310 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 194 



repeated dreams relating to the ceremony, he should not be denied 

 the right to give the ceremony. Such was the case whereby Knife 

 bought the Long Arm rights from Porcupine Pemmican, his classi- 

 ficatory father. A man volunteered to perform the ceremony after 

 receiving a vision interpreted by the older men of the father's clan 

 as an instruction from the gods above. Actually, young men often 

 had visions relating to the gods above which were never interpreted 

 as signifying instructions to perform the ceremony because their 

 fathers did not possess rights in the NaxpikE. Likewise, young 

 men eligible by inheritance frequently did not experience appro- 

 priate dreams. When Wolf Chief dreamed of Charred Body, his 

 father's clansmen interpreted the dream as an instruction that he 

 would be a successful eagle trapper since his father had rights in 

 those ceremonies. When Crows Heart dreamed of the big birds of the 

 sky possessing the supernatural powers of the arrows, the "fathers" 

 interpreted the dream to mean that he was to buy Big Black's Thunder 

 rites. 



However, such was not the case when Good Bear reported a vision 

 he received during a performance of the NaxpikE. His widow, Mrs. 

 Good Bear, provided the following information concerning the pre- 

 liminaries to pledging the ceremony: 



Sitting Elk was giving the NaxpikE and Good Bear was fasting in the lodge with 

 the other young men. He would get up and dance each time with the other young 

 men. During the second and third days while the torturing was on, young 

 men who wanted sticks through their skin paid with calicoes and other valuable 

 things to have their "fathers" pray for them and put the sticks through. Good 

 Bear was poor and had nothing to pay with for his mother was dead. When his 

 father remarried, the new wife did not want him so he was taken by Poor Wolf, 

 his mother's brother, to raise. 



Poor Wolf came to him and said, "You should go up to the post and have your 

 breast cut; that is the way to have good dreams." 



Good Bear said, "I would like to but I have nothing to pay with for I am poor." 

 Poor Wolf said that all clan brothers should help each other so he went for cooked 

 corn and calicoes. 



He said, "Go to Porcupine Pemmican who belongs to your father's clan and say 

 'I want to run around the post and suffer like Spring Boy did up in the sky.' " 



Porcupine Pemmican took the cooked corn to the singers and kept the calicoes. 

 He said, "My son, come and sit against the post in the center." 



Good Bear was painted white with clay brought from Knife River. Porcupine 

 Pemmican sang his sacred songs while he painted Good Bear again with the clay. 

 Good Bear shivered as though he were cold. Then Porcupine Pemmican called 

 two young men to do the actual cutting for him and gave each of them a piece 

 of the calico. Porcupine Pemmican said, "Good luck will come to you, my son. 

 The first fight you are in, you will strike a Sioux," and the two men pierced the 

 flesh when Porcupine Pemmican said "Sioux." The sticks were tied to the hide 

 hanging down from the post and he was given a whistle. All the fasters stood 

 up and danced through four songs. He ran and swung around the post, some- 

 times swinging nearly to the roof. When he was exhausted, Porcupine Pemmican 



