454 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 194 



On the fourth night Buffalo Woman noticed that Sun and Moon were near the 

 entrance. As soon as Sun stepped inside, Buffalo Woman said to him, "I am 

 your granddaughter. Why didn't you come before, you are the greatest god. 

 We will go outside, for you are my grandfather." 



Sun did not want intercourse with her, claiming that she was already his "grand- 

 daughter" but he could not refuse in such situations when the daughter-in-law 

 insisted. Males have less will power than females in sexual matters. So Buffalo 

 Woman became Sun's "granddaughter" again. 



When Sun was ready to leave her, she seized him and said, "You are the greatest 

 god. I will not let you go unless you promise me that you will deliver those 12 

 villages for us." Sun hesitated and she continued, "Why don't you say something; 

 you are my grandfather now and have had advantage of me." 



Sun was sad, saying, "I will promise you those villages but I do not like to see 

 j^ou kill off those people for my 'son' is there. Since you are now my 'grand- 

 daughter,' I must promise you the villages." As they walked back toward the 

 village Sun added, "I adopted a son in one of those villages and now I will have 

 to eat him along with the other people." 



When they returned to the lodge, the holy people placed Sun on the west side 

 of the door which was the weakest side. They had pemmican hanging over Sun's 

 head. When Buffalo Woman told the people that Sun was eating, the people 

 struck coups on him with sticks just as they did to their enemies, for Sun had lost 

 his supernatural powers to Buffalo Woman when he had intercourse with her. 

 Then the people set fire to the ceremonial lodge at many points so that the light 

 shone over the whole world. 



Next day Buffalo Woman announced, "It will be either tomorrow or the next 

 day that you will kill them, for Sun has promised me those 12 villages." She 

 painted all the buffalo skulls red and faced them towards the south. While she 

 painted, she sang her holy song, saying, "I do not think any of you will be killed, 

 but you will kill all of your enemies." She used the song that kept the buffaloes 

 near the village. 



When the 12 villages of enemies came, the people saw that Sun's "son" was the 

 leader. He was painted red over his entire body; he wore a piece of rawhide 

 around his head and light sage in his hair. The enemy were all killed back to the 

 leader. When the leader was killed, they found that his spinal cord was choke- 

 cherry wood. They had difficulty cutting the head off. One man promised that 

 he would take the head to the Missouri as an offering to the Grandfather snake, 

 who once was one of the Two Men, if 100 enemies had been killed. The leader 

 was the 100th killed, so the head was offered to the snake at a point where the 

 Knife River entered the Missouri. Sun came down from the sky and demanded 

 the head but Grandfather snake refused for he could not give back what had been 

 promised him. Sun found a puffball and white sage to use for head and hair. 

 His son stood up four times but fell to the ground each time. Then Sun went off 

 crying. The people had won their game. 



The rites as performed by Wolf Chief about 1870 differed slightly 

 from performances witnessed by Maximilian prior to the epidemic 

 of 1837. The number of red sticks had been increased from 6 to 12 

 due to the union of two identical bundles, one from Hidatsa and 

 the other from Awaxawi. Also, informants sometimes spoke of 

 6 bulls carrying red sticks but on other occasions even the same 

 informants mentioned 12. It would appear that the sacred myth 

 originally mentioned 6 bull participants but that after the villages 



