In this chant the four principals held their hands with two index fingers curved towards each other, the other fingers being closed, in imitation of buffalo horns—the Indian sign for buffalo.
The two women raised the Beaver Bundle, while the men sang the chant:
“The buffalo bull came down from the mountains.
He lies upon the ground.”
They moved the sacred bundle slowly and reverently and placed it on a buffalo robe, beside the burning sweet grass. Mad Wolf took some rattles from a woven Nez Percé bag and distributed them among the beaver men. He handed two of them to me and said: “You are now my son and should join with me in this ceremony.”
These rattles, which were made of buffalo hide and contained small pebbles, were used by the beaver men to beat time on the buffalo hides during the chants and dances, in imitation of beavers striking the water with their flat tails.
Then, with the beaver men, I joined in the Raven Song:
“We fly high in the air.
Our power is very strong.
The wind is our medicine.”