DENSMORE— TETON SIOUX MUSIC 



wana'kapi kte you shall behold 



sito'mniyan everyone 



waku'wapi ktelo' shall pursue 



To dream of a small stone was regarded by the Teton Sioux as 

 a sign of great import, indicating that the dreamer, by fulfilling the 

 requirements of his dream, would become possessed of supernatural 

 power, in the exercise of which he would use the sacred stones. This 

 power would be shown in an ability to cure sickness, to predict future 

 events, and to tell the location of objects that were beyond the 

 range of his natural vision. The stones were the native brown sand- 

 stone, and usually spherical in form, though stones oval and stones 

 slightly flattened were also used, the principal requirements being 

 that they should be regular in outline and untouched by a tool. The 

 symbolism of the stones was given by a Teton Sioux as follows: 



The outline of the stone is round, having no end and no beginning; like the 

 power of the stone, it is endless. The stone is perfect of its kind and is the work 

 of nature, no artificial means being used in shaping it. Outwardly it is not 

 beautiful, but its structure is solid, like a solid house in which one may safely 

 dwell. It is not composed of many substances, but is of one substance, which is 

 genuine and not an imitation of anything else. 



The man whose use of the sacred stones is most open at the present 

 time is Brave Buffalo (pi. in), a prominent medicine-man of the 

 Standing Rock reservation, about 73 years of age. In describing his 

 dream of the sacred stone Brave Buffalo said: 



When I was ten years of age I looked at the land and the rivers, the sky 

 above, and the animals around me, and could not fail to realize that they were 

 made by some great power. I was so anxious to understand this power that I 

 questioned the trees and the bushes. It seemed as though the flowers were staring 

 at me, and I wanted to ask them "Who made you?" I looked at the moss- 

 covered stones; some of them seemed to have the features of a man, but they 

 could not answer me. Then I had a dream, and in my dream one of these small 

 round stones appeared to me and told me that the maker of all was Wakan'tanka, 

 and that in order to honor him I must honor his works in nature. The stone 

 said that by my search I had shown myself worthy of supernatural help. It said 

 that if I were curing a sick person I might ask its assistance, and that all the 

 forces of nature would help me work a cure. 



Continuing his narrative, he said: 



Some people have an idea that we medicine-men, who get our power from 

 different sources, are the worst of human beings; they even say that we get our 

 power from the evil one, but no one could disregard such dreams as I have had, 

 and no one could fail to admire the sacred stones. Wakan'tarjka is all-powerful, 

 and if we reverence his work he will surely let us prove to all men that these things 



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