Section 10

The wolf skin was fastened with the head resting across the left shoulder of the wearer and was tied with a buckskin thong under his right arm. No Tears noticed how the tip of the head of the wolf was painted red and seemed to glare in the sunlight. The wolf skin was painted with yellow stripes, and to the center of the skin was fastened a bunch of grouse feathers with the tail of a jack rabbit on top of it.
As the jack rabbit-man approached he sang a song. Then he
" The basic moccasin pattern is that of the older style Crow moccasin which preceded the hard-soled moccasin. It was first described by Fran9ois Larocque in 1805. (Wildschut and Ewers. 1959. p. 21).
2'* This bundle was previously described in Indian Notes. (Wildschut, 1926b. pp. 201-205).
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howled like a wolf. He sang another song and again finished with a wolf howl. The words of both songs were the same, although the tunes were different. The words were: "The enemies are near. They commence shooting."
The jack rabbit-man stood in front of No Tears and told him that if he would follow his instructions he need have no fear of his enemies for they would be powerless to kill him. No Tears would become one of the leading warriors of his tribe. "When going on the warpath," he said, "always ride a gray horse and fasten to its forelock a bunch of eagle feathers. Kill a large wolf and paint the skin like the one I am wearing. The tip of the wolf's nose and head must be painted a bright red. This red will glare in the faces of the enemies so that they cannot see the wearer. Fasten the tail of a jack rabbit to the back of the wolf skin. This is the most important part of the medicine, for it will represent me as the giver of this power. Use only the back of the wolf skin and fasten under the jack rabbit tail a bunch of grouse feathers. ^^
"When in sight of the enemy you must mount your horse and ride out alone to meet the enemy. But do not look them straight in the face. As you ride toward them sing the medicine songs you heard me sing, and end your songs with the howl of a wolf. If you truly follow these instructions, the enemy will never be able to kiU you."
25 The wolf skin in this bundle comprises only the center portion of the skin. It is but 8" wide.
SHIELDS
THE impression has often been given that shields were employed as physical protection against the arrows and bullets of the enemy. This is erroneous. Crow Indian shields were essentially war medicines, gifted with supernatural powers to protect their owners. I have never heard of a Crow shield which was not reputed to have originated in a vision. Nor have I heard of a shield, plain or painted, which was not regarded as a medicine.
Thick rawhide shields were made from the ventral-thoracic part of the buffalo. The hide was stretched tightly over a hole in the earth and pegged down. A slow fire was placed underneath the hide and stones were put on top of it to give it the necessary bulge. When the hide began to shrink, the pegs were moved until the desired thickness and firmness were obtained. The edges con- taining the peg holes were then trimmed off.
In some cases shields were cut from another and thinner part of the buffalo hide. Sometimes the faster received a vision of more than one shield, and the second and third ones were made of the thinner hide. Red Woodpecker is said to have obtained as many as seven shields in a single vision.
Although some shields were decorated on the rawhide base itself, the majority had the visionary design painted on its buck- skin cover. This, in turn, was generally covered with another covering of plain buckskin. Other objects fastened to the shield indicated the particular supernatural visitant responsible for the medicine of the shield.
Shields were used in case the camp was attacked. However, they were seldom taken on the warpath in the active days of my informants. They were too cumbersome and heavy, and they ham- pered the movements of the warriors in close battle. Two Leggings said that on one occasion he did take a shield on the warpath. When he returned the skin on his left arm and shoulder were chafed raw by the continual rubbing of the heavy shield, caused by the jogging of his trotting horse. On later war expeditions he took the cover of his shield. When he approached the enemy he fastened it around his neck, blanket fashion.
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66 CROW INDIAN MEDICINE BUNDLES
Chief Plenty Coups owned a shield for many years. But he said that he never took it on the warpath. He detached the feather decoration from the shield and wore it as a hairlock attachment, believing it gave him the same protection he would have received from the shield it self. ^^
The owners of shields frequently made miniature reproductions of the originals. These miniature shields, about six inches in diameter, were worn around the neck suspended from a buckskin thong, or they were fastened to the warrior's hair.
My informants unanimously agreed that if a shield was taken on the warpath it was carried by the owner. No man would con- sider surrendering his medicine or weapons to a helper or other member of the war party. The ever-present risk of ambush or sudden attack made the danger of being caught unawares and unarmed too great. ^^
In parades through the camp and on special festive occasions, the wife of the owner always carried her husband's shield suspended from the saddle on the left side of her horse. ^^
In the visions through which most Crow shields were acquired, the shields were seen in the sky, far removed from the earth. This accounts for the common taboo that a shield must not touch the ground. However, I was told of a vision in which the shield ap- peared to the faster coming toward him rolling on edge, from hill-
2® In his biography of Chief Plenty Coups, Frank Bird Linderman tells the story of that leader's view of the sun on a foggy day, in which the sun appeared to resemble his own shield with two scalps attached to it. This was an augury of his success in taking two enemy scalps soon thereafter. (Linderman, 1930. p. 83).
2' Lowie claimed that on the warpath a young helper might carry a warrior's shield until the party was in sight of the enemy. (Lowie, 1922. p. 403). It seems most probable that shields were much more commonly carried on war expeditions in first half of the 19th century and earlier than they were in the young manhood of Wildschut's and Lowie's informants i.e. post i86o's). In 1862 Morgan learned that the Crow Indians no longer made much use of shields because they offered little protection against musket balls. (Morgan, 1959. p. 191).
28 In this description of a Crow camp on the march more than a century ago Denig wrote: "When traveling, the women carry to the horn of the saddle the warrior's medicine bag and shield." (Denig, 1953. P- 3^)- Pretty Shield, second wife of Goes Ahead, felt honored that she was permitted to ride his warhorse and to carry his shield. (Linderman, 1932. p. 131). It was the shield-carrier who placed the shield on the wooden tripod in front of the owner's tipi. The shield then always faced east so that it would catch the first rays of the rising sun each morning. (Marquis, 1918. pp. 150-151).
SHIELDS 67
top to hill-top, until it rested on edge on the ground in front of the dreamer. No taboo against this shield's touching the ground existed.
Shields were commonly inherited from father to son. Some- times, however, the widow of the deceased claimed owership and retained this medicine which once belonged to her husband. I purchased shields from four different women whose deceased husbands had formerly owned these medicines.
HUMP S SHIELD FIGURE 29
The originator of this shield was a Crow named Hump. Before his death he transferred it to Two Face, who transferred it in later years to Crazy Head. After Crazy Head's death it was inherited by his son, who bore the same name. And upon the death of the second Crazy Head, in 1907, the shield came into the possession of Knows-his-Coups, from whom it was purchased for the museum in 1923. (cat. no. 11/7678).
Hump saw this shield in a dream while he was on the warpath to the Sioux. He was caught in a bUzzard and sought shelter within the carcass of a buffalo. While thus protected he went to sleep and had a dream in which the buffalo appeared to him and gave him the shield. The full description of Hump's dream was unknown to Knows-his-Coups, but he gave the following interpretation of the paintings on the rawhide base :
The green border on the left side of this shield represents the summer season, the time for war parties. The dark brown crooked lines ending in knobs are representations of bullets or arrows glancing off the shield. The owl feathers tied to the center of the shield symbolize the sacred vision of this bird at night, transferred to the owner of the shield. The eagle feathers represent the same for the day time.
The dark brown buffalo represents the carcass of the animal in which Hump had his vision. The urinating represents the making of war paint without water, to which expedient the Indian individually resorted in case he met the enemy where no water was obtainable.
Two taboos were associated with this shield. A child must not walk or crawl under the tripod from which this shield was suspend- ed in the daytime. At sunset the shield was taken inside the tipi
68 CROW INDIAN MEDICINE BUNDLES
and fastened to the rear tipi pole. The second taboo stipulated than when the shield was in this position no one might pass in front of it or between it and the center of the tipi.
This painted rawhide shield is 22" in diameter and approxi- mately J" thick. The shield cover is of buckskin and is unpainted.^°
RED woodpecker's SHIELD FIGURE 30
This shield was originated by a Crow named Red Woodpecker, who once fasted at a place called by the name "rimrock-has-no- road," a few miles north of present Billings, Montana.
During this fast Red Woodpecker received a vision in which a kingfisher appeared to him; but not being satisfied with this vision, he later fasted on one of the buttes at the southern entrance to Pryor Gap. During this fast he heard a voice saying, "That loud-voiced chicken hawk is calling you."
When he heard this, Red Woodpecker realized that he must return to his first fasting place at "rimrock-has-no-road." This he did, fasting a third time. In the vision which appeared during this fast he saw a bird which appeared to be caught in a hole. He went to the bird, seized it, and found it to be a spotted swallow. Greatly disappointed, he decided to return home. But again a voice spoke, "Do not go. Shaking Bird wants to visit you."
Red Woodpecker decided to remain. He fasted four days and nights. Then he began to feel very weak. At daybreak of the fifth day it began to rain. Soon afterward he saw a chicken hawk flying above him, presently followed by more of its kind until at last a great many appeared, making much noise with their wings. Suddenly a severe storm arose, and when it was about half spent,
^ In 1 910 Dr. Lowie purchased from Yellow Brow a shield which was claimed to have originated in a vision of one, Humped Wolf, under condi- tions identical to those described for the origin of this shield. Lowie de- scribed its history in extensive detail and claimed to have pictured it in Fig. 3 of The Religion of the Crow Indians. (Lowie, 1922. pp. 408-418). However, that figure shows no buffalo symbolism in the shield painting. Rather Fig. 6 of that monograph illustrates a shield which bears a remark- able resemblance to the one Wildschut collected, shown in Fig. 29 of this paper, especially in the style of painting of the urinating buffalo. It seems most probable that Lowie's Humped Wolf and Wildschut's Hump were the same man and that either the shield collected by Lowie or the one purchased by Wildschut is a duplicate of the original.
SHIELDS 69
a rider appeared in the distance. The man rode a caHco horse with a white spot on its neck, and carried a shield on his back. An eagle wing feather was attached to the tail of the horse and to its fore- lock was tied a wing-feather of a chicken hawk. Fastened to his now the rider wore an eagle-bone whistle with four feathers attached to it. The man's face was painted with white clay on both sides, but the central part was free of paint. As the rider came closer he sang a medicine song and finally stopped a short distance away. The words of his song were; "They are singing among the pine trees."
After thus singing the man made a noise like a chicken hawk. Red Woodpecker plainly saw his shield, on which were painted designs representing clouds and lightning. A few large drops of rain fell after the song was finished, and the man in whom Red Woodpecker recognized a chicken hawk personified, said to him, ' ' Shaking Bird is coming to see you . ' ' He then turned and rode away.
Another person then appeared, also riding a brown horse. Red Woodpecker recognized that this person was Shaking Bird. On the side of his horse's neck was painted a white spot, on which in turn was painted a circle surrounded with dark fringes representing the nest of a chicken hawk, and with dirt around the nest. Shaking Bird spoke to Red Woodpecker, saying, "If you paint this design on your horse, it will never be shot."
To the horse's foretop were fastened three or four large grass blades, and a single feather from the wing of a chicken hawk was tied to the horse's tail. In his hand Shaking Bird carried a long stick painted with white clay, and fastened to his hair were two eagle bone whistles with a chicken hawk wing-feather tied to each. On his left arm he carried a painted shield. The top and the lower third of the shield were painted a dark color, representing clouds and rain storms, but the area between these painted spaces, ex- cepting the figure of a bird with outspread wings, was plain, in- dicating a clear day. At the end of each wing of the bird was fastened a cluster of chicken hawk feathers, together with an eagle bone whistle.
Suddenly this shield disappeared, and in its place Red Wood- pecker was shown a third one, through the middle of which a blue stripe was painted, while the lower part was embelHshed with a series of black perpendicular stripes. In the upper left quadrant of the shield was a crescent moon, and beneath it a cluster of three feathers; and a similar cluster was fastened to the upper right quadrant of the shield.
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This third shield vanished, to be followed by a fourth, painted as follows: In the upper left-hand corner a half -moon; black perpendicular Hues, symbolized clouds, occupied the upper third; in the center were zigzag lines representing lightning and below these were perpendicular lines to indicate rain. This is the shield illustrated in Fig. 30, from the specimen in the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation collections, (cat. no. 11/7679). The hawk attached to the center of this shield was used as a war medicine, which in time of need was detached and tied to the hair of the owner. The bundle of hawk feathers on each side symbolized the hawk which appeared to Red Woodpecker in his vision. Around the edges of the shield were fastened cut feathers, tied in pairs, the meaning of which could not be learned.
Three more shields were shown to Red Woodpecker in this vision, the designs of which corresponded with the second, third, and fourth shields mentioned. The entire seven shields were re- produced by him from his dream. Three of them were made from heavy buffalo hide and the remainder from lighter areas. These four were often taken on the warpath, but the other three were used exclusively for home protection, only the attached insignia and the painted covers being taken to war. The designs of the lighter shields were all painted on the rawhide; while the heavier shields were wrapped in painted covers.
Red Woodpecker kept the first shield he made for himself. He transferred the others to various members of the tribe. Red Wood- pecker's shield was burned with all of his belongings, after which he and all his family became ill and soon after died. The second and third shields were captured by the Piegans. The fourth was ob- tained from Mrs. Sits-in-the-Middle, who had inherited it from her husband, in 1923. ^^
YELLOW BROW S SHIELD FIGURE 31
This shield was purchased from Pups in 1923. Pups had in- herited it from Yellow Brow and he again had inherited it from another Indian whose name Pups did not recall. No information could be secured about the vision origin of this shield, (cat.
2* A description of this shield was previously published in Indian Notes. (Wildschut. 1925c. pp. 315-320).