Brothers-in-law love each other. A man will present his sister’s husband with a gun and horses, and on the other hand receives game from his wife’s brother, as well as horses captured on a war expedition. When a man recites his coups, he will say, "I captured a horse and gave it to my brother-in-law."

As already noted, a man may jestingly refer to his wife’s brother as his wife and is in turn called husband. This mode of address is used on the battlefield. If a wounded man catches sight of his sister’s husband, he will say, "Husband, I am getting killed." Then his brother-in-law, if a brave man, will give help or even die with his wife’s brother. Unless he did so, his brother-in-law would jeer at him for his cowardice, saying "My husband is like a woman, he left me alone." A man who has captured a horse will say to his wife’s brother, "My wife, take this horse." Otherwise his brother-in-law will say, "My husband got enemy’s horses but did not give me any, he is bad!" If a man’s wife’s brothers capture horses while he himself does not, he is ashamed because his "wives" are braver than himself. If a man is sent out by his war party to get water of a dark night, his wife’s brother may say, "He calls me ’wife,’ yet he is more afraid than I am." When sent for water by one’s "wife," a man cannot refuse to go.⁴

⁴Lowien/an/an/an/an/an/a, "Notes on the . . . Mandan, Hidatsa, and Crow Indians," 48–49.