In autumn, when the birds migrate to the south, or, as the Indians say, return to the Old Woman, they believe that they take with them the dried meat hung on the scaffolds, and they imagine that the Old Woman partakes of it. The Old Woman who Never Dies has very large patches of corn, kept for her by the great stag and the white-tailed stag. She has, too, many blackbirds which help to guard her property. When she intends to feed these keepers, she summons them, and they fall on the corn, which they devour with greediness. As these corn patches are large, the Old Woman requires many laborers, hence she has the mice, moles, and stags to perform such work for her. The birds which fly from the seashore in the spring represent the Old Woman, who then travels to the north to visit the Old Man who Never Dies, who always resides there. She generally returns to the south in three or four days. In former times the Old Woman’s hut was near the Little Missouri River, where the Indians often visited her. One day twelve Hidatsa went to her, and she set before them a kettle of corn, which was so small that it did not appear sufficient to satisfy the hunger of one of the party. But she told them to eat, and, as soon as the kettle was emptied it was filled again, and all the men had enough.[235] GUARDIAN SPIRITS. § 325. The Mandan undertake nothing without first invoking their guardian spirits, which appear to them in dreams (see § 236). When a man wishes to choose his guardian spirit, he fasts for three or four days, and sometimes longer, retires to a solitary place, does penance, and sometimes sacrifices joints of his fingers. He howls and cries to the Lord of Life, or to the First Man, beseeching him to point out the guardian spirit. He continues in this excited condition until he dreams, and the first animal or other object which appears in the dream is the guardian spirit. Each man has such a spirit. There is on the prairie a large hill, where they remain motionless many days, lamenting and fasting. Not far from this hill is a cave, into which they creep at night. The choice and adoration of guardian spirits is said to have been taught the people many years ago by the Ochkih-Hadda. It was he who taught them the art of tattooing, and who instituted medicine feasts.[236] MANDAN BELIEF ABOUT SERPENTS AND GIANTS. § 326. The Mandan believe that there is a huge serpent which inhabits a lake three or four days’ journey from their village, and to which they make offerings. The tradition relates how two Mandan youths encountered a giant, who carried them to a village of giants. The latter part, which tells how one of the youths was changed into a huge serpent after killing and eating a serpent, resembles a Winnebago tradition.[237] THUNDER LORE OF THE MANDAN.