400 THE ORIGIN OF MEDICINE CEREMONIES OR POWER. 
boy and give him to the birds, so that the birds might give him powers. 
He said that he came into the village and carried him to the wonderful 
place. The boy said: ‘‘When the man stood by the entrance he cried 
and gave me to the birds. ‘To you, Eagles in this den, I give my nephew 
as a present. Take pity upon me and give me your powers.’ ’’ The boy 
continued and said: ‘‘I remained in the den for many years. The 
Eagles did not eat me. Instead, they took pity on me and I flew into 
the sky, looked over the country, and I saw you, my people, traveling 
around. I remained with the Eagles until it was decided to take the 
man up, so that the Eagles would receive him in their den and eat him. 
I came and helped, and we carried the man up into the sky and down into 
the den and the Eagles ate him up. Now you understand why the 
Eagles took the man up into the sky.” 
The boy remained in the village for some time. A war party was 
got up and they went into the country of the enemy. The boy did not 
follow them. Soon after this the boy told his people that he was going 
to follow the war party. About four days afterwards the boy disap- 
peared, but as he did so he turned into an Eagle and flew away to the 
warriors. He saw them, flew down, turned into a young man,and went 
into their camp. The men were surprised when they saw him. Before 
morning the boy went away. As the warriors continued on their march 
they saw the boy coming over a hill. He told the warriors that the enemy 
was near at hand. Scouts were sent out to look over the village, and 
they came back and said, ‘‘We must attack the village, for there are 
only a few tipis.’’ The warriors began to put on their war costumes. 
Some put on war bonnets, some spears, and some carried shields. Others 
were naked. The boy sat down, took some clay and spread it upon his 
body. He placed a bone whistle upon his breast. He put a soft downy 
feather in his scalp-lock. In his right hand he carried aclub. The club 
he did not have when they first saw him, but afterwards they discovered 
that it was the claw of an eagle. 
When they attacked the village the boy was the first to go into the 
village, so that when a man came out from a tipi he struck him with 
his war club and killed him. Again he came through the village and 
struck another man and killed him. Then he went through the village 
and took two scalps. These scalps he tied upon his club and then went 
away from the fight. After the fight the warriorsreturned. The boy said, 
‘‘Leader, I give you these scalps, but I want two small pieces, one from 
each scalp, to hang upon my eagle claw as a gift to the old Eagle.” 
This was promised him. After all the warriors came back the boy told 
the leaders that he was going to his home. That night the boy disap- 
