Bowers] HIDATSA SOCIAL AND CEREMONIAL ORGANIZATION 335 



than a mile southeast of the Holding Eagle home in the Fort Berthold Res- 

 ervation.] 



Grandson learns that it is a large snake, Old-Woman-Who-Never- Dies' husband, 

 who consumes the food placed back of the curtains, so he kills him. The large 

 snake is placed in Short Missouri which from that time on, though it had no 

 inlet or outlet, never went dry."" 



One day Grandson observes that his grandmother is bathing in the river. 

 Each time she submerges and comes up again she is a little younger. The fourth 

 time she comes up as a young woman. This way she never grows old and dies. 

 Then he knows that she is the one who has control of the vegetation, causing it 

 to grow each year when the water birds come north and the snakes appear.^i 



She comes to fear her grandson for he has killed her husband. Grandson drinks 

 water while lying on his stomach and the snake from Red Hill enters his body, 

 going up into his head. Moon asks Thunderbird, Wolf, and Sun to assist him in 

 freeing their son from the snake. ^^ Grandson is freed from the snake and punishes 

 him by rubbing his nose with a sandstone until Snake agrees to be harmless and 

 never to disturb people again if the rest of his face is spared.'' 



Two Men come along and butcher a buffalo for Old-Woman-Who-Never-Dies 

 but Grandson, who is helping them butcher, sees a foetus in the buffalo which 

 frightens him so he climbs into a tree. Long after this Two Men discover 

 Grandson dead in the tree and restore him to life. 



Two Men ask Grandson to inform his grandmother that they will bring super- 

 natural powers to Grandson by "walking" with the grandmother. Grandmother 

 tells her grandson that Two Men have endeavored to marry her but she has always 

 refused them for they travel around all the time as the arrows. She, however, 

 can't do that for she is the custodian of the gardens and must stay in one place. 



She informs her grandson that Two Men are bringing the Sacred Arrow ceremony 

 and that during the ceremony he must select the oldest bow and arrows if he wants 

 the ones with the greatest supernatural powers. [This section of the myth pro- 

 vides the setting for the origin of the Arrow rites as well as relating them to Old- 

 Woman-Who-Never-Dies rites.] 



Grandmother dresses one of her helpers, a white-tailed deer, to impersonate 

 her, putting two small pumpkins in the dress to provide the form of the breasts. 

 Then Old-Woman-Who-Never-Dies hides until the ceremony ends. 



Grandson calls for all the gods to come and they appear. First Creator agrees 

 to be Waiter if Two Men will invite him. During the rites, each of the gods takes 

 the deer outside for intercourse but First Creator, who is last, is suspicious and 

 does not think he had intercourse with the real Old-Woman-Who-Never-Dies. 

 Grandson takes the oldest bow and arrow which is the holiest one so Two Men 

 are not so lucky afterward in hunting. 



Grandmother is angry at Two Men because they asked to "walk" with her. 

 She has a sacred whistle which she uses to bring rain for her gardens but which 

 brings storms and snow if blown at other times. 6* Since the whistle, when blowna 



w This body of water within the valley of the Missouri rises and falls according to the level of the Missouri. 

 It was a sacred shrine for both the Mandan and Hidatsa, particularly those who sought supernatural assist • 

 ance in growing gardens. Both men and women fasted there. Crow Indians also fasted and made offerings 

 here when passing through. 



61 She is one of the original characters who, like First Creator and Village Old Woman, were not created 

 by any other god but who were in existence at the first creation. She occupies the same position as "goddess" 

 of vegetation that Village Old Woman did as "goddess" of the females of the animal species. 



'* Note that the four are considered brothers, and fathers to Grandson. 



«• He is also introduced into numerous medicine bundles to the Snakes. 



M This whistle from the sunflower stalk is a part of all Old-Woman-Who-Never-Dies bundles and was 

 used to bring rains while the crops were growing. 



