Dramatic Elements in American Indian Ceremonials 35 



and she heard the roll of the thunder, — a sound which summoned all per- 

 sons consecrated to this god to bring their offerings and to pay their vows. 

 Then she remembered what she had promised; but her heart forbade her 

 to lay the infant, which was smiling in her arms, upon the cloud-swept 

 hill-top. She pressed the baby to her breast, and waited in silence the 

 passing of the god in the storm. 



" The following spring, when the first thunder pealed, she did not forget 

 her vow ; but she could not gather strength to fulfill it. 



"Another year passed, and again the thunder sounded. Taking the tod- 

 dling child by the hand, the mother climbed the hill; and, when the top 

 was reached, she placed it on the ground and fled. But the boy scrambled 

 up and ran after her, and his frightened cry stayed her feet. He caught 

 her garments and clung to them; and although the thunder called, she 

 could not obey. Her vow had been made before she knew the strength of 

 a mother's love. 



"Gathering the boy into her arms, she hid herself and him^ from the pres- 

 ence of the god. The storm passed, and the mother and child returned 

 to the lodge; but fear had taken possession of her, and she watched her 

 son with eyes in which terror and love struggled for the mastery. 



" One day, as the little one played beside a rippling brook, laughing and 

 singing in his glee, suddenly the clouds gathered, the flashing lightning 

 and crashing thunder sent beast and bird to cover, and drove the mother 

 out to find her child. She heard his voice above the fury of the storm, 

 calling to her. As she neared the brook, a vivid flash blinded her eyes. 

 For a moment she was stunned; but, recovering, she pushed on, only to 

 be appalled by the sight that met her gaze. Her boy lay dead. The thun- 

 der god had claimed his own. 



" No other children came to lighten the sorrow of the lonely woman ; 

 and every spring, when the first thunder sounded, and whenever the storm 

 swept the land, this stricken woman cHmbed the hills, and there standing 

 alone, facing the black rolling clouds, she sang her song of sorrow and 

 of fealty : — • 



Edho he ! ^ 



" Behold ! on their mighty pinions flying, 



They come, the gods come once more 



Sweeping o'er the land. 



Sounding their call to me, to me their own. 



Wa-gi-un \^ Ye on mighty pinions flying, 



Look on me here, me your own. 



Thinking on my vow 



As ye return once more, Wa-gi-un !" 



''■ Sighing vocables. 

 ^Dakota term for the thunder bird. 



411 



