“First and the second are playing a game like the Indians/ plays. & the third one playing with the birds. his trying to kill/ one of them/ Joseph Wahn” (Artist’s inscription, verso)

“This drawing depicts two activities occurring simultaneously. The larger figure with the bow prepares to shoot a blunt arrow at the birds in a nearby tree (one has already been hit and lies on the ground). The other two figures play a game called tahunka canklespa unpi or "playing the buckskin hoop game.” The object of the game was for the first player (the figure on the right) to roll the buckskin hoop, which had an open mesh center, and for the second player (the figure on the left to throw the spear through the hoop as it moves along the ground. In both cases, the skill involved in successfully performing each of these activities was necessary for young boys to acquire in order to become good warriors.” (p.46)

William S. Wierzbowski and Helen M. Mangelsdorf in Images of a Vanished Life: Plains Indian Drawing from the Collection of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1985.