370 THE ORIGIN OF MEDICINE CEREMONIES OR POWER. 
the Buffalo were. The medicine-men went, and far away from the vil- 
lage they came toa steep bank. There the Buffalo ran away and told the 
medicine-men to do the same thing. The men followed the Buffalo 
and they entered the lodge of the Buffalo. When they entered the cave, 
they first came to deep water. The people went into the water and kept 
walking in it until they entered an animals’ lodge. There they saw on 
one side a Bear, and on the other side a Buffalo. The Bear and the 
Buffalo began to do sleight-of-hand. After a while these men saw other 
animals sitting around. As the animals did the sleight-of-hand per- 
formances, they arose, blew their breaths, and as they did so, soft downy 
feathers fell from their mouths. One Buffalo stood up and took a reed 
whistle and swallowed it. Afterwards he threw up feathers instead of 
the whistle. Then he said: ‘‘People, I give you this ceremony. You 
must have a Buffalo skull and give presents to the skull, for the spirit of 
the Buffalo will bein the skull, and the skull will give you dreams so that 
you will know what to do in the Buffalo ceremony.’’ The people went 
back to their village, and they performed the ceremony, and the first 
song that they sang was the song which the Buffalo had taught them. 
95. THE WOMAN AND THE BUFFALO DANCE." 
The people left their permanent village to go upon a hunt. Only a 
young woman who was with child was left behind. The people were 
angry with her because she would not tell with what man she had been, 
and so they had gone and left her alone. She had not been with any 
man, and did not know how she had come to be pregnant. She gave 
birth, and she and the child stayed alone in the deserted village. One 
night the child began to cry. The mother tried very hard to stop the 
child from crying, but he would not stop. At last she took the baby 
in her arms, threw him upon her back, and started west, not knowing 
where she was going. 
She finally came to a high hill, and as she was ascending the high hill 
she found a Buffalo bull sitting in a hollow. She stopped, for she was 
scared. The bull said, ‘‘Nawa. Why are you carrying your baby?” 
The woman said, ‘‘My baby is sick and has been crying for some time.”’ 
Then the bull grunted and the smoke came out of his mouth. The bull 
spoke and said: ‘‘Woman, I will give you a root, but I want you to be 
careful how you give it to the child. The child will get well. I will 
1Told by White-Sun, Kitkehahki. In this story a woman receives power from 
the buffalo and becomes a medicine-woman. 
