THE ORIGIN OF THE LOON MEDICINE CEREMONY. 259 
then they would return and tell the woman that no enemies were in sight. 
One day the Boy-Loon told the woman that he was going to go and hunt 
for his father. The Loon flew up and was gone for several days. When 
it came it told the woman that her husband was coming with many ponies. 
In a few days the man came back with many ponies. 
The Loons were anxious to go back to the people, and so they told 
the man and woman that they wanted to go back to their people. They 
started back to their village. The woman carried the Loons in her lap 
as she rode one of the ponies. For many, many days they traveled, and 
at last they came in sight of their village. The man looked down into the 
village from a high hill and he saw some one sitting upon the lodge of the 
chief. He called his wife to drive up the ponies and they went down into 
the village. The people were frightened, for they thought that they were 
enemies. It was four years since the man and the girl had run away 
from the village. When one man rode up and saw the woman coming 
_ with the Loons sitting in her lap, she told him that she was the girl 
who had disappeared many years ago. She said that she and the poor boy 
were coming. The man went back and told the people that the poor boy 
and the girl were coming; that they had with them two Loons and that 
he believed that they were wonderful. The poor man sent the woman to 
her father’s lodge, while he went into the lodge of the chief’s son. He 
gave several ponies to the chief’s son, and told him that he had been to 
the wonderful land of Pahuk, and that the water fowls had given him and 
his wife two Loons. He said that he wanted to make a present of this 
Loon to the chief’s son. The chief’s son was glad, and he invited the 
man and the Loon to eat with him. The Loon walked through the vil- 
lage and the people laughed at it, for it was a strange sight to see a water 
fowl walking through a village. When they went into the lodge, the Loon 
was rather shy, but the chief’s son was so good to it that the Loon sat by 
the chief’s son. The poor boy went back to his wife’s lodge and there he 
remained. 
After a while the poor boy gathered a number of warriors and said, 
‘““We will go upon the war-path.”” A few young men joined, and they 
went. They found the camp of the enemy, captured many ponies and 
brought them home. The chief’s boy seeing this, made up his mind that 
he would lead a war party, and he sent for the poor boy to assist, and 
so the poor boy and the chief’s son led a war party together and they 
_ carried one of the Loons with them. The Loon guided them and pro- 
tected them. They found an enemy’s camp, attacked the village, killed 
several people, took some scalps, and captured many ponies and returned 
home victorious. 
