MOUNTAIN CHIEF
WOLF PLUME
[[293]]
When they came to Wolf Plume’s tepee, they halted; but the singing and drumming continued. In the doorway of the lodge stood the aged mother of Wolf Plume. She had snow-white hair and leaned heavily on a staff. When she saw Wolf Plume with the Pipe, and heard the singing and drumming, she was so overcome with emotion that she joined in the song. She waved her stick in the air and shouted: “Good boy! Wolf Plume! Good boy! My son! You are now a great chief.”
Then the drumming ceased and the procession entered the lodge. The women laid their sacred bundles at the back, and all took seats. Lone Chief, as the officiating pipe man, sat in the center. Wolf Plume, the new pipe man, was on his right; and the seven men who would help in the singing and drumming, on his left.
Next to Wolf Plume sat his wife and the wife of Lone Chief. Beyond them were the head wives of the seven drummers, also the aged and people of prominence. Indians came from all parts of camp and crowded into the tepee.
Members of Wolf Plume’s band (blood relatives) and his friends brought presents to help him in the payment. Lone Chief was paid forty horses for the Pipe, and besides a large pile of clothing, blankets, and provisions. Tearing Lodge, father-in-law of Wolf Plume, received them, calling in a loud voice the names of each giver. My present, a blanket of bright colors, was announced with the rest.
Then Lone Chief dressed Wolf Plume in the ceremonial clothes—a headband of white goatskin with an eagle feather, beaded buckskin shirt trimmed with ermine tails, and leggings and moccasins to match. He also gave him a horse, which could only be ridden by the pipe owner, and a saddle, bridle, whip and lariat, to go with the horse.
The ceremony of transfer began while the sun was still low over the prairie. Its first golden rays streamed into the open [[294]]front of the lodge and fell upon the seven singers with their painted medicine drums. Sweet pine burned as incense. Lone Chief and his wife placed their hands in the rising smoke and sang the first song of a series of seven. During these songs the women removed the outer coverings from the bundle. Then they all sang the Buffalo Song, making the buffalo sign with forefingers curved, while Wolf Plume and his wife untied the outer thongs of buffalo-skin. During the Antelope Song the singers imitated with their hands the graceful motions of antelope. While loosing the wrapper of elkskin they sang the Elk Song, making the elk sign by holding their hands to their heads with fingers extended to represent antlers; and the women shook their heads at the bundle, as if they were elk about to charge and tear loose the wrapper with their horns. Thus the sacred bundle of the Medicine Pipe was opened, exposing many skins of birds and animals and other relics.