Ili. THE ORIGIN OF MEDICINE CEREMONIES OR POWER. 
The stories in this group correspond to the group in the Skidi vol- 
ume under the heading ‘‘ Medicine,’’ and are supposed to be true. They 
explain rites or ceremonies of the medicine-men, or the origin of the 
medicine powers of the individual medicine-men. With these tales are 
many songs, the publication of which, however, is reserved for another 
place. These tales are not told on ordinary occasions, and never except 
on payment of objects of value or of money. The tales, therefore, are 
considered as private property and belong either to a group of medicine- 
men controlling a medicine ceremony, or to individuals, who naturally 
possess the story of the origin of the medicine power which they use in 
their practices. 
77, THE MEDICINE-CHILD AND THE BEAVER MEDICINE.’ 
When the Skidi band of Pawnee were living upon the Loup River, 
the other three bands lived near the mouth of the Platte River. A 
child was born in the Skidi village. As the child grew, he developed many 
mysterious ways and acted peculiarly. He would not play with the 
children, but stayed at home and played ‘‘medicine-man”’ by himself. 
He would wander off to creeks and to the timber and stay for some time. 
One day as he entered his mother’s lodge he heard some one groan- 
ing. He sat down by the fireplace and watched. A woman was sick. 
The boy arose and asked that he be allowed to put his hands upon the 
woman and see what the trouble was. He slapped his hands upon 
Mother-Earth, then rubbed the palms together, then laid them upon the 
woman, where the pain was, and the pain left her. The woman told the 
older people what the child had done. The people were astonished, for 
the child did not know anything about medicine. After that the boy 
was looked upon as a medicine-man, but he did not make a practice of 
curing people. It was only at times when mysterious influences came 
upon him that he went to sick people and treated them. Every time he 
treated a patient, the patient recovered, and so all were seeking to have 
the boy heal their sick. 
1Told by Beaver, Kitkehahki. Beaver inherited this story from his father, 
who was the keeper of the Beaver medicine, the origin of which this story explains. 
The skin of the Beaver, which is supposed to have given the power, is that of an 
albino and is still in possession of one of the Kitkehahki medicine-men. 
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