372 THE ORIGIN OF MEDICINE CEREMONIES OR POWER. 
said: ‘‘You must dance the Buffalo dance as I teach it to you. You 
know that the Buffalo roll upon the ground. Imitate me and do the 
same thing.’’ Then the Buffalo stood up and threw himself down and 
rolled upon the ground, and when he arose he said: ‘‘Take that which 
is upon the ground. You shall use it in the ceremony as a rattle.” 
Upon the rattle was the picture of a buffalo skull. ‘‘This rattle you 
must also shake before sick people.’ The Buffalo rolled again and made 
a whistle. At the end of the whistle was a shell hanging down which 
was the shape of the moon. There was another shell tied to the middle 
of the whistle. Then the Buffalo said: ‘‘When you doctor, put medi- 
cine upon the patient. Take the whistle and blow upon it near him. 
When you have whistled, look about you and you will see my shadow. 
If you see my shadow then you may know that the patient will get well. 
If you do not see my shadow you will know that the patient is to die.” 
Then the Buffalo said: ‘‘I have many children. You shall have many 
children, too. They shall grow up to be men and women. Always take 
care of the rattle and the whistle.’”’ After this the Buffalo bull disap- 
peared. Then the man and the woman went home with the boy. As 
the boy grew up the man taught him what the Buffalo had said. The 
man became a great medicine-man and gave the people the Buffalo dance. 
96. THE BUFFALO MEDICINE DANCE.’ 
A little boy went out upon the hillside to play and there he saw an 
old, lean Buffalo. The boy went to the Buffalo and talked to him and 
called him his grandfather, and said: ‘‘ You are getting old and can not 
stand much now. You can not travel as you once could.’”’ All at once 
the Buffalo looked up and said: ‘‘My grandchild, I have lived a long 
time upon this earth. J am now very old. I am glad that you take 
pity upon me. Your people kill my people and eat them. I have come 
many times with my people, but somehow your people have never killed 
me. Now, my grandchild, before I die I want to speak a few words to 
you. I have some things that I want to give you.’’ The boy went and 
cut a lot of grass and brought it to the Buffalo and fed him. 
After he had eaten, the Buffalo said: ‘‘Look at me. Whenever 
you want to see me, take this, smell it, and you will see me.’’ The thing 
that was handed to the boy was a little ball which the Buffalo bull had 
carried in his stomach and which possessed magic powers. ‘‘ With this 
1Told by White-Sun, Kitkehahki. In this story a boy receives power from the 
buffalo and becomes a great medicine-man. 
