fasted much, and had cut his 

 own fingers off." 



We find the weight of tradition and public opinion bearing so 

 heavily on Wolf Chief that on the following year at the age of 17, 

 while the village was on the summer hunt and camping near Bear 

 Den Creek, he took the initiative and asked two of his father's clans- 

 men to officiate so that he could suffer near two hawks. His display 

 of bravery was commendable and the vision is understandable in 

 terms of native concepts of the raiu-making role of the large birds 

 of prey. It is significant that under no situation did Wolf Chief 

 request assistance from his own father in infficting self-torture. 

 Assumedly, one never tortured one's own son. 



The selection of Small Ankles as leader of the winter camp was an 

 important event for the Wolf Chief household. It was his father's 

 reward for living a good life, fasting, bundle purchases, and generosity. 

 At the time of his selection, the households paid him to lead them. 

 In this position, his pay for past services came back to him. Again 

 Wolf Chief fasted, not from direct compulsion, but from "proof" that 

 it paid good dividends; his father was even living a better life now 

 that he was leader of the winter camp. 



We find Wolf Chief addressing appeals to the moon because the 

 moon is one of the above-world spirits associated with the big birds 

 and the thunderbird appealed to on a former occasion when fasting 

 at Bear Den Creek. All of these spirits were associated with war- 

 fare through the sacred arrows and rainmaking rites associated 

 with thunder and lightning. Due to the severity of winter fasting, 

 a 4-month period of vision seeking at that time represented great 

 self-denial. Coming at a time when the father was winter camp 

 leader, he contributed immensely to his father's status; still he could 

 not remember that his father had assisted him in interpreting his 

 dreams. We find his dreams reflecting his personal ambitions to own 

 many horses and to be a war leader. Without the aid of others, he 

 interpreted the vision of a man with feathers and scalps to signify 

 that he would strike his enemies (from the presence of the feathers), 

 and that he would be a war leader (because he had seen scalps). 



The next year Wolf Chief dreamed, without fasting, of four concentric 

 frames surrounding his father's sacred bundles. At a loss to under- 

 stand the dream's meaning, although he believed there was some 

 sacred significance attached to it, he called on his father for an inter- 

 pretation. Although Wolf Chief described the wooden fence as 

 similar to the enclosure for the fishtrap, his father interpreted the 

 fence to be that of the temporary enclosure erected for the "walking" 

 ceremony. This dream greatly influenced Wolf Chief's later behavior, 

 for Small Ankles further interpreted the dream as meaning that Wolf 



