DENSMORE— TETON SIOUX MUSIC 



After this dream my stronghold was in the east, but the west was also a source 

 from which I could get help. All the birds and insects which I had seen in my 

 dream were things on which I knew I should keep my mind and learn their ways. 

 When the season returns, the birds and insects return with the same colorings 

 as the previous year. They are not all on the earth, but are above it. My mind 

 must be the same. The elk is brave, always helping the women, and in that way 

 the elk has saved a large proportion of his tribe. In this I should follow the elk, 

 remembering that the elk, the birds, and the insects are my helpers. I never 

 killed an elk nor ate its flesh. The birds that continually fly in the air I would 

 not kill. I may kill water birds and grass birds if suited for food, but only these. 



Among the Teton Sioux a dream of the thunderbirds was con- 

 sidered the greatest honor which could come to a man from the 

 supernatural. The manner in which the thunderbirds were regarded 

 is indicated by the following statement by an old and particularly 

 thoughtful member of the tribe, named Shooter, who said: 



Dreamers have told us of these great birds in the sky, enwrapped in the 

 clouds. If the bear and other vicious beasts are regarded as dangerous, how 

 much more should we fear the thunderbirds that cause destruction on the face 

 of the earth. It is said that the thunderbirds once came to the earth in the form 

 of giants. These giants did wonderful things, such as digging the ditches where 

 the rivers run. At last they died of old age, and their spirits went again to the 

 clouds and resumed their form as thunderbirds. While they were on earth the 

 rain fell without sound of thunder or flash of lightning, but after their return to 

 the sky the lightning came — it is the flash of their eyes, and the thunder is the 

 sound of their terrible song. When they are angry the lightning strikes a rock or 

 tree as a warning to men. The bodies of these giants became stone, and parts of 

 them are found in many places; indeed the whole body of more than one of these 

 giants has been found in the land of the Dakotas. 



Two dreams of the thunderbirds were related to the writer by men 

 who dreamed them, and in both instances the thunderbirds assumed 

 the form of men riding on horses. A dream from which a man received 

 his name is considered of special importance. The following dream 

 of the thunderbirds, by Charging Thunder, is such a dream. 



In narrating his dream of the thunderbird, Charging Thunder 

 (pi. il) said: 



Soon after the Standing Rock Agency was established I asked the agent (an 

 Army officer) if I might go hunting. I said that before I settled down and adopted 

 the ways of the white man I would like to go hunting for an indefinite length of 

 time. Permission was granted, and I went out alone. As I was going north, near 

 Timber lake, I saw a deer coming toward me from the north. I wanted to shoot 

 the animal, but thought I would wait until it came nearer. The deer must have 

 come very slowly, for while I was waiting I fell asleep and dreamed. In this 

 dream I saw the deer still coming toward me, and behind it were several men 

 riding on painted horses with grass tied on their forelocks. The riders seemed to 

 be pursuing some object. I became one of these riders, and they told me to lead 



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