The Medicine Man’s Signal
Illustration from
THE SIOUX OUTBREAK IN SOUTH DAKOTA
by Frederic Remington
Originally published in
Harper’s Weekly, January 24, 1891
The Ghost Dance by the Ogallala Sioux at Pine Ridge Agency, Dakota, December, 1890
Illustration from
THE NEW INDIAN MESSIAH
by Lieutenant Marion P. Maus, U.S.A.
Originally published in
Harper’s Weekly, December 6, 1890
“I was very hungry, and I opened the tepee and came out, and it was sunrise. My father was sleeping on the ground, and when I touched him, he woke quickly and said:
“‘My son, I am glad to see you. I heard voices that were not yours calling in the tepee, and I was afraid.’
“‘All is well,’ I said. ‘Give me food.’
“When I was fed, I took my bow and arrow and went forth to kill a weasel. When I was alone, I sat down and prayed to the Great Spirits of the six world directions, and smoked, beginning at the southeast, and a voice came in my ear which said, ‘I will lead you.’ Soon I came upon a large, sleeping weasel; he was white all over as snow, though it was yet fall. Him I killed and skinned, and stretched the pelt on a flat stick to make a pouch. Then I sought the medicine to go in it. What that was I will not tell, but at last it was filled, and then I slew a big red fox, and out of his fur I made my cap.
“Each night I went into my tepee alone to smoke and chant, and each night strange birds and animals came to me and talked and taught me much wisdom. Then came voices of my ancestors, and taught me how to cure the sick and how to charm the buffalo and the elk. Then I began to help my father to heal the sick people, and I became honored among my companions; and when I caught a maid on her way to the spring, she did not struggle; she was glad to talk with me, for I had a fine tepee and six horses and many blankets.