THE BEAR MEDICINE AND CEREMONY. 347 
toa famous warrior. She hadachild, butit died. She again had a child 
and it died. Again she had a child, a boy, and he grew up to be over 
ten years old. 
One time the Skidi went on a hunt and they took the boy with them 
and tied him on a spotted pony, for they wanted him to ride. When 
they returned to the village they found that the boy’s father had gone 
out with a war party. The boy became sick; the mother was frightened 
and she sent for the best medicine-men in the camp. They came, but 
their medicine and power could do no good and the boy died. The 
mother dressed the boy, took him up on a hill and dug a shallow grave 
for him; then she made a kind of a house over the grave. The mother 
stayed by the grave several days and nights and grieved, for she had lost 
every child she had. After a time she became afraid, for there were 
many bears and mountain-lions in the country, and so she went home. 
The people moved their camp and went toward their permanent 
village. The woman went with them, but she was in mourning. She 
had cut her hair and had gashed her arms and legs with a knife, so that 
she was in great pain. Several days afterwards some warriors overtook 
the people, and told them they had seen a grave and asked who had died. 
The people told them that the woman had lost her boy. They said that 
somebody had robbed the grave or else wild animals had opened it. 
The woman heard it. She arose and started for the place. She found 
her son’s body exposed; the clothing gone. She cried and cried, and then 
she made up her mind tostay there and die. She reburied her boy, then 
sat'down by the grave. She cried all day, all night, and again the next 
day, the next night,andsoon. On the fourth day she became frightened. 
In the evening she looked around for a place where she could stop over 
night. She saw at a distance a thick timber with many cedar trees. 
She went to the cedars, and among them she found a large cedar with its 
limbs spreading and drooping so that the branches touched the ground. 
She crawled under the branches and there sought protection. 
Some time in the night she heard a noise that sounded like a donkey 
braying. She listened, and heard it again and again. She was fright- 
ened, but she thought, ‘‘I might as well die here.’’ She heard the 
noise again; this time nearer to her, and she recognized the growl of a 
Bear. The Bear spoke and said: “‘Do not be afraid; I know you are 
under the cedar tree; I felt sorry for you and so came after you. I and 
my wife have taken pity upon you, for we know you grieve because 
every time you have a child it dies. Arise and come with me.”’ The 
woman arose and followed the Bear. The Bear once in a while gave a 
loud grunt, and wild animals moved out of his path. He led the way 
through a valley, then up a hill. There the woman saw a very steep 
