Section 9

Iron Forks arose from his couch and followed the man. He found that he also could walk on the water. They walked upstream until they came opposite a black, shaley bank. There the person who had come to fetch Iron Forks gradually sank into the water and disappeared. Iron Forks followed. The man led him to the bottom of the river and there entered a tipi. Sitting at the rear of this tipi Iron Forks saw another man. The one who had guided Iron Forks spoke to that man: "This is the person who called for you."
The man in the rear of the tipi was the chief of all the under-
WAR MEDICINE BUNDLES 57
water monsters. He pointed to an otter skin coat which he held in his hand and told Iron Forks: "This is your coat." By this he meant that this coat would be Iron Forks' medicine because the otter belonged to the same clan as the underwater monster, and was his servant.
The chief then pointed to the poles of his tipi and Iron Forks saw many halters and elk tooth dresses hanging from them, indi- cating that with the aid of his medicine he would be able to acquire many horses and other valuable property. Again the chief spoke to Iron Forks: "You have had no food for a long time. I shall give you something to eat."
He handed Iron Forks a buffalo horn spoon on which he placed a small pinch of pemmican and urged the Indian to eat it. This Iron Forks did. To his surprise he found that the small quantity of food in the spoon did not diminish, no matter how much of it he ate. The chief of the underwater monsters then told Iron Forks that he was the only person he had ever adopted. He pitied Iron Forks and admired his courage in his choice of a fasting place.
When Iron Forks awoke he found himself still lying on the driftwood. He began to swim back to camp only to find that, although the water was deep, he could walk through it and never submerged below his waist. During his fast his legs had been partly under w^ater. When he arrived in camp they were swollen. For four days after his return Iron Forks could not eat. In addition, the smell of human beings nauseated him. Finally, he found a small plant which grows by the water. He boiled it, drank the water, and was entirely cured.
The underwater monster became Iron Forks' medicine, while the otter and the little plant which grows in the water were also included in it, because they were servants of the underwater monster. Iron Forks made for his medicine an otter skin coat and a miniature image of the underwater monster. The very first time he went on a war expedition wearing his medicine he was success- ful in obtaining twenty horses. After that he always possessed all kinds of property. Whenever he obtained horses through the power of his medicine he always did some successful trading and thus acquired the finest herd of horses among the Crows.
Iron Forks refused to part with his otter skin coat. However, the miniature image of the underwater monster was obtained for the museum collections. It is of stuffed buckskin 7" long, painted black on yellow. Its eyes are black trade beads and a red-dyed
58 CROW INDIAN MEDICINE BUNDLES
plume is tied to it. A suspension cord of twisted rawhide, painted red, passes around the middle of this long-tailed, four-legged re- presentation of the mythical underwater monster.
BIG FOREHEAD S WAR MEDICINE BONNET FIGURES 24, AND 25
A war medicine bundle which formerly belonged to Big Fore- head was obtained from Old Coyote in 1923. (cat. no. 12/6429). Old Coyote furnished an account of the origin of this bundle.
When Big Forehead was a boy he was very poor and miserable. As a young man he accompanied a war party as a helper. The party traveled on foot and each member carried a package containing meat and some extra moccasins on his back. It was cold and there was snow on the ground. After walking most of the day the party halted for a short rest. Big Forehead was tired. He threw himself down on his back, forgetting that he still carried his pack. As he did so he uttered a scream and fainted. His companions came to his assistance and found that the knife, which he carried in his pack, had entered his back when he struck the ground. Before long Big Forehead's friends realized that the boy was bleeding to death. So they wrapped him in a couple of robes, placed him under a rocky shelf, and after he was pronounced dead, they left him.
During the night some wolves found Big Forehead and they brought him back to life. When he awoke a large wolf was standing by his side licking his face. Other wolves covered his body to keep him warm. Big Forehead sat up. The wolves surrounding him then began to talk to him as if they were human beings.
Then these wolves bestowed upon him their different powers. The big wolf gave him the power of transforming himself into a wolf. Big Forehead used this power on the warpath, especially when he was caught in dangerous places. Another wolf gave him the power of doctoring the wounded. This gift Big Forehead also employed successfully on many occasions. A third wolf gave him the power to set broken bones and heal them instantly.
One of the wolves then transformed himself into a human being. He rode a horse and wore a headdress. Around his body and that of the horse were wolf skin belts. Big Forehead saw this wolf- person ride into battle. Many young men came forward and shot at him. But the bullets fell away from his body without hurting him. This wolf then returned to Big Forehead and told him to
WAR MEDICINE BUNDLES 59
make a medicine like the one he and his horse were wearing. It would make him immune to battle wounds.
Still a fifth wolf transformed himself into a person. He carried a gun and shot it without having loaded it. This power he gave to Big Forehead also. And, finally, a sixth wolf came to Big Forehead and gave him power to cure the sick.
The wolves then guided Big Forehead safely back to his camp. His wound was entirely healed. Eventually Big Forehead became a famous medicine man among the Crows. He cured both the sick and the wounded. He also became a renowned warrior. But he never was known to have received a wound himself. When he went into battle he wore the medicine objects appearing in this bundle.
This bundle was originally wrapped in two covers, but the container for the medicine bonnet was lost in recent times. It was of buffalo hide painted to represent the heavens and the earth.
Two views of this bonnet are shown in Fig. 24. The basic material of the cap and trailer is deerskin. A pair of yellow-painted antelope horns are tied to the headpiece. Old Coyote, nephew of Big Forehead, explained that these materials were used because both deer and antelope are swift-running animals. That attribute of swiftness would be transferred to both horse and rider. The upright plume atop this bonnet represents fire, which is destructive of everything it touches. It has the power to destroy any evil aimed at the wearer before it can reach him. Grouse wings and feathers on the cap and trailer are thought to have the power to fan away all bullets and arrows aimed at the wearer. Spots on the feathers, when fanned by the wind, are thought to make the wearer appear to the enemy as a shimmering mirage, impossible to hit. Bells attached to the bonnet just below the antelope horns ring whenever the wearer moves, reminding him that he must be brave at aU times. The two bells on the front of this bonnet represent eyes. The four bells, symbolize the four seasons of the year. The red flannel brow band symbolizes the red clouds of sunset. The white seed beads on this band are the day clouds, and the yellow paint on the under side of the deerskin, dust clouds. All these are thought to prevent the enemy from seeing the wearer.
To this bonnet is fastened a hairlock attachment with an old bullet and a miniature shield attached. This ornament was some- times detached and worn separately or loaned to another member of the bonnet-wearer's war party. It was thought to possess the power to make its wearer invulnerable.
60 CROW INDIAN MEDICINE BUNDLES
A secondary bundle of rawhide contains a whistle made from the leg bone of a wolf. (Fig. 25). It is 5|" long and attached to it is a suspension cord of twisted buckskin, painted yellow. Also in this bundle is a wolf skin belt to be worn around the neck of the owner's horse and another belt of the same material to be worn by the owner himself. These magical protective devices were mentioned in the story of the origin of this complex war medicine bundle.
BUFFALO bull's WAR MEDICINE SHIRT FIGURE 26
A bundle containing a very powerful war medicine was ob- tained from Daylight on May 25, 1921. Daylight inherited it from his brother-in-law, Pipe-That- Shows, upon the latter 's death many years earlier. Pipe-That- Shows had inherited this bundle from a very old man, Buffalo Bull, who was its original owner, (cat. no. 11/6486).
The story of this bundle was related as follows :
When Buffalo Bull was a young man he went to the top of a high mountain in quest of a vision. He fasted there for four days and nights. Near dawn of the last day he had a vision in which he saw a band of enemies approaching. In front of them a lone warrior rode on horseback taunting the party of enemies. They all shot at him, but no arrow or bullet struck this lone warrior. He was singing a song which Buffalo Bull tried to memorize. It seemed to Buffalo Bull that the enemies of this warrior were aware of his presence but could not see him.
Buffalo Bull saw that this man was wearing a shirt painted dark blue and that he carried suspended from his shoulder an eagle plume. On his head he wore a feather and from the forelock of his horse hung a bunch of eagle feathers.
The lone rider approached Buffalo Bull and spoke to him: "You have seen how I rode in front of the enemy, passed close to them, and how they all shot at me but missed. You also heard the songs I was singing. If you want to be safe from enemy arrows and bullets you must make a shirt like the one I am wearing and paint it in the same manner. You must wear feathers on your head as I do, and you must attach feathers to your horse's forelock. If you wear these things in battle and sing the songs I have taught you, you will never be shot, because you will be invisible to the enemy."
After his return to camp, Buffalo Bull made the medicine shirt
WAR MEDICINE BUNDLES 6l
and gathered the feathers contained in this bundle. He wore them on many occasions. Although one of the bravest of the Crow warriors, Buffalo Bull was never hurt in battle. Therefore, his medicine was always regarded as very powerful.
This medicine shirt (Fig. 26) and feather ornaments are con- tained in a cylindrical, rawhide case which is painted in geometric designs. The shirt is a short one (center height only 14^"), and it is painted dark blue, with two stripes on each sleeve indicating coups counted in battle, and purple neck flaps, sleeve and body borders. The v-shaped neck flaps are fringed, as are the sleeves, sides, and bottom of the shirt. The beaded decorations on the neck flaps, over the shoulders, at bottom of sleeves and body of this shirt are in dark blue, light blue, lavender, yellow and white seed beads. 22a
sees-the-living-bull's moccasin bundle figures 27 and 28
An unusual war medicine bundle was purchased from Gray Bull, its last Indian owner, in 1926. (cat. no. 14/6472). Information regarding the origin and history of this bundle was recorded when this bundle was first shown to the writer by Gray Bull in October, 1921. Additional data were furnished by Two Leggings, the adopted son of the original owner of this bundle.
The originator of this bundle was Sees-the-Living-BuU, one of the most famous medicine men of the River Crows, who died in 1896 at the approximate age of 98 years. He had fasted on four occasions for periods of four days each. Each time he selected as his fasting-place the top of a high mountain in the Bear Tooth Range, south of present Red Lodge, Montana.
At the time of his last fast, toward morning of the fifty day, Sees-the-Living-Bull was rewarded with a vision in which he saw the Morning Star change gradually into a person who stood on the edge of the horizon. In a little while this person started to walk toward Sees-the-Living-Bull, and after every step a fire appeared in his footprint. Closer and closer he came until he stood next to the dreamer. Then he spoke: "I have come carrying a message from Bird-Going-Up. He is coming to see you."
Sees-the-Living-Bull noticed that the person wore peculiar
22a The use of seed beads in the decoration of this shirt suggests that this specimen is not as old as the field data suggest, or that it was re-beaded since ca. 1870.
62 CROW INDIAN MEDICINE BUNDLES
moccasins. On his left foot was one which had fastened to the top of it the skin taken from the head of a silver fox ; on the right foot the corresponding part was made from the head of a coyote. The ears of both animals were left on the skins, and around the outer edge of each moccasin sole was fastened a number of scalp locks with quill wrapping. The heel of the right moccasin was painted black and that of the left one red.
Suddenly Sees-the-Living-Bull heard a little coyote howling, and on looking around found that the sound issued from the coyote on the man's moccasin. Then he heard a fox barking, and noticed that the noise came from the other moccasin, and as he watched the fox's head bark, flames shot from its mouth. The man standing next to Sees-the-Living-Bull wore a beautiful scalp lock shirt, and his deerskin leggings were fringed with horsehair "scalp locks" of many colors. On his face was painted a broad red circle intersected by two smaller ones of like color.
The visionary man began to sing, and he gave Sees-the-Living- Bull the seven songs belonging to the bundle. They are :
1. The bird is saying this, and wherever we are, nothing may be in our way.
2. The bird is gone. I will let him come and watch over you,
3. I am letting him stay, I am letting him stay. (The words of this song were interpreted to mean that the owner of this bundle would live to be an old man).
4. I am going toward human beings, and they are weak,
5. The bird from heaven has sympathy toward him.
6. Wherever I am going, I say this, I am the bird in this world,
7. My child, I am living among the clouds and there is nothing impossible to me.
After Sees-the-Living-Bull had learned the songs, he was told never to go on the warpath in a westerly direction, as it would result in bad luck. In accordance with this admonition he never went toward the Flathead, Shoshone, or the Arapaho.
These instructions received, Sees-the-Living-Bull suddenly felt a strong wind rising. It caught his blanket and blew it away. He looked after it, and when he again turned his head the vision had vanished. He was now wide awake, the sun was shining high in the sky, and he returned to his village.
Soon afterward, Sees-the-Living-Bull made the medicine re- presented in the bundle, which was always kept outside the tipi, except when taken inside for ceremonial purposes. Then it must be carried around the left side and out again by the right. The
WAR MEDICINE BUNDLES 63
bundle proved especially potent in locating the enemy and in protecting the owner from injury when on the warpath. During a ceremony Sees-the-Living-Bull always wore the moccasins after first smudging them in the smoke of pine needles.
Figs. 27 and 28 show the outer and inner side views of the left moccasin, which measures io|" long. Underneath the silver fox head covering, the moccasin is of the basic one-piece, soft-soled pattern with the seam around the outside of the foot and up the back of the heel. The scalp locks are sewn to this seam and are wrapped in yellow porcupine quills.^
In addition to the pair of moccasins, this bundle contains four small cloth packets. One of these holds black paint. The others appear to contain vegetal substances. The bundle contents are held in a boat-shaped, rawhide case which is painted on one side only in red, green and black geometric designs. ^^
NO tears' wolf skin war medicine
NOT illustrated
This bundle was obtained from DayHght in 1922. He had in- herited it from his father who, in turn, had inherited it from the original owner, No Tears, also known as Stepson-of-Being-a- Medicine-Man. (cat. no. 11/6484).
This bundle had its origin in a vision obtained by No Tears. In this vision he saw a jack rabbit, changed into a man, coming toward him. He did not realize at first that this jack rabbit was giving him a medicine. But when the rabbit came closer he noticed that it wore across its shoulders the skin of a wolf.