The Ghost-dance religion and the Sioux outbreak of 1890

by James Mooney

I made moccasins for him,

For I love him,

For I love him.

To take to the orphan,

To take to the orphan.

Soon I shall see my child,

Soon I shall see my child,

Says your mother,

Says your mother.

This song evidently relates the trance vision of a mother who saw her child in the spirit world, and expresses the hope that she may soon be reunited with him. In accordance with the custom of the Ghost dance, it is probable that she made a pair of moccasins to give him when next they met, and that she carried them in the dance as she sang.