Lo the lights in the "Teepee Wakan!"
'tis the night of the Wakan-Wacepee.
Round and round walks the chief of the clan,
as he rattles the sacred Ta-sha-kay; [81]
Long and loud on the Chan-che-ga [81]
beat the drummers with magical drumsticks,
And the notes of the Cho-tanka [81] greet,
like the murmur of winds on the waters.
By the friction of white-cedar wood
for the feast was a Virgin-fire [20] kindled.
They that enter the firm brotherhood
first must fast and be cleansed by E-nee-pee; [81]
And from foot-sole to crown of the head
must they paint with the favorite colors;
For Unktehee likes bands of blood-red,
with the stripings of blue intermingled.
In the hollow earth, dark and profound,
Unktehee and fiery Wakin-yan
Long fought and the terrible sound
of the battle was louder than thunder;
The mountains were heaved and around
were scattered the hills and the boulders,
And the vast solid plains of the ground
rose and fell like the waves of the ocean.
But the god of the waters prevailed.
Wakin-yan escaped from the cavern,
And long on the mountains he wailed,
and his hatred endureth forever.