FOOTNOTES:
[36] Told by Yellow-Bear.
36. THE NOTCHED STICK AND THE OLD WOMAN OF THE ISLAND.[37]
When my people held the medicine-men’s ceremonies, the leading medicine-man, who sat in the west of the lodge, had a roll of dried buffalo hide and a long stick with notches upon it. The leaders of the medicine-men’s lodge had sticks that they rubbed on this notched stick so that the dried buffalo hide made a noise sounding something like that of a drum. When this noise was begun they began to rattle the gourds. At the end of the ceremony of the medicine-men the lodges inside of the big lodge were taken down to the river, and the notched stick and the dried buffalo hide were taken and placed upon an island. We were told not to go to the island; but knowing the place, one man went, and he saw in place of the hide and stick an old woman sitting there. He saw her plainly. Her ears hung down with great, big cuts in them. She had a very long face. When he took a look at her she turned her nose up. He was scared and ran away towards the village. He met some other boys and told them about the old woman. They would not believe him, so they went back, and when they came to the island, sure enough, it was no longer the old woman, but the hide and stick.
When the man went home he told his father all about it, and he said: “True, my son; that is the reason that they put the objects upon the island, because really they are an old woman.” Other boys also visited the island, and they saw the same old woman. When several went to the island another time, it was again a stick.