34 Virginia Shropshire Heath 



a bow and arrow ; but these he is forbidden to use, no matter how 

 hungry he may become. Their function is to teach him the power- 

 ful lesson of endurance and self-restraint. During this time, 

 he must pray for strength to Wakon da, " the great power," not 

 to the lesser powers such as the sun, the moon, the. stars, or the 

 earth. This prayer is an " appeal for help throughout life." 



"You are to go forth to cry to Wakon' da — 'Wakon' da! here, 

 needy he stands and I am he,' " the Sacred Legend enjoins. 

 " When on the hills, you shall not ask for any particular thing. 

 The answer may not come to you as you expect ; whatever is 

 good, that may Wakon' da give." 



At the end of the four days, as a final supplication, the youth must 

 " wipe his tears with the palms of his hands and lift his wet hands 

 to the sky, then lay them to the earth." 



This much of the symbolic role, that must be played at least 

 once by every Omaha youth and may be performed by any Omaha 

 maid, is all that need be cited here. The fatal import of the 

 sacred vow, made upon this occasion, constitutes its chief dramatic 

 significance. Were an audience present at this realistically sym- 

 bolic trial of man, a parallel might be drawn between it and the 

 morality play of " Every Man." But this audience is not present. 

 The vow, however, is made all the more terribly binding, perhaps, 

 on account of the absence of human witnesses. 



In the light of the Omaha rites of the individual, especially the 

 consecration of the life of the boy to Thunder together with the 

 later period of prayer and pledge on the lonely hills, turn to 

 Miss Fletcher's account of "The Mother's Vow."® This is a 

 Dakota story ; but the close blood relation and common religious 

 practices of the Omaha and the Dakota make this application en- 

 tirely feasible. 



" In the early part of the century a Dakota woman fasted and prayed, 

 and Thunder came to her in her vision. To the god she promised to 

 give her first-born child. When she became a mother she forgot in her 

 joy that the life of her Httle one did not belong to her; nor did she recall 

 her fateful vow until one bright spring day, when the clouds gathered 



^ See Fletcher, Indian Story and Song from North America. 



410 



