“I think the moon when ponies shed [May] was young when he disappeared. His father’s best horse was gone too, and people talked and talked. Maybe he was going forth to find an enemy and die. Maybe it was like dreaming, the way he was, and some witkokaga [crazy-making spirit] told him he could find his brothers. The moon grew big, and withered, and was dead in the dark. Then Running Wolf came riding back. He was coming over the ridge, and the sun was going down behind him. His horse was walking slow, and he was singing. All around the village people watched him from their tepees to see what he would do, for when a man is witko he is wakon [mysterious, sacred], and whatever he will do they let him do it. When he came to the opening in the village hoop, he stopped his horse, and we could see that his face was blackened and his hair was cut off. He sat upon his horse and sang a song that he had made, and the people, looking from their tepees, listened. The song was like this, but I cannot remember to sing it right.
“In a far country I have seen.
Their bones I have seen.
The wings of the air have feasted
And the wolves are fed.
On a lonely hill I have seen,
In the country of the stranger;
And my heart is cut into strings.
“Four times he sang it, sitting there on his horse; and while he sang, he wept. Then he started his horse and began riding at a walk about the hoop to the left, in the sacred manner. When he had ridden a little way, he began singing again, and it was a death-song. He looked straight ahead and sang, and the people watched him.
“When he came to Last Dog’s tepee, he stopped his horse and cried, ‘Last Dog, come out and look at me! You are a brave man, Last Dog! Come out and make my heart glad!’