HEYOKA WACIPEE [16]--THE GIANT'S DANCE.


The night-sun [17] sails in his gold canoe,
The spirits [18] walk in the realms of air
With their glowing faces and flaming hair,
And the shrill, chill winds o'er the prairies blow.
In the Tee [19] of the Council the Virgins light
The Virgin-fire [20] for the feast to-night;
For the Sons of Heyoka will celebrate
The sacred dance to the giant great.
The kettle boils on the blazing fire,
And the flesh is done to the chief's desire.
With his stoic face to sacred East, [21]
He takes his seat at the Giant's Feast.

For the feast of Heyoka [22] the braves are dressed
With crowns from the bark of the white-birch trees,
And new skin leggins that reach the knees;
With robes of the bison and swarthy bear,
And eagle-plumes in their coal-black hair,
And marvelous rings in their tawny ears,
Which were pierced with the points of their shining spears.
To honor Heyoka, Wakawa lifts
His fuming pipe from the Red-stone Quarry. [23]
The warriors follow. The white cloud drifts
From the Council-lodge to the welkin starry,
Like a fog at morn on the fir-clad hill,
When the meadows are damp and the winds are still.