Waterlily is Ella Cara Deloria's fictional portrayal of a Sioux family in the middle of the nineteenth century, in the years before sustained contact with whites. After Waterlily, the protagonist, suffered a serious illness as a child, her stepfather, Rainbow, promised to hold a hunka, or "child- - beloved," ceremony for her. In this passage Deloria describes the dress of a child-beloved. When enough elk teeth were on hand . . . Dream Woman-made the gown; and it was something to behold. . . . As usual, Dream Woman had dreamed an original design. It was worked into the wide border of embroidery that topped the heavy fringe around the bottom of the skirt and of the loose, open sleeves. The matched. teeth, which had been painstakingly polished to a high luster by the grandfather . . . were appliqued in pleasing groups all over the upper half of the gown, above the belt...