456 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 194 



Now this dream has been given to you by your grandfathers, the skulls. That 

 dream means that you are going to give the 'walking ceremony' four times and 

 your wives will walk with your 'fathers.' You are going to live to be an old man 

 for the last circle of sticks is old and broken-down." 



I thought I would give the ceremony as soon as I married. When I was 19 

 years old, the Sioux attacked the village and my horse was shot. After the 

 battle, the men of the Waterbuster clan, my "fathers," sang the honor songs 

 because I was brave. Several girls tried to marry me but I married a Mandan 

 girl I had been watching. 



I did not know the best way to bring up the matter with her since my wife was 

 quite 3''Oung so I went to my father for advice. My father thought that we 

 should consult my mother. She talked to the girl and the girl's mother and 

 they agreed, saying that it would make me a better husband and we would be 

 together always. 



The girl's brother said, "It is a great thing for it is hard to do. If he puts you 

 in the ceremonies that way, it will be all the better for you since it is like giving 

 you to the gods to care for." 



My wife thought that by helping in the ceremony, I showed affection for her 

 and would not divorce her. 



Small Ankles instructed me that in making the vow publicly, I should say, "I 

 am promising to kindle the fire and give you the light. I will make feasts for 

 my fathers all over the world. I want to see my people provided with enough 

 food for a good living." 



He instructed me to go to Bobtail Bull, carrying a tubular red pipe and to say, 

 "My father, I want to put up the lodge for aU the gods and send the light out for all 

 the gods." " 



Bobtail Bull replied, "It is a hard thing to do. Only a few men can do it. I 

 did not do much fasting but I made up for it by giving my wives. Now I am a 

 chief and every time I go out, I win over my enemies because I have given the 

 ceremony. You are going to have a good home and plenty to eat. I will have 

 my announcer give the news to the village. In the evening I will call the men 

 who have the right to attend and give each a red stick." 



Bobtail Bull selected the following men, all members of the Black Mouth 

 society to which he also belonged: Hairy Coat; Crows Breast; Wolf Eyes; Crows 

 Arm; Son-of-Star; Lean Bull; Two Shields; Red Feather; Bear Necklace; Wolf 

 Grass; and Walking Chief. He selected the following individuals as officers: 

 Guts, the announcer; " Bobtail Bull, the singer; Wolf Chief, the pledger of rites 

 to the buffalo bulls; Wolf Chief's wife, the Buffalo Woman; Small Ankles, inter- 

 preter of the dream; Poor Wolf, bad luck as symbolized by the Sun impersonator; 

 clan sisters to Wolf Chief, wood carriers; Two Shields, the First Creator 

 impersonator. 



We made the lodge of cottonwood trunks and branches with the opening to the 

 south and within the open circle of the village where the Mandans held their 

 Okipa and other summer ceremonies. The lodge consisted only of a wall with 

 posts dug into the ground and the spaces between filled with small branches. 

 There was no roof. 



«* He could have gone to Poor Wolf who was also singer for the ceremony. Both Bobtail Bull and Poor 

 Wolf were "fathers"; Bobtail Bull because he belonged to the opposite moiety from Wolf Chief who belonged 

 to the Prairie Chicken clan, and Poor Wolf who belonged to the same clan as Wolf Chief's father. Small 

 Ankles sent htm to Bobtail Bull because both belonged originally at Hidatsa village before the union 

 of villages. 



»» Father of Bobtail Bull and former owner of the Earthnaming bundle which he relinquished to his son 

 after suffering numerous misfortunes. 



