ease. The white people
know about everything, but if they can kill that foul disease,
consumption, I shall feel very thankful. As I told you before, I think of
the buffalo time, the meat, and the hides, and the desire for it seems
almost like a disease, and this is especially true with the old men."

When asked about his belief concerning the Indian's hereafter, before he
became a Christian, he replied: "There was no definite Supreme Being that
we believed in. There were a great many gods that we had faith in. I
prayed to my own god; then we all heard that after we died we would meet
in some good country where we would all be happy. No matter if we had
lots of gods, we would all meet in that country. Now, while I cannot read
the Bible, nor can I understand the Bible, yet we have preachers in our
own language and they tell us that there is one God, and also His Holy
Son, and we shall all meet in heaven, and I believe in that. A great many
of the Sioux are followers like I am, but like a great many other people,
there are many who do one thing and feel another. In the old days the sun
was my god, the sun was my fathef's god, and I then thought the sun was my
father and the earth was my mother. I sang and danced to the sun; I have
my breast and arms tattooed with the sun, and I pierced my body through
offering sacrifices to the sun. Now I look back upon those old Indian
customs as foolishness. It is like a man coming out of darkness into
light. I was then in the dark; I am now going into the valley of light,
learning every day."

Folklore Tales--Sioux

Pretty Voice Eagle reached the other pole of life when his thoughts went
back to the time when the old folks gathered around the campfire, and as a
small lad he listened to their oft-repeated stories. "I can hardly
remember them, but I will tell you a short story: There was a great big
spider carrying a big roll of straw on his back, and he was running along
between two lakes. There was a great big flock of geese on one of the
lakes. One of the geese yelled over to the spider: 'Spider, where are you
going?' The spider said: 'You hush up now! I have heard there is a camp
of Indians over here who have returned from a victory with many scalps,
and they sent for me with my songs. I have them all in the bundle on my
back, and I am taking them over to them.' The spider kept on going, and
one of the geese told him: 'You stop, and give us one of those so