THE BEAR MEDICINE. 343 
ing party. They departed, and the poor boy said that the chief’s boy 
should do all the killing and bringing in of the buffalo, and when he saw 
certain meat he would tell the chief’s boy to prepare it for him, for he 
was going to put it to a special use. The people journeyed west and 
they found many buffalo. In one of the killings the chief’s boy had 
killed a young buffalo cow. The poor boy told the chief’s boy that this 
meat should be his; that he was going to ask his mother to jerk the meat, 
dry it, and put it in one of the parfleches by itself. The meat of the 
buffalo cow was jerked, dried in the sun, pounded, piled up carefully, 
and then put into a parfleche and tied up. When it was tied up, the poor 
boy told the chief’s son that that was his meat. 
Towards spring the people went back to their permanent village. 
As summer came, the poor boy told the chief’s boy that he wanted him 
to go with him to the northeast, to a certain water known as Wonderful 
River; to bring his pony, saddle it, put the parfleche on the saddle, and 
several robes for their bedding. They started toward the northeast, 
with one pony that carried their things. They traveled for many days 
until they came to the Wonderful River. They went down the river, 
and after a while they came to the place that the Bear had told the poor 
boy of. ‘‘Now, my brother,’’ said the poor boy to the chief’s son, 
“this is the place we were bound for; be brave and do as I tell you. Do 
not retreat, for I wish you to have powers different from mine.’’ The 
young chief said that he would be brave. They lariated their pony at 
some distance from the river, put their things upon its back, and went 
to the steep bank of Wonderful River. The poor boy untied the par- 
fleche and cut the meat in small pieces. Then he took from his bundle 
a lariat rope made of rawhide. He tied a rope around the body of the 
chief’s boy and another to the boy’s legs; then he lowered him over the 
steep bank and brought him up again, so that the poor boy knew the 
lariat would work. Then he put all the meat in the parfleche again, 
and tied it up and put it on the back of the chief’s boy; then he gave him 
a sharp stick. He let him down the steep bank to the ledge in the middle 
of the bank. There he told him to set the parfleche and his stick. Then 
he pulled up the chief’s son again, put him upon the bank, and said: 
*‘Now, my brother, you are poor in spirit; I, too, was poor in spirit when 
I made up my mind to go to the den of the Bears; they took pity upon 
me because I was poor in spirit. Now if you want to possess some 
powers, make up your mind to go through this and try not to draw 
back; I am to place you under the bank here, and you are to hang there, 
and as the different birds come to you, feed them, put meat upon the 
sharp stick that I have given you and hold it out from you, and they 
