origin of were wolf

1 6 UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI STUDIES [268
(2) To secure clothing in cold climes by trapping or decoying
animals, as in (
i ) above.
(3) The imitation when decoying, of the motions of animals
led to dancing, and in the dances and various ceremonies the
faces and bodies of the participants were painted in imitation of
the colors of birds and animals, the motions of animals imitated
and animal disguises used. 58
(4) Scouts disguised themselves as animals when out
foraging, as well as for warfare, 59 60 therefore for booty, and selfdefense.
Either they wore the entire skin, or probably later just
a part of it as a fetich, like the left hind foot of a rabbit, worn as
a charm by many of our colored people to-day. 61
58
Notes 32, 34, 33, ante p. n.
a>
See p. 13.
60
Ethn. Rep. 1888-89, p. 503: Account of "a cloak or mantle made
from the skin of a deer, and covered with various mystic paintings. It was
made and used by the Apaches as a mantle of invisibility, that is, a
charmed covering for spies which would enable them to pass with impunity
through the country, and even through the camp of their enemies. In
this instance the fetichistic power depends upon the devices drawn." The
Apache have a similar fetich or charm. The symbols drawn were the raincloud,
serpent lightning, raindrops and the cross of the winds of the four
cardinal points. Ethn. Rep. 1889-90, p. 515: Among the Hidatsa (Sioux)
fetiches are especially the skins of the wolf. "When they go to war, they
always wear the stripe off the back of a wolf skin, with the tail hanging
down the shoulders. They make a slit in the skin through which the warrior
puts his head, so that the skin of the wolf's head hangs down upon his
breast." Finally the magic robes or shirts and girdles came to be a part of
the regular paraphernalia of the shamans, or practisers of magic. In the
folklore of all countries we find numerous notices of holy girdles.
Ethn. Rep. 1897-98, I. (Cherokee) 393: "Some warriors had medicine
to change their shape as they pleased, so that they could escape from their
enemies." Page 501: Such stories might be paralleled in any tribe.
61
See further development in note 64.