If a vision appears to one in the form of a dog, a shore lark, a swallow, a night hawk, a frog, a lizard, or a dragon fly, it has been granted by Wakinyan, the Winged God, for these creatures are His akicita, or representatives, and when either of them speaks to one in a vision the one spoken to must become heyoka and ever afterwards speak and act anti-natural, or as a buffoon. A Candidate to dance the Sun Dance who receives a vision from Wakinyan must, during the ceremony in the dance lodge, act as a clown, and in every manner attempt to make the people laugh. He must appear to enjoy the tortures inflicted during the dance and should make sport of his fellow dancers.

Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History, Vol. 16, Part 2, The Sun Dance and Other Ceremonies of the Oglala Division of the Teton Dakota, p. 68