I learned about an Otter Tepee by living in one for a week, watching the owner in his ceremonies and his care of it. The supernatural power came to the founder in a dream, when he visited the home of an otter. The top of this Otter Tepee was painted black, with a yellow cross at the back for the Morning Star. Round the center were four male and four female otters; above the otters red bands representing ripples on the surface of the water, which an otter makes while swimming; and at the bottom of the tepee, a broad red band for the earth, surmounted by triangular figures for mountains. The owner had a large otter-skin, which he sometimes took from his sacred bundle and hung from a pole over the tepee, to float in the wind like a flag, also a drum and a number of bird and animal skins. These he kept in a rawhide case, which hung from a tripod outside the tepee in good weather, but were always brought inside at night, or during a storm. For the ceremony, he held the sacred bundle in the smoke of burning sweet grass, then laid it on the grass. When he opened his bundle and took out the contents, he sang songs and prayed. He painted his body yellow to represent the shore of a lake, with red marks for otter trails and tracks in the soft earth. A circle on his forehead stood for the home of the otter, another on his breast for a hole in the river bank through which the otter passes. In the tribal camp, I counted five different Otter Tepees; also two Crow Tepees, two Eagle, and one each of the Snake, Water Animal, Big Rock, Deer, Elk, Mountain Sheep, Antelope, Horse, Rainbow, Thunder, Snow, Pine Tree, Bear, Buffalo Head, beside many others. The owners of Painted Tepees guarded them jealously, because of their supernatural power and value to the tribe. It was long before I could purchase one. But I finally secured an Otter Tepee, because the owner lost faith in it. His wife and children had all died and he no longer believed in its protective power. I saw Wolf Tail, a son of the head-chief White Calf, take over the Big-Stripe Tepee. He made a vow to purchase it during the winter. At the time of the circle camp, he went to Wipes-His-Eyes, the owner, and made known his vow. Now Wipes-His-Eyes did not want to sell; and his wife and children were sorry to give up their comfortable home. But because of the vow, they dared not refuse. So Wolf Tail took down their tepee and pitched it in another place in the circle camp. The first lodge I owned had no pictures on the cover. Then I knew nothing about Painted Tepees—their rules and regulations. I wanted mine decorated, so I went to Medicine Weasel, a friend of Mad Wolf; he had a reputation as an artist and was willing to do the work. But, when I told him to paint otters on my tepee, he was frightened. He said it might cause his death; he had no right to use the otter design and asked that he be released from painting my tepee under any circumstances.