Traditions of the Arikara

31. THE MEDICINE DANCE OF THE BEAVER, TURTLE, AND WITCH-WOMAN.[32]

In olden times the animals met in a lodge to have sleight-of-hand performances. All the medicine-animals and all the birds who had magic power went to this lodge. The animals decided that only the leading animals should perform—the Beaver, the soft-shell Turtle, and the old Witch-Woman.

First, the crowd arose where sat the Medicine-Beaver. The Beaver arose and began to sing, telling his followers to sing. Then the Beaver went to the first post, which was supporting the lodge at the southeast, and began to gnaw it. The post was gnawed until only a small piece of it remained. The Beavers still sang. The Beaver then went to the next post and gnawed away at the base. He gnawed until just a little was left. The Beavers still sang and the Beaver went to the next post and gnawed until he had nearly gnawed through.

The people began to get scared. The animals also became scared, so they called upon the errand man to ask the Beaver not to gnaw the post through, for the lodge was about to fall. The errand man arose and begged the Medicine-Beaver to stop. The Beaver stopped, and then ran around the lodge, repaired all the posts again, and said: “This was only sleight-of-hand. It is not real.” The animals and lookers-on rejoiced to see the trick, for now the lodge stood solid as usual.

Now came the Turtle, who was mad because the Beaver fooled the people. So he called for his followers, and they gathered around him and sang:

So the people looked. The Turtle took his knife and stuck it close to his left collar-bone. Water began to pour forth from the cut, until there was water all over the lodge. Then the people began to get scared. The errand man was requested to beg the Turtle to stop pouring forth water in the lodge. The errand man begged the Turtle and the Turtle inhaled and drew all the water back into himself. The people all took their places again. Stawi, a Witch-Woman, came, and said:

The old woman had a buffalo robe over her shoulders, and she held in her hands a mysterious-looking thing dotted with spots of white clay and painted in black. At the top of it were red feathers. The object was a gun, a thing to kill with, to shoot medicine. Now, at this time, the old woman wanted to show the power of this mysterious object. She ran around the lodge and then placed the object upon the ground. She ran to it. She wrestled with it. She covered it with her robe. Now she lifted it. She ran around, and all at once she began to groan—as if in pain. At last she called for help, for she was in misery. The people went to her, and there they found the old woman in travail. She was cared for, and she gave birth to a child, who was to become a great medicine-man among the people and a leader in the medicine dance. The medicine-animals rejoiced and sang their songs again with joy.