Song Concerning White Butterfly

From Teton Sioux Music by Frances Densmore:

The grief of those whose relatives were killed on the warpath was intense. Many of the women cut gashes in the flesh of the entire body and limbs, and cropped the hair close to their heads. Many of the men thrust skewers through the flesh on the outside of their legs. It was the custom for them to go around the village circle displaying these signs of mourning.

As they went they sang a song in which they inserted the name of their dead relative, or they might compose an entirely new song in his honor.

Mrs. Lawrence (Silent Woman) has been a student at Carlisle, but retains an unusually clear knowledge of old war customs.  Mrs. Lawrence said that when she was ten years of age her cousin, named Kimímela Ská (White Butterfly), was killed by the Crows. She remembered hearing her aunt sing this song when the war party returned with the news of his death.