386 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [»«"• 194 



promised to lend assistance. The parents wanted my mother to stay in the lodge 

 overnight for it was then that she got frightened, thinking she would die, and got 

 worse. My mother said, "I gave the girl some water. She swallowed some of it 

 so I think I will stay over there tonight. I can tell better in the morning whether 

 she will recover." 



I did not see how she doctored for I was not there. Next day my mother came 

 back and said "I felt of her stomach and I could tell that there was a pulse toward 

 the back of the stomach on both sides. I kneaded the stomach and it seemed that 

 one side is getting better. If it improves, I think she will recover." 



She came back the second day and my father inquired if the girl had eaten 

 anything and my mother said, "She would not eat yesterday, but today she 

 wanted roasted corn and I gave her some." 



Small Ankles, my father, was also a good doctor for he had a dream from the 

 bear and buffalo but he could not doctor for his neighbors, only his own children. 

 He did not like to doctor others, for in his dream he was doctoring his own children. 

 Since he and Bear-Looks-Out both belonged to the Waterbuster clan, the sick 

 girl was also Small Ankles "daughter" so he thought it would be all right since 

 Strikes-Many- Woman thought she would recover. 



He said, "I will go along with you this time and help you a little." 



She said, "Yes, you come along and help me for I think I can cure her. I felt 

 of her stomach near the backbone and it seems that it is getting soft on one side." 



My father went to his bundles and I heard him praying to them. Then my 

 parents went off together. When they got there my father said, "I am not a 

 regular doctor but I will help, for in my dream I saw myself doctoring. If I see 

 that she is going to get well, I will stay with her and help her along." 



Bear-Looks-Out's family was glad and promised a good horse. He began 

 doctoring by telling what he had seen in his dream from the bear. He sang the 

 holy song the bear had sung and blew water over the girl. He did this four times 

 and the sick girl sat up, saying, "I am well now and can eat. I would like to 

 have some chokecherries." 



It was hard to find the cherries for this happened just before the cherries were 

 ripe. The women went out through the village and found some dried cherries 

 from the preceding year's crop. They left the berries near his sacred bundle. 



Small Ankles talked to the bundle, saying, "I saw you in my dream and you 

 taught me how to doctor and I am doing that now. You showed me how to 

 doctor with the chokecherries." 



He sent some young men who had come in to go out and bring in some branches 

 with the cherries and leaves on, for he was going to mix these cherries and leaves 

 into a mash, cook it, and feed her. While the cherries were cooking, he burned an 

 incense from cedar for that went with the bears who live in the cedar thickets. 

 He chewed up the cherries and leaves while singing the bear song and, addressing 

 the bear, he said, "I would like to see this sick girl lie down stretched out on her 

 back." 



He stood at her feet, sang the holy song, and, directing her to open her mouth, 

 put the mixture on her tongue. 



She chewed it and said, " I am eating fresh chokecherries." 



Small Ankles said, "That is fine. You are going to get well because you have 

 eaten the new chokecherries. How do you feel?" 



She said, "It seems that I have new life and can carry myself around," 



Small Ankles told the women that they should give her some food and that her 

 mother should feed her. She began to feed herself shortly afterward while, 

 before that time, she could not lift her hands. She sat up and ate the food by 

 herself. 



