THE WAKAN-WACEPEE, OR SACRED DANCE.

Lo the lights in the “Teepee-Wákan!”

‘ tis the night of the Wákan Wacépee.

Round and round walks the chief of the clan,

as he rattles the sacred Ta-shá-kay;

Long and loud on the Chán-che-ga

beat the drummers with magical drumsticks,

And the notes of the Chô-tánka

greet like the murmur of winds on the waters.

By the friction of white-cedar wood

for the feast was a Virgin-firekindled.

They that enter the firm brotherhood

first must fast and be cleansed by E-neé-pee;

And from foot-sole to crown of the head

must they paint with the favorite colors;

For Unktéhee likes bands of blood-red,

with the stripings of blue intermingled.

In the hollow earth, dark and profound,

Unktéhee and fiery Wakínyan

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.

Wakín-yan escaped from the cavern,

And long on the mountains he wailed,

and his hatred endureth forever.

When Unktéhee had finished the earth,

and the beasts and the birds and the fishes,

And men at his bidding came forth

from the heart of the huge hollow mountains,

A band chose the god from the hordes,

and he said: “Ye are the sons of Unktéhee:

Ye are lords of the beasts and the birds,

and the fishes that swim in the waters.

But hearken ye now to my words,—

let them sound in your bosoms forever:

Ye shall honor Unktéhee and hate Wakinyan,

the Spirit of Thunder,

For the power of Unktéhee is great,

and he laughs at the darts of Wakinyan.

Ye shall honor the Earth and the Sun,—

for they are your father and mother;

Let your prayer to the Sun be:—

Wakán Até; on-si-md-da oheé-neé. "

And remember the Táku Wakán

all-pervading in earth and in ether —

Invisible ever to man,

but He dwells in the midst of all matter;

Yea, he dwells in the heart of the stone —

in the hard granite heart of the boulder;

Ye shall call him forever Tunkán —

grandfather of all the Dakotas.

Ye are men that I choose for my own;

ye shall be as a strong band of brothers,

Now I give you the magical bone

and the magical pouch of the spirits,

And these are the laws ye shall heed:

Ye shall honor the pouch and the giver.

Ye shall walk as twin-brothers; in need,

one shall forfeit his life for another.

Listen not to the voice of the crow.

Hold as sacred the wife of a brother.

Strike, and fear not the shaft of the foe,

for the soul of the brave is immortal.

Slay the warrior in battle,

but spare the innocent babe and the mother.

Remember a promise,— beware,—

let the word of a warrior be sacred

When a stranger arrives at the tee —

be he friend of the band or a foeman,

Give him food; let your bounty be free;

lay a robe for the guest by the lodge-fire;

Let him go to his kindred in peace,

if the peace-pipe he smoke in the teepee;

And so shall your children increase,

and your lodges shall laugh with abundance.

And long shall ye live in the land,

and the spirits of earth and the waters

Shall come to your aid, at command,

with the power of invisible magic.

And at last, when you journey afar —

o'er the shining “Wanágee Ta-chán-ku,"

You shall walk as a red, shining star

in the land of perpetual summer.”