52 TRUE STORIES OF THE HEAVENLY BEINGS. 
out and were gone during the day. In the night they came back and 
the man heard them and he sat up. This time he danced with them. 
For three nights they danced together. The fourth night they danced 
and then the leading Crow said: ‘‘My son, to-day we part. We give 
you this lance covered with our feathers. When you go back to your 
people, start the Crow-Lance society. The one who shall carry the lance 
shall be known as the priest. Any of the young men can take the lance 
in battle who belongs to the society. The priest must carry the lance 
on the march while hunting buffalo. The lance, as you know, is covered 
with crow feathers. The Crow can see where the buffalo are in time, and 
in that way the Crow will help you to find buffalo.’’ The songs were 
also taught to the boy.!. The lance was given him and also the paint. 
Then the Crow said that he was supposed to have been killed by the 
enemy, but those who killed him were Crows and Coyotes. 
The Coyotes and Crows came over the hills together and by their 
crowing and barking they had scared the man to death. The Coyotes 
wanted to eat him up, but the Crows wanted to take him to their lodge 
and there teach him the dancing. If the Coyotes had had their way 
they would have eaten the boy, but the Crows brought life to the boy 
again and gave him the crow-lance dance. The people were to be taught 
by the way in which the Crows and the Coyotes scared this man, that 
sometimes they came in a body and scared them; that if the people 
became scared they were killed; if they did not become afraid they 
would not be killed. 
12, THE ORIGIN OF THE PIPE-STICK CEREMONY.’ 
Many, many years ago the Skidi were few in number and lived some- 
where in Nebraska. There was one young man among them who had 
wonderful dreams. In one of his dreams he saw a water-monster com- 
ing up a big river. This monster which he saw in his dreams was a very 
long one. The head was of immense size. Upon the head were hairs 
growing out. On the top of the head stood something white, which he 
believed was a soft downy feather. The head of the monster was of 
1The music and text of the songs which form part of this and the succeeding 
tales of this volume will be found in Part II. 
Told by Cheyenne-Chief, a young Skidi whose father, Pipe-Chief, was one of 
the leading Skidi priests and chiefs. This tale relates to the origin of one of the 
most interesting Skidi ceremonies, the pipe-stick or Calumet. This ceremony, 
according to Skidi belief, as it exists in the other three bands of the Pawnee, was 
borrowed from the Wichita. The tale also accounts for the decoration of the effigy 
of the water-monster which is constructed on the inside of the lodge during the 
dance of the medicine-men. 
