262 THE ORIGIN OF MEDICINE CEREMONIES OR POWER. 
‘“‘T knew it was going to rain. Do you all hear that?” The people 
arose and went out and stood facing the west, where great dark clouds 
were rolling. The girl did not go out, but sat down upon her pillow by 
the fireplace with bowed head. The people came in and began to roll up 
their mats. They spread them upon their willow beds and lay down 
under them, for they knew that the lodge was not well covered with grass 
and dirt, and that it would leak. The girl still sat by the fire. Once in 
a while her father would throw the mat back from his face and look 
at the girl. She sat with bowed head, now and then looking up at the 
hole in the top of the lodge where the lightning flashed repeatedly. After 
a while she arose and went out of the lodge, but soon she returned to her 
place by the fire. At last she pulled her mat over by the northwest 
post; then she placed her pillow by the post and laydown. The rain was 
now pouring down. The old man watched his daughter and saw that now 
and then she would stick her head out from the robe. As she stuck her 
head out the lightning flashed, and it thundered very sharply. Smoke 
filled the lodge. All the people were stunned. 
When the father of the girl came to, he looked about and saw fire on 
the side of the lodge where the lightning had struck. He went to where 
his daughter lay, and saw smoke coming from her head through a round 
hole. He raised her head and saw that the pillow also had a round 
hole through it. He removed the pillow and there in the ground was 
another hole, and smoke was coming from it. The man then cried and 
said, ‘‘People, arise; my daughter has been killed by lightning.” The 
people arose and gathered around the place, although they were afraid 
to go near a place where lightning had struck. The father began to dig 
into the ground where the lightning had struck, and kept on digging into 
the ground until he touched something with his fingers. He kept on 
digging until he dug the thing up. Itwasintheshapeofawoman. It had 
a head, shoulders, and body, and was of many colors. The man showed 
the thing to the other people and he told his wife to get a piece of tanned 
buffalo hide. This was brought, and then the downy feathers were taken 
from the body of an eagle and they were placed at the altar. The father 
brought in some cedar limbs and placed them upon some live coals. He 
made tea from cedar nuts and poured the tea into a wooden bowl. A 
flint was placed in the wooden bowl, and the scent of the skunk was 
placed in the tea. The father then took some live coals and placed them 
by the wooden bowl; then he placed some cedar limbs upon the live coals. 
The people were then told to wash with the tea; then to place themselves 
over the burning cedar limbs, so that the smoke would pass over their 
bodies. Each person’s face was smeared with the mud where the light- 
