“We all went together to another village, where there were very large lodges of buffalo hide, and there held a long talk with the great Wakantanka. Then he had some squaws prepare us a meal of many herbs, meat, and wild fruits and ‘wasna’ (pounded beef and choke-cherries). After we had eaten, the Great Spirit prayed for our people upon the earth, and then we all took a smoke out of a fine pipe ornamented with the most beautiful feathers and porcupine quills. Then we left the city and looked into a great valley where there were thousands of buffalo, deer and elk feeding. “After seeing the valley, we returned to the city, the Great Spirit speaking meanwhile. He told me that the earth was now bad and worn out; that we needed a new dwelling-place where the rascally Whites could not disturb us. He further instructed me to return to my people, the Sioux, and say to them that if they would be constant in the dance and pay no attention to the Whites he would shortly come to their aid. If the high priests would make for the dancers medicine-shirts and pray over them no harm could come to the wearer; that the bullets of any Whites that desired to stop the Messiah dance would fall to the ground without doing anyone harm, and the person firing such shots would drop dead. He said that he had prepared a hole in the ground filled with hot water and fire for the reception of all white men and non-believers. With these parting words I was commanded to return to earth.” [Illustration: GHOST DANCE AT NO WATER’S CAMP, 1890. Sketch by Husté. ] Just after the dancers have been crying and moaning about their sins the priests strike up the first song, in which all join, singing with deafening loudness. Some man or woman may be at this moment at the tree, with his or her arms thrown about the rushes, sobbing as if their heart would break; or another may be walking and crying, wringing his hands, or going through some motion to indicate the deepest sorrow for his transgressions. So the singer cries aloud to his mother to be present and aid him. The appeal to the father refers, of course, to the Messiah, and its use in this connection is supposed to give emphasis to the demand for the mother’s presence and hasten her coming. Ghost Dance [Illustration: I na hé ku wó Mi sún ka la ché ya o ma’n i-ye Mi sún ka la ché ya o ma’n i-ye I’ na hé ku wo i’ na hé ku wó A’ le hé ye lo a’ le hé ye Mother come home. My little brother goes about always crying, my little brother goes about always crying. Mother come home; Mother come home. This the father says; this the father says. ] Ghost Dance [Illustration: Mi chínk shi nañ pe má yu za ye mi chink shi nañ pe má yu za ye A’ le hé ye lo a’ le hé ye lo My son, let me grasp your hand. My son, let me grasp your hand. This the father says, This the father says. ]