A Study of Siouan Cults: Eleventh Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1889-1890, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1861, pages 351-544Dorsey, James Owen
Religion
A Study of Siouan Cults: Eleventh Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1889-1890, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1861, pages 351-544
Dorsey, James Owen
Siouan Indians -- Religion
§ 251. In the olden times there was what they called “Wiŋyaŋ
nuŋ-papi-ka,” or the The Double Woman, consisting of two very tall
females who were probably connected by a membrane. They wore horned
headdresses decorated with feathers, and bunches of feathers hung from
the right shoulder of one and from the left shoulder of the other.
Instead of heel tags, each female had a turtle trailing from the heel
or quarter of one moccasin, and a feather from that of the other. In
the sketch as given by Bushotter there is a pale blue stripe around
the bottom of each skirt, and half of each trailing feather is of
that color. Each body, above the top of the blanket, is painted with
blue dots on a yellow ground. There is a blue stripe across the right
shoulder of the woman on the right, and one across the left shoulder
of the other woman, each stripe curving downward towards the opposite
side. (See Pl. L.)
They dwelt in a lodge on a very high black cliff. They were always
laughing immoderately, as if they were strangers to sorrow. On pleasant
evenings they stood on a hill, where they amused themselves by
swinging. Should any Indian see them, when he reached home he vomited
something resembling black earth, and died suddenly. These women were
skillful dancers, and they used to reflect rays of light by means of
their mirror, just as the young Indian men do in sport. They jumped
many times and sang this song:
[Illustration [musical notation]]
Će´-paŋ-śi ku-wa´-ni-to´ Tu´-wa le´-ći śi´-na mi´-ćo-ze´.
]
“Cousin, please come over here! Some one waves a robe over in this
direction at me. Ha! ha! ha!” Then they walked about. No one knew from
what quarter the Double Woman was coming, and how the two lived was a
mystery. There are many tall women found now among different Indian
tribes who imitate the behavior of the Double Woman.
John Bruyier and other Teton at Hampton, Va., regard this story of the
Double Woman as manufactured by Bushotter. But this character figures
in two Santee myths in Rev. S. R. Riggs’s collection, about to be
published by the Bureau of Ethnology.[187] (See § 394.)
[Illustration:
BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY ELEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT. PLATE L.
[image]
THE DOUBLE WOMAN.]
DEER WOMEN.
§ 252. Deer women of the Teton resemble the Wolf women of the Pawnee.
Both tempt unwary youths whom they encounter away from the camp in
solitary places. Should a youth yield to the woman’s solicitations the
result will be a sad one. As soon as he leaves her she will resume her
natural shape. The youth will appear as if drunk or insane, and he will
reach home with difficulty. His health will become impaired, and he
will soon die. So now the hunters avoid any female that they see on the
way. They hate the Deer women. The Deer women never speak, but in all
other respects they resemble Indian women.
DWARFS OR ELVES.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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