Bowers] HIDATSA SOCIAL AND CEREMONIAL ORGANIZATION 411 



The wolf called all the other wolves and they met. They resolved to go to the 

 camp and free the young man. They traveled as wolves and changed themselves 

 into humans as they approached the deserted camp. 



Chief of the Wolves said, "We heard about you and we came over here to help 

 you." They cut the rawhide cords and doctored him until he was well again. 



The leader said, "This is a Wolf ceremony. You have seen how we paint our 

 bodies and wear caps made of coyote skins. There are raven feathers on our 

 heads. There is only one kind of white clay to use. We will go west to the 

 place where this clay falls down from the sky. Use that for paint when performing 

 the ceremony." 



They took the young man west with them. On their way the young man 

 heard something roaring as it came down from the sky. 



The leader said, "When giving the ceremony, someone must come here to get 

 the white clay to paint their bodies with. You will be retu rning home now but 

 in a year come out this way with your warriors. You will fi nd a camp and your 

 wife will be among them. I will give you 100 enemies to destroy. You will 

 take your wife but you do not have to keep her. When you perform these 

 ceremonies, there must be two brothers dressed alike." 



"You will have coyote skins tied around your wrists. Use the head from a 

 coyote skin for your cap; wear split raven feathers on top of your head; sew a 

 coyote tail on the cap so that it will hang down the back of your neck. You will 

 carry two canes and on them there will be four marks. Paint your body with 

 the clay we showed you. When you are having these ceremonies, have a bowl 

 of clean water and red grass from the hills ready. Dip the grass in the water. 

 The water is sacred. The grass is sacred too. You will us e that for the ceremonies 

 as well as for doctoring. There is also a song to the old female wolf." 



Then the wolf showed him the canes saying, "These canes will represent the 

 two posts set in the ground where you hung, and the fo ur marks will indicate the 

 four days that you suffered. Tie a coyote tail to the top of each cane. You will 

 have a mound formed to represent yourself and the people will dance around the 

 mound just as they danced around you. These canes will be used by old people 

 and they will live long because they will use them to brace themselves." 



"On the last day the Holy Woman society will clean the dance grounds and dig 

 out the little cacti for the f asters are hungry on the last day and may fall down. 

 You must sing the song 100 times on the last day. Since we promised you 100 

 enemies you must select one man to sit in the middle and keep track of the singing. 

 When the song has been sung 100 times, he will say 'stop.' While the men are 

 dancing and running around the mound the women must stand around waving 

 their robes as though driving the enemy away. You can go out with us and we 

 will have a feast before you go back, for you have been fasting now for 4 days." 



The Wolves went out and killed a buffalo. This was the beginning of the 

 ceremony. He reached his home at Knife River. During the winter he made 

 arrows all the time and gave them to the old men who trimmed them and passed 

 them on either to their sons or sons-in-law living with them for these younger 

 people were the ones who would use them. When the arrows were all completed, 

 his helper gave them back to him. He blessed them and made arrow ceremonies 

 for them. He gave them to the brave warriors and they in turn gave them to 

 their sons or sons-in-law. 



He married one of the best young women in the village. Then he was ready 

 to give the Wolf ceremony. When the ceremony had ended he told the people 

 that the next time they went out on the buffalo hunt they should kill many old 

 buffalo bulls to get their hides from the shoulder and neck for shields. He 

 directed them to cut out round pieces from the hides, spread them on the ground, 



