176 BUKEAIT OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull, 99 



If Snakes Have Bitten Them, This is the Medicine 



FREE TRANSLATION 



Ya! Ha! now, Black Snake, they have caused thee to come down, 

 it seems. The snake (that has bitten him) is only a ghost, it seems. 

 They have caused thee to come down, it seems. 



The ever-living bones, the ever-living teeth it has advanced 

 toward him,^ it seems. It was only a black snake that laid itself 

 about the trail, it seems. But right now, it feigned to bite thee,'^° 

 it seems. Its track would never be found (it thought). 



But now the ever-living bones have been made weak; thou ^^ art 

 now in such a condition. There has been hesitation (on thy^^ part) 

 it seems. Ha! now thou ^^ hast become faltering. 



But*at this very moment you Two Little Men, you Two Powerful 

 Wizards, they have caused you two to come down. It was a black 

 snake, it seems, but the snake is merely a ghost (and) it has feigned 

 to put the disease under bim,^° it seems; (it thought) its track would 

 never be found. But now you two have come to take it away. 

 Where the black boxes are, you two have gone to store it up. As 

 soon as you two have turned round, relief will have been caused at 

 the same time. 



Rattlesnake Fern is the medicine. It is merely to be blown on 

 them. The symptoms are that they dream that snakes have bitten 

 them. And they (the snakes) usually cause it to be the same (as if 

 they had really bitten them) ; poplar should be used A-^dth it. 



EXPLANATION 



The sickness for which this formula is intended is a form of 

 nightmare, resulting from some irregularity in regard to eating. 

 The symptoms and the theory of the disease are well set forth 

 in the formula itself, which abounds in poetic expressions. Accord- 

 ing to the theory, as is stated in the prescription, when one 

 dreams that he has been bitten by a snake the result is just the 

 same as that of an actual snakebite. [The treatment, however, is 

 different (see Formula No. 47, p. 240).l If the patient does not 

 submit himself to the treatment as here prescribed, the spot bitten in 

 his dream will become red and ulcerate [maybe months or] perhaps 

 years afterwards, and the victim will become ill with all the symp- 

 toms of an actual snakebite. The same rule holds good in all other 

 cases, dreams being regarded as prophecies of coming facts. [See 

 p. 40.1 There are other formulas for treating other classes of 

 snake dreams. These nightmare dreams are very frequent wdth 

 the Indians in consequence of bad cookery, late suppers, and irregular 

 hours. 



2" The patient, ^i Disease-snake. 



