A Móra Ferenc Múzeum Évkönyve: Studia Historiae Literarum et Artium, 1. (Szeged, 1997)
Nagy Imre: „The Black Came over the Sun...” Lame Bull’s spiritual oeuvre
means, that White Shield's father was the cousin of Black Kettle and Gentle Horse. In the case of Lame Bull and White Shield, however, their So'tae'e descent was not really recognized at the time of Mooney's field work. In the Mooney notes both were identified according to their camping place in the tribal circle. Lame Bull is mentioned as a Northern Cheyenne, who camped and lived among the Heveskese-nehpaho'hese, (GrinnelFs Ivists 'tsinih 'pah) the Closed (or Burned) Aorta band of the Southern Cheyennes. His tipi stood in the southeastern segment of the camp circle, and this is corroborated by a sketch in the Mooney files, as well as, the panoramic drawing of Chief Killer. White Shield is identified as a member of the Heevahetane band, and a chief of the Bowstring warrior society. Keeping in mind the description of his tipi design, it can be declared with much certainty, that the red tipi with the two horned human figures depicted on the panoramic drawing definitely illustrates his lodge, and its placement in the Heevahetaneo'o segment of the camp. Considering the position in the tribal circle of tipis painted by Lame Bull, Chief Killer proves to be a quite reliable source. Lame Bull was a very prominent medicine man who, as a young man, received several tipi designs during a vision quest on Nóvávóse the „Gift Giving Hill", or Bear Butte, in present-day South Dakota. „He dreamed several at the same time which were to be made in turn for him and his family": The Yellow Tipi of White Shield Among the most remarkable of Cheyenne tipi designs is the one with the panther and the horned human figures, which Lame Bull prepared for his cousin White Shield (Fig. 4). Harvey White Shield said that this design was first painted in the winter of 1882-1883, then buried with his father in the same winter. However, the testimony of the panoramic drawing contradicts this, and we can be sure that the same design, or some variant of it, was already in use prior to 1874. Harvey was born in 1867, which means that he was a seven year-old boy when the Fort Marion prisoners were taken to Florida, and one of these young men remembered this tipi design quite clearly. In light of this fact, it may seem strange that Harvey, the only living inhabitant of the lodge in 1906, could not remember the previous use of this design on his father's tipi. However, if we take into consideration that the panoramic drawing depicts the „heraldic status quo" of the Cheyenne tribe some years prior to 1874, when the artist and his co-inmates were in their earlytwenties, and while Harvey was only a small boy of three to five years old, it seems less strange that he could not remember this design. The small scale drawing depicts the front and back of the lodge in a talented way, indicating the circle (from the back) and the crescent designs (from the front) on the sides of the tipi. The two „beasts" which flanked the circle on the back are depicted here as guardians of the tipi door, while the door itself is covered with a large buffalo head. The most remarkable differences between the Mooney sketch and the Fort Marion drawing are the absence of the panther figures 8 , and the background color. While the description of Lame Bull's vision clearly said „That evening at sunset - like flood of sunset: yellow light all over = yellow ground of the tipi," we might suppose that Lame Bull prepared or dictated a red variant of this tipi design too. On the other hand, the Fort Marion drawing illustrates another painted tipi right beside White Shield's tent. This one has a black top and smoke flaps, while its body is painted yellow. We can only speculate here: White Shield had two (or three?) wives, and maybe he had separate lodges for them, painted with variations of the same designs. We are informed in 65
