The Doll Being, called by the Unami _O‛ʹdas_ and by the Minsi _Naniʹtĭs_, has been already mentioned as a minor Lenape deity, and it now remains only to relate the ceremonies and beliefs connected with it, beginning with the myth accounting for its origin. MYTH OF ORIGIN Long ago, the Lenape say, some children, playing with sticks, decided to cut faces upon them, and were then very much surprised to notice that the little dolls which they had thus made seemed to have life. Their parents made them throw the dolls away when they discovered this, and most of the children soon forgot what had happened. One little girl, however, grieved for her doll; it bothered her all the time, and finally she began to dream of it every night. Then she told her parents of her trouble, and they realized that they should not have compelled her to throw the doll away. One night the doll appeared to the child and spoke to her, saying, “Find me and keep me always, and you and your family will ever enjoy good health. You must give me new clothing and hold a dance for me every spring,” and then told her exactly what to do. The girl reported this to her parents, who immediately looked for the doll and found it, then dressed it, made some hominy, killed a deer, and held a dance in its honor as they were instructed, and this rite has been continued to the present day. PREPARATIONS FOR THE CEREMONY When the family owning a doll of this kind is ready to conduct the Doll Dance (_O‛ʹdas-kĭʹnĭkä_), they select two men to gather firewood and to clean up the dance-ground used every year, and to engage a speaker and two singers, paying each of them with a yard of wampum. The dance-ground is square, similar to that used for the Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ dance, with logs ranged about for seats, in some pleasant place out in the woods. A hunter is then selected, who calls on several to help him get a deer, which, when brought in, is hung on poles prepared for it at the dance-ground, where it remains over night. The next morning they cook the deer and a kettle of hominy, and are then ready for the ceremony. THE DOLL DANCE