Then Mad Wolf again took the leader’s seat beside the bundle to continue the ceremony. It required a fine memory to conduct the Beaver Ceremony, with its great number of songs, prayers, and dances. Nobody knew how many there were; it was bad luck to count them; but there must have been between three and four hundred songs.
Every detail of the ceremony had to be performed accurately. It was believed misfortune would result if mistakes were made. Yet a mistake happened that very day in the dance of the lynx.
Mad Wolf took from the bundle the tail of a lynx, while the beaver men chanted and beat with rattles. Gives-to-the-Sun held up a stick painted red to represent a tree. Catches-Two-Horses took the tail and imitated the actions of a lynx hunting squirrels.
First, it walked round and then sat down and looked into [[63]]the tree. Several times it ran towards the tree after a squirrel, but each time came back and sat down. Finally it made a quick dash for the tree. Catches-Two-Horses then made the mistake of making the lynx go quickly up one side and down the other. Mad Wolf stopped the ceremony. Every one waited in silence. The beaver men began again their rhythmic drumming, while Mad Wolf took the tail. He represented the lynx running to the tree, just as the woman had done. But Mad Wolf made it climb more slowly; and held it for a short time on top, where it danced in time with the drumming. He then brought it slowly down the other side, clambering little by little like a cat, stopping frequently to look around, until it finally reached the ground.
Mad Wolf brought forth a pair of badger skins. He took them out backwards, the way badgers come from their dens. He imitated the timid actions of badgers, moving the skins this way and that, like badgers trying to escape. He turned them as though they were going to attack, but became frightened and fled back into their den.
During the song of the white swan, Mad Wolf made a mistake and stopped the ceremony. With bowed head and closed eyes, he strove to recall the song, while the entire company waited silently. Suddenly Mad Wolf raised his head. He looked straight at me and said: “There is White Weasel, my son. He had better continue the ceremony in my place.” The Indians laughed and enjoyed the joke. The tension was thus relieved and Mad Wolf continued the song.
Then Mad Wolf took from the Beaver Bundle the head of a mallard duck. Elk Chief stood up and, drawing his blanket round him, circled the fire, imitating the movements of a duck. Across the tepee Soft Woman rose. Both danced gracefully towards each other until they met and together they circled the fire, representing in their dance a pair of ducks. Soft Woman held up her right hand and swayed her [[64]]body from side to side, while Elk Chief spread out both arms, with hands extended, in imitation of a flying duck.
A woman entered the tepee. One of her children was dead, and she was in mourning. Her disheveled hair hid her face, and she had her blanket drawn closely about her. She was pale and emaciated from fasting, and her arms were bleeding from self-inflicted wounds—a sad and forlorn-looking creature. She stood silently before the assembled people, until Mad Wolf took pity on her. With some sage he performed the rite of purification and prayed that she might have a new and happy life. Then she withdrew as silently as she came.
Mad Wolf brought forth a prairie chicken and some of its tail feathers. He handed them to the two women who knelt facing each other. Then they arose and danced, praying to the prairie chicken. Gives-to-the-Sun held the skin and Catches-Two-Horses the feathers. This was a woman’s dance. Gives-to-the-Sun knelt before another woman and Catches-Two-Horses did likewise. They knelt thus in pairs with heads close to the ground, and imitated the habits of prairie chickens. They made a clucking sound. They stretched out their blankets with their arms and shook them in imitation of wings. Their song was lively and the crowd enjoyed it. The beaver men drummed with enthusiasm and energy, singing and shaking their rattles in the air to imitate the sound of prairie chickens flying.
Mad Wolf again arose. He moved around the fire in a bear dance. He held his arms in front with hands hanging down, as a bear does its paws. He placed his feet together and moved backwards and forwards, with short jumps, imitating the deliberate and heavy tread of a walking bear, moving his face this way and that, as if looking about. He puffed and grunted and acted like a bear, digging in the ground, and turning over stones for insects. The two women, Gives-to-the-Sun and Catches-Two-Horses, arose and joined Mad Wolf in this [[65]]dance. They held their hands with forefingers crooked on their heads for ears, and then in front, with hands down, as bears do their paws when standing on their hind legs. In this manner the women followed Mad Wolf round the tepee, and then danced up to their “potential husbands.” They seized them roughly and forced them to dance, amid laughter and shouts of the spectators.