{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_338/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_338","id":"gutenberg_338","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/338","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Short Stories","Dakota Indians -- Folklore","Native America"],"text":"Produced by Judith Boss\n\n\n\n\n\nOLD INDIAN LEGENDS\n\nRetold By Zitkala-Sa\n\n\n\n\nITKALA-SA.\n\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n     IKTOMI AND THE DUCKS\n     IKTOMI'S BLANKET\n     IKTOMI AND THE MUSKRAT\n     IKTOMI AND THE COYOTE\n     IKTOMI AND THE FAWN\n     THE BADGER AND THE BEAR\n     THE TREE-BOUND\n     SHOOTING OF THE RED EAGLE\n     IKTOMI AND THE TURTLE\n     DANCE IN A BUFFALO SKULL\n     THE TOAD AND THE BOY\n     IYA, THE CAMP-EATER\n     MANSTIN, THE RABBIT\n     THE WARLIKE SEVEN\n\n\n\n\n\nOLD INDIAN LEGENDS\n\n\n\n\nIKTOMI AND THE DUCKS\n\n\nIKTOMI is a spider fairy. He wears brown deerskin leggins with long soft\nfringes on either side, and tiny beaded moccasins on his feet. His long\nblack hair is parted in the middle and wrapped with red, red bands.\nEach round braid hangs over a small brown ear and falls forward over his\nshoulders.\n\nHe even paints his funny face with red and yellow, and draws big black\nrings around his eyes. He wears a deerskin jacket, with bright colored\nbeads sewed tightly on it. Iktomi dresses like a real Dakota brave. In\ntruth, his paint and deerskins are the best part of him--if ever dress\nis part of man or fairy.\n\nIktomi is a wily fellow. His hands are always kept in mischief. He\nprefers to spread a snare rather than to earn the smallest thing with\nhonest hunting. Why! he laughs outright with wide open mouth when some\nsimple folk are caught in a trap, sure and fast.\n\nHe never dreams another lives so bright as he. Often his own conceit\nleads him hard against the common sense of simpler people.\n\nPoor Iktomi cannot help being a little imp. And so long as he is a\nnaughty fairy, he cannot find a single friend. No one helps him when\nhe is in trouble. No one really loves him. Those who come to admire his\nhandsome beaded jacket and long fringed leggins soon go away sick and\ntired of his vain, vain words and heartless laughter.\n\nThus Iktomi lives alone in a cone-shaped wigwam upon the plain. One day\nhe sat hungry within his teepee. Suddenly he rushed out, dragging after\nhim his blanket. Quickly spreading it on the ground, he tore up dry tall\ngrass with both his hands and tossed it fast into the blanket.\n\nTying all the four corners together in a knot, he threw the light bundle\nof grass over his shoulder.\n\nSnatching up a slender willow stick with his free left hand, he started\noff with a hop and a leap. From side to side bounced the bundle on his\nback, as he ran light-footed over the uneven ground. Soon he came to the\nedge of the great level land. On the hilltop he paused for breath. With\nwicked smacks of his dry parched lips, as if tasting some tender meat,\nhe looked straight into space toward the marshy river bottom. With a\nthin palm shading his eyes from the western sun, he peered far away into\nthe lowlands, munching his own cheeks all the while. \u201cAh-ha!\u201d grunted\nhe, satisfied with what he saw.\n\nA group of wild ducks were dancing and feasting in the marshes. With\nwings outspread, tip to tip, they moved up and down in a large circle.\nWithin the ring, around a small drum, sat the chosen singers, nodding\ntheir heads and blinking their eyes.\n\nThey sang in unison a merry dance-song, and beat a lively tattoo on the\ndrum.\n\nFollowing a winding footpath near by, came a bent figure of a Dakota\nbrave. He bore on his back a very large bundle. With a willow cane he\npropped himself up as he staggered along beneath his burden.\n\n\u201cHo! who is there?\u201d called out a curious old duck, still bobbing up and\ndown in the circular dance.\n\nHereupon the drummers stretched their necks till they strangled their\nsong for a look at the stranger passing by.\n\n\u201cHo, Iktomi! Old fellow, pray tell us what you carry in your blanket. Do\nnot hurry off! Stop! halt!\u201d urged one of the singers.\n\n\u201cStop! stay! Show us what is in your blanket!\u201d cried out other voices.\n\n\u201cMy friends, I must not spoil your dance. Oh, you would not care to see\nif you only knew what is in my blanket. Sing on! dance on! I must not\nshow you what I carry on my back,\u201d answered Iktomi, nudging his own\nsides with his elbows. This reply broke up the ring entirely. Now all\nthe ducks crowded about Iktomi.\n\n\u201cWe must see what you carry! We must know what is in your blanket!\u201d\n they shouted in both his ears. Some even brushed their wings against the\nmysterious bundle. Nudging himself again, wily Iktomi said, \u201cMy friends,\n't is only a pack of songs I carry in my blanket.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, then let us hear your songs!\u201d cried the curious ducks.\n\nAt length Iktomi consented to sing his songs. With delight all the ducks\nflapped their wings and cried together, \u201cHoye! hoye!\u201d\n\nIktomi, with great care, laid down his bundle on the ground.\n\n\u201cI will build first a round straw house, for I never sing my songs in\nthe open air,\u201d said he.\n\nQuickly he bent green willow sticks, planting both ends of each pole\ninto the earth. These he covered thick with reeds and grasses. Soon the\nstraw hut was ready. One by one the fat ducks waddled in through a small\nopening, which was the only entrance way. Beside the door Iktomi stood\nsmiling, as the ducks, eyeing his bundle of songs, strutted into the\nhut.\n\nIn a strange low voice Iktomi began his queer old tunes. All the ducks\nsat round-eyed in a circle about the mysterious singer. It was dim in\nthat straw hut, for Iktomi had not forgot to cover up the small entrance\nway. All of a sudden his song burst into full voice. As the startled\nducks sat uneasily on the ground, Iktomi changed his tune into a minor\nstrain. These were the words he sang:\n\n\u201cIstokmus wacipo, tuwayatunwanpi kinhan ista nisasapi kta,\u201d which is,\n\u201cWith eyes closed you must dance. He who dares to open his eyes, forever\nred eyes shall have.\u201d\n\nUp rose the circle of seated ducks and holding their wings close against\ntheir sides began to dance to the rhythm of Iktomi's song and drum.\n\nWith eyes closed they did dance! Iktomi ceased to beat his drum. He\nbegan to sing louder and faster. He seemed to be moving about in the\ncenter of the ring. No duck dared blink a wink. Each one shut his eyes\nvery tight and danced even harder. Up and down! Shifting to the right of\nthem they hopped round and round in that blind dance. It was a difficult\ndance for the curious folk.\n\nAt length one of the dancers could close his eyes no longer! It was a\nSkiska who peeped the least tiny blink at Iktomi within the center of\nthe circle. \u201cOh! oh!\u201d squawked he in awful terror! \u201cRun! fly! Iktomi is\ntwisting your heads and breaking your necks! Run out and fly! fly!\u201d\n he cried. Hereupon the ducks opened their eyes. There beside Iktomi's\nbundle of songs lay half of their crowd--flat on their backs.\n\nOut they flew through the opening Skiska had made as he rushed forth\nwith his alarm.\n\nBut as they soared high into the blue sky they cried to one another:\n\u201cOh! your eyes are red-red!\u201d \u201cAnd yours are red-red!\u201d For the warning\nwords of the magic minor strain had proven true. \u201cAh-ha!\u201d laughed\nIktomi, untying the four corners of his blanket, \u201cI shall sit no more\nhungry within my dwelling.\u201d Homeward he trudged along with nice fat\nducks in his blanket. He left the little straw hut for the rains and\nwinds to pull down.\n\nHaving reached his own teepee on the high level lands, Iktomi kindled\na large fire out of doors. He planted sharp-pointed sticks around the\nleaping flames. On each stake he fastened a duck to roast. A few he\nburied under the ashes to bake. Disappearing within his teepee, he came\nout again with some huge seashells. These were his dishes. Placing one\nunder each roasting duck, he muttered, \u201cThe sweet fat oozing out will\ntaste well with the hard-cooked breasts.\u201d\n\nHeaping more willows upon the fire, Iktomi sat down on the ground with\ncrossed shins. A long chin between his knees pointed toward the red\nflames, while his eyes were on the browning ducks.\n\nJust above his ankles he clasped and unclasped his long bony fingers.\nNow and then he sniffed impatiently the savory odor.\n\nThe brisk wind which stirred the fire also played with a squeaky old\ntree beside Iktomi's wigwam.\n\nFrom side to side the tree was swaying and crying in an old man's voice,\n\u201cHelp! I'll break! I'll fall!\u201d Iktomi shrugged his great shoulders, but\ndid not once take his eyes from the ducks. The dripping of amber oil\ninto pearly dishes, drop by drop, pleased his hungry eyes. Still the old\ntree man called for help. \u201cHe! What sound is it that makes my ear ache!\u201d\n exclaimed Iktomi, holding a hand on his ear.\n\nHe rose and looked around. The squeaking came from the tree. Then he\nbegan climbing the tree to find the disagreeable sound. He placed his\nfoot right on a cracked limb without seeing it. Just then a whiff of\nwind came rushing by and pressed together the broken edges. There in a\nstrong wooden hand Iktomi's foot was caught.\n\n\u201cOh! my foot is crushed!\u201d he howled like a coward. In vain he pulled and\npuffed to free himself.\n\nWhile sitting a prisoner on the tree he spied, through his tears, a pack\nof gray wolves roaming over the level lands. Waving his hands toward\nthem, he called in his loudest voice, \u201cHe! Gray wolves! Don't you come\nhere! I'm caught fast in the tree so that my duck feast is getting cold.\nDon't you come to eat up my meal.\u201d\n\nThe leader of the pack upon hearing Iktomi's words turned to his\ncomrades and said:\n\n\u201cAh! hear the foolish fellow! He says he has a duck feast to be eaten!\nLet us hurry there for our share!\u201d Away bounded the wolves toward\nIktomi's lodge.\n\nFrom the tree Iktomi watched the hungry wolves eat up his nicely browned\nfat ducks. His foot pained him more and more. He heard them crack the\nsmall round bones with their strong long teeth and eat out the oily\nmarrow. Now severe pains shot up from his foot through his whole body.\n\u201cHin-hin-hin!\u201d sobbed Iktomi. Real tears washed brown streaks across his\nred-painted cheeks. Smacking their lips, the wolves began to leave the\nplace, when Iktomi cried out like a pouting child, \u201cAt least you have\nleft my baking under the ashes!\u201d\n\n\u201cHo! Po!\u201d shouted the mischievous wolves; \u201che says more ducks are to be\nfound under the ashes! Come! Let us have our fill this once!\u201d\n\nRunning back to the dead fire, they pawed out the ducks with such rude\nhaste that a cloud of ashes rose like gray smoke over them.\n\n\u201cHin-hin-hin!\u201d moaned Iktomi, when the wolves had scampered off. All\ntoo late, the sturdy breeze returned, and, passing by, pulled apart the\nbroken edges of the tree. Iktomi was released. But alas! he had no duck\nfeast.\n\n\n\n\nIKTOMI'S BLANKET\n\n\nALONE within his teepee sat Iktomi. The sun was but a handsbreadth from\nthe western edge of land.\n\n\u201cThose, bad, bad gray wolves! They ate up all my nice fat ducks!\u201d\n muttered he, rocking his body to and fro.\n\nHe was cuddling the evil memory he bore those hungry wolves. At last he\nceased to sway his body backward and forward, but sat still and stiff as\na stone image.\n\n\u201cOh! I'll go to Inyan, the great-grandfather, and pray for food!\u201d he\nexclaimed.\n\nAt once he hurried forth from his teepee and, with his blanket over one\nshoulder, drew nigh to a huge rock on a hillside.\n\nWith half-crouching, half-running strides, he fell upon Inyan with\noutspread hands.\n\n\u201cGrandfather! pity me. I am hungry. I am starving. Give me food.\nGreat-grandfather, give me meat to eat!\u201d he cried. All the while he\nstroked and caressed the face of the great stone god.\n\nThe all-powerful Great Spirit, who makes the trees and grass, can hear\nthe voice of those who pray in many varied ways. The hearing of\nInyan, the large hard stone, was the one most sought after. He was the\ngreat-grandfather, for he had sat upon the hillside many, many seasons.\nHe had seen the prairie put on a snow-white blanket and then change it\nfor a bright green robe more than a thousand times.\n\nStill unaffected by the myriad moons he rested on the everlasting hill,\nlistening to the prayers of Indian warriors. Before the finding of the\nmagic arrow he had sat there.\n\nNow, as Iktomi prayed and wept before the great-grandfather, the sky in\nthe west was red like a glowing face. The sunset poured a soft mellow\nlight upon the huge gray stone and the solitary figure beside it. It\nwas the smile of the Great Spirit upon the grandfather and the wayward\nchild.\n\nThe prayer was heard. Iktomi knew it. \u201cNow, grandfather, accept my\noffering; 'tis all I have,\u201d said Iktomi as he spread his half-worn\nblanket upon Inyan's cold shoulders. Then Iktomi, happy with the smile\nof the sunset sky, followed a footpath leading toward a thicketed\nravine. He had not gone many paces into the shrubbery when before him\nlay a freshly wounded deer!\n\n\u201cThis is the answer from the red western sky!\u201d cried Iktomi with hands\nuplifted.\n\nSlipping a long thin blade from out his belt, he cut large chunks of\nchoice meat. Sharpening some willow sticks, he planted them around a\nwood-pile he had ready to kindle. On these stakes he meant to roast the\nvenison.\n\nWhile he was rubbing briskly two long sticks to start a fire, the sun in\nthe west fell out of the sky below the edge of land. Twilight was over\nall. Iktomi felt the cold night air upon his bare neck and shoulders.\n\u201cOugh!\u201d he shivered as he wiped his knife on the grass. Tucking it in a\nbeaded case hanging from his belt, Iktomi stood erect, looking about.\nHe shivered again. \u201cOugh! Ah! I am cold. I wish I had my blanket!\u201d\n whispered he, hovering over the pile of dry sticks and the sharp stakes\nround about it. Suddenly he paused and dropped his hands at his sides.\n\n\u201cThe old great-grandfather does not feel the cold as I do. He does not\nneed my old blanket as I do. I wish I had not given it to him. Oh! I\nthink I'll run up there and take it back!\u201d said he, pointing his long\nchin toward the large gray stone.\n\nIktomi, in the warm sunshine, had no need of his blanket, and it had\nbeen very easy to part with a thing which he could not miss. But the\nchilly night wind quite froze his ardent thank-offering.\n\nThus running up the hillside, his teeth chattering all the way, he drew\nnear to Inyan, the sacred symbol. Seizing one corner of the half-worn\nblanket, Iktomi pulled it off with a jerk.\n\n\u201cGive my blanket back, old grandfather! You do not need it. I do!\u201d This\nwas very wrong, yet Iktomi did it, for his wit was not wisdom. Drawing\nthe blanket tight over his shoulders, he descended the hill with\nhurrying feet.\n\nHe was soon upon the edge of the ravine. A young moon, like a bright\nbent bow, climbed up from the southwest horizon a little way into the\nsky.\n\nIn this pale light Iktomi stood motionless as a ghost amid the thicket.\nHis woodpile was not yet kindled. His pointed stakes were still bare as\nhe had left them. But where was the deer--the venison he had felt warm\nin his hands a moment ago? It was gone. Only the dry rib bones lay on\nthe ground like giant fingers from an open grave. Iktomi was troubled.\nAt length, stooping over the white dried bones, he took hold of one and\nshook it. The bones, loose in their sockets, rattled together at his\ntouch. Iktomi let go his hold. He sprang back amazed. And though he wore\na blanket his teeth chattered more than ever. Then his blunted sense\nwill surprise you, little reader; for instead of being grieved that he\nhad taken back his blanket, he cried aloud, \u201cHin-hin-hin! If only I had\neaten the venison before going for my blanket!\u201d\n\nThose tears no longer moved the hand of the Generous Giver. They were\nselfish tears. The Great Spirit does not heed them ever.\n\n\n\n\nIKTOMI AND THE MUSKRAT\n\n\nBESIDE a white lake, beneath a large grown willow tree, sat Iktomi on\nthe bare ground. The heap of smouldering ashes told of a recent open\nfire. With ankles crossed together around a pot of soup, Iktomi bent\nover some delicious boiled fish.\n\nFast he dipped his black horn spoon into the soup, for he was ravenous.\nIktomi had no regular meal times. Often when he was hungry he went\nwithout food.\n\nWell hid between the lake and the wild rice, he looked nowhere save into\nthe pot of fish. Not knowing when the next meal would be, he meant to\neat enough now to last some time.\n\n\u201cHow, how, my friend!\u201d said a voice out of the wild rice. Iktomi\nstarted. He almost choked with his soup. He peered through the long\nreeds from where he sat with his long horn spoon in mid-air.\n\n\u201cHow, my friend!\u201d said the voice again, this time close at his side.\nIktomi turned and there stood a dripping muskrat who had just come out\nof the lake.\n\n\u201cOh, it is my friend who startled me. I wondered if among the wild rice\nsome spirit voice was talking. How, how, my friend!\u201d said Iktomi. The\nmuskrat stood smiling. On his lips hung a ready \u201cYes, my friend,\u201d when\nIktomi would ask, \u201cMy friend, will you sit down beside me and share my\nfood?\u201d\n\nThat was the custom of the plains people. Yet Iktomi sat silent. He\nhummed an old dance-song and beat gently on the edge of the pot with his\nbuffalo-horn spoon. The muskrat began to feel awkward before such lack\nof hospitality and wished himself under water.\n\nAfter many heart throbs Iktomi stopped drumming with his horn ladle, and\nlooking upward into the muskrat's face, he said:\n\n\u201cMy friend, let us run a race to see who shall win this pot of fish. If\nI win, I shall not need to share it with you. If you win, you shall have\nhalf of it.\u201d Springing to his feet, Iktomi began at once to tighten the\nbelt about his waist.\n\n\u201cMy friend Ikto, I cannot run a race with you! I am not a swift runner,\nand you are nimble as a deer. We shall not run any race together,\u201d\n answered the hungry muskrat.\n\nFor a moment Iktomi stood with a hand on his long protruding chin. His\neyes were fixed upon something in the air. The muskrat looked out of the\ncorners of his eyes without moving his head. He watched the wily Iktomi\nconcocting a plot.\n\n\u201cYes, yes,\u201d said Iktomi, suddenly turning his gaze upon the unwelcome\nvisitor; \u201cI shall carry a large stone on my back. That will slacken my\nusual speed; and the race will be a fair one.\u201d\n\nSaying this he laid a firm hand upon the muskrat's shoulder and started\noff along the edge of the lake. When they reached the opposite side\nIktomi pried about in search of a heavy stone.\n\nHe found one half-buried in the shallow water. Pulling it out upon dry\nland, he wrapped it in his blanket.\n\n\u201cNow, my friend, you shall run on the left side of the lake, I on the\nother. The race is for the boiled fish in yonder kettle!\u201d said Iktomi.\n\nThe muskrat helped to lift the heavy stone upon Iktomi's back. Then\nthey parted. Each took a narrow path through the tall reeds fringing the\nshore. Iktomi found his load a heavy one. Perspiration hung like beads\non his brow. His chest heaved hard and fast.\n\nHe looked across the lake to see how far the muskrat had gone, but\nnowhere did he see any sign of him. \u201cWell, he is running low under the\nwild rice!\u201d said he. Yet as he scanned the tall grasses on the lake\nshore, he saw not one stir as if to make way for the runner. \u201cAh, has he\ngone so fast ahead that the disturbed grasses in his trail have quieted\nagain?\u201d exclaimed Iktomi. With that thought he quickly dropped the heavy\nstone. \u201cNo more of this!\u201d said he, patting his chest with both hands.\n\nOff with a springing bound, he ran swiftly toward the goal. Tufts of\nreeds and grass fell flat under his feet. Hardly had they raised their\nheads when Iktomi was many paces gone.\n\nSoon he reached the heap of cold ashes. Iktomi halted stiff as if he had\nstruck an invisible cliff. His black eyes showed a ring of white about\nthem as he stared at the empty ground. There was no pot of boiled fish!\nThere was no water-man in sight! \u201cOh, if only I had shared my food like\na real Dakota, I would not have lost it all! Why did I not know the\nmuskrat would run through the water? He swims faster than I could ever\nrun! That is what he has done. He has laughed at me for carrying a\nweight on my back while he shot hither like an arrow!\u201d\n\nCrying thus to himself, Iktomi stepped to the water's brink. He stooped\nforward with a hand on each bent knee and peeped far into the deep\nwater.\n\n\u201cThere!\u201d he exclaimed, \u201cI see you, my friend, sitting with your ankles\nwound around my little pot of fish! My friend, I am hungry. Give me a\nbone!\u201d\n\n\u201cHa! ha! ha!\u201d laughed the water-man, the muskrat. The sound did not rise\nup out of the lake, for it came down from overhead. With his hands still\non his knees, Iktomi turned his face upward into the great willow tree.\nOpening wide his mouth he begged, \u201cMy friend, my friend, give me a bone\nto gnaw!\u201d\n\n\u201cHa! ha!\u201d laughed the muskrat, and leaning over the limb he sat upon,\nhe let fall a small sharp bone which dropped right into Iktomi's throat.\nIktomi almost choked to death before he could get it out. In the tree\nthe muskrat sat laughing loud. \u201cNext time, say to a visiting friend, 'Be\nseated beside me, my friend. Let me share with you my food.'\u201d\n\n\n\n\nIKTOMI AND THE COYOTE\n\n\nAFAR off upon a large level land, a summer sun was shining bright. Here\nand there over the rolling green were tall bunches of coarse gray weeds.\nIktomi in his fringed buckskins walked alone across the prairie with\na black bare head glossy in the sunlight. He walked through the grass\nwithout following any well-worn footpath.\n\nFrom one large bunch of coarse weeds to another he wound his way about\nthe great plain. He lifted his foot lightly and placed it gently forward\nlike a wildcat prowling noiselessly through the thick grass. He stopped\na few steps away from a very large bunch of wild sage. From shoulder to\nshoulder he tilted his head. Still farther he bent from side to side,\nfirst low over one hip and then over the other. Far forward he stooped,\nstretching his long thin neck like a duck, to see what lay under a fur\ncoat beyond the bunch of coarse grass.\n\nA sleek gray-faced prairie wolf! his pointed black nose tucked in\nbetween his four feet drawn snugly together; his handsome bushy tail\nwound over his nose and feet; a coyote fast asleep in the shadow of a\nbunch of grass!--this is what Iktomi spied. Carefully he raised one foot\nand cautiously reached out with his toes. Gently, gently he lifted the\nfoot behind and placed it before the other. Thus he came nearer and\nnearer to the round fur ball lying motionless under the sage grass.\n\nNow Iktomi stood beside it, looking at the closed eyelids that did not\nquiver the least bit. Pressing his lips into straight lines and nodding\nhis head slowly, he bent over the wolf. He held his ear close to the\ncoyote's nose, but not a breath of air stirred from it.\n\n\u201cDead!\u201d said he at last. \u201cDead, but not long since he ran over these\nplains! See! there in his paw is caught a fresh feather. He is nice\nfat meat!\u201d Taking hold of the paw with the bird feather fast on it, he\nexclaimed, \u201cWhy, he is still warm! I'll carry him to my dwelling and\nhave a roast for my evening meal. Ah-ha!\u201d he laughed, as he seized the\ncoyote by its two fore paws and its two hind feet and swung him over\nhead across his shoulders. The wolf was large and the teepee was far\nacross the prairie. Iktomi trudged along with his burden, smacking his\nhungry lips together. He blinked his eyes hard to keep out the salty\nperspiration streaming down his face.\n\nAll the while the coyote on his back lay gazing into the sky with wide\nopen eyes. His long white teeth fairly gleamed as he smiled and smiled.\n\n\u201cTo ride on one's own feet is tiresome, but to be carried like a warrior\nfrom a brave fight is great fun!\u201d said the coyote in his heart. He\nhad never been borne on any one's back before and the new experience\ndelighted him. He lay there lazily on Iktomi's shoulders, now and then\nblinking blue winks. Did you never see a birdie blink a blue wink? This\nis how it first became a saying among the plains people. When a bird\nstands aloof watching your strange ways, a thin bluish white tissue\nslips quickly over his eyes and as quickly off again; so quick that you\nthink it was only a mysterious blue wink. Sometimes when children grow\ndrowsy they blink blue winks, while others who are too proud to look\nwith friendly eyes upon people blink in this cold bird-manner.\n\nThe coyote was affected by both sleepiness and pride. His winks were\nalmost as blue as the sky. In the midst of his new pleasure the swaying\nmotion ceased. Iktomi had reached his dwelling place. The coyote\nfelt drowsy no longer, for in the next instant he was slipping out\nof Iktomi's hands. He was falling, falling through space, and then he\nstruck the ground with such a bump he did not wish to breathe for a\nwhile. He wondered what Iktomi would do, thus he lay still where he\nfell. Humming a dance-song, one from his bundle of mystery songs, Iktomi\nhopped and darted about at an imaginary dance and feast. He gathered dry\nwillow sticks and broke them in two against his knee. He built a large\nfire out of doors. The flames leaped up high in red and yellow streaks.\nNow Iktomi returned to the coyote who had been looking on through his\neyelashes.\n\nTaking him again by his paws and hind feet, he swung him to and fro.\nThen as the wolf swung toward the red flames, Iktomi let him go. Once\nagain the coyote fell through space. Hot air smote his nostrils. He saw\nred dancing fire, and now he struck a bed of cracking embers. With a\nquick turn he leaped out of the flames. From his heels were scattered a\nshower of red coals upon Iktomi's bare arms and shoulders. Dumbfounded,\nIktomi thought he saw a spirit walk out of his fire. His jaws fell\napart. He thrust a palm to his face, hard over his mouth! He could\nscarce keep from shrieking.\n\nRolling over and over on the grass and rubbing the sides of his head\nagainst the ground, the coyote soon put out the fire on his fur.\nIktomi's eyes were almost ready to jump out of his head as he stood\ncooling a burn on his brown arm with his breath.\n\nSitting on his haunches, on the opposite side of the fire from where\nIktomi stood, the coyote began to laugh at him.\n\n\u201cAnother day, my friend, do not take too much for granted. Make sure the\nenemy is stone dead before you make a fire!\u201d\n\nThen off he ran so swiftly that his long bushy tail hung out in a\nstraight line with his back.\n\n\n\n\nIKTOMI AND THE FAWN\n\n\nIN one of his wanderings through the wooded lands, Iktomi saw a rare\nbird sitting high in a tree-top. Its long fan-like tail feathers\nhad caught all the beautiful colors of the rainbow. Handsome in the\nglistening summer sun sat the bird of rainbow plumage. Iktomi hurried\nhither with his eyes fast on the bird.\n\nHe stood beneath the tree looking long and wistfully at the peacock's\nbright feathers. At length he heaved a sigh and began: \u201cOh, I wish I had\nsuch pretty feathers! How I wish I were not I! If only I were a handsome\nfeathered creature how happy I would be! I'd be so glad to sit upon a\nvery high tree and bask in the summer sun like you!\u201d said he suddenly,\npointing his bony finger up toward the peacock, who was eyeing the\nstranger below, turning his head from side to side.\n\n\u201cI beg of you make me into a bird with green and purple feathers like\nyours!\u201d implored Iktomi, tired now of playing the brave in beaded\nbuckskins. The peacock then spoke to Iktomi: \u201cI have a magic power. My\ntouch will change you in a moment into the most beautiful peacock if you\ncan keep one condition.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes! yes!\u201d shouted Iktomi, jumping up and down, patting his lips with\nhis palm, which caused his voice to vibrate in a peculiar fashion. \u201cYes!\nyes! I could keep ten conditions if only you would change me into a\nbird with long, bright tail feathers. Oh, I am so ugly! I am so tired of\nbeing myself! Change me! Do!\u201d\n\nHereupon the peacock spread out both his wings, and scarce moving them,\nhe sailed slowly down upon the ground. Right beside Iktomi he alighted.\nVery low in Iktomi's ear the peacock whispered, \u201cAre you willing to keep\none condition, though hard it be?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes! yes! I've told you ten of them if need be!\u201d exclaimed Iktomi, with\nsome impatience.\n\n\u201cThen I pronounce you a handsome feathered bird. No longer are you\nIktomi the mischief-maker.\u201d Saying this the peacock touched Iktomi with\nthe tips of his wings.\n\nIktomi vanished at the touch. There stood beneath the tree two handsome\npeacocks. While one of the pair strutted about with a head turned aside\nas if dazzled by his own bright-tinted tail feathers, the other bird\nsoared slowly upward. He sat quiet and unconscious of his gay plumage.\nHe seemed content to perch there on a large limb in the warm sunshine.\n\nAfter a little while the vain peacock, dizzy with his bright colors,\nspread out his wings and lit on the same branch with the elder bird.\n\n\u201cOh!\u201d he exclaimed, \u201chow hard to fly! Brightly tinted feathers are\nhandsome, but I wish they were light enough to fly!\u201d Just there the\nelder bird interrupted him. \u201cThat is the one condition. Never try to fly\nlike other birds. Upon the day you try to fly you shall be changed into\nyour former self.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, what a shame that bright feathers cannot fly into the sky!\u201d cried\nthe peacock. Already he grew restless. He longed to soar through space.\nHe yearned to fly above the trees high upward to the sun.\n\n\u201cOh, there I see a flock of birds flying thither! Oh! oh!\u201d said he,\nflapping his wings, \u201cI must try my wings! I am tired of bright tail\nfeathers. I want to try my wings.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, no!\u201d clucked the elder bird. The flock of chattering birds flew by\nwith whirring wings. \u201cOop! oop!\u201d called some to their mates.\n\nPossessed by an irrepressible impulse the Iktomi peacock called out,\n\u201cHe! I want to come! Wait for me!\u201d and with that he gave a lunge into\nthe air. The flock of flying feathers wheeled about and lowered over the\ntree whence came the peacock's cry. Only one rare bird sat on the tree,\nand beneath, on the ground, stood a brave in brown buckskins.\n\n\u201cI am my old self again!\u201d groaned Iktomi in a sad voice. \u201cMake me over,\npretty bird. Try me this once again!\u201d he pleaded in vain.\n\n\u201cOld Iktomi wants to fly! Ah! We cannot wait for him!\u201d sang the birds as\nthey flew away.\n\nMuttering unhappy vows to himself, Iktomi had not gone far when he\nchanced upon a bunch of long slender arrows. One by one they rose in the\nair and shot a straight line over the prairie. Others shot up into the\nblue sky and were soon lost to sight. Only one was left. He was making\nready for his flight when Iktomi rushed upon him and wailed, \u201cI want\nto be an arrow! Make me into an arrow! I want to pierce the blue Blue\noverhead. I want to strike yonder summer sun in its center. Make me into\nan arrow!\u201d\n\n\u201cCan you keep a condition? One condition, though hard it be?\u201d the arrow\nturned to ask.\n\n\u201cYes! Yes!\u201d shouted Iktomi, delighted.\n\nHereupon the slender arrow tapped him gently with his sharp flint beak.\nThere was no Iktomi, but two arrows stood ready to fly. \u201cNow, young\narrow, this is the one condition. Your flight must always be in a\nstraight line. Never turn a curve nor jump about like a young fawn,\u201d\n said the arrow magician. He spoke slowly and sternly.\n\nAt once he set about to teach the new arrow how to shoot in a long\nstraight line.\n\n\u201cThis is the way to pierce the Blue overhead,\u201d said he; and off he spun\nhigh into the sky.\n\nWhile he was gone a herd of deer came trotting by. Behind them played\nthe young fawns together. They frolicked about like kittens. They\nbounced on all fours like balls. Then they pitched forward, kicking\ntheir heels in the air. The Iktomi arrow watched them so happy on the\nground. Looking quickly up into the sky, he said in his heart, \u201cThe\nmagician is out of sight. I'll just romp and frolic with these fawns\nuntil he returns. Fawns! Friends, do not fear me. I want to jump and\nleap with you. I long to be happy as you are,\u201d said he. The young fawns\nstopped with stiff legs and stared at the speaking arrow with large\nbrown wondering eyes. \u201cSee! I can jump as well as you!\u201d went on Iktomi.\nHe gave one tiny leap like a fawn. All of a sudden the fawns snorted\nwith extended nostrils at what they beheld. There among them stood\nIktomi in brown buckskins, and the strange talking arrow was gone.\n\n\u201cOh! I am myself. My old self!\u201d cried Iktomi, pinching himself and\nplucking imaginary pieces out of his jacket.\n\n\u201cHin-hin-hin! I wanted to fly!\u201d\n\nThe real arrow now returned to the earth. He alighted very near Iktomi.\nFrom the high sky he had seen the fawns playing on the green. He had\nseen Iktomi make his one leap, and the charm was broken. Iktomi became\nhis former self.\n\n\u201cArrow, my friend, change me once more!\u201d begged Iktomi.\n\n\u201cNo, no more,\u201d replied the arrow. Then away he shot through the air in\nthe direction his comrades had flown.\n\nBy this time the fawns gathered close around Iktomi. They poked their\nnoses at him trying to know who he was.\n\nIktomi's tears were like a spring shower. A new desire dried them\nquickly away. Stepping boldly to the largest fawn, he looked closely at\nthe little brown spots all over the furry face.\n\n\u201cOh, fawn! What beautiful brown spots on your face! Fawn, dear little\nfawn, can you tell me how those brown spots were made on your face?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said the fawn. \u201cWhen I was very, very small, my mother marked\nthem on my face with a red hot fire. She dug a large hole in the ground\nand made a soft bed of grass and twigs in it. Then she placed me gently\nthere. She covered me over with dry sweet grass and piled dry cedars on\ntop. From a neighbor's fire she brought hither a red, red ember. This\nshe tucked carefully in at my head. This is how the brown spots were\nmade on my face.\u201d\n\n\u201cNow, fawn, my friend, will you do the same for me? Won't you mark my\nface with brown, brown spots just like yours?\u201d asked Iktomi, always\neager to be like other people.\n\n\u201cYes. I can dig the ground and fill it with dry grass and sticks. If\nyou will jump into the pit, I'll cover you with sweet smelling grass and\ncedar wood,\u201d answered the fawn.\n\n\u201cSay,\u201d interrupted Ikto, \u201cwill you be sure to cover me with a great deal\nof dry grass and twigs? You will make sure that the spots will be as\nbrown as those you wear.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, yes. I'll pile up grass and willows once oftener than my mother\ndid.\u201d\n\n\u201cNow let us dig the hole, pull the grass, and gather sticks,\u201d cried\nIktomi in glee.\n\nThus with his own hands he aids in making his grave. After the hole was\ndug and cushioned with grass, Iktomi, muttering something about brown\nspots, leaped down into it. Lengthwise, flat on his back, he lay. While\nthe fawn covered him over with cedars, a far-away voice came up through\nthem, \u201cBrown, brown spots to wear forever!\u201d A red ember was tucked under\nthe dry grass. Off scampered the fawns after their mothers; and when a\ngreat distance away they looked backward. They saw a blue smoke rising,\nwrithing upward till it vanished in the blue ether.\n\n\u201cIs that Iktomi's spirit?\u201d asked one fawn of another.\n\n\u201cNo! I think he would jump out before he could burn into smoke and\ncinders,\u201d answered his comrade.\n\n\n\n\nTHE BADGER AND THE BEAR\n\nON the edge of a forest there lived a large family of badgers. In the\nground their dwelling was made. Its walls and roof were covered with\nrocks and straw.\n\nOld father badger was a great hunter. He knew well how to track the deer\nand buffalo. Every day he came home carrying on his back some wild game.\nThis kept mother badger very busy, and the baby badgers very chubby.\nWhile the well-fed children played about, digging little make-believe\ndwellings, their mother hung thin sliced meats upon long willow racks.\nAs fast as the meats were dried and seasoned by sun and wind, she packed\nthem carefully away in a large thick bag.\n\nThis bag was like a huge stiff envelope, but far more beautiful to see,\nfor it was painted all over with many bright colors. These firmly\ntied bags of dried meat were laid upon the rocks in the walls of the\ndwelling. In this way they were both useful and decorative.\n\nOne day father badger did not go off for a hunt. He stayed at home,\nmaking new arrows. His children sat about him on the ground floor. Their\nsmall black eyes danced with delight as they watched the gay colors\npainted upon the arrows.\n\nAll of a sudden there was heard a heavy footfall near the entrance way.\nThe oval-shaped door-frame was pushed aside. In stepped a large black\nfoot with great big claws. Then the other clumsy foot came next. All the\nwhile the baby badgers stared hard at the unexpected comer. After the\nsecond foot, in peeped the head of a big black bear! His black nose was\ndry and parched. Silently he entered the dwelling and sat down on the\nground by the doorway. His black eyes never left the painted bags on\nthe rocky walls. He guessed what was in them. He was a very hungry bear.\nSeeing the racks of red meat hanging in the yard, he had come to visit\nthe badger family.\n\nThough he was a stranger and his strong paws and jaws frightened the\nsmall badgers, the father said, \u201cHow, how, friend! Your lips and nose\nlook feverish and hungry. Will you eat with us?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, my friend,\u201d said the bear. \u201cI am starved. I saw your racks of red\nfresh meat, and knowing your heart is kind, I came hither. Give me meat\nto eat, my friend.\u201d\n\nHereupon the mother badger took long strides across the room, and as she\nhad to pass in front of the strange visitor, she said: \u201cAh han! Allow me\nto pass!\u201d which was an apology.\n\n\u201cHow, how!\u201d replied the bear, drawing himself closer to the wall and\ncrossing his shins together.\n\nMother badger chose the most tender red meat, and soon over a bed of\ncoals she broiled the venison.\n\nThat day the bear had all he could eat. At nightfall he rose, and\nsmacking his lips together,--that is the noisy way of saying \u201cthe food\nwas very good!\u201d--he left the badger dwelling. The baby badgers, peeping\nthrough the door-flap after the shaggy bear, saw him disappear into the\nwoods near by.\n\nDay after day the crackling of twigs in the forest told of heavy\nfootsteps. Out would come the same black bear. He never lifted the\ndoor-flap, but thrusting it aside entered slowly in. Always in the same\nplace by the entrance way he sat down with crossed shins.\n\nHis daily visits were so regular that mother badger placed a fur rug in\nhis place. She did not wish a guest in her dwelling to sit upon the bare\nhard ground.\n\nAt last one time when the bear returned, his nose was bright and black.\nHis coat was glossy. He had grown fat upon the badger's hospitality.\n\nAs he entered the dwelling a pair of wicked gleams shot out of his\nshaggy head. Surprised by the strange behavior of the guest who remained\nstanding upon the rug, leaning his round back against the wall, father\nbadger queried: \u201cHow, my friend! What?\u201d\n\nThe bear took one stride forward and shook his paw in the badger's face.\nHe said: \u201cI am strong, very strong!\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, yes, so you are,\u201d replied the badger. From the farther end of the\nroom mother badger muttered over her bead work: \u201cYes, you grew strong\nfrom our well-filled bowls.\u201d\n\nThe bear smiled, showing a row of large sharp teeth.\n\n\u201cI have no dwelling. I have no bags of dried meat. I have no arrows. All\nthese I have found here on this spot,\u201d said he, stamping his heavy foot.\n\u201cI want them! See! I am strong!\u201d repeated he, lifting both his terrible\npaws.\n\nQuietly the father badger spoke: \u201cI fed you. I called you friend, though\nyou came here a stranger and a beggar. For the sake of my little ones\nleave us in peace.\u201d\n\nMother badger, in her excited way, had pierced hard through the buckskin\nand stuck her fingers repeatedly with her sharp awl until she had laid\naside her work. Now, while her husband was talking to the bear, she\nmotioned with her hands to the children. On tiptoe they hastened to her\nside.\n\nFor reply came a low growl. It grew louder and more fierce. \u201cWa-ough!\u201d\n he roared, and by force hurled the badgers out. First the father badger;\nthen the mother. The little badgers he tossed by pairs. He threw them\nhard upon the ground. Standing in the entrance way and showing his ugly\nteeth, he snarled, \u201cBe gone!\u201d\n\nThe father and mother badger, having gained their feet, picked up\ntheir kicking little babes, and, wailing aloud, drew the air into their\nflattened lungs till they could stand alone upon their feet. No sooner\nhad the baby badgers caught their breath than they howled and shrieked\nwith pain and fright. Ah! what a dismal cry was theirs as the whole\nbadger family went forth wailing from out their own dwelling! A little\ndistance away from their stolen house the father badger built a small\nround hut. He made it of bent willows and covered it with dry grass and\ntwigs.\n\nThis was shelter for the night; but alas! it was empty of food and\narrows. All day father badger prowled through the forest, but without\nhis arrows he could not get food for his children. Upon his return, the\ncry of the little ones for meat, the sad quiet of the mother with bowed\nhead, hurt him like a poisoned arrow wound.\n\n\u201cI'll beg meat for you!\u201d said he in an unsteady voice. Covering his\nhead and entire body in a long loose robe he halted beside the big black\nbear. The bear was slicing red meat to hang upon the rack. He did not\npause for a look at the comer. As the badger stood there unrecognized,\nhe saw that the bear had brought with him his whole family. Little cubs\nplayed under the high-hanging new meats. They laughed and pointed with\ntheir wee noses upward at the thin sliced meats upon the poles.\n\n\u201cHave you no heart, Black Bear? My children are starving. Give me a\nsmall piece of meat for them,\u201d begged the badger.\n\n\u201cWa-ough!\u201d growled the angry bear, and pounced upon the badger. \u201cBe\ngone!\u201d said he, and with his big hind foot he sent father badger\nsprawling on the ground.\n\nAll the little ruffian bears hooted and shouted \u201cha-ha!\u201d to see the\nbeggar fall upon his face. There was one, however, who did not even\nsmile. He was the youngest cub. His fur coat was not as black and glossy\nas those his elders wore. The hair was dry and dingy. It looked much\nmore like kinky wool. He was the ugly cub. Poor little baby bear! he had\nalways been laughed at by his older brothers. He could not help being\nhimself. He could not change the differences between himself and his\nbrothers. Thus again, though the rest laughed aloud at the badger's\nfall, he did not see the joke. His face was long and earnest. In his\nheart he was sad to see the badgers crying and starving. In his breast\nspread a burning desire to share his food with them.\n\n\u201cI shall not ask my father for meat to give away. He would say 'No!'\nThen my brothers would laugh at me,\u201d said the ugly baby bear to himself.\n\nIn an instant, as if his good intention had passed from him, he was\nsinging happily and skipping around his father at work. Singing in his\nsmall high voice and dragging his feet in long strides after him, as if\na prankish spirit oozed out from his heels, he strayed off through the\ntall grass. He was ambling toward the small round hut. When directly in\nfront of the entrance way, he made a quick side kick with his left hind\nleg. Lo! there fell into the badger's hut a piece of fresh meat. It\nwas tough meat, full of sinews, yet it was the only piece he could take\nwithout his father's notice.\n\nThus having given meat to the hungry badgers, the ugly baby bear ran\nquickly away to his father again.\n\nOn the following day the father badger came back once more. He stood\nwatching the big bear cutting thin slices of meat.\n\n\u201cGive--\u201d he began, when the bear turning upon him with a growl, thrust\nhim cruelly aside. The badger fell on his hands. He fell where the grass\nwas wet with the blood of the newly carved buffalo. His keen starving\neyes caught sight of a little red clot lying bright upon the green.\nLooking fearfully toward the bear and seeing his head was turned away,\nhe snatched up the small thick blood. Underneath his girdled blanket he\nhid it in his hand.\n\nOn his return to his family, he said within himself: \u201cI'll pray the\nGreat Spirit to bless it.\u201d Thus he built a small round lodge. Sprinkling\nwater upon the heated heap of sacred stones within, he made ready to\npurge his body. \u201cThe buffalo blood, too, must be purified before I ask\na blessing upon it,\u201d thought the badger. He carried it into the sacred\nvapor lodge. After placing it near the sacred stones, he sat down beside\nit. After a long silence, he muttered: \u201cGreat Spirit, bless this little\nbuffalo blood.\u201d Then he arose, and with a quiet dignity stepped out of\nthe lodge. Close behind him some one followed. The badger turned to\nlook over his shoulder and to his great joy he beheld a Dakota brave\nin handsome buckskins. In his hand he carried a magic arrow. Across his\nback dangled a long fringed quiver. In answer to the badger's prayer,\nthe avenger had sprung from out the red globules.\n\n\u201cMy son!\u201d exclaimed the badger with extended right hand.\n\n\u201cHow, father,\u201d replied the brave; \u201cI am your avenger!\u201d\n\nImmediately the badger told the sad story of his hungry little ones and\nthe stingy bear.\n\nListening closely the young man stood looking steadily upon the ground.\n\nAt length the father badger moved away.\n\n\u201cWhere?\u201d queried the avenger.\n\n\u201cMy son, we have no food. I am going again to beg for meat,\u201d answered\nthe badger.\n\n\u201cThen I go with you,\u201d replied the young brave. This made the old badger\nhappy. He was proud of his son. He was delighted to be called \u201cfather\u201d\n by the first human creature.\n\nThe bear saw the badger coming in the distance. He narrowed his eyes\nat the tall stranger walking beside him. He spied the arrow. At once he\nguessed it was the avenger of whom he had heard long, long ago. As they\napproached, the bear stood erect with a hand on his thigh. He smiled\nupon them.\n\n\u201cHow, badger, my friend! Here is my knife. Cut your favorite pieces from\nthe deer,\u201d said he, holding out a long thin blade.\n\n\u201cHow!\u201d said the badger eagerly. He wondered what had inspired the big\nbear to such a generous deed. The young avenger waited till the badger\ntook the long knife in his hand.\n\nGazing full into the black bear's face, he said: \u201cI come to do justice.\nYou have returned only a knife to my poor father. Now return to him his\ndwelling.\u201d His voice was deep and powerful. In his black eyes burned a\nsteady fire.\n\nThe long strong teeth of the bear rattled against each other, and his\nshaggy body shook with fear. \u201cAhow!\u201d cried he, as if he had been shot.\nRunning into the dwelling he gasped, breathless and trembling, \u201cCome\nout, all of you! This is the badger's dwelling. We must flee to the\nforest for fear of the avenger who carries the magic arrow.\u201d\n\nOut they hurried, all the bears, and disappeared into the woods.\n\nSinging and laughing, the badgers returned to their own dwelling.\n\nThen the avenger left them.\n\n\u201cI go,\u201d said he in parting, \u201cover the earth.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nTHE TREE-BOUND\n\n\nIT was a clear summer day. The blue, blue sky dropped low over the edge\nof the green level land. A large yellow sun hung directly overhead.\n\nThe singing of birds filled the summer space between earth and sky with\nsweet music. Again and again sang a yellow-breasted birdie--\u201cKoda Ni\nDakota!\u201d He insisted upon it. \u201cKoda Ni Dakota!\u201d which was \u201cFriend,\nyou're a Dakota! Friend, you're a Dakota!\u201d Perchance the birdie meant\nthe avenger with the magic arrow, for there across the plain he strode.\nHe was handsome in his paint and feathers, proud with his great buckskin\nquiver on his back and a long bow in his hand. Afar to an eastern camp\nof cone-shaped teepees he was going. There over the Indian village\nhovered a large red eagle threatening the safety of the people. Every\nmorning rose this terrible red bird out of a high chalk bluff and\nspreading out his gigantic wings soared slowly over the round camp\nground. Then it was that the people, terror-stricken, ran screaming\ninto their lodges. Covering their heads with their blankets, they sat\ntrembling with fear. No one dared to venture out till the red eagle had\ndisappeared beyond the west, where meet the blue and green.\n\nIn vain tried the chieftain of the tribe to find among his warriors a\npowerful marksman who could send a death arrow to the man-hungry bird.\nAt last to urge his men to their utmost skill he bade his crier proclaim\na new reward.\n\nOf the chieftain's two beautiful daughters he would have his choice who\nbrought the dreaded red eagle with an arrow in its breast.\n\nUpon hearing these words, the men of the village, both young and old,\nboth heroes and cowards, trimmed new arrows for the contest. At gray\ndawn there stood indistinct under the shadow of the bluff many human\nfigures; silent as ghosts and wrapped in robes girdled tight about their\nwaists, they waited with chosen bow and arrow.\n\nSome cunning old warriors stayed not with the group. They crouched low\nupon the open ground. But all eyes alike were fixed upon the top of the\nhigh bluff. Breathless they watched for the soaring of the red eagle.\n\nFrom within the dwellings many eyes peeped through the small holes in\nthe front lapels of the teepee. With shaking knees and hard-set teeth,\nthe women peered out upon the Dakota men prowling about with bows and\narrows.\n\nAt length when the morning sun also peeped over the eastern horizon at\nthe armed Dakotas, the red eagle walked out upon the edge of the cliff.\nPluming his gorgeous feathers, he ruffled his neck and flapped his\nstrong wings together. Then he dived into the air. Slowly he winged his\nway over the round camp ground; over the men with their strong bows and\narrows! In an instant the long bows were bent. Strong straight arrows\nwith red feathered tips sped upward to the blue sky. Ah! slowly moved\nthose indifferent wings, untouched by the poison-beaked arrows. Off to\nthe west beyond the reach of arrow, beyond the reach of eye, the red\neagle flew away.\n\nA sudden clamor of high-pitched voices broke the deadly stillness of\nthe dawn. The women talked excitedly about the invulnerable red of the\neagle's feathers, while the would-be heroes sulked within their wigwams.\n\u201cHe-he-he!\u201d groaned the chieftain.\n\nOn the evening of the same day sat a group of hunters around a bright\nburning fire. They were talking of a strange young man whom they spied\nwhile out upon a hunt for deer beyond the bluffs. They saw the stranger\ntaking aim. Following the point of his arrow with their eyes, they\nbeheld a herd of buffalo. The arrow sprang from the bow! It darted into\nthe skull of the foremost buffalo. But unlike other arrows it pierced\nthrough the head of the creature and spinning in the air lit into the\nnext buffalo head. One by one the buffalo fell upon the sweet grass they\nwere grazing. With straight quivering limbs they lay on their sides. The\nyoung man stood calmly by, counting on his fingers the buffalo as they\ndropped dead to the ground. When the last one fell, he ran thither and\npicking up his magic arrow wiped it carefully on the soft grass. He\nslipped it into his long fringed quiver.\n\n\u201cHe is going to make a feast for some hungry tribe of men or beasts!\u201d\n cried the hunters among themselves as they hastened away.\n\nThey were afraid of the stranger with the sacred arrow. When the\nhunter's tale of the stranger's arrow reached the ears of the chieftain,\nhis face brightened with a smile. He sent forth fleet horsemen, to learn\nof him his birth, his name, and his deeds.\n\n\u201cIf he is the avenger with the magic arrow, sprung up from the earth out\nof a clot of buffalo blood, bid him come hither. Let him kill the red\neagle with his magic arrow. Let him win for himself one of my beautiful\ndaughters,\u201d he had said to his messengers, for the old story of the\nbadger's man-son was known all over the level lands.\n\nAfter four days and nights the braves returned. \u201cHe is coming,\u201d they\nsaid. \u201cWe have seen him. He is straight and tall; handsome in face, with\nlarge black eyes. He paints his round cheeks with bright red, and wears\nthe penciled lines of red over his temples like our men of honored rank.\nHe carries on his back a long fringed quiver in which he keeps his magic\narrow. His bow is long and strong. He is coming now to kill the big red\neagle.\u201d All around the camp ground from mouth to ear passed those words\nof the returned messengers.\n\nNow it chanced that immortal Iktomi, fully recovered from the brown\nburnt spots, overheard the people talking. At once he was filled with a\nnew desire. \u201cIf only I had the magic arrow, I would kill the red eagle\nand win the chieftain's daughter for a wife,\u201d said he in his heart.\n\nBack to his lonely wigwam he hastened. Beneath the tree in front of his\nteepee he sat upon the ground with chin between his drawn-up knees. His\nkeen eyes scanned the wide plain. He was watching for the avenger.\n\n\u201c'He is coming!' said the people,\u201d muttered old Iktomi. All of a sudden\nhe raised an open palm to his brow and peered afar into the west. The\nsummer sun hung bright in the middle of a cloudless sky. There across\nthe green prairie was a man walking bareheaded toward the east.\n\n\u201cHa! ha! 'tis he! the man with the magic arrow!\u201d laughed Iktomi. And\nwhen the bird with the yellow breast sang loud again--\u201cKoda Ni Dakota!\nFriend, you're a Dakota!\u201d Iktomi put his hand over his mouth as he threw\nhis head far backward, laughing at both the bird and man.\n\n\u201cHe is your friend, but his arrow will kill one of your kind! He is a\nDakota, but soon he'll grow into the bark on this tree! Ha! ha! ha!\u201d he\nlaughed again.\n\nThe young avenger walked with swaying strides nearer and nearer toward\nthe lonely wigwam and tree. Iktomi heard the swish! swish! of the\nstranger's feet through the tall grass. He was passing now beyond the\ntree, when Iktomi, springing to his feet, called out: \u201cHow, how, my\nfriend! I see you are dressed in handsome deerskins and have red paint\non your cheeks. You are going to some feast or dance, may I ask?\u201d Seeing\nthe young man only smiled Iktomi went on: \u201cI have not had a mouthful of\nfood this day. Have pity on me, young brave, and shoot yonder bird for\nme!\u201d With these words Iktomi pointed toward the tree-top, where sat\na bird on the highest branch. The young avenger, always ready to help\nthose in distress, sent an arrow upward and the bird fell. In the next\nbranch it was caught between the forked prongs.\n\n\u201cMy friend, climb the tree and get the bird. I cannot climb so high. I\nwould get dizzy and fall,\u201d pleaded Iktomi. The avenger began to scale\nthe tree, when Iktomi cried to him: \u201cMy friend, your beaded buckskins\nmay be torn by the branches. Leave them safe upon the grass till you are\ndown again.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou are right,\u201d replied the young man, quickly slipping off his\nlong fringed quiver. Together with his dangling pouches and tinkling\nornaments, he placed it on the ground. Now he climbed the tree\nunhindered. Soon from the top he took the bird. \u201cMy friend, toss to\nme your arrow that I may have the honor of wiping it clean on soft\ndeerskin!\u201d exclaimed Iktomi.\n\n\u201cHow!\u201d said the brave, and threw the bird and arrow to the ground.\n\nAt once Iktomi seized the arrow. Rubbing it first on the grass and then\non a piece of deerskin, he muttered indistinct words all the while.\nThe young man, stepping downward from limb to limb, hearing the low\nmuttering, said: \u201cIktomi, I cannot hear what you say!\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, my friend, I was only talking of your big heart.\u201d\n\nAgain stooping over the arrow Iktomi continued his repetition of charm\nwords. \u201cGrow fast, grow fast to the bark of the tree,\u201d he whispered.\nStill the young man moved slowly downward. Suddenly dropping the arrow\nand standing erect, Iktomi said aloud: \u201cGrow fast to the bark of the\ntree!\u201d Before the brave could leap from the tree he became tight-grown\nto the bark.\n\n\u201cAh! ha!\u201d laughed the bad Iktomi. \u201cI have the magic arrow! I have the\nbeaded buckskins of the great avenger!\u201d Hooting and dancing beneath the\ntree, he said: \u201cI shall kill the red eagle; I shall wed the chieftain's\nbeautiful daughter!\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, Iktomi, set me free!\u201d begged the tree-bound Dakota brave. But\nIktomi's ears were like the fungus on a tree. He did not hear with them.\n\nWearing the handsome buckskins and carrying proudly the magic arrow in\nhis right hand, he started off eastward. Imitating the swaying strides\nof the avenger, he walked away with a face turned slightly skyward.\n\n\u201cOh, set me free! I am glued to the tree like its own bark! Cut me\nloose!\u201d moaned the prisoner.\n\nA young woman, carrying on her strong back a bundle of tightly bound\nwillow sticks, passed near by the lonely teepee. She heard the wailing\nman's voice. She paused to listen to the sad words. Looking around she\nsaw nowhere a human creature. \u201cIt may be a spirit,\u201d thought she.\n\n\u201cOh! cut me loose! set me free! Iktomi has played me false! He has made\nme bark of his tree!\u201d cried the voice again.\n\nThe young woman dropped her pack of firewood to the ground. With her\nstone axe she hurried to the tree. There before her astonished eyes\nclung a young brave close to the tree.\n\nToo shy for words, yet too kind-hearted to leave the stranger\ntree-bound, she cut loose the whole bark. Like an open jacket she drew\nit to the ground. With it came the young man also. Free once more, he\nstarted away. Looking backward, a few paces from the young woman, he\nwaved his hand, upward and downward, before her face. This was a sign of\ngratitude used when words failed to interpret strong emotion.\n\nWhen the bewildered woman reached her dwelling, she mounted a pony and\nrode swiftly across the rolling land. To the camp ground in the east, to\nthe chieftain troubled by the red eagle, she carried her story.\n\n\n\n\nSHOOTING OF THE RED EAGLE\n\n\nA MAN in buckskins sat upon the top of a little hillock. The setting sun\nshone bright upon a strong bow in his hand. His face was turned toward\nthe round camp ground at the foot of the hill. He had walked a long\njourney hither. He was waiting for the chieftain's men to spy him.\n\nSoon four strong men ran forth from the center wigwam toward the\nhillock, where sat the man with the long bow.\n\n\u201cHe is the avenger come to shoot the red eagle,\u201d cried the runners to\neach other as they bent forward swinging their elbows together.\n\nThey reached the side of the stranger, but he did not heed them. Proud\nand silent he gazed upon the cone-shaped wigwams beneath him. Spreading\na handsomely decorated buffalo robe before the man, two of the warriors\nlifted him by each shoulder and placed him gently on it. Then the four\nmen took, each, a corner of the blanket and carried the stranger, with\nlong proud steps, toward the chieftain's teepee.\n\nReady to greet the stranger, the tall chieftain stood at the entrance\nway. \u201cHow, you are the avenger with the magic arrow!\u201d said he, extending\nto him a smooth soft hand.\n\n\u201cHow, great chieftain!\u201d replied the man, holding long the chieftain's\nhand. Entering the teepee, the chieftain motioned the young man to the\nright side of the doorway, while he sat down opposite him with a center\nfire burning between them. Wordless, like a bashful Indian maid, the\navenger ate in silence the food set before him on the ground in front\nof his crossed shins. When he had finished his meal he handed the empty\nbowl to the chieftain's wife, saying, \u201cMother-in-law, here is your\ndish!\u201d\n\n\u201cHan, my son!\u201d answered the woman, taking the bowl.\n\nWith the magic arrow in his quiver the stranger felt not in the least\ntoo presuming in addressing the woman as his mother-in-law.\n\nComplaining of fatigue, he covered his face with his blanket and soon\nwithin the chieftain's teepee he lay fast asleep.\n\n\u201cThe young man is not handsome after all!\u201d whispered the woman in her\nhusband's ear.\n\n\u201cAh, but after he has killed the red eagle he will seem handsome\nenough!\u201d answered the chieftain.\n\nThat night the star men in their burial procession in the sky reached\nthe low northern horizon, before the center fires within the teepees\nhad flickered out. The ringing laughter which had floated up through\nthe smoke lapels was now hushed, and only the distant howling of wolves\nbroke the quiet of the village. But the lull between midnight and dawn\nwas short indeed. Very early the oval-shaped door-flaps were thrust\naside and many brown faces peered out of the wigwams toward the top of\nthe highest bluff.\n\nNow the sun rose up out of the east. The red painted avenger stood ready\nwithin the camp ground for the flying of the red eagle. He appeared,\nthat terrible bird! He hovered over the round village as if he could\npounce down upon it and devour the whole tribe.\n\nWhen the first arrow shot up into the sky the anxious watchers thrust a\nhand quickly over their half-uttered \u201chinnu!\u201d The second and the third\narrows flew upward but missed by a wide space the red eagle soaring with\nlazy indifference over the little man with the long bow. All his arrows\nhe spent in vain. \u201cAh! my blanket brushed my elbow and shifted the\ncourse of my arrow!\u201d said the stranger as the people gathered around\nhim.\n\nDuring this happening, a woman on horseback halted her pony at the\nchieftain's teepee. It was no other than the young woman who cut loose\nthe tree-bound captive!\n\nWhile she told the story the chieftain listened with downcast face. \u201cI\npassed him on my way. He is near!\u201d she ended.\n\nIndignant at the bold impostor, the wrathful eyes of the chieftain\nsnapped fire like red cinders in the night time. His lips were closed.\nAt length to the woman he said: \u201cHow, you have done me a good deed.\u201d\n Then with quick decision he gave command to a fleet horseman to meet the\navenger. \u201cClothe him in these my best buckskins,\u201d said he, pointing to a\nbundle within the wigwam.\n\nIn the meanwhile strong men seized Iktomi and dragged him by his long\nhair to the hilltop. There upon a mock-pillared grave they bound him\nhand and feet. Grown-ups and children sneered and hooted at Iktomi's\ndisgrace. For a half-day he lay there, the laughing-stock of the people.\nUpon the arrival of the real avenger, Iktomi was released and chased\naway beyond the outer limits of the camp ground.\n\nOn the following morning at daybreak, peeped the people out of half-open\ndoor-flaps.\n\nThere again in the midst of the large camp ground was a man in beaded\nbuckskins. In his hand was a strong bow and red-tipped arrow. Again the\nbig red eagle appeared on the edge of the bluff. He plumed his feathers\nand flapped his huge wings.\n\nThe young man crouched low to the ground. He placed the arrow on the\nbow, drawing a poisoned flint for the eagle.\n\nThe bird rose into the air. He moved his outspread wings one, two, three\ntimes and lo! the eagle tumbled from the great height and fell heavily\nto the earth. An arrow stuck in his breast! He was dead!\n\nSo quick was the hand of the avenger, so sure his sight, that no one had\nseen the arrow fly from his long bent bow.\n\nIn awe and amazement the village was dumb. And when the avenger,\nplucking a red eagle feather, placed it in his black hair, a loud shout\nof the people went up to the sky. Then hither and thither ran singing\nmen and women making a great feast for the avenger.\n\nThus he won the beautiful Indian princess who never tired of telling to\nher children the story of the big red eagle.\n\n\n\n\nIKTOMI AND THE TURTLE\n\n\nTHE huntsman Patkasa (turtle) stood bent over a newly slain deer.\n\nThe red-tipped arrow he drew from the wounded deer was unlike the arrows\nin his own quiver. Another's stray shot had killed the deer. Patkasa had\nhunted all the morning without so much as spying an ordinary blackbird.\n\nAt last returning homeward, tired and heavy-hearted that he had no meat\nfor the hungry mouths in his wigwam, he walked slowly with downcast\neyes. Kind ghosts pitied the unhappy hunter and led him to the newly\nslain deer, that his children should not cry for food.\n\nWhen Patkasa stumbled upon the deer in his path, he exclaimed: \u201cGood\nspirits have pushed me hither!\u201d\n\nThus he leaned long over the gift of the friendly ghosts.\n\n\u201cHow, my friend!\u201d said a voice behind his ear, and a hand fell on his\nshoulder. It was not a spirit this time. It was old Iktomi.\n\n\u201cHow, Iktomi!\u201d answered Patkasa, still stooping over the deer.\n\n\u201cMy friend, you are a skilled hunter,\u201d began Iktomi, smiling a thin\nsmile which spread from one ear to the other.\n\nSuddenly raising up his head Patkasa's black eyes twinkled as he asked:\n\u201cOh, you really say so?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, my friend, you are a skillful fellow. Now let us have a little\ncontest. Let us see who can jump over the deer without touching a hair\non his hide,\u201d suggested Iktomi.\n\n\u201cOh, I fear I cannot do it!\u201d cried Patkasa, rubbing his funny, thick\npalms together.\n\n\u201cHave no coward's doubt, Patkasa. I say you are a skillful fellow who\nfinds nothing hard to do.\u201d With these words Iktomi led Patkasa a short\ndistance away. In little puffs Patkasa laughed uneasily.\n\n\u201cNow, you may jump first,\u201d said Iktomi.\n\nPatkasa, with doubled fists, swung his fat arms to and fro, all the\nwhile biting hard his under lip.\n\nJust before the run and leap Iktomi put in: \u201cLet the winner have the\ndeer to eat!\u201d\n\nIt was too late now to say no. Patkasa was more afraid of being called\na coward than of losing the deer. \u201cHo-wo,\u201d he replied, still working his\nshort arms. At length he started off on the run. So quick and small were\nhis steps that he seemed to be kicking the ground only. Then the leap!\nBut Patkasa tripped upon a stick and fell hard against the side of the\ndeer.\n\n\u201cHe-he-he!\u201d exclaimed Iktomi, pretending disappointment that his friend\nhad fallen.\n\nLifting him to his feet, he said: \u201cNow it is my turn to try the high\njump!\u201d Hardly was the last word spoken than Iktomi gave a leap high\nabove the deer.\n\n\u201cThe game is mine!\u201d laughed he, patting the sullen Patkasa on the\nback. \u201cMy friend, watch the deer while I go to bring my children,\u201d said\nIktomi, darting lightly through the tall grass.\n\nPatkasa was always ready to believe the words of scheming people and to\ndo the little favors any one asked of him. However, on this occasion,\nhe did not answer \u201cYes, my friend.\u201d He realized that Iktomi's flattering\ntongue had made him foolish.\n\nHe turned up his nose at Iktomi, now almost out of sight, as much as to\nsay: \u201cOh, no, Ikto; I do not hear your words!\u201d\n\nSoon there came a murmur of voices. The sound of laughter grew louder\nand louder. All of a sudden it became hushed. Old Iktomi led his young\nIktomi brood to the place where he had left the turtle, but it was\nvacant. Nowhere was there any sign of Patkasa or the deer. Then the\nbabes did howl!\n\n\u201cBe still!\u201d said father Iktomi to his children. \u201cI know where Patkasa\nlives. Follow me. I shall take you to the turtle's dwelling.\u201d He ran\nalong a narrow footpath toward the creek near by. Close upon his heels\ncame his children with tear-streaked faces.\n\n\u201cThere!\u201d said Iktomi in a loud whisper as he gathered his little ones on\nthe bank. \u201cThere is Patkasa broiling venison! There is his teepee, and\nthe savory fire is in his front yard!\u201d\n\nThe young Iktomis stretched their necks and rolled their round black\neyes like newly hatched birds. They peered into the water.\n\n\u201cNow, I will cool Patkasa's fire. I shall bring you the broiled venison.\nWatch closely. When you see the black coals rise to the surface of the\nwater, clap your hands and shout aloud, for soon after that sign I shall\nreturn to you with some tender meat.\u201d\n\nThus saying Iktomi plunged into the creek. Splash! splash! the water\nleaped upward into spray. Scarcely had it become leveled and smooth\nthan there bubbled up many black spots. The creek was seething with the\ndancing of round black things.\n\n\u201cThe cooled fire! The coals!\u201d laughed the brood of Iktomis. Clapping\ntogether their little hands, they chased one another along the edge of\nthe creek. They shouted and hooted with great glee.\n\n\u201cAhas!\u201d said a gruff voice across the water. It was Patkasa. In a large\nwillow tree leaning far over the water he sat upon a large limb. On the\nvery same branch was a bright burning fire over which Patkasa broiled\nthe venison. By this time the water was calm again. No more danced those\nblack spots on its surface, for they were the toes of old Iktomi. He was\ndrowned.\n\nThe Iktomi children hurried away from the creek, crying and calling for\ntheir water-dead father.\n\n\n\n\nDANCE IN A BUFFALO SKULL\n\n\nIT was night upon the prairie. Overhead the stars were twinkling bright\ntheir red and yellow lights. The moon was young. A silvery thread among\nthe stars, it soon drifted low beneath the horizon.\n\nUpon the ground the land was pitchy black. There are night people on the\nplain who love the dark. Amid the black level land they meet to frolic\nunder the stars. Then when their sharp ears hear any strange footfalls\nnigh they scamper away into the deep shadows of night. There they are\nsafely hid from all dangers, they think.\n\nThus it was that one very black night, afar off from the edge of the\nlevel land, out of the wooded river bottom glided forth two balls of\nfire. They came farther and farther into the level land. They grew\nlarger and brighter. The dark hid the body of the creature with those\nfiery eyes. They came on and on, just over the tops of the prairie\ngrass. It might have been a wildcat prowling low on soft, stealthy feet.\nSlowly but surely the terrible eyes drew nearer and nearer to the heart\nof the level land.\n\nThere in a huge old buffalo skull was a gay feast and dance! Tiny little\nfield mice were singing and dancing in a circle to the boom-boom of a\nwee, wee drum. They were laughing and talking among themselves while\ntheir chosen singers sang loud a merry tune.\n\nThey built a small open fire within the center of their queer dance\nhouse. The light streamed out of the buffalo skull through all the\ncurious sockets and holes.\n\nA light on the plain in the middle of the night was an unusual thing.\nBut so merry were the mice they did not hear the \u201cking, king\u201d of sleepy\nbirds, disturbed by the unaccustomed fire.\n\nA pack of wolves, fearing to come nigh this night fire, stood together\na little distance away, and, turning their pointed noses to the stars,\nhowled and yelped most dismally. Even the cry of the wolves was unheeded\nby the mice within the lighted buffalo skull.\n\nThey were feasting and dancing; they were singing and laughing--those\nfunny little furry fellows.\n\nAll the while across the dark from out the low river bottom came that\npair of fiery eyes.\n\nNow closer and more swift, now fiercer and glaring, the eyes moved\ntoward the buffalo skull. All unconscious of those fearful eyes, the\nhappy mice nibbled at dried roots and venison. The singers had started\nanother song. The drummers beat the time, turning their heads from\nside to side in rhythm. In a ring around the fire hopped the mice, each\nbouncing hard on his two hind feet. Some carried their tails over their\narms, while others trailed them proudly along.\n\nAh, very near are those round yellow eyes! Very low to the ground they\nseem to creep--creep toward the buffalo skull. All of a sudden they\nslide into the eye-sockets of the old skull.\n\n\u201cSpirit of the buffalo!\u201d squeaked a frightened mouse as he jumped out\nfrom a hole in the back part of the skull.\n\n\u201cA cat! a cat!\u201d cried other mice as they scrambled out of holes both\nlarge and snug. Noiseless they ran away into the dark.\n\n\n\n\nTHE TOAD AND THE BOY\n\n\nTHE water-fowls were flying over the marshy lakes. It was now the\nhunting season. Indian men, with bows and arrows, were wading waist\ndeep amid the wild rice. Near by, within their wigwams, the wives were\nroasting wild duck and making down pillows.\n\nIn the largest teepee sat a young mother wrapping red porcupine\nquills about the long fringes of a buckskin cushion. Beside her lay a\nblack-eyed baby boy cooing and laughing. Reaching and kicking upward\nwith his tiny hands and feet, he played with the dangling strings of his\nheavy-beaded bonnet hanging empty on a tent pole above him.\n\nAt length the mother laid aside her red quills and white sinew-threads.\nThe babe fell fast asleep. Leaning on one hand and softly whispering\na little lullaby, she threw a light cover over her baby. It was almost\ntime for the return of her husband.\n\nRemembering there were no willow sticks for the fire, she quickly\ngirdled her blanket tight about her waist, and with a short-handled ax\nslipped through her belt, she hurried away toward the wooded ravine. She\nwas strong and swung an ax as skillfully as any man. Her loose buckskin\ndress was made for such freedom. Soon carrying easily a bundle of long\nwillows on her back, with a loop of rope over both her shoulders, she\ncame striding homeward.\n\nNear the entrance way she stooped low, at once shifting the bundle to\nthe right and with both hands lifting the noose from over her head.\nHaving thus dropped the wood to the ground, she disappeared into her\nteepee. In a moment she came running out again, crying, \u201cMy son! My\nlittle son is gone!\u201d Her keen eyes swept east and west and all around\nher. There was nowhere any sign of the child.\n\nRunning with clinched fists to the nearest teepees, she called: \u201cHas any\none seen my baby? He is gone! My little son is gone!\u201d\n\n\u201cHinnu! Hinnu!\u201d exclaimed the women, rising to their feet and rushing\nout of their wigwams.\n\n\u201cWe have not seen your child! What has happened?\u201d queried the women.\n\nWith great tears in her eyes the mother told her story.\n\n\u201cWe will search with you,\u201d they said to her as she started off.\n\nThey met the returning husbands, who turned about and joined in the\nhunt for the missing child. Along the shore of the lakes, among the\nhigh-grown reeds, they looked in vain. He was nowhere to be found. After\nmany days and nights the search was given up. It was sad, indeed, to\nhear the mother wailing aloud for her little son.\n\nIt was growing late in the autumn. The birds were flying high toward the\nsouth. The teepees around the lakes were gone, save one lonely dwelling.\n\nTill the winter snow covered the ground and ice covered the lakes, the\nwailing woman's voice was heard from that solitary wigwam. From some far\ndistance was also the sound of the father's voice singing a sad song.\n\nThus ten summers and as many winters have come and gone since the\nstrange disappearance of the little child. Every autumn with the hunters\ncame the unhappy parents of the lost baby to search again for him.\n\nToward the latter part of the tenth season when, one by one, the teepees\nwere folded and the families went away from the lake region, the mother\nwalked again along the lake shore weeping. One evening, across the lake\nfrom where the crying woman stood, a pair of bright black eyes peered at\nher through the tall reeds and wild rice. A little wild boy stopped his\nplay among the tall grasses. His long, loose hair hanging down his brown\nback and shoulders was carelessly tossed from his round face. He wore a\nloin cloth of woven sweet grass. Crouching low to the marshy ground, he\nlistened to the wailing voice. As the voice grew hoarse and only sobs\nshook the slender figure of the woman, the eyes of the wild boy grew dim\nand wet.\n\nAt length, when the moaning ceased, he sprang to his feet and ran like a\nnymph with swift outstretched toes. He rushed into a small hut of reeds\nand grasses.\n\n\u201cMother! Mother! Tell me what voice it was I heard which pleased my\nears, but made my eyes grow wet!\u201d said he, breathless.\n\n\u201cHan, my son,\u201d grunted a big, ugly toad. \u201cIt was the voice of a weeping\nwoman you heard. My son, do not say you like it. Do not tell me it\nbrought tears to your eyes. You have never heard me weep. I can please\nyour ear and break your heart. Listen!\u201d replied the great old toad.\n\nStepping outside, she stood by the entrance way. She was old and badly\npuffed out. She had reared a large family of little toads, but none\nof them had aroused her love, nor ever grieved her. She had heard\nthe wailing human voice and marveled at the throat which produced the\nstrange sound. Now, in her great desire to keep the stolen boy awhile\nlonger, she ventured to cry as the Dakota woman does. In a gruff, coarse\nvoice she broke forth:\n\n\u201cHin-hin, doe-skin! Hin-hin, Ermine, Ermine! Hin-hin, red blanket, with\nwhite border!\u201d\n\nNot knowing that the syllables of a Dakota's cry are the names of loved\nones gone, the ugly toad mother sought to please the boy's ear with the\nnames of valuable articles. Having shrieked in a torturing voice and\nmouthed extravagant names, the old toad rolled her tearless eyes with\ngreat satisfaction. Hopping back into her dwelling, she asked:\n\n\u201cMy son, did my voice bring tears to your eyes? Did my words bring\ngladness to your ears? Do you not like my wailing better?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, no!\u201d pouted the boy with some impatience. \u201cI want to hear the\nwoman's voice! Tell me, mother, why the human voice stirs all my\nfeelings!\u201d\n\nThe toad mother said within her breast, \u201cThe human child has heard and\nseen his real mother. I cannot keep him longer, I fear. Oh, no, I cannot\ngive away the pretty creature I have taught to call me 'mother' all\nthese many winters.\u201d\n\n\u201cMother,\u201d went on the child voice, \u201ctell me one thing. Tell me why my\nlittle brothers and sisters are all unlike me.\u201d\n\nThe big, ugly toad, looking at her pudgy children, said: \u201cThe eldest is\nalways best.\u201d\n\nThis reply quieted the boy for a while. Very closely watched the old\ntoad mother her stolen human son. When by chance he started off alone,\nshe shoved out one of her own children after him, saying: \u201cDo not come\nback without your big brother.\u201d\n\nThus the wild boy with the long, loose hair sits every day on a marshy\nisland hid among the tall reeds. But he is not alone. Always at his feet\nhops a little toad brother. One day an Indian hunter, wading in the deep\nwaters, spied the boy. He had heard of the baby stolen long ago.\n\n\u201cThis is he!\u201d murmured the hunter to himself as he ran to his wigwam. \u201cI\nsaw among the tall reeds a black-haired boy at play!\u201d shouted he to the\npeople.\n\nAt once the unhappy father and mother cried out, \u201c'Tis he, our boy!\u201d\n Quickly he led them to the lake. Peeping through the wild rice, he\npointed with unsteady finger toward the boy playing all unawares.\n\n\u201c'Tis he! 'tis he!\u201d cried the mother, for she knew him.\n\nIn silence the hunter stood aside, while the happy father and mother\ncaressed their baby boy grown tall.\n\n\n\n\nIYA, THE CAMP-EATER\n\n\nFROM the tall grass came the voice of a crying babe. The huntsmen who\nwere passing nigh heard and halted.\n\nThe tallest one among them hastened toward the high grass with long,\ncautious strides. He waded through the growth of green with just a head\nabove it all. Suddenly exclaiming \u201cHunhe!\u201d he dropped out of sight. In\nanother instant he held up in both his hands a tiny little baby, wrapped\nin soft brown buckskins.\n\n\u201cOh ho, a wood-child!\u201d cried the men, for they were hunting along the\nwooded river bottom where this babe was found.\n\nWhile the hunters were questioning whether or no they should carry it\nhome, the wee Indian baby kept up his little howl.\n\n\u201cHis voice is strong!\u201d said one.\n\n\u201cAt times it sounds like an old man's voice!\u201d whispered a superstitious\nfellow, who feared some bad spirit hid in the small child to cheat them\nby and by.\n\n\u201cLet us take it to our wise chieftain,\u201d at length they said; and the\nmoment they started toward the camp ground the strange wood-child ceased\nto cry.\n\nBeside the chieftain's teepee waited the hunters while the tall man\nentered with the child.\n\n\u201cHow! how!\u201d nodded the kind-faced chieftain, listening to the queer\nstory. Then rising, he took the infant in his strong arms; gently he\nlaid the black-eyed babe in his daughter's lap. \u201cThis is to be your\nlittle son!\u201d said he, smiling.\n\n\u201cYes, father,\u201d she replied. Pleased with the child, she smoothed the\nlong black hair fringing his round brown face.\n\n\u201cTell the people that I give a feast and dance this day for the naming\nof my daughter's little son,\u201d bade the chieftain.\n\nIn the meanwhile among the men waiting by the entrance way, one said in\na low voice: \u201cI have heard that bad spirits come as little children into\na camp which they mean to destroy.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo! no! Let us not be overcautious. It would be cowardly to leave\na baby in the wild wood where prowl the hungry wolves!\u201d answered an\nelderly man.\n\nThe tall man now came out of the chieftain's teepee. With a word he sent\nthem to their dwellings half running with joy.\n\n\u201cA feast! a dance for the naming of the chieftain's grandchild!\u201d cried\nhe in a loud voice to the village people.\n\n\u201cWhat? what?\u201d asked they in great surprise, holding a hand to the ear to\ncatch the words of the crier.\n\nThere was a momentary silence among the people while they listened to\nthe ringing voice of the man walking in the center ground. Then broke\nforth a rippling, laughing babble among the cone-shaped teepees. All\nwere glad to hear of the chieftain's grandson. They were happy to attend\nthe feast and dance for its naming. With excited fingers they twisted\ntheir hair into glossy braids and painted their cheeks with bright red\npaint. To and fro hurried the women, handsome in their gala-day dress.\nMen in loose deerskins, with long tinkling metal fringes, strode in\nsmall numbers toward the center of the round camp ground.\n\nHere underneath a temporary shade-house of green leaves they were to\ndance and feast. The children in deerskins and paints, just like their\nelders, were jolly little men and women. Beside their eager parents they\nskipped along toward the green dance house.\n\nHere seated in a large circle, the people were assembled, the proud\nchieftain rose with the little baby in his arms. The noisy hum of voices\nwas hushed. Not a tinkling of a metal fringe broke the silence. The\ncrier came forward to greet the chieftain, then bent attentively over\nthe small babe, listening to the words of the chieftain. When he paused\nthe crier spoke aloud to the people:\n\n\u201cThis woodland child is adopted by the chieftain's eldest daughter. His\nname is Chaske. He wears the title of the eldest son. In honor of Chaske\nthe chieftain gives this feast and dance! These are the words of him you\nsee holding a baby in his arms.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes! Yes! Hinnu! How!\u201d came from the circle. At once the drummers beat\nsoftly and slowly their drum while the chosen singers hummed together to\nfind the common pitch. The beat of the drum grew louder and faster. The\nsingers burst forth in a lively tune. Then the drumbeats subsided and\nfaintly marked the rhythm of the singing. Here and there bounced up men\nand women, both young and old. They danced and sang with merry light\nhearts. Then came the hour of feasting.\n\nLate into the night the air of the camp ground was alive with the\nlaughing voices of women and the singing in unison of young men. Within\nher father's teepee sat the chieftain's daughter. Proud of her little\none, she watched over him asleep in her lap.\n\nGradually a deep quiet stole over the camp ground, as one by one the\npeople fell into pleasant dreams. Now all the village was still. Alone\nsat the beautiful young mother watching the babe in her lap, asleep with\na gaping little mouth. Amid the quiet of the night, her ear heard the\nfar-off hum of many voices. The faint sound of murmuring people was in\nthe air. Upward she glanced at the smoke hole of the wigwam and saw\na bright star peeping down upon her. \u201cSpirits in the air above?\u201d she\nwondered. Yet there was no sign to tell her of their nearness. The fine\nsmall sound of voices grew larger and nearer.\n\n\u201cFather! rise! I hear the coming of some tribe. Hostile or friendly--I\ncannot tell. Rise and see!\u201d whispered the young woman.\n\n\u201cYes, my daughter!\u201d answered the chieftain, springing to his feet.\n\nThough asleep, his ear was ever alert. Thus rushing out into the open,\nhe listened for strange sounds. With an eagle eye he scanned the camp\nground for some sign.\n\nReturning he said: \u201cMy daughter, I hear nothing and see no sign of evil\nnigh.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh! the sound of many voices comes up from the earth about me!\u201d\n exclaimed the young mother.\n\nBending low over her babe she gave ear to the ground. Horrified was she\nto find the mysterious sound came out of the open mouth of her sleeping\nchild!\n\n\u201cWhy so unlike other babes!\u201d she cried within her heart as she slipped\nhim gently from her lap to the ground. \u201cMother, listen and tell me if\nthis child is an evil spirit come to destroy our camp!\u201d she whispered\nloud.\n\nPlacing an ear close to the open baby mouth, the chieftain and his wife,\neach in turn heard the voices of a great camp. The singing of men and\nwomen, the beating of the drum, the rattling of deer-hoofs strung like\nbells on a string, these were the sounds they heard.\n\n\u201cWe must go away,\u201d said the chieftain, leading them into the night.\nOut in the open he whispered to the frightened young woman: \u201cIya, the\ncamp-eater, has come in the guise of a babe. Had you gone to sleep, he\nwould have jumped out into his own shape and would have devoured our\ncamp. He is a giant with spindling legs. He cannot fight, for he cannot\nrun. He is powerful only in the night with his tricks. We are safe as\nsoon as day breaks.\u201d Then moving closer to the woman, he whispered: \u201cIf\nhe wakes now, he will swallow the whole tribe with one hideous gulp!\nCome, we must flee with our people.\u201d\n\nThus creeping from teepee to teepee a secret alarm signal was given. At\nmidnight the teepees were gone and there was left no sign of the village\nsave heaps of dead ashes. So quietly had the people folded their wigwams\nand bundled their tent poles that they slipped away unheard by the\nsleeping Iya babe.\n\nWhen the morning sun arose, the babe awoke. Seeing himself deserted, he\nthrew off his baby form in a hot rage.\n\nWearing his own ugly shape, his huge body toppled to and fro, from side\nto side, on a pair of thin legs far too small for their burden. Though\nwith every move he came dangerously nigh to falling, he followed in the\ntrail of the fleeing people.\n\n\u201cI shall eat you in the sight of a noon-day sun!\u201d cried Iya in his vain\nrage, when he spied them encamped beyond a river.\n\nBy some unknown cunning he swam the river and sought his way toward the\nteepees.\n\n\u201cHin! hin!\u201d he grunted and growled. With perspiration beading his brow\nhe strove to wiggle his slender legs beneath his giant form.\n\n\u201cHa! ha!\u201d laughed all the village people to see Iya made foolish with\nanger. \u201cSuch spindle legs cannot stand to fight by daylight!\u201d shouted\nthe brave ones who were terror-struck the night before by the name\n\u201cIya.\u201d\n\nWarriors with long knives rushed forth and slew the camp-eater.\n\nLo! there rose out of the giant a whole Indian tribe: their camp ground,\ntheir teepees in a large circle, and the people laughing and dancing.\n\n\u201cWe are glad to be free!\u201d said these strange people.\n\nThus Iya was killed; and no more are the camp grounds in danger of being\nswallowed up in a single night time.\n\n\n\n\nMANSTIN, THE RABBIT\n\n\nMANSTIN was an adventurous brave, but very kind-hearted. Stamping\na moccasined foot as he drew on his buckskin leggins, he said:\n\u201cGrandmother, beware of Iktomi! Do not let him lure you into some\ncunning trap. I am going to the North country on a long hunt.\u201d\n\nWith these words of caution to the bent old rabbit grandmother with whom\nhe had lived since he was a tiny babe, Manstin started off toward\nthe north. He was scarce over the great high hills when he heard the\nshrieking of a human child.\n\n\u201cWan!\u201d he ejaculated, pointing his long ears toward the direction of the\nsound; \u201cWan! that is the work of cruel Double-Face. Shameless coward! he\ndelights in torturing helpless creatures!\u201d\n\nMuttering indistinct words, Manstin ran up the last hill and lo! in the\nravine beyond stood the terrible monster with a face in front and one in\nthe back of his head!\n\nThis brown giant was without clothes save for a wild-cat-skin about his\nloins. With a wicked gleaming eye, he watched the little black-haired\nbaby he held in his strong arm. In a laughing voice he hummed an Indian\nmother's lullaby, \u201cA-boo! Aboo!\u201d and at the same time he switched the\nnaked baby with a thorny wild-rose bush.\n\nQuickly Manstin jumped behind a large sage bush on the brow of the hill.\nHe bent his bow and the sinewy string twanged. Now an arrow stuck above\nthe ear of Double-Face. It was a poisoned arrow, and the giant fell\ndead. Then Manstin took the little brown baby and hurried away from the\nravine. Soon he came to a teepee from whence loud wailing voices\nbroke. It was the teepee of the stolen baby and the mourners were its\nheart-broken parents.\n\nWhen gallant Manstin returned the child to the eager arms of the mother\nthere came a sudden terror into the eyes of both the Dakotas. They\nfeared lest it was Double-Face come in a new guise to torture them.\nThe rabbit understood their fear and said: \u201cI am Manstin, the\nkind-hearted,--Manstin, the noted huntsman. I am your friend. Do not\nfear.\u201d\n\nThat night a strange thing happened. While the father and mother slept,\nManstin took the wee baby. With his feet placed gently yet firmly upon\nthe tiny toes of the little child, he drew upward by each small hand the\nsleeping child till he was a full-grown man. With a forefinger he traced\na slit in the upper lip; and when on the morrow the man and woman awoke\nthey could not distinguish their own son from Manstin, so much alike\nwere the braves.\n\n\u201cHenceforth we are friends, to help each other,\u201d said Manstin, shaking a\nright hand in farewell. \u201cThe earth is our common ear, to carry from its\nuttermost extremes one's slightest wish for the other!\u201d\n\n\u201cHo! Be it so!\u201d answered the newly made man.\n\nUpon leaving his friend, Manstin hurried away toward the North country\nwhither he was bound for a long hunt. Suddenly he came upon the edge of\na wide brook. His alert eye caught sight of a rawhide rope staked to the\nwater's brink, which led away toward a small round hut in the distance.\nThe ground was trodden into a deep groove beneath the loosely drawn\nrawhide rope.\n\n\u201cHun-he!\u201d exclaimed Manstin, bending over the freshly made footprints in\nthe moist bank of the brook. \u201cA man's footprints!\u201d he said to himself.\n\u201cA blind man lives in yonder hut! This rope is his guide by which he\ncomes for his daily water!\u201d surmised Manstin, who knew all the peculiar\ncontrivances of the people. At once his eyes became fixed upon the\nsolitary dwelling and hither he followed his curiosity,--a real blind\nman's rope.\n\nQuietly he lifted the door-flap and entered in. An old toothless\ngrandfather, blind and shaky with age, sat upon the ground. He was\nnot deaf however. He heard the entrance and felt the presence of some\nstranger.\n\n\u201cHow, grandchild,\u201d he mumbled, for he was old enough to be grandparent\nto every living thing, \u201chow! I cannot see you. Pray, speak your name!\u201d\n\n\u201cGrandfather, I am Manstin,\u201d answered the rabbit, all the while looking\nwith curious eyes about the wigwam.\n\n\u201cGrandfather, what is it so tightly packed in all these buckskin bags\nplaced against the tent poles?\u201d he asked.\n\n\u201cMy grandchild, those are dried buffalo meat and venison. These are\nmagic bags which never grow empty. I am blind and cannot go on a hunt.\nHence a kind Maker has given me these magic bags of choicest foods.\u201d\n\nThen the old, bent man pulled at a rope which lay by his right hand.\n\u201cThis leads me to the brook where I drink! and this,\u201d said he, turning\nto the one on his left, \u201cand this takes me into the forest, where I feel\nabout for dry sticks for my fire.\u201d\n\n\u201cGrandfather, I wish I lived in such sure luxury! I would lean back\nagainst a tent pole, and with crossed feet I would smoke sweet willow\nbark the rest of my days,\u201d sighed Manstin.\n\n\u201cMy grandchild, your eyes are your luxury! you would be unhappy without\nthem!\u201d the old man replied.\n\n\u201cGrandfather, I would give you my two eyes for your place!\u201d cried\nManstin.\n\n\u201cHow! you have said it. Arise. Take out your eyes and give them to me.\nHenceforth you are at home here in my stead.\u201d\n\nAt once Manstin took out both his eyes and the old man put them on!\nRejoicing, the old grandfather started away with his young eyes while\nthe blind rabbit filled his dream pipe, leaning lazily against the tent\npole. For a short time it was a most pleasant pastime to smoke willow\nbark and to eat from the magic bags.\n\nManstin grew thirsty, but there was no water in the small dwelling.\nTaking one of the rawhide ropes he started toward the brook to quench\nhis thirst. He was young and unwilling to trudge slowly in the old man's\nfootpath. He was full of glee, for it had been many long moons since he\nhad tasted such good food. Thus he skipped confidently along jerking the\nold weather-eaten rawhide spasmodically till all of a sudden it gave way\nand Manstin fell headlong into the water.\n\n\u201cEn! En!\u201d he grunted kicking frantically amid stream. All along the\nslippery bank he vainly tried to climb, till at last he chanced upon the\nold stake and the deeply worn footpath. Exhausted and inwardly disgusted\nwith his mishaps, he crawled more cautiously on all fours to his wigwam\ndoor. Dripping with his recent plunge he sat with chattering teeth\nwithin his unfired wigwam.\n\nThe sun had set and the night air was chilly, but there was no fire-wood\nin the dwelling. \u201cHin!\u201d murmured Manstin and bravely tried the other\nrope. \u201cI go for some fire-wood!\u201d he said, following the rawhide rope\nwhich led into the forest. Soon he stumbled upon thickly strewn dry\nwillow sticks. Eagerly with both hands he gathered the wood into his\noutspread blanket. Manstin was naturally an energetic fellow.\n\nWhen he had a large heap, he tied two opposite ends of blanket\ntogether and lifted the bundle of wood upon his back, but alas! he had\nunconsciously dropped the end of the rope and now he was lost in the\nwood!\n\n\u201cHin! hin!\u201d he groaned. Then pausing a moment, he set his fan-like ears\nto catch any sound of approaching footsteps. There was none. Not even a\nnight bird twittered to help him out of his predicament.\n\nWith a bold face, he made a start at random.\n\nHe fell into some tangled wood where he was held fast. Manstin let go\nhis bundle and began to lament having given away his two eyes.\n\n\u201cFriend, my friend, I have need of you! The old oak tree grandfather\nhas gone off with my eyes and I am lost in the woods!\u201d he cried with his\nlips close to the earth.\n\nScarcely had he spoken when the sound of voices was audible on the outer\nedge of the forest. Nearer and louder grew the voices--one was the clear\nflute tones of a young brave and the other the tremulous squeaks of an\nold grandfather.\n\nIt was Manstin's friend with the Earth Ear and the old grandfather.\n\u201cHere Manstin, take back your eyes,\u201d said the old man, \u201cI knew you would\nnot be content in my stead, but I wanted you to learn your lesson. I\nhave had pleasure seeing with your eyes and trying your bow and arrows,\nbut since I am old and feeble I much prefer my own teepee and my magic\nbags!\u201d\n\nThus talking the three returned to the hut. The old grandfather crept\ninto his wigwam, which is often mistaken for a mere oak tree by little\nIndian girls and boys.\n\nManstin, with his own bright eyes fitted into his head again, went on\nhappily to hunt in the North country.\n\n\n\n\nTHE WARLIKE SEVEN\n\n\nONCE seven people went out to make war,--the Ashes, the Fire, the\nBladder, the Grasshopper, the Dragon Fly, the Fish, and the Turtle. As\nthey were talking excitedly, waving their fists in violent gestures, a\nwind came and blew the Ashes away. \u201cHo!\u201d cried the others, \u201che could not\nfight, this one!\u201d\n\nThe six went on running to make war more quickly. They descended a deep\nvalley, the Fire going foremost until they came to a river. The Fire\nsaid \u201cHsss--tchu!\u201d and was gone. \u201cHo!\u201d hooted the others, \u201che could not\nfight, this one!\u201d\n\nTherefore the five went on the more quickly to make war. They came to a\ngreat wood. While they were going through it, the Bladder was heard\nto sneer and to say, \u201cHe! you should rise above these, brothers.\u201d With\nthese words he went upward among the tree-tops; and the thorn apple\npricked him. He fell through the branches and was nothing! \u201cYou see\nthis!\u201d said the four, \u201cthis one could not fight.\u201d\n\nStill the remaining warriors would not turn back. The four went boldly\non to make war. The Grasshopper with his cousin, the Dragon Fly, went\nforemost. They reached a marshy place, and the mire was very deep. As\nthey waded through the mud, the Grasshopper's legs stuck, and he pulled\nthem off! He crawled upon a log and wept, \u201cYou see me, brothers, I\ncannot go!\u201d\n\nThe Dragon Fly went on, weeping for his cousin. He would not be\ncomforted, for he loved his cousin dearly. The more he grieved, the\nlouder he cried, till his body shook with great violence. He blew his\nred swollen nose with a loud noise so that his head came off his slender\nneck, and he was fallen upon the grass.\n\n\u201cYou see how it is,\u201d said the Fish, lashing his tail impatiently, \u201cthese\npeople were not warriors!\u201d\n\n\u201cCome!\u201d he said, \u201clet us go on to make war.\u201d\n\nThus the Fish and the Turtle came to a large camp ground.\n\n\u201cHo!\u201d exclaimed the people of this round village of teepees, \u201cWho are\nthese little ones? What do they seek?\u201d\n\nNeither of the warriors carried weapons with them, and their unimposing\nstature misled the curious people.\n\nThe Fish was spokesman. With a peculiar omission of syllables, he said:\n\u201cShu... hi pi!\u201d\n\n\u201cWan! what? what?\u201d clamored eager voices of men and women.\n\nAgain the Fish said: \u201cShu... hi pi!\u201d Everywhere stood young and old with\na palm to an ear. Still no one guessed what the Fish had mumbled!\n\nFrom the bewildered crowd witty old Iktomi came forward. \u201cHe, listen!\u201d\n he shouted, rubbing his mischievous palms together, for where there was\nany trouble brewing, he was always in the midst of it.\n\n\u201cThis little strange man says, 'Zuya unhipi! We come to make war!'\u201d\n\n\u201cUun!\u201d resented the people, suddenly stricken glum. \u201cLet us kill the\nsilly pair! They can do nothing! They do not know the meaning of the\nphrase. Let us build a fire and boil them both!\u201d\n\n\u201cIf you put us on to boil,\u201d said the Fish, \u201cthere will be trouble.\u201d\n\n\u201cHo ho!\u201d laughed the village folk. \u201cWe shall see.\u201d\n\nAnd so they made a fire.\n\n\u201cI have never been so angered!\u201d said the Fish. The Turtle in a whispered\nreply said: \u201cWe shall die!\u201d\n\nWhen a pair of strong hands lifted the Fish over the sputtering water,\nhe put his mouth downward. \u201cWhssh!\u201d he said. He blew the water all over\nthe people, so that many were burned and could not see. Screaming with\npain, they ran away.\n\n\u201cOh, what shall we do with these dreadful ones?\u201d they said.\n\nOthers exclaimed: \u201cLet us carry them to the lake of muddy water and\ndrown them!\u201d\n\nInstantly they ran with them. They threw the Fish and the Turtle into\nthe lake. Toward the center of the large lake the Turtle dived. There\nhe peeped up out of the water and, waving a hand at the crowd, sang out,\n\u201cThis is where I live!\u201d\n\nThe Fish swam hither and thither with such frolicsome darts that his\nback fin made the water fly. \u201cE han!\u201d whooped the Fish, \u201cthis is where I\nlive!\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, what have we done!\u201d said the frightened people, \u201cthis will be our\nundoing.\u201d\n\nThen a wise chief said: \u201cIya, the Eater, shall come and swallow the\nlake!\u201d\n\nSo one went running. He brought Iya, the Eater; and Iya drank all day at\nthe lake till his belly was like the earth. Then the Fish and the Turtle\ndived into the mud; and Iya said: \u201cThey are not in me.\u201d Hearing this the\npeople cried greatly.\n\nIktomi wading in the lake had been swallowed like a gnat in the water.\nWithin the great Iya he was looking skyward. So deep was the water\nin the Eater's stomach that the surface of the swallowed lake almost\ntouched the sky.\n\n\u201cI will go that way,\u201d said Iktomi, looking at the concave within arm's\nreach.\n\nHe struck his knife upward in the Eater's stomach, and the water falling\nout drowned those people of the village.\n\nNow when the great water fell into its own bed, the Fish and the Turtle\ncame to the shore. They went home painted victors and loud-voiced\nsingers.","title":"Old Indian Legends","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":18116}