Now Lenape at the same time
E-ye-he-ye-ĕ!
“They told me, ‘We will go to see our friends,’ so I went with them. Every now and then they stopped and danced around as they had done before. After a while one of them told me to look toward the south, and there I saw a black cloud in which the lightning flashed. ‘Would you like to go there?’ they asked me. I answered ‘No.’ Then one asked if I wanted to go that way, pointing to the northeast, where the sky was blue and bright, to which I answered that I would rather go in that direction toward the clear sky. A little farther on they said: ‘We will now leave you. Watch us as we go.’ They went to the east a little way, and then I saw them trotting. They were wolves, and I had thought all the while that they were human beings.”
Verses of the dance song were sung at intervals during this speech. From analogy with other visions, such as are recorded above, one would think that the six wolf-men must have become Flying Wolf’s protectors, but instead, it was a Thunder Being that became his principal guardian, whose participation in the vision is merely inferred from the mention in the speech of the black cloud and the lightning. Evidently this Thunder Being was not offended when Flying Wolf told his guides that he would rather go toward the clear sky than toward the black cloud.
The Minsi say that when Flying Wolf recited his vision in the Big House ceremonies, he moved everyone, some even to tears. After he had finished, they say, a thunder-shower would almost always rise. He would become strangely excited when the dark clouds began to bank up on the horizon and spread themselves over the land. Stripping himself to the breech-cloth, he was ready to go out when the storm broke, for he would never stay beneath a roof at such a time. He loved to expose his body to the driving gusts of wind and rain; the appalling roar was music to his ears; while the lighting, to the eyes of the frightened onlookers, seemed to play about his very body. He used to say that if he stayed indoors the lightning display would be so terrible that the others in the house could not endure it. No wonder they used to say of him, “PilesʹwaL pewaʹlatcil!” “He is in league with the Thunders!”, or better, perhaps, “The Thunders will protect him!”
Within the memory of Minsi now living in Canada there were two members of the tribe who claimed the Sun spirit, Kiʹzho (or Kiʹzhox) as their protector. One of these was known as “Old man” Halfmoon, the other as “Muncey John” Henry. Halfmoon, it is said, when he wished to appear as a warrior, would sometimes hold his bare hands up toward the flaming face of his guardian, then rub the palms down his cheeks. When he removed his hands, it was seen that his face, clean before, was now painted in brilliant colors! “Surely,” the people cried, “this man is in league with the Sun!”
That the idea of a tangible ‘blessing’ is found among the Minsi, as well as among the Unami, is shown in certain of their traditions.
Historical References.—Brainerd.—Brainerd seems to have been about the first author to recognize in any degree the importance of the dream or vision in Lenape religious belief. He says:[40]
“They give much heed to dreams, because they suppose that these invisible powers give them directions at such times about certain affairs, and sometimes inform them what animal they would choose to be worshipped in.”