Untitled - Smithsonian Institution

176 BUKEAIT OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull, 99
If Snakes Have Bitten Them, This is the Medicine
FREE TRANSLATION
Ya! Ha! now, Black Snake, they have caused thee to come down,
it seems. The snake (that has bitten him) is only a ghost, it seems.
They have caused thee to come down, it seems.
The ever-living bones, the ever-living teeth it has advanced
toward him,^ it seems. It was only a black snake that laid itself
about the trail, it seems. But right now, it feigned to bite thee,'^°
it seems. Its track would never be found (it thought).
But now the ever-living bones have been made weak; thou ^^ art
now in such a condition. There has been hesitation (on thy^^ part)
it seems. Ha! now thou ^^ hast become faltering.
But*at this very moment you Two Little Men, you Two Powerful
Wizards, they have caused you two to come down. It was a black
snake, it seems, but the snake is merely a ghost (and) it has feigned
to put the disease under bim,^° it seems; (it thought) its track would
never be found. But now you two have come to take it away.
Where the black boxes are, you two have gone to store it up. As
soon as you two have turned round, relief will have been caused at
the same time.
Rattlesnake Fern is the medicine. It is merely to be blown on
them. The symptoms are that they dream that snakes have bitten
them. And they (the snakes) usually cause it to be the same (as if
they had really bitten them) ; poplar should be used A-^dth it.
EXPLANATION
The sickness for which this formula is intended is a form of
nightmare, resulting from some irregularity in regard to eating.
The symptoms and the theory of the disease are well set forth
in the formula itself, which abounds in poetic expressions. According
to the theory, as is stated in the prescription, when one
dreams that he has been bitten by a snake the result is just the
same as that of an actual snakebite. [The treatment, however, is
different (see Formula No. 47, p. 240).l If the patient does not
submit himself to the treatment as here prescribed, the spot bitten in
his dream will become red and ulcerate [maybe months or] perhaps
years afterwards, and the victim will become ill with all the symptoms
of an actual snakebite. The same rule holds good in all other
cases, dreams being regarded as prophecies of coming facts. [See
p. 40.1 There are other formulas for treating other classes of
snake dreams. These nightmare dreams are very frequent wdth
the Indians in consequence of bad cookery, late suppers, and irregular
hours.
2" The patient, ^i Disease-snake.