what he had seen, and showed them the different medicines. Then the
chiefs chose certain young men to belong to the different societies,
and this man taught them the songs and dances, and gave its medicine
to each society.




THE FIRST MEDICINE LODGE


The chief god of the Blackfeet is the Sun. He made the world and
rules it, and to him the people pray. One of his names is Napi--old
man; but there is another Napi who is very different from the Sun,
and instead of being great, wise, and wonderful, is foolish, mean,
and contemptible. We shall hear about him further on.

Every year in summer, about the time the berries ripen, the
Blackfeet used to hold the great festival and sacrifice which we
call the ceremony of the Medicine Lodge. This was a time of happy
meetings, of feasting, of giving presents; but besides this
rejoicing, those men who wished to have good-luck in whatever they
might undertake tried to prove their prayers sincere by sacrificing
their bodies, torturing themselves in ways that caused great
suffering. In ancient times, as we are told in books of history,
things like that used to happen among many peoples all over the
world.

It was the law that the building of the Medicine Lodge must always
be pledged by a good woman. If a woman had a son or a husband away