{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_66596/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_66596","id":"gutenberg_66596","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/66596","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Short Stories","Indians of North America -- Folklore"],"text":"THE PUNISHMENT OF THE STINGY\n                        AND OTHER INDIAN STORIES\n\n\n                                   by\n                          GEORGE BIRD GRINNELL\n\n\n                              Illustrated\n\n\n                          New York and London\n                      Harper & Brothers Publishers\n                                  1901\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n                                                   PAGE\n\n        The Stories and the Story-Tellers           vii\n        The Bluejay Stories                          ix\n        The Punishment of the Stingy                  3\n        Bluejay, the Imitator                         19\n        Bluejay Visits the Ghosts                     35\n        The Girl Who Was the Ring                     49\n        The First Corn                                65\n        The Star Boy                                  75\n        The Grizzly Bear\u2019s Medicine                   87\n        The First Medicine Lodge                     117\n        Thunder Maker and Cold Maker                 127\n        The Blindness of Pi-wa\u1e55-\u014dk                   143\n        Ragged Head                                  159\n        Nothing Child                                167\n        Shield Quiver\u2019s Wife                         189\n        The Beaver Stick                             201\n        Little Friend Coyote                         219\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\n    \u201cTHEN THEY WENT SEAWARD\u201d                             Frontispiece\n    \u201cHE SAW A BALD-HEADED EAGLE\u201d                          Facing p. 8\n    \u201cTHE BIRD CAME DOWN\u201d                                           10\n    \u201cFIVE TIMES HE CIRCLED AROUND THEM\u201d                            12\n    \u201cTHERE WAS NO BOY THERE, ONLY A PILE OF BONES\u201d                 38\n    \u201cONLY BONES LAY THERE\u201d                                         40\n    \u201cITS HEAD WAS SO HEAVY THAT IT THREW IT DOWN\u201d                  42\n    THE STICK GAME                                                 50\n    SWINGING THE GIRL TO CALL THE BUFFALO                          52\n    COYOTE HOLDS A COUNCIL OF WAR                                  54\n    \u201c\u2018I CAN TELL WHICH STICK IS THE NEARER\u2019\u201d                       58\n    \u201cSNORTED \u2018WHOOF,\u2019 AND BLEW RED DUST FROM HIS NOSTRILS\u201d         92\n    \u201cTHEY COULD NOT HURT HIM\u201d                                     100\n    THE CONFERENCE IN THE LODGE                                   106\n    \u201cSU-YE-SAI-PI CLUNG TO HIM\u201d                                   226\n    \u201c\u2018OH, LITTLE WOLF,\u2019 SHE CRIED\u201d                                230\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE STORIES AND THE STORY-TELLERS\n\n\nThe stories in this book deal with peoples of widely different\nsurroundings and habit\u2014some with dwellers on the sea-shore, whose skies\nare often obscured by rain and fog, who draw their living from the sea,\nand are at home on the water; and others with inhabitants of the high\nplains, where the air is pure and dry, and the summer sun is rarely\nhidden by clouds.\n\nAs the Indians have no written characters, memorable events are\nretained only in the minds of the people, and are handed down by the\nelders to their children, and by these again transmitted to their\nchildren, so passing from generation to generation. Until recent years,\none of the sacred duties of certain elders of the tribes was the\nhanding down of these histories to their successors. As they repeated\nthem, they impressed upon the hearer the importance of remembering the\nstories precisely as told, and of telling them again exactly as he had\nreceived them, neither adding nor taking away anything. Thus early\ntaught his duty, each listener strove to perform it, and to impress on\nthose whom he in turn instructed a similar obligation.\n\nIn transcribing stories such as these, care must be used to take down\njust what the narrator says. The stories must be reproduced as they are\ntold; otherwise they lose that primitive flavor which is often one of\ntheir chief charms. In their true form they are full of human nature,\nfull of unconscious suggestion as to how the primitive mind worked, and\nfull also of hints as to the customs and life of the people in the old\ndays.\n\nSeated by the flickering fire in Blackfoot skin-lodge, or in Pawnee\ndirt-house, or in sea-shore dwelling on the northwest coast, I have\nreceived these stories from the lips of aged historians, and have set\nthem down here as I have heard them.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE BLUEJAY STORIES\n\n\nOn the shores of the ocean which washes our northwest coast live many\ntribes of a hardy, seafaring people. Their houses stand along the beach\njust above high-water mark, and behind them the wooded mountains rise\nsharply. The waters at their feet yield them the chief share of their\nliving. The salmon that each year come to the rivers to spawn, the\ngreat shoals of little herrings that visit the beach, the halibut that\nlie at the bottom far at sea, the seals, the sea-lions, the porpoises,\nand the whales, all provide something towards the tribe\u2019s support. Or,\nif for a while all these fail, there are flat-fish on the shoals, clams\nin the mud flats, and mussels clinging to the rocks. In the stories\ntold by this race of seafarers, the incidents have to do with the\ncommon events of their lives, and the scenes are commonly laid on the\nwater or at the water\u2019s edge. Thus they treat of the hunting of the\nsea-lion, of the catching of the salmon, most often of the search for\nfood.\n\nMost of the stories to be related here are very old, and date from a\nperiod when men and animals were far more closely related than they\nseem to be to-day; when, as the tales clearly show, each could\nunderstand the other\u2019s language, and when friendly intercourse between\nthem was common. Although in recent years all the conditions of the\nlives of these people have changed, stories such as these may still be\nheard, if one can gain the confidence of the aged men and women who yet\nretain this legendary lore. In somewhat different form, the Bluejay\nStories, in the original tongue, may be found in the Chinook Texts,\ncollected by that eminent ethnologist, Dr. Franz Boas, whose studies of\nAmerican tribes have yielded such important and valuable results.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE PUNISHMENT OF THE STINGY\n\nA BLUEJAY STORY\n\n\nAt Sea Side lived many people\u2014a big village. Their houses were on the\nbank, and, below, the wide beach sloped down to the salt water. Under\nthe bank the canoes rested on the beach above high-water mark. Beyond\nwas the sea.\n\nOne day the Chief of the village died. He had one son, a big boy just\ngrowing up to be a man. It was winter, and the people had hardly\nanything to eat. They looked along the beach for food cast up by the\nsea, but they could find nothing. They were hungry, and did not know\nwhat they should do. Mussels and roots were their only food.\n\nOne day a hunter said to the men: \u201cEverybody get ready; let us go out\nto sea. Perhaps there we may find something to eat; even if we kill\nnothing, we can at least gather mussels.\u201d\n\nSo all the men got ready, and they started out to sea in two canoes.\nAfter they had gone some distance they came to a small island, and saw\nthere some sea-lions, and the hunter speared one, and it jumped out to\nthe water and swam strongly, and then it died and floated on the water.\nThey dragged it up on the shore near by, and Bluejay said, \u201cWe will\nboil it here.\u201d So they made a fire there and singed it and cut it up\nand boiled it. Then Bluejay said: \u201cLet us eat it here. Let us eat all\nof it, and not take any of it home with us.\u201d So these people ate there.\nThe Raven wished to take home some of the meat to give to persons who\nwere hungry, and hid a piece in his mat and carried it to the canoe,\nbut Bluejay ran down and took the meat and threw it into the fire and\nburned it. After they had eaten all they wanted, they made ready to go\nhome. They gathered mussels, large and small. In the evening they came\nto the village, and Bluejay called out to his wife, \u201cStiku\u00e1, come and\nget your mussels.\u201d There was a noise of many feet as Stiku\u00e1 and the\nother women came running down to get their mussels, and carried them up\nto the houses.\n\nThe Raven took care of the Chief\u2019s son. That night the boy said to him,\n\u201cTo-morrow I want to go with you.\u201d Bluejay said: \u201cWhat are you going to\ndo? The waves will carry you away. You will be washed away. I was\nalmost washed away.\u201d\n\nEarly the next morning the men made ready to go hunting again. They\nwent down to the beach and got into the canoes, and the boy also went\ndown to the beach. He intended to go with them, and as they were\npushing off he tried to get into one of the canoes. Bluejay said to\nhim: \u201cGo up to the houses. Go up to the houses.\u201d The boy went, as he\nhad been told, but he felt very sorry, and then Bluejay said, \u201cQuick,\nlet us leave him.\u201d The people began to paddle.\n\nAt length they reached the land where they had been the day before. It\nwas a rocky island. The hunter went ashore and speared a sea-lion. They\nhauled it to the shore and pulled it up on land, and then pulled it up\naway from the beach. Bluejay said, \u201cWe will eat it all here, or else\nour Chief\u2019s son will always be wanting to come with us.\u201d So now they\nsinged the sea-lion, and cut it up and boiled it there. Then, when what\nthey were cooking was ready, they ate plenty. The Raven tried to save\none piece of the meat. He tied it in his hair, intending to hide it,\nbut Bluejay took it out and threw it into the fire and burned it. When\nthey started home they gathered mussels, and at evening they got home.\nBefore they landed, Bluejay called out loud, \u201cCome, Stiku\u00e1, and get\nyour mussels.\u201d There was a noise of feet running, and Stiku\u00e1 and her\nchildren came running to the beach with all the other women. Then they\ncarried the mussels up to the houses. Bluejay said to the men who had\nbeen with him, \u201cDo not tell the Chief\u2019s son, any of you, for if you do\nhe will always go with us.\u201d\n\nThat night the boy said, \u201cTo-morrow I am going with you\u201d; and Bluejay\nsaid to him: \u201cWhat are you going to do? You may drift away. You may be\noverwhelmed by the waves.\u201d The boy said, \u201cI will go with you.\u201d\n\nOn the third morning they rose early and went to the beach, and the boy\nalso went to the beach, and took hold of the side of the canoe to get\nin. Bluejay said: \u201cWhat are you doing here? Go to the houses.\u201d The boy\ncried, but he went back. Then Bluejay said to the others, \u201cQuick,\npaddle; we will leave him behind.\u201d Then the people paddled away. At\nlength they arrived at the rock of the sea-lions, and the hunter went\nashore. He speared a large sea-lion, and pretty soon it floated dead on\nthe water. They pulled it in to the shore and up on the beach, and then\nthey hauled it up above the beach and singed and cut it up and boiled\nit there. When it was done they ate, and Bluejay said: \u201cWe will eat it\nall. We will not tell any one, for fear that our Chief\u2019s son should\nwant to come with us.\u201d After all had eaten enough, a little meat was\nstill left. The Raven tried to hide a piece of it. He tied it to his\nleg and put a bandage over it, and said that his leg was broken.\nBluejay burned all the meat that was left over. He said to the Raven,\n\u201cI want to see your leg.\u201d He seized the Raven\u2019s leg and untied it, and\nfound the piece of meat that the Raven had tied to it and burned it.\nTowards evening they gathered mussels, and then they went home.\n\nWhen they were nearly at their home Bluejay called out, \u201cStiku\u00e1, your\nmussels.\u201d There was a noise of feet, and Stiku\u00e1 and the women ran to\nthe beach. They carried the mussels up from the beach and ate mussels\nall night. The boy said, \u201cTo-morrow, I think, I shall surely go along\nwith you.\u201d Bluejay said to him: \u201cWhat are you going to do? You will\ndrift away. I should have drifted away twice if I had not caught hold\nof the canoe.\u201d\n\nEarly the next morning they made themselves ready, and the boy got up\nand made himself ready. Then the people hauled their canoes down to the\nwater and got into them. The boy tried to get into a canoe too, but\nBluejay took hold of him and threw him into the water. He stood in the\nwater up to his waist. He took hold of the side of the canoe, but\nBluejay hit his hands to make him let go. For a long time he held on,\nand cried and cried, but at last he let go and went up to the house.\nThen Bluejay and the other people paddled away. After a while they\nreached the rock where the sea-lions lived, and the hunter went ashore\nand speared a sea-lion, and it jumped into the water and soon floated\nthere dead. Then they towed it to the beach and pulled it up and singed\nit, and cut it up and boiled it. Bluejay said, \u201cWe will eat it here.\u201d\nThey ate for a long time and ate half of it, and then they were\nsatisfied. They were so full that they went to sleep. After a while\nBluejay awoke and burned all the meat that was left. Towards evening\nthey gathered mussels and then started home.\n\nWhen they were near the shore, Bluejay called out to his wife, \u201cCome\nand get your mussels, Stiku\u00e1,\u201d and they heard the noise of feet running\ndown to the shore. Then they carried up the mussels from the beach.\nThat night the boy said, \u201cTo-morrow I shall go with you\u201d; and Bluejay\nsaid to him: \u201cWhat are you going to do? We may be thrown into the water\nand you may drown.\u201d\n\nEarly the next morning the men made ready to start. The boy also got up\nand made himself ready. Then Bluejay and the people hauled the canoes\ndown to the water and got into them. The boy tried to get into the\ncanoe, but Bluejay threw him into the water, and they pushed off. The\nboy caught hold of the side of the canoe and held it. He stood there in\nthe water up to his armpits, and tried to get into the canoe, but\nBluejay hit his hands and made him let go. The boy cried and cried.\nBluejay and the people paddled away.\n\nAfter a little time the boy went up to the beach, feeling very sad, and\ntrying to think what he should do. At last he went into the house and\ntook his arrows and started walking along the shore. He walked around a\npoint, and saw a black eagle, and shot it. He skinned it and tried to\nput the skin on his body, but it was too small. It did not reach down\nas far as his knees. He took it off and left it there and went on.\nAfter a while he saw another eagle, and he shot it, and it fell down.\nIts head was partly white. He skinned it and put the skin on his body,\nbut it was too small. It reached down only a little below his knees.\nThen he took it off and left it lying there, and went on a long way. At\nlast he saw a bald-headed eagle. He shot it, and it fell down. Then he\nskinned it and put the skin on himself. Even this was too small, but it\nnearly fitted him. Then he tried to fly. At first he could only fly\ndownward. He could not rise in the air. He tried again, and this time\nhe found that he could turn, so he kept on trying, and pretty soon he\ncould fly well.\n\nNow he flew towards the village, and when he had come near to this\npoint he smelled smoke, and in that smoke he smelled fat cooking. So\nbefore he got to the village he turned and flew out to sea, following\nthe smell of the smoke. Pretty soon he came to the rock of the\nsea-lions, and there he saw the men of his village. He alit on a tree\nfar off and watched them, looking down on them below. He saw that they\nwere cooking, and when the meat was done he saw them eating. When they\nhad nearly finished eating, he flew towards them, and he thought, \u201cI\nwish Bluejay would see me.\u201d Bluejay did see the bird flying, and he\nsaid, \u201cHa! a bird is coming to get food from us.\u201d The boy flew around\nthem once, and then again. Five times he circled around them, all the\ntime coming lower. Bluejay took a piece of meat and threw it out, and\nsaid to the bird, \u201cI give you this to eat; take it.\u201d The bird came\ndown, and, grasping the piece of meat, flew away. Then Bluejay said,\n\u201cWhy, that bird has feet just like a person!\u201d\n\nWhen Bluejay and the people had finished eating they went to sleep.\nAgain the Raven hid a piece of meat. Towards evening Bluejay awoke, and\nthen the people ate again, and afterwards Bluejay burned what they had\nleft. Then they gathered mussels and started to go home. When they were\nclose to the houses Bluejay called out, \u201cAh, Stiku\u00e1, get your mussels.\u201d\nAll the women ran down to the beach with a noise of feet, and carried\nup the mussels.\n\nWhen the boy got home he at once lay down. That evening the people\ntried to wake him, but he did not rise.\n\nThe next morning, as soon as it became day, early, they began to get\nready, and again they hauled their canoes into the water. The Chief\u2019s\nson still lay in bed. He did not try to go with them, and they started\noff. After a while the sun rose. Then the boy got up. He called\ntogether all the women and children and said to them: \u201cQuick, wash\nyourselves. Hurry; don\u2019t be lazy.\u201d They all washed themselves. Then he\nsaid, \u201cQuick, comb your hair.\u201d They did so.\n\nThen he put down a plank on the ground and took a piece of meat from\nunder his blanket, and said to them, \u201cAll your husbands eat a great\ndeal of this meat every day.\u201d He put two pieces of the meat side by\nside on the plank. Then he cut off a piece of the meat and greased the\nheads of all the women and the children. Then he pulled out of the\nground the wall planks of the houses and sharpened them. If a wall\nplank was wide, he split it. He sharpened all of them. The Raven\u2019s\nhouse was the last house in the village. He did not pull down its\nplanks. He fastened the planks on the backs of the women, and said to\nthe women, \u201cNow go to the beach and swim towards the sea, and as you\ngo, swim five times around that rock and then go out to sea. After this\nyou shall be killer whales. When you find sea-lions you shall always\nkill them, but do not give any of them to stingy people. When you kill\na good whale you shall eat it, but do not give any of it to stingy\npeople. I shall take these children with me. They shall live on the sea\nand be my relations.\u201d Then he began to split sinews; he split a great\nmany of them. He threw down the sinews that he had split on the stones\nwhere the people used to gather their mussels, and said to the mussels,\n\u201cAfter this when Bluejay and these others go to take up you mussels,\nyou shall always be tied fast to the rocks.\u201d\n\nNow the women went down to the water\u2019s edge and swam about, and began\nslowly to jump out of the water. Five times they swam backward and\nforward before the village; then they went seaward, swimming very fast.\nThey kept on to the island where Bluejay and his fellows were cooking\ntheir food. Bluejay said to the men, \u201cWhat is this that is coming?\u201d The\nmen looked at the things that were coming, and saw the women often\njumping out of the water. Five times they swam around that rock, then\nthey went out to sea. After a while birds came flying after them\ntowards the sea\u2014birds with red bills, just as if blood were on their\nbeaks. They kept following one another, many of them. Bluejay said: \u201cDo\nyou see these birds, how they keep coming? Where do they come from?\u201d\nThen the Raven said, \u201cHow is it that you do not recognize these as your\nchildren?\u201d Five times the birds flew around the rock, just as the women\nhad gone around it, and then they flew away out to sea.\n\nWhen Bluejay and his people were eating the meat that they had killed,\nthat hunter said: \u201cQuick, let us go home. I am afraid that we have seen\nbad spirits. We never before saw anything like this at this rock.\u201d Then\nthey gathered some mussels, and put in the canoes the meat that was\nleft and carried it with them. Just at evening they came to the\nvillage, and Bluejay called out, \u201cAh, Stiku\u00e1, come and get your\nmussels.\u201d There was no noise of people running. Five times he called to\nher, but no one came. It was all still. They went up on the beach, and\nthen they saw that no one was there, and that the walls of the houses\nhad disappeared. Then they began to cry, and Bluejay cried too. Some\none said to him, \u201cBe quiet, Bluejay; if you had not been bad, our Chief\nwould not have done this to us.\u201d\n\nNow they made only one house for all; all lived together. Only the\nRaven, who had been kind-hearted, had a house to himself. He often went\nalong the beach looking for food, and was lucky, for sometimes he found\na sturgeon; or again he went along the beach looking for food and he\nfound a porpoise. Bluejay often went along the beach trying to find\nfood, but he was always unlucky, for he found nothing, and often, while\nhe was looking, suddenly it would begin to hail\u2014big hailstones. Often\nhe went out to gather mussels and tried to break them off from the\nrocks, but he could not do it. They were stuck fast to the stones. So\nhe gave up and went home. He cried a great deal. Often the Raven looked\nfor food along the beach and found a seal. The others had nothing to\neat except roots.\n\nThus these men who had not brought food to their families had now lost\ntheir women and children, their houses had been pulled down and taken\naway, and they had nothing to eat. So their Chief punished them for\nbeing stingy.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBLUEJAY, THE IMITATOR\n\n\nBluejay and his elder sister Io\u00ed, with her five children, lived\ntogether in a house by the sea beach. Every morning they went out to\nwalk along the beach, to see what the tide had washed up during the\nnight that was good to eat. Sometimes they found fish, or a seal, and\nsometimes a whale. Some days when they found nothing, they dug clams on\nthe flat, but some days they could get no clams, and so they were\nhungry. Up and down the shore lived their neighbors.\n\nOne day Bluejay said to his sister: \u201cLet us go visiting; let us visit\nthe Magpie.\u201d She said, \u201cLet it be so. We will go.\u201d\n\nEarly next morning they put their canoe in the water and paddled away,\nand when they came near the Magpie\u2019s house they saw him sitting on the\nroof. They landed, and went up to the house, and the Magpie came down\nfrom the roof, and all went inside and sat down. Bluejay and his sister\nsat there and looked all around, but they saw no food. After a little\nwhile the Magpie swept his house, and while he was sweeping it out he\nfound one dry salmon egg. He put this in the feathers of his head. Then\nhe made a fire and heated some stones. He filled a basket-work kettle\nwith water, put the salmon egg in the water, then put the stones in the\nwater, one after another, and covered the kettle. Soon the water was\nboiling, and when it had boiled a little while he took off the cover,\nand the kettle was full of boiled salmon eggs. The Magpie put the\nkettle before Bluejay and his sister, and said, \u201cEat, my friends; you\nmust be hungry.\u201d They ate until they were satisfied, and still the\nkettle was half full.\n\nAfter a time they started to return to their house, taking with them\nthe kettle with the food that was left. When they were about to start,\nhis sister said to Bluejay, \u201cYou go down first to the beach.\u201d He said\nto her, \u201cNo, you go down first.\u201d So his sister went down first to the\nbeach to get the canoe ready.\n\nBluejay said to the Magpie, \u201cTo-morrow come and visit us and get your\nkettle and bring it back with you.\u201d The Magpie said, \u201cIt is good; I\nwill go to visit you.\u201d Then Bluejay and his sister went home.\n\nThe next morning, early, Bluejay went up on the roof of his house and\nsat there. After a time he called out to his sister, and said: \u201cA canoe\nis coming.\u201d She answered: \u201cIt is coming, because you told him to come.\u201d\nPretty soon, as they looked, they could see that it was the Magpie in\nthe canoe, and at length he landed and pulled his canoe up on the beach\nand walked up to the house. Bluejay came down from the roof, and they\nwent in and sat down.\n\nSoon Bluejay got up and swept his house, and found one dry salmon egg,\nwhich he put in his topknot. When he had finished sweeping his house,\nhe built a fire and heated some stones and filled a basket-work kettle\nwith water and put in it the salmon egg, and then the hot stones, and\ncovered the kettle. He did everything just as the Magpie had done it.\nSoon the water boiled, and he took the cover off, but there was nothing\nin the kettle but hot water.\n\nThe Magpie said, \u201cBluejay can do only one thing.\u201d He took the kettle\nand threw the stones out of it. Then he heated more stones, put a dry\nsalmon egg in the water, put in the hot stones, and covered the kettle,\nand soon the water began to boil. Presently he took the cover off the\nkettle, and it was full of boiled salmon eggs. Then the Magpie went\ndown to the beach and put his canoe in the water and paddled away to\nhis home.\n\nAfter several nights Bluejay and his sister were hungry. Bluejay said:\n\u201cLet us go visiting. Let us go and visit the Duck.\u201d \u201cWe will go\nto-morrow,\u201d said his sister. The next morning early they started and\npaddled away towards the Duck\u2019s house. After a while they came within\nsight of the house, and then landed on the beach and went up to the\nhouse. After they had sat a little while, the Duck said to her five\nchildren, \u201cGo and wash yourselves.\u201d They went down to the beach and\nwent into the water and washed themselves. Then they dived, and when\neach came to the top of the water it had a trout in its mouth. They put\nthese on a mat on the beach. Ten times they dived, and by that time\ntheir mat was full of trout. They took them up to the house and made a\nfire and roasted them, and when the fish were cooked they gave them to\nBluejay and his sister, and they ate part of them and were satisfied.\nPretty soon the visitors got ready to go, taking with them the food\nthat was left. Io\u00ed said to her brother: \u201cYou go down first to the\nbeach, or else you will talk ever so much.\u201d Bluejay answered her: \u201cNo,\nyou go down first.\u201d So his sister went down first to get the canoe\nready, and when she had gone, Bluejay said to the Duck: \u201cCome to my\nhouse to-morrow and get your mat.\u201d The Duck said: \u201cTo-morrow I will go\nto visit you.\u201d Then Bluejay and his sister paddled away, and soon came\nto their house.\n\nEarly next morning Bluejay got up and went up to the roof of the house.\nAfter he had been sitting there for some time, he called out to his\nsister: \u201cA canoe is coming.\u201d She said to him: \u201cIt comes because you\nasked them to come.\u201d Pretty soon the Duck, with her five children,\nreached the beach, and after they had pulled the canoe out of the\nwater, they went up to the house. After they had sat a while, Bluejay\nsaid to his sister\u2019s children: \u201cGo and wash yourselves.\u201d\n\nThe children went down to the beach and into the water and washed\nthemselves. They tried to dive, but no matter how hard they might try\ntheir backs remained above the water. Ten times they tried to dive, and\ntheir feathers were all wet and clinging to them, and they were almost\ndead with cold. They came up to the house shivering, and not bringing\nanything with them.\n\nThe Duck said: \u201cBluejay can do only one thing.\u201d Then she said to her\nchildren: \u201cGo and wash yourselves. We will give them something to eat.\u201d\nThe Duck\u2019s children went down to the beach and washed themselves. They\ndived ten times, and then their mat was full of trout. They brought\nthem up to the house and threw them on the ground. Then the Ducks went\nhome.\n\nSome little time after this Bluejay and his sister were again hungry.\nBluejay said: \u201cLet us go and visit Black Bear.\u201d Early the next morning\nthey set out, and before noon they reached the Black Bear\u2019s house and\nwent in and sat down.\n\nThey looked around. No food was to be seen. Pretty soon the Bear built\na fire and began to heat stones. Bluejay was wondering what food would\nbe given them, and he said to his sister: \u201cWhat will he give us to\neat?\u201d\n\nWhen the stones were hot the Bear took his knife and cut the soles from\nhis feet, and cut a big piece of meat out of his thigh. Then he rubbed\nhis hands over the wounds, and at once they were healed. Then he cut\nthe flesh that he had taken from his feet and from his thigh into small\npieces and put it in the kettle, and put the hot stones in the kettle\nand boiled it. When it was cooked he placed the kettle before them, and\nsaid to them: \u201cEat, my friends; you must be hungry.\u201d They ate, and\npretty soon they were satisfied. When they were ready to go home Io\u00ed\nsaid to her brother: \u201cYou go down first, or else you will be talking a\ngreat deal.\u201d Bluejay said: \u201cNo, you go down first.\u201d His sister went,\nand when she had gone Bluejay said to the Bear: \u201cCome to-morrow and\nvisit us.\u201d The Bear said he would do so; then Bluejay and his sister\nwent home to their house.\n\nEarly the next morning Bluejay got up and made a fire, and went up on\nthe roof of his house. After a while, he called out to his sister: \u201cA\ncanoe is coming,\u201d and she answered: \u201cIt comes because you invited him.\u201d\nPretty soon the Bear paddled up to the beach and landed, and came up to\nthe house, and they all sat down. Bluejay began to heat the stones in\nthe fire and to get ready for cooking. When the stones were hot he\nsharpened his knife and began to cut his feet, but, oh, it hurt him\nvery much. It hurt him so much that he fainted away. They blew on him\nuntil he recovered.\n\nThe Bear said: \u201cYou can do only one thing, Bluejay.\u201d The Bear took his\nknife and slowly cut the soles off his feet. He cut a piece of flesh\nout of his thigh. Then he rubbed his hands over the wounds and\nimmediately they were healed. Then he cut the flesh in small pieces and\nboiled it. When he had finished cooking and it was done, he threw it\ndown before them, and went home to his house. Bluejay\u2019s feet were sore.\n\nAfter a number of nights they were again hungry. Then Bluejay said to\nhis sister: \u201cLet us go visiting again. To-morrow we will go and visit\nthe Beaver.\u201d Early in the morning they started out, and before very\nlong they reached the Beaver\u2019s house. The Beaver was on the roof of his\nhouse. He came down, and they went in and sat down. After a little\nwhile the Beaver went out and brought into the house a bundle of willow\ntwigs, which he put down before them. Then he took a dish and went out\nand brought it back filled with mud. Bluejay and his sister could not\neat these things, and pretty soon they got ready to go home. As they\nwere about to start, his sister said to him: \u201cYou go down first to the\nbeach, or else you will talk a great deal.\u201d The Bluejay said to his\nsister: \u201cNo, you go down first.\u201d So she went down first to the beach.\nWhen she had gone Bluejay said: \u201cCome to my house to-morrow to fetch\nyour dish,\u201d and the Beaver answered: \u201cI will come to-morrow.\u201d\n\nEarly next morning Bluejay got up and made a fire, and went up on the\nroof of his house. After he had sat there for a while, he called out to\nhis sister: \u201cA canoe is coming.\u201d She answered: \u201cIt comes because you\nasked it to come.\u201d The Beaver landed and came up the beach and entered\nthe house, and they all sat down. Bluejay went out of the house, and\nafter he had been gone a little while he came back with a bunch of\nwillow twigs, and he put them before the Beaver, who began to eat them,\nand soon ate them all up. Then Bluejay ran down to the beach and got\nsome mud, which he put before the Beaver. The Beaver ate it all and\nwent home.\n\nNot many days after this they were again hungry, and Bluejay said: \u201cLet\nus go visiting again. To-morrow let us go to visit the Seal.\u201d Early the\nnext morning they started, and at length they came to the house of the\nSeal. The Seal had five children. After they had been sitting a while\nin her house, the Seal said to her children: \u201cGo to the beach and lie\ndown there.\u201d They went down to the edge of the water and lay there.\nThen the Seal took a stick and went down there, too, and when she\nreached her children she struck the youngest one on the head and it lay\nthere. She said to the others: \u201cDive down,\u201d and they did so, and when\nthey came to the surface of the water there were five of them. Then she\ndragged up to the house the one that she had killed and singed it, and\nwhen she had finished singeing it she cut it up. She boiled it, and\nwhen it was cooked she gave it to Bluejay and his sister. They ate, and\npresently they were satisfied. When they were getting ready to go home\nhis sister said to her brother: \u201cYou go down first.\u201d He answered: \u201cNo,\nyou go down first. You always want to stay where they give us food.\u201d So\nhis sister went down to the beach. Then Bluejay said to the Seal: \u201cCome\nto-morrow and visit us, and fetch your kettle.\u201d The Seal said: \u201cI shall\ncome.\u201d Then Bluejay and his sister went home to their house.\n\nEarly next morning Bluejay got up and went on to the roof of his house.\nAfter a while he called out to his sister: \u201cA canoe is coming.\u201d She\nanswered him: \u201cIt comes because you have asked them to come.\u201d The canoe\ncame to the beach, and the Seal and her children landed and pulled the\ncanoe up on the beach, and then came up to the house. Pretty soon\nBluejay said to his sister\u2019s children: \u201cGo to the beach and lie down\nthere.\u201d The children went and lay down at the edge of the water.\nBluejay took a stick and went down and struck the youngest one on the\nhead. Then he said to the other children: \u201cQuick now, dive.\u201d They\ndived, but when they came up there were only four. Five times they\ndived, but the one that Bluejay had struck remained dead. Then Io\u00ed and\nher children cried for the dead one.\n\nThe Seal said: \u201cBluejay only knows how to do one thing.\u201d She struck one\nof her daughters on the head with a stick, and said to the others:\n\u201cQuick, dive.\u201d They dived, and when they came up again all five of them\nwere there. Then she singed her daughter, and when she had finished\nsingeing her she cut her up and threw her down before Bluejay and his\nsister, saying: \u201cYou may eat this.\u201d Then they tied up and buried the\ndead child, and the Seals went home.\n\nAfter a time these two were again hungry, and Blue jay said: \u201cLet us go\nand visit the Shadows.\u201d His sister said: \u201cWe will go to-morrow.\u201d Early\nnext morning they started, and at last they reached the home of the\nShadows and went up to the house. It was full of food, and on the beds\nthere were lying ornaments, clothing, coats, blankets of deer skin, of\nmountain-goat wool, and of ground-hog skin. Blue jay said to his\nsister: \u201cWhere are these people?\u201d His sister answered: \u201cThey are here,\nbut you cannot see them.\u201d\n\nBlue jay took up one of the large ear ornaments. \u201cLook out! You are\npulling my ear, Bluejay!\u201d cried a person. Bluejay was surprised, for he\nsaw no one, and he dropped the ear ornament. Then they heard many\npeople laughing. He took hold of a ground-hog blanket, and pulled at\nit. \u201cLet go of my ground-hog blanket, Bluejay,\u201d said a person, but he\ncould see no one. He looked under the bed for the one who had spoken,\nand again they heard people laughing. He took up a coat made of goat\nwool, and somebody cried out, \u201cWhy do you lift my coat, Bluejay?\u201d He\ntook hold of a nose ornament, and a person cried, \u201cLet go of my nose\nornament, Bluejay.\u201d Then a basket fell down from above. He lifted it up\nand put it back. Then he began to look under the bed and all through\nthe house for persons, and again they heard many people laughing. His\nsister said to him: \u201cStay here quietly. They are Shadows, and so you\ncannot see them.\u201d They ate some of the food.\n\nWhen it got dark Bluejay said, \u201cWe will sleep here.\u201d So they slept\nthere during the night, but all through the night they had bad dreams,\nfor so the Shadows punished Bluejay, because he had teased them. Then\nBluejay and his sister went home, and his sister said, \u201cNow we have\ngone visiting enough.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBLUEJAY VISITS THE GHOSTS\n\n\nIn a certain village there lived Io\u00ed and her younger brother, Bluejay.\nOne night the ghosts went out to buy a wife. They bought Io\u00ed. The\npresents they gave for her were not sent back; they were kept. So at\nnight she was married, and when day came Io\u00ed was gone from her father\u2019s\nhouse. For a long time Bluejay did nothing; but at length he felt\nlonely, and after a year had passed he said, \u201cI am going to look for my\nelder sister.\u201d He started for the country of the ghosts, and on his way\nhe began to ask every one whom he saw, \u201cWhere does a person go when he\ndies?\u201d He asked all the trees, but they could not tell him. He asked\nall the birds, but they could not tell him. At last he asked a Wedge,\nand the Wedge said, \u201cIf you will pay me, I will carry you there.\u201d He\npaid, and the Wedge carried him to the country of the ghosts.\n\nThey came to a large village, but no smoke rose from the houses; only\nfrom the last house\u2014a big one\u2014they saw smoke rising. Bluejay went into\nthis house, and there he saw his elder sister. She said to him: \u201cAh, my\nyounger brother, where do you come from? Are you dead?\u201d He answered,\n\u201cNo, I am not dead; the Wedge brought me here on its back.\u201d\n\nAfter a little Bluejay went out and walked through the village, and\nbegan to open the doors of the houses and to look into them; and when\nhe looked into them he did not find people in any of the houses, but\nonly bones. Then he came back to where his elder sister was. On the bed\nnear where his sister was sitting lay a skull and some bones. He asked\nher, \u201cWhat are you going to do with that skull and those bones?\u201d She\nsaid to him, \u201cThat is my husband, your brother-in-law.\u201d Bluejay did not\nbelieve her; he said to himself: \u201cIo\u00ed is telling lies. She says a skull\nand bones is my brother-in-law!\u201d\n\nWhen it got dark people began to appear, and soon the house was full.\nIt was a large house, but there were many people in it. Bluejay said to\nhis elder sister, \u201cWhere have all these people come from?\u201d She answered\nhim: \u201cDo you think that they are people? They are ghosts. They are\nghosts.\u201d Now these people always spoke in whispers, and Bluejay could\nnot hear what they said, and did not understand them.\n\nHe stayed a long time with his elder sister. One day she said to him:\n\u201cWhy do you not do as they do? Go fishing with them, with your\ndip-net.\u201d He said, \u201cI will do so.\u201d When it got dark he made ready to\ngo, and a boy also made ready. His sister said: \u201cThis is your\nbrother-in-law\u2019s relation. You two had better go together. Do not speak\nmuch to him. Keep silent.\u201d\n\nThey put their canoe in the water and started, and as they were\npaddling down the river they saw ahead of them some people, also going\ndown the river in a canoe and singing. When they had almost overtaken\nthem Bluejay began to sing too, joining in their song, and at once the\npeople were silent. He looked back at the boy in the stern of the\ncanoe, but now there was no boy there, only a pile of bones. The noise\nBluejay made caused the boy to disappear, and only bones were left.\nNow, as they floated down the stream, Bluejay sat silent, and was\nwondering what all this meant, and pretty soon when he looked back at\nthe stern of the canoe the boy was sitting there again. Bluejay said to\nhim, speaking slowly and in a low voice, \u201cWhere is your fishing-fence?\u201d\nThe boy answered, \u201cIt is beyond here, down the stream.\u201d They went on\nfarther; then Bluejay said out loud and suddenly, \u201cWhere is your\nfishing-fence?\u201d Only bones were in the stern of the canoe. Again\nBluejay was silent, and when he next looked back the boy was again in\nthe canoe. Bluejay again spoke to him in low tones, and said, \u201cWhere is\nyour fishing-fence?\u201d The boy answered, \u201cHere.\u201d\n\nNow they began to fish, Bluejay using the dip-net, while the boy held\nthe canoe. Soon Bluejay felt something in his net and raised it, but\nonly two dead branches were in it. He threw them out, and again put his\nnet into the water. Again he felt something in it and raised it, and it\nwas full of leaves. He threw them out, but a part of the leaves fell in\nthe canoe, and the boy gathered them up. Again he caught a branch and\nthrew it out into the water; again he caught some leaves and threw them\nout, but a part of them fell in the canoe. The boy gathered them up.\nAgain he caught two branches\u2014both large ones. He was pleased with these\nbranches, and said to himself, \u201cI will take these back to Io\u00ed; she can\nuse them to build her fire.\u201d At length they turned back and went\nhomeward and reached the village. Bluejay was angry because he had\ncaught nothing.\n\nWhen they went up from the beach to the houses the boy was carrying a\nmat full of trout. After the trout were roasted and the people were\neating them, the boy talked a great deal, saying: \u201cHe threw out of the\ncanoe all that he had caught. If he had not thrown it away, our canoe\nwould have been almost full.\u201d His elder sister said to Bluejay, \u201cWhy\ndid you throw away what you had caught?\u201d \u201cI threw away what I caught\nbecause they were branches,\u201d said Bluejay. His sister said: \u201cDo you\nthink they were branches? That is our food. When you caught leaves,\nthose were trout. When you caught branches, those were fall salmon.\u201d\nBluejay did not believe this. He said to her: \u201cI brought home to you\ntwo branches. You can use them to make your fire.\u201d His sister went to\nthe beach and found two fall salmon in the canoe. She took them up to\nthe house and went in, carrying them in her hand. Blue jay said to her,\n\u201cWhere did you steal those fall salmon, Io\u00ed?\u201d She answered, \u201cThese are\nwhat you caught.\u201d Bluejay said to himself, \u201cIo\u00ed keeps telling lies to\nme all the time.\u201d\n\nWhen day came Bluejay went down to the water\u2019s edge, to the beach.\nThere on the beach were the canoes of the ghosts. They were old and\nfull of holes, and partly grown over with moss. He went up to the house\nand said to his sister, \u201cHow bad your husband\u2019s canoes are, Io\u00ed.\u201d She\nanswered, \u201cAfter this keep quiet, or the people will get tired of you.\u201d\nBut he repeated, \u201cThe canoes of these people are full of holes.\u201d She\nsaid to him, angrily: \u201cPeople? people? They are ghosts.\u201d\n\nWhen it again grew dark Blue jay again made himself ready, and the boy\ngot ready, and they went fishing. Now Bluejay teased that boy. As they\nwere going along he shouted, and only bones were in the canoe. He did\nthis several times, but at last they reached the fishing-place, and\nbegan to fish with the dip-net. Now Bluejay took into the canoe all the\nbranches that he caught, and all the leaves, and when the tide began to\nfall their canoe was full, and they started homeward. Now he began to\ntease the ghosts, and when they met one he shouted, and only bones were\nin the canoe. At last they reached home, and he carried up to his\nsister\u2019s house part of what he had caught. She also carried up a\npart\u2014salmon of two kinds.\n\nThe next morning when it became day he went through the village again,\nand he found many bones in those houses.\n\nIt got dark, and some one said, \u201cA whale has been found.\u201d His elder\nsister gave him a knife, and said to him, \u201cQuick, run! a whale has been\nfound.\u201d Then Bluejay ran fast, and when he reached the beach he met\nsome of those people. He called out to them in a loud voice, asking\nthem, \u201cWhere is this whale?\u201d Only bones lay where the people had stood.\nHe kicked the skulls out of the way and ran on a long distance, and met\nsome other people. Again he called out loudly to them; only bones lay\nthere. He did this several times. At last he came to a big log, thrown\nup on the beach\u2014a big log with thick bark\u2014and many people were at work\npeeling off that bark. Bluejay shouted. Only bones lay there. That bark\nwas full of pitch. Bluejay began to peel it off. He peeled off two\npieces and put them on his shoulder and went home. As he was going\nalong he said to himself, \u201cI thought it was really a whale, but it is\nonly a fir-tree.\u201d He kept on, and at last he reached the house. Outside\nthe door he threw down the bark and went in. He said to his elder\nsister, \u201cI thought it was really a whale, but you see it is only bark.\u201d\nHis elder sister said to him: \u201cIt is whale, it is whale. Do you think\nit is bark?\u201d She went outside, and there two cuts of whale meat lay on\nthe ground. Io\u00ed said, \u201cIt is a good whale; its blubber is very thick.\u201d\nBluejay looked at it. Now he believed that a whale lay on the beach. He\nturned back and met a person who was carrying bark on his back. Blue\njay shouted, and only bones lay there. He took the piece of bark and\nput it on his shoulder and carried it home. In this way he treated all\nthese ghosts, and after a while he had a great deal of whale meat.\n\nBluejay continued to live there. One day he went into a house in the\nvillage and took a child\u2019s skull and put it on the bones of a grown-up\nperson. He took the large skull and put it on the child\u2019s bones. Thus\nhe did to all these people. When night came the child sat up, intending\nto rise to its feet, but it fell over. Its head was so heavy that it\nthrew it down. The old man got up. His head was light. The next morning\nwhen it became day he changed these heads back again. Sometimes he\nchanged the legs of the ghosts, so that he gave small legs to an old\nman and large legs to a child. Sometimes he gave a man\u2019s legs to a\nwoman, and a woman\u2019s legs to a man. After a time the ghosts began to\ndislike him. Io\u00ed\u2019s husband said to her: \u201cThese people dislike Bluejay\nbecause he treats them in this way. It will be good for you to tell him\nto go away to his home, for now people do not like him.\u201d Io\u00ed tried to\nstop her younger brother, but he would not listen to her. Now again\nwhen it became day Bluejay arose early. Io\u00ed had in her arms a skull.\nBluejay threw it away, saying, \u201cWhy does she hold that skull in her\narms?\u201d She said to him, \u201cAh! you have broken your brother-in-law\u2019s\nneck.\u201d It became night, and his brother-in-law was sick. His relations\ntried to cure him, and pretty soon the brother-in-law got well.\n\nNow Bluejay started to go to his home. But as he was going home he got\ncaught in a fire, and was burned and died. Then he started back for the\ncountry of the ghosts. When he came to the river he called out to his\nelder sister, and she said, \u201cAh, my brother is dead.\u201d\n\nShe put her canoe into the water and went across the river to fetch\nhim. When she reached him he said to her, \u201cYour canoe is pretty, Io\u00ed.\u201d\nShe said to him, \u201cYou used to say that canoe was grown over with moss.\u201d\nBluejay thought: \u201cIo\u00ed is always telling lies to me. The other canoes\nhad holes and were moss-covered.\u201d She said to him, \u201cYou are dead now;\nthat makes the difference.\u201d Bluejay thought, \u201cIo\u00ed keeps telling lies to\nme.\u201d\n\nSoon she carried him to the other side of the river, and he saw the\npeople. They were playing games\u2014dice and the ring game\u2014and dancing\u2014tum,\ntum, tum, tum\u2014and singing. Bluejay wanted to go to these singers. He\ntried to sing and to call out loud, but they laughed at him. Then he\nwent into his brother-in-law\u2019s house. There sat a chief, a good-looking\nman; it was Io\u00ed\u2019s husband. Io\u00ed said, \u201cAnd you broke his neck.\u201d Bluejay\nthought, \u201cIo\u00ed keeps telling me lies.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhere did these canoes come from? They are pretty.\u201d Io\u00ed answered, \u201cAnd\nyou said they were moss-grown.\u201d Bluejay thought: \u201cIo\u00ed is always telling\nlies. The others were full of holes, and were partly overgrown with\nmoss.\u201d \u201cYou are dead now,\u201d said his sister; \u201cthat makes the\ndifference.\u201d\n\nThen Bluejay gave it up and became quiet.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE GIRL WHO WAS THE RING [1]\n\n\nBy the bank of a river stood a lodge, in which lived four brothers and\ntheir sister. The boys made arrows. To the branch of a tree in front of\nthe lodge they had hung a rawhide strap, such as women use for carrying\nwood, so as to make a swing for the girl.\n\nWhenever their meat was all gone and they began to get hungry, the girl\nused to send her brothers into the timber to cut dogwood shoots to make\narrows. When the arrows were ready, she would get into the swing and\nthe boys would swing her. As the swing moved, they would see dust\nrising all around the horizon, and would know that the Buffalo were\ncoming. Then all four boys would take their bows and arrows, and stand\nabout the swing so as to protect the girl and not let the Buffalo come\nnear her. When the Buffalo had come close, the boys would kill them in\na circle all about the swing. They would quickly carry the girl into\nthe lodge, and would kill so many Buffalo that the rest would be\nfrightened and run away. So they would have plenty to eat, and the\ndried meat would be piled high in the lodge.\n\nOne day the boys went out to get wood for arrows, and left the girl in\nthe lodge alone. While they were away a Coyote came to the lodge and\ntalked to the girl. He said to her: \u201cGranddaughter, I am very poor, and\nI am very hungry. I have no meat in my lodge, and my children also are\nhungry. I told my relations that I was coming to ask you for food, and\nthey have been laughing at me. They said, \u2018Your granddaughter will not\ngive you anything to eat.\u2019\u201d\n\nThe girl answered him: \u201cGrandfather, here is plenty of meat. This house\nis full of it. Take what you want. Take the fattest pieces. Take it to\nyour children. Let them eat.\u201d\n\nThe Coyote began to cry. He said: \u201cYes, my relations laughed at me when\nI said I was going to visit you and ask you for something to eat. They\nsaid you would not give me anything. I do not want any dried meat\u2014I\nwant some fresh meat to take to my children. Have pity on me, and let\nme put you in the swing, so as to bring the Buffalo. I do not want to\nswing you hard so as to bring the Buffalo in great herds. I want to\nswing you only a little so as to bring a few Buffalo. I have a quiver\nfull of arrows to keep the Buffalo off.\u201d\n\nThe girl said: \u201cNo, grandfather, I cannot do this. My brothers are\naway. Without them we can do nothing.\u201d\n\nThen the Coyote slapped his breast and said: \u201cLook at me. Am I not a\nman and strong? I can run around you fast, after you are in the swing,\nand I can keep the Buffalo off. I can shoot clear through a Buffalo. I\nhave plenty of arrows, and I need only use a single one for each\nBuffalo. Come on, I want to swing you just a little, so that but few\nBuffalo will come.\u201d So he coaxed the girl, but still she refused.\n\nAfter he had begged her for a long time, she agreed to let him swing\nher a little, and got in the swing. He began to swing her, at first\ngently, but all at once he pushed her very hard, and kept doing this\nuntil she swung high. She screamed and cried, and tried to get off the\nswing, but it was now too late. All around\u2014from all sides\u2014the Buffalo\nwere coming in great crowds. The Coyote had made ready his arrows, and\nwas running around the girl, trying to kill the Buffalo and keep them\noff, but they crowded upon him\u2014so many that he could do nothing\u2014and at\nlast he got frightened and ran into the lodge. The Buffalo were now\njust all over the ground about the lodge, and suddenly one of the young\nBulls, the leader of a big band, as he passed under the swing, threw up\nhis head, and the girl disappeared, but the Coyote, peeping out of the\nlodge door, saw on the horn of this Bull a ring, and then he knew that\nthis ring was the girl. Then the Bull ran away fast, and all the\nBuffalo ran after him.\n\nWhen the Buffalo had gone, the Coyote came out of the lodge and saw\nthat the girl was not there. He did not know what to do. He was\nfrightened. Pretty soon he heard the girl\u2019s brothers coming. They had\nseen the dust, and knew that some one was swinging their sister, and\nthat the Buffalo had come. They hurried back, running fast, and when\nthey reached the lodge they found the Coyote just dragging himself out\nof a mud-hole. He crawled out, crying, and pretended that the Buffalo\nhad run over him and trampled him. His bow and arrows were in the mud.\nHe told the brothers his story and said that he had tried hard to save\nthe girl, but that he had not known that so many Buffalo would come. He\nsaid he had thought that the girl must be swung high, so that the\nBuffalo could see her from a long way off.\n\nThe brothers felt very sorry that their sister was lost. They\ncounselled together to see what they should do, trying to decide what\nwould be the best plan to get her back again. While they were talking\nabout this, the Coyote, with all the mud upon him, stood before them\nand said: \u201cBrothers, do not feel sorry because your sister is lost. I\nwill get her back again. Live on just as you always do. Do not think\nabout this. Do not let it trouble you. I will get her back again.\u201d\nAfter he had spoken thus, he said, \u201cNow I am going to start off on the\nwar-path,\u201d and he left them and went away.\n\nHe journeyed on alone considering what he should do, and at length, as\nhe was travelling along over the prairie, he met a Badger, who said to\nhim, \u201cBrother, where are you going?\u201d The Coyote said: \u201cI am going on\nthe war-path against my enemies. Will you join my party?\u201d The Badger\nsaid, \u201cYes, I will join you.\u201d They went on. After they had gone a long\nway, they saw a Swift Hawk sitting on the limb of a tree by a ravine.\nHe asked them where they were going, and they told him, and asked him\nif he would go with them. He said he would go. After a time they met a\nKit Fox, and asked him to join them, and he did so. Then they met a\nJack Rabbit, who said he would go with them. They went on, and at\nlength they met a Blackbird, and asked him to join them. He said: \u201cLet\nit be so. I will go.\u201d\n\nSoon after they had all got together they stopped and sat down, and the\nCoyote told them how the girl had been lost, and said that he intended\nto try to get her back. Then they talked, and the Coyote told them the\nplan that he\u2014the leader\u2014had made. The others listened, and said that\nthey would do whatever he told them to do. They were all glad to help\nto recover the girl.\n\nThen they all stood up and made ready to start, and the Coyote said to\nthe Blackbird, \u201cFriend, you stay here until the time comes.\u201d So the\nBlackbird remained there where they had been talking, and the others\nwent on. After they had gone some distance farther, the Coyote told the\nHawk to stop and wait there. He did so. The others went on a long way,\nand then the Coyote said to the Rabbit, \u201cYou stay here.\u201d The others\nwent on, and at the next stopping-place he left the Kit Fox; and at the\nnext\u2014last of all\u2014he left the Badger. Then the Coyote went on alone and\ntravelled a long way, and at length he came to the Buffalo camp. He\nwent out to the place where the young Bulls used to play the stick\ngame, and lay down there. It was early in the morning.\n\nAfter a time some of the young Bulls came out, and began to roll the\nring and to throw their sticks at it. The Coyote now pretended to be\nvery sick. His hair was all covered with mud, and his tongue hung out\nof his mouth, and he staggered about and fell down and then got up\nagain, and seemed to feel badly. Sometimes he would get over near to\nwhere the ring was being rolled, and then the young Bulls would call\nout: \u201cHere, hold on! Get away there! Don\u2019t get in the way.\u201d\n\nAfter a little while the Coyote pretended that he felt better, and he\ngot up and went over to where the young Bulls were sitting, looking on\nat the game, and sat down with them, and watched the play with the\nothers. Every now and then two of the young Bulls would begin to\ndispute over the game, each saying that his stick was the nearer to the\nring, and sometimes they would wrangle for a long time. Once, while\nthey were doing this, the Coyote went up to them and said: \u201cHere! You\nmen need not quarrel about this. Let me look. I know all about this\ngame. I can tell which stick is the nearer.\u201d The Bulls stopped talking\nand looked at him, and then said: \u201cYes, let him look. Let us hear what\nhe says.\u201d Then the Coyote went up to the ring and looked, and said,\npointing: \u201cThat stick is nearest. That man has won.\u201d The Bulls looked\nat each other, and nodded their heads and said: \u201cHe knows. He is\nright.\u201d The next time they had a dispute, he decided it again, and all\nwere satisfied.\n\nAt length two of the young Bulls had a very fierce dispute, and almost\ncame to fighting over it. The Coyote came up and looked, and said:\n\u201cThis is very close. I must look carefully, but I cannot see well if\nyou are all crowding around me in this way. I must have room. You would\nall better go over to that hill, and sit down there and wait for me to\ndecide.\u201d The Bulls all went over to the hill and sat down, and then the\nCoyote began to look. First he would go to one stick and look\ncarefully, and then he would go to the other and look. The sticks were\nabout the same distance from the ring, and for a long time it seemed\nthat he could not make up his mind which was the nearer. He went\nbackward and forward, looking at the sticks, and stooping down and\nputting his hands on his knees and squinting, and at last, when once\nhis face was close to the ground, he suddenly snatched up the ring in\nhis mouth, and started, running as hard as he could, for the place\nwhere he had left the Badger.\n\nAs soon as he had started, all the Bulls on the hill saw what he was\ndoing\u2014that he was taking the ring away from them\u2014and they started after\nhim. They did not want to lose the ring, for it was very useful to\nthem, and they played with it all the time. When the Buffalo in the\ncamp saw that the young Bulls had started, they all followed, so that\nsoon all the Buffalo were rushing after the Coyote. He ran fast, and\nfor a long time he kept ahead of the Buffalo, but they followed, a\ngreat mass of Buffalo crowding and pushing, running as hard as they\ncould run. At last the Coyote was beginning to get tired, and was\nrunning more slowly, and the Buffalo were beginning to catch up to him,\nbut he was getting near to where the Badger was. After a time the\nBuffalo were getting nearer to the Coyote. He was very tired, and it\nseemed to him as if he could not run any farther. If he did not soon\nget to where he had left the Badger, the Buffalo would run over him and\ntrample him to death, and get back the ring. At length, when they were\nclose behind him, he ran over the top of a little hill, and down in the\nvalley below saw the Badger sitting at the mouth of his hole. The\nCoyote raced down the hill as fast as he could, and when he got to the\nhole he gave the ring to the Badger, and just as the herd of Buffalo\ngot to the place, they both dived down into the hole.\n\nThe Buffalo crowded about the Badger\u2019s hole, and began to paw the\nground, to dig it up so as to get the Coyote and the ring, but the\nBadger had dug a hole a long way under the ground, and while the\nBuffalo were digging he ran along through this hole and came out far\noff, and ran as hard as he could towards the brothers\u2019 lodge. Before he\nhad gone very far, some of the Buffalo on the outside of the herd saw\nhim, and called out to the others: \u201cThere he is! There he goes!\u201d Then\nall the Buffalo started again and ran after the Badger. When they had\ncome pretty close to him, he would stop running and dig another hole,\nand while the Buffalo were crowding around the hole, trying to dig him\nout, he would dig along under the ground, until he had got far beyond\nthem, and would then come to the top of the ground, and run as fast as\nhe could towards the lodge. Then the Buffalo would see him and follow\nhim.\n\nIn this way he went a long distance, but at length he got tired and\nfelt that he could not run or dig much farther. He was almost spent. At\nlast, when he dug out of the ground, he saw not far off the Kit Fox,\nlying curled upon a rock, asleep in the sun. He called out: \u201cOh, my\nbrother, I am almost tired out! Help me!\u201d The Kit Fox jumped up and ran\nto him and took the ring in his mouth and started running, and the\nBadger dug a deep hole, and stayed there. The little Fox ran fast,\ngliding along like a bird; and the Buffalo, when they saw him running,\nchased him and ran hard.\n\nThe Kit Fox is a swift animal, and for a long time he kept ahead of the\nBuffalo. When he was almost tired out, he came to where the Rabbit was,\nand gave him the ring, and ran into a hole, and the Rabbit ran on. The\nBuffalo followed the Rabbit, but he ran fast and kept ahead of them for\na long time. When they had almost caught him, he came to where the Hawk\nwas sitting. The Hawk took the ring in his claws and flew off with it,\nand the Rabbit ran off to one side and hid in the long grass. The\nBuffalo followed the Hawk, and ran after him. They seemed never to get\ntired. The Hawk, after he had been flying a long time, began to feel\nvery weary. He would sail down low over the Buffalo\u2019s backs, and was\nonly just able to keep above them. At last he got near to where the\nBlackbird was.\n\nWhen the Blackbird heard the pounding of many hoofs and knew that the\nBuffalo were coming, he flew up on a sunflower stalk and waited. When\nthe Buffalo came to the place where he was, he flew up over them to the\nHawk, and took the ring on his neck, and flew along over the Buffalo.\nThe ring was heavy for so small a bird, and he would alight on the\nbacks of the Buffalo and fly from one to another. The Buffalo would\ntoss their heads and try to hit him with their horns, but he kept\nflying from one to another, and the Buffalo behind were always pushing\nforward to get near the ring, and they pushed the other Buffalo ahead\nof them. Pretty soon the herd passed over a hill and were rushing down\nto the place on the river where the brothers\u2019 lodge stood.\n\nEver since their sister had been lost, the brothers had been making\narrows, and now they had piles of them stacked up about the lodge. When\nthey saw the Buffalo coming they got their bows and took their arrows\nin their hands, and shot and shot until they had killed many, many\nBuffalo, and the rest were frightened and ran away.\n\nThe Blackbird had flown into the lodge with the ring, and after the\nbrothers had finished killing, they went into the lodge. And there,\nsitting by the fire and smiling at them as they came in, they saw their\nsister.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE FIRST CORN\n\n\nA long time ago there lived in the Pawnee village a young man who was a\ngreat gambler. Every day he played at sticks, and he was almost always\nunlucky. Sometimes he would lose everything that he had, and would even\nlose things belonging to his father. His father had often scolded him\nabout gambling, and had told him that he ought to stop it. There were\ntwo things that he never staked; these two things were his shield and\nhis lance.\n\nOne day he played sticks for a long time, and when he got through he\nhad lost everything that he had except these two things. When he went\nhome at night to his father\u2019s lodge he told his relations what he had\ndone, and his father said to him: \u201cMy son, for a long time you have\nbeen doing this, and I have many times spoken to you about it. Now I\nhave done. I cannot have you here any longer. You cannot live here in\nmy lodge or in this village. You must go away.\u201d\n\nThe young man thought about it for a little while, and then he said:\n\u201cWell, I will go. It does not make much difference where I am.\u201d So he\ntook his shield and his spear and went out of the lodge and started to\ngo away from the village. When he got outside of the village and had\ngone some distance, he heard behind him a loud rushing sound like a\nstrong wind\u2014the sound kept getting nearer and louder\u2014and all at once it\nwas above him, and then the sound stopped, and something spoke to him\nand said: \u201cWell, I am here. I have come to find you. I have been sent,\nand am here on purpose to get you and take you with me.\u201d The voice that\nspoke to him was the Wind.\n\nThe Wind took the young man up and carried him away towards the west.\nThey travelled many days, and passed over broad prairies and then\nacross high mountains and then over high, wide plains and over other\nmountains until they came to the end of the world, where the sky bends\ndown and touches the ground. The last thing the young man saw was the\ngate through the edge of the sky. A great buffalo bull stands in this\ngateway and blocks it up. He had to move to one side to let the Wind\nand the young man pass through.\n\nEvery year one hair drops from the hide of this bull. When all have\nfallen the end of the world will come.\n\nAfter they had passed through this gate they went on, and it seemed as\nif they were passing over a big water. There was nothing to be seen\nexcept the sky and the water. At last they came to a land. Here were\nmany people\u2014great crowds of them. The Wind told the young man, \u201cThese\nare all waiters on the Father.\u201d They went on, and at last came to the\nFather\u2019s lodge and went in. When they had sat down the Father spoke to\nthe young man and said to him: \u201cMy son, I have known you for a long\ntime and have watched you. I wanted to see you, and that is why I gave\nyou bad luck at the sticks, and why I sent my Wind to bring you here.\nYour people are very hungry now because they can find no buffalo, but I\nam going to give you something on which you can live, even when the\nbuffalo fail.\u201d Then he gave him three little sacks. The first contained\nsquash seed; the second beans, red and white, and the third corn,\nwhite, red, blue, and yellow.\n\nThe Father said: \u201cTie these sacks to your shield, and do not lose them.\nWhen you get back to your people give each one some of the seeds and\ntell him to put them in the ground; then they will make more. These\nthings are good to eat, but the first year do not let the people eat\nthem; let them put the yield away, and the next year again put it in\nthe ground. After that they can eat a part of what grows, but they must\nalways save some for seed. So the people will always have something to\neat with their buffalo meat, and something to depend on if the buffalo\nfail.\u201d The Father gave him also a buffalo robe, and said to him: \u201cWhen\nyou go back, the next day after you have got there, call all the people\ntogether in your lodge, and give them what is in this robe, and tell\nthem all these things. Now you can go back to your people.\u201d\n\nThe Wind took the young man back. They travelled a long time, and at\nlast they came to the Pawnee village. The Wind put the young man down,\nand he went into his father\u2019s lodge and said, \u201cFather, I am here\u201d; but\nhis father did not believe him, and said, \u201cIt is not you.\u201d He had been\ngone so long that they had thought him dead. Then he said to his\nmother, \u201cMother, I am here,\u201d and his mother knew him and was glad that\nhe had returned.\n\nAt this time the people had no buffalo. They had scouted far and near\nand could find none anywhere, and they were all very hungry. The little\nchildren cried with hunger. The next day after he got back, the young\nman sent out an old man to go through the camp and call all the people\nto come to his father\u2019s lodge. When they were there, he opened his robe\nand spread it out, and it was covered with pieces of fat buffalo meat\npiled high. The young man gave to each person all he could carry, but\nwhile he was handing out the pieces, his father was trying to pull off\nthe robe the hind-quarters of the buffalo and hide them. He was afraid\nthat the young man might give away all the meat, and he wanted to save\nthis for their own lodge. But the young man said: \u201cFather, do not take\nthis away. Do not touch anything. There is enough.\u201d\n\nAfter he had given them the meat he showed them the sacks of seed and\ntold them what they were for, and explained to them that they must not\neat any the first year, but that they must always save some to plant,\nand the people listened. Then he said to them: \u201cI hear that you have no\nbuffalo. Come out to-morrow and I will show you where to go for\nbuffalo.\u201d The people wondered where this could be, for they had\ntravelled far in all directions looking for buffalo. The next day they\nwent out as he had told them, and the young man sent two boys to the\ntop of a high hill close to camp, and told them to let him know what\nthey saw from it. When the boys got to the top of the hill, they saw\ndown below them in the hollow a big band of buffalo.\n\nWhen the people learned that the buffalo were there, they all took\ntheir arrows and ran out and chased the buffalo and made a big killing,\nso that there was plenty in the camp and they made much dried meat.\nFour days after this he again sent out the boys, and they found\nbuffalo. Now that they had plenty of meat they stayed in one place, and\nwhen spring came the young man put the seed in the ground. When the\npeople first saw these strange plants growing they wondered at them,\nfor they were new and different from anything that they had ever seen\ngrowing on the prairie. They liked the color of the young stalks, and\nthe way they tasselled out, and the way the ears formed. They found\nthat besides being pretty to look at they were good to eat, for when\nthe young man had gathered the crop he gave the people a little to\ntaste, so that they might know that the words that he had spoken were\ntrue. The rest he kept for seed. Next season he gave all the people\nseed to plant, and after that they always had these things.\n\nLater, this young man became one of the head men and taught the people\nmany things. He told them that always when they killed buffalo they\nmust bring the fattest and offer them to the Father. He taught them\nabout the sacred bundles, and told them that they must put an ear of\ncorn on the bundles and must keep a piece of fat in the bundles along\nwith the corn, and that both must be kept out of sight. In the fall\nthey should take the ear of corn out of the bundle and rub the piece of\nfat over it. [2] Thus they would have good crops and plenty of food.\n\nAll these things the people did, and it was a help to them in their\nliving.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE STAR BOY\n\n\nOne hot night in summer two girls climbed up on an arbor in front of an\nearth lodge to sleep where it was cool. As they lay there before they\nwent to sleep, they were talking about the different stars that they\nsaw in the sky above them, saying how pretty they were. One of the\ngirls saw a bright star, and pointed to it and said: \u201cI like that one\nbest of all. I choose it for mine.\u201d After a little while the girls went\nto sleep.\n\nWhen this girl that had chosen the star awoke, she was in a strange\ncountry, and saw strange people about her. She cried, and wanted to go\nback to her home, but the man in whose lodge she was told her that he\nwas the star she had said she liked, and that, as she had chosen him,\nhe had taken her for his wife. Finally, she got over feeling badly and\nwas content to stay with him.\n\nEvery day when the evening came he would get ready for his journey. He\nwould comb his hair and paint his face red, and then start out to\ntravel. When it was morning he would be back again.\n\nAbout three years after this the girl had a baby boy. One day after\nthis she went out to dig roots. Her husband had told her not to dig too\ndeep in the ground, and for a long time she was careful, but one day\nshe dug too deep and dug through that ground. There before her was a\nhole, through which she could look down and see this world below her.\nShe could see a camp, and near it a party of men playing the stick\ngame. They were very small and looked like ants. She looked at them and\nlooked at them for a long time, and then suddenly she felt that she\nwanted to go back to where she had come from, and wanted again to see\nher people\u2014the Pawnees.\n\nAfter she had thought about this for a long time, she went home and\nasked her husband to bring her a lot of sinews. He brought them to her,\nand from the sinews she began to make a rope. It took her a long time\nto make the rope, and in making it she used all the sinews that she\nhad. After she had finished it, she waited until her man had gone out\non his journey, and then put her child on her back and went to the\nhole, carrying the rope of sinew. She took with her also a long stake,\nand drove it into the ground near the hole. To this stake she tied the\nrope, and then let it down through the hole. It seemed to her that it\ndid not reach the ground, but she thought that perhaps it reached\nalmost down to it, and she made up her mind that she would try to\ndescend.\n\nAll around the hole she dug the earth away so as to make it large\nenough for her body to pass through. Then she put her child on her\nback, and let herself slide down by the rope. For a long time she went\ndown, and at last she came to the end of the rope, but it did not\nnearly reach the ground. That was far below her. She clung to the rope,\ncrying, for she was afraid to let go and no one came to help her, for\nthere was no one near to hear. It was a long way to the camp.\n\nAfter a time the woman\u2019s husband came back to their lodge and found\nthat his wife was gone. He looked for her everywhere, but could see\nnothing of her. At last he found the hole that she had dug, and when he\nlooked down through it he saw her there hanging to the rope. Then he\nwas angry. He looked about on the ground for a stone just the size of\nthe hole, and dropped it through, and it fell on the woman\u2019s head and\nkilled her, but by his power the Star Man took care of the little child\nso that when it fell to the ground it was not hurt.\n\nWhen the woman fell the boy crawled out from under her. He stayed there\nby his mother three days. Every now and then he would start to go off\nsomewhere, and would go a little way, and then would come back to his\nmother and try to rouse her; but she was dead. The fourth day he\nstarted to go off a long way, and as he was going along he came to a\npatch of corn and squashes, and he walked among the corn and pulled\nsome ears and ate them.\n\nNear by this field was a poor little lodge, in which lived an old woman\nand her little grandson. One day the little boy went into the corn\npatch and saw there the footprints of a little child. He went back home\nand told his grandmother about it. They did not know whether the tracks\nhad been made by a girl or a boy. They looked for the child everywhere,\nbut could not find it.\n\nAt last the old woman told her grandson to take out a flesher and a hoe\nand leave them in the field. \u201cIf it is a girl,\u201d the old woman said,\n\u201cshe will take them.\u201d The little boy did as she had said, and left the\nthings there, but when the strange child came he did not take them.\nThey could see his tracks where he had walked straight by them. Then\nthe old woman said: \u201cMy son, take your bow and arrows and put them\nthere. If it is a boy he will take them.\u201d He did so.\n\nWhen the little boy next went back to the corn patch after leaving the\nbow and arrows, they were gone. Then the little boy went into the corn\nand hid himself and waited. He stayed hidden there until the little\nStar Boy came back; then he walked up to him. He said: \u201cCome, let us go\nto where my grandmother lives. We can play there together with our bows\nand arrows.\u201d The boys went to the lodge and went in and ate together.\nThen they went out and played with their bows and arrows.\n\nThey lived thus for a long time. When they had grown so that they could\ngo a long way from home, they would sometimes stay away too long, and\nthe old woman would get frightened about them and would scold them when\nthey came back.\n\nOne day she said to the boys: \u201cMy sons, you must never go over there to\nthat place where the timber grows thick. Never go there. That is where\nyour fathers, mothers, uncles, aunts, and brothers were killed by a\ngrizzly bear. It is dangerous to go there.\u201d\n\nNot long after that the little Star Boy said, \u201cLet us go out and kill\nlittle birds.\u201d They went out, and when they had got some distance from\nthe lodge he said, \u201cBrother, let us go over to that place where\ngrandmother told us not to go.\u201d The other boy said: \u201cIt is good. We\nwill go.\u201d They went over there, and when they had gone into the thick\ntimber, suddenly they saw a bear. It seemed very angry and roared and\ngrowled. The Star Boy laughed at it, and walked up to it and tapped it\non the head with his bow. His father was using his power so that the\nbear could not hurt him. The boy took the bear home with him to the\nlodge, and called to his grandmother to come out and said,\n\u201cGrandmother, here is a bear; you can have him to pack wood and water\nfor you.\u201d The old woman was scared. The boy killed the bear with his\nlittle arrows.\n\nOne day after that the old woman said to the boys: \u201cNow, boys, do not\ngo to that thick-timbered place over there. That is where some of your\nbrothers and relations disappeared. Do not go there.\u201d Soon after this,\none day when they were out hunting little birds and had got away from\nthe lodge, the Star Boy said, \u201cBrother, let us go over to that place\nwhere grandmother told us not to go. Let us see what is there.\u201d They\nwent, and as they were going along through the timber they saw a\npanther. The panther growled and looked very fierce, but the boy walked\nup to it and shot his little arrow at it and killed it. His father was\nhelping him. The boys skinned it and took it home and stuffed it with\ngrass and stood it up in the lodge. Their grandmother was away. When\nshe came back they told her to go into the lodge; they said, \u201cWe have\nsomething nice for you in there.\u201d She went into the lodge, and when she\nsaw the panther she was frightened almost to death, and the boys\nlaughed. The boys said to the old woman, \u201cGrandmother, we have done\nthis so that we could put this skin outside the lodge to scare away\nother animals so that they will not come near us.\u201d\n\nThe grandmother said: \u201cBoys, boys, you must not do as you have been\ndoing. You must not go so far away, and you must not go into danger.\nRight up there on the hill is a den of snakes. I do not want you to go\nthere. You must not go near that place.\u201d Soon after this the Star Boy\nsaid to his playmate: \u201cBrother, let us go over to that hill where the\nsnakes live. Let us each take a piece of rock and we will kill them.\u201d\nThey went, and when they got to the place he said: \u201cSit down. Put your\nrock on the ground and sit down on it. I know what the snakes are going\nto do, but our father will take care of us.\u201d\n\nThe snakes came out of the den\u2014great lots of them\u2014and came towards the\nboys. All at once the boys saw a cloud rising and coming towards them,\nand pretty soon it began to rain where the snakes were, and the water\ngot so deep that the snakes were swimming, but where the boys were it\ndid not rain. On them the sun was shining warm and bright. Then the sun\ngot hotter and hotter, and at last it was so hot it made the water boil\nand killed all the snakes.\n\nThe boys went home, and the old woman\u2019s grandson told her what had\nhappened\u2014just how it all was. Then she said to him: \u201cGrandson, I\nbelieve there is power in this little boy. Now we will go back to our\npeople.\u201d They had left their people because they were poor and had no\nhorses, and the others in the camp did not take care of them. She said,\n\u201cWe will go back and try to find out where this boy came from, and\nwhether he is a relative of any of our people there.\u201d Before they\nstarted the grandmother asked the Star Boy where he came from. He told\nher that he did not know; that he had come from above, but he\nremembered that his mother had told him that they did not belong up\nthere, but down below, and that she had been taken up by a star. He\nsaid that she had come down with him on her back, but had been killed\nby a stone dropped from above, which had hit her on the head but did\nnot kill him.\n\nThen the old woman remembered that once a girl had disappeared one\nnight from the camp when she was sleeping on an arbor, and that this\ngirl was the daughter of a chief.\n\nThey left their lodge and went back to their people. When they reached\nthe camp, they had a lodge of their own and all lived together. His\nrelations, when they found out who the Star Boy was, wanted him to come\nand live with them, but for a long time he would not do so. When he did\ngo, he took the old woman and her grandson with him.\n\nWhen he grew up he began to go on the war-path, and he had good luck\nand struck many of his enemies. At length he married the daughter of a\nchief, and the grandson married another daughter.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE GRIZZLY BEAR\u2019S MEDICINE\n\n\nA long time ago there lived in a camp of Pawnees a certain poor boy.\nHis father had only one pony. Once he had been a leading man in the\ntribe, but now he seemed to be unlucky. When he went on the war-path he\nbrought back nothing, and when he fought he did nothing, and the people\ndid not now look up to him.\n\nThere was a chief\u2019s son who loved the poor boy, and these two went\ntogether all the time. They were like brothers; they used to hunt\ntogether and go courting together, and when they were travelling, the\npoor boy often rode one of the ponies of the chief\u2019s son, and the\nlatter used to go to the poor boy\u2019s lodge and sleep there with him.\n\nOnce the camp went off to hunt buffalo, and the poor boy and the\nchief\u2019s son rode together all the time. After the people had made camp\nat a certain place, the chiefs decided to stop here for four days,\nbecause the buffalo were close by, and they could kill plenty and dry\nthe meat here. North of the camp was a hill on which grew many\ncedar-trees, and during the day the poor boy had overheard people\nsaying that many Indians had been killed on that hill, among those\ntrees. They said that no one ought to go there, for it was a dangerous\nplace.\n\nThat night the chief\u2019s son went over to his friend\u2019s lodge to sleep\nthere, but before they went to bed he left the lodge for a time, and\nwhile he was gone the poor boy, as he sat there waiting, began to think\nabout himself and how unhappy he was. He remembered how poor he and his\nfather were, and how everybody looked down on them and despised them,\nand it did not seem to him that things would ever be any better for\nthem than they were now. For a long time he sat there thinking about\nall these things, and the more he thought of them the worse they\nseemed, and at last he felt that he was no longer glad to live, and he\nmade up his mind to go up into those cedars.\n\nHe went out of the lodge and started to go up towards the trees. It was\nbright moonlight, so that he could see well. Just before he reached the\nedge of the timber he crossed a ravine, and saw there many skeletons of\npeople who had been killed. The ground was white with these bones. He\nwent on into the cedars, and came to a ravine leading up the hill and\nfollowed it. As he went on he saw before him a trail and followed it,\nand when he came to the head of the ravine there was a big hole in the\nbank, and the trail led to it. He stopped for a moment when he came to\nthis hole, but then he went in, and when he had entered he saw there,\nsitting by the fire, a big she-bear and some little cubs.\n\nAs the boy stood there looking at her, the she-bear said to him: \u201cI am\nsorry that you have come here. My husband is the one who kills persons\nand brings them here for the children and me to eat. You had better go\nback to your people quickly, or he will eat you up. He has gone\nhunting, but he will soon be back again. If he finds you here he will\nkill you.\u201d\n\nThe poor boy said: \u201cWell, I came here on purpose to be killed, and I\ngive myself up to you. I shall be glad to be eaten by you. I am here\nready to be killed. I am yours. Take me.\u201d\n\nThe she-bear said: \u201cOh, I wish I could do something to save you, but I\ncannot. He is one of those bad bears\u2014a grizzly\u2014medicine. I can do\nnothing for you, but I will try. As soon as you hear any noise\noutside\u2014any one coming\u2014pick up that cub, the littlest one, and hold it\nin your arms. When he comes in he will tell you to put it down, but do\nnot do so. Hold it tight; he loves that one best of all.\u201d\n\nAll at once the boy heard outside the cave the noise of a bear snorting\nand grunting. The she-bear said, \u201cPick up the cub, quick; he is\ncoming.\u201d The boy caught up the little bear, and held it tight to his\nbreast. All at once the noise came to the mouth of the den and stopped.\nIt was the Bear. The boy could hear him talking. He said: \u201cHere!\nsomebody has been about my house. I smell human beings. Yes, he even\ncame in. Where is he? Let me see him, so that I may jump upon him and\nkill him.\u201d When he came in he saw the boy, and seemed very angry. He\nstood up on his hind feet and threw up his hands, and then came down\nagain and struck his paws on the ground, and then rose up and snorted\n\u201cwhoof,\u201d and blew out red dust from his nostrils, and then came down\nand jumped about, and sometimes sprang towards the boy, as though he\nwere going to seize him. He was very terrible, and the boy was very\nmuch afraid.\n\nThe Bear called out to the boy in a loud voice: \u201cHow dare you take up\nmy child and hold it? Let it go, or I will tear you to pieces and eat\nyou.\u201d But the boy still held the cub. No matter what the Bear said or\nwhat he did, the boy held fast to the cub.\n\nWhen the Bear saw that the boy would not let the cub go, he became\nquiet, and no longer seemed angry. He said: \u201cBoy, you are my son. Put\ndown your brother, for now he is your brother. He shall go with you, he\nshall be your companion, and shall be with you always as your guide and\nhelper. He has told me your story, and how you are poor, unhappy, and\nnow he has kept you from being eaten up. I have taken pity on you, and\nwe will send you back to your people, where you may do some good among\nthem. My son, I am at the head of all these animal lodges, down at\nPah\u016dk\u2032 and at Pah\u016br\u2032 and everywhere else. I am at the head; there is no\nanimal living that is stronger than I; none that I cannot kill. If a\nman shoots at me, I make the arrow to fall from my skin without hurting\nme. Look up around my lodge. See these arrows, these guns, these\nleggings, these beads, and the medicine that men have brought, thinking\nto kill me; but I have killed them, and have taken these things, and\nkeep them here.\n\n\u201cI knew that your people were coming to this place to hunt. I drove the\nbuffalo over, so that the people should stop here and hunt and kill\nmeat, in order that you might come to my lodge. I know all your\nfeelings. I know that you are sorry for your poor father, my brother,\nand I wished you to come here, so that I might make you my son and give\nmy power to you, so that you may become a great man among your people.\nI know that they are now killing buffalo, and that they will be camped\nhere for four days.\n\n\u201cNow, my son, set your brother free. All the power that I have I give\nto you. I shall kill my son, your little brother there, and give you\nhis skin to keep and to carry away with you, so that he may be your\ncompanion and may be with you always. Your brother, your friend at the\ncamp, is looking for you, mourning for you, for he thinks you dead, but\nto-morrow night you shall see him, and shall tell him to rejoice for\nyou and not to mourn. You shall tell him where you have been.\u201d\n\nThe little bear that he was holding said to the boy: \u201cIt is all right\nnow, brother; put me down. My father means what he says. I am glad that\nI am going to be with you, my brother.\u201d The boy put him down.\n\nThen the Bear said to his wife: \u201cGet up. Take that gun.\u201d The she-bear\ntook the gun, and they walked around the fireplace in a circle, and\nsang, and the boy looked on. The Bear took the gun and told the boy to\nlook at them, and to watch carefully everything that they did. After a\nlittle he stopped, and shot his wife, and she fell down dead. Then he\nput down the gun, and went to the she-bear and put his mouth on the\nwound, and breathed on it and snorted \u201cwhoof,\u201d and sucked in his breath\nand took the bullet out, and went around the lodge, singing and making\nmotions, and then he took hold of the she-bear and lifted her to her\nfeet, and supported her, and pushed her around, and helped her, and at\nlast she walked, and was well. Then he called the boy to him and said,\n\u201cNow I will do the same thing to you.\u201d And he did the same thing to the\nboy, and brought him to life in the same way. Then he said, \u201cThat is\none power I give you to-night.\u201d\n\nThen he gave the gun to the boy and went to the other side of the\nlodge, and sat up, and said, \u201cNow I will open my mouth, and you shoot\nme right in the mouth.\u201d He opened his mouth, and the boy shot him, and\nhe fell over. After a moment he got up on his feet and slapped his paws\non his chest several times, and the bullet came out of his mouth, and\nhe walked around the fireplace two or three times, and made motions and\ngrunted, and then he was well. Then he took the boy in his arms, and\nhugged him and kissed him and breathed on him, and said: \u201cNow I give\nyou my power. Go over there and I will shoot you as you shot me. Do\njust as I did.\u201d The boy went over there, and the Bear shot him, and the\nboy did just as the Bear had done, and made himself well.\n\nThe Bear then put an arrow in the gun and shot it at the boy, and when\nthe smoke cleared away the boy found the arrow fast in his throat, the\nfeather end sticking out. The Bear took it out and made him well, and\ngave him also this power. Then the Bear told him to load the gun with a\nball and to shoot it at him, and he did so, and shot the Bear, but the\nlead was made flat and dropped to the ground. The bullet did not go\ninto the Bear.\n\nThe Bear now told the boy to take the bow and arrow and to shoot at him\nwith all his strength. The boy did this, but the arrow did not go\nthrough the Bear, but the spike rolled up and the shaft was split. The\nBear said: \u201cNow you see, my son, that the gun and the bow, the bullet\nand the arrow, cannot harm me. You shall have the same power. When you\ngo into battle you shall not carry a gun nor arrows, for they are not\nmine, but you shall take this paint, and put it all over your body,\nthen put this feather on your head, and take this club, which is part\nof my jawbone. All these things have my power and medicine. When you\nare carrying these things your enemy cannot hurt you, even if you run\nright on to him; but with one stroke of this club you shall kill your\nenemy.\u201d\n\nThe next morning the Bear took the boy out on the prairie and showed\nhim the different roots and leaves of medicines, and told him how to\nuse them; how he should eat some medicine and then he could cure the\nwounded by just breathing on the wound.\n\nThat night the Bear said to him: \u201cHereafter you shall have the same\nfeelings as the bear. When you get angry, you will have a grunt like a\nbear; and if you get too fierce, tushes like a bear\u2019s will stick out of\nyour mouth, so that the people will know that you are very angry. You\nshall have my power, and you can go into any of the lodges of the\nanimals, of which I am the chief.\u201d And he told him how to get into\nthese lodges.\n\nThat day they stayed in the Bear\u2019s lodge, and the Bear took the claw\noff from his little finger and gave it and a little bundle of medicine\nto the boy. He said, \u201cTake this claw and this bundle of medicine and\nput them on a string and wear them on your neck always, the claw\nhanging in front.\u201d He taught him how to make plums grow on trees, and\nhow to make ground-cherries come out of his mouth.\n\nThat night he sent the boy back to the camp. He said: \u201cTell your father\nand mother not to mourn for you, for you will return in two days more.\nI have driven plenty of buffalo to this place, and the people will kill\nthem and dry the meat. Now go to the camp and get a pipe and some\ntobacco, and bring them here.\u201d\n\nThe boy went back to the camp. When he went into the lodge his father\nand mother were glad to see him. He told them not to be anxious about\nhim, and not to say anything about his having been away. Then he went\nout and found his brother, the chief\u2019s son, asleep. He said to him:\n\u201cWake up, brother. I want you to get some tobacco and a pipe from your\nfather. Tell no one that it is for me. Bring it here. I want to smoke\nwith you. I am going away again, but you must stay in camp. I shall\nreturn in a few days.\u201d The chief\u2019s son got the things and gave them to\nthe boy. He wanted to go with him, but the poor boy would not let him.\n\nThat same night the boy went back to the Bear\u2019s den, carrying with him\nthe pipe and tobacco. After he went into the lodge he filled his pipe\nand lighted it, and he and the Bear smoked together. The Bear said to\nhim: \u201cAfter you have gone home, whenever you smoke, always point your\npipe towards my den and ask me to smoke with you. After lighting your\npipe, point it first to At\u00edus Tir\u00e1wat, and then blow a few whiffs to\nme. Then I shall know that you still remember me. All my power comes\nfrom At\u00edus. He made me. There will be an end to my days as there is to\nthose of every mortal. So long as I live I shall protect you; when I\ndie of old age, you shall die too.\u201d\n\nAfter this he said, \u201cNow bring my youngest boy here.\u201d The boy brought\nthe little cub, and the Bear said, \u201cNow kill him.\u201d The boy hesitated to\ndo this. He did not want to kill the little bear, but it said to him:\n\u201cGo on, my brother, kill me. After this I am going to be a spirit, and\nalways to be with you.\u201d Then the boy killed him, and skinned him, and\ntanned his hide. After it was tanned he put some red medicine paint on\nthe hide. When this was done the Bear told him to put his paint, his\nfeather, and his war-club in this hide, and to wrap them up and make a\nbundle of them. Then he said: \u201cNow, my son, go to your people, and when\nyou get home hang your bundle up at the back of the lodge, and let the\npeople know nothing of all this. Keep it secret. Wherever you go, or\nwherever you are, I shall be with you.\u201d\n\nThe boy went home to the camp, and told his mother to hang up his\nbundle, as the Bear had said. Next morning he was in camp and all the\npeople saw him. They were surprised, for they had thought that he had\nbeen killed. By this time the Pawnees had all the buffalo they wanted,\nand the next day they started back to their village.\n\nAfter they had reached their home, the boy told the chief\u2019s son that he\nwanted him to go off with him on the war-path. His brother said: \u201cIt is\ngood. I will go.\u201d The poor boy took his bundle, and they started. After\ntravelling many days they came to a camp of the enemy. They went into\nthe village in the daytime, and took many horses and started away with\nthem, riding hard. Soon the enemy pursued them, and at length they\ncould see them coming, and it seemed as if they must soon overtake\nthem. Then the poor boy got off his horse and stopped, telling his\nbrother to go on, driving the horses.\n\nThe boy had painted himself red over his whole body. He held his\nwar-club in his hand, and had his feather tied on his head and the\nlittle bear-skin on his back. The enemy soon came up and tried to kill\nhim, but they could not. He would run after one and kill him, and all\nthe others would shoot at him with their arrows, but they could not\nhurt him, and at last they left him and went back, and he went on and\novertook the chief\u2019s son. Then his brother saw that he had great power.\nAfter this they travelled on slowly, and at last reached the village.\nHis brother told the people that this man was powerful, that they had\ntaken the horses in broad daylight, and the young man had stayed behind\non foot and fought the enemy off, while he drove on the horses.\n\nA few days after they reached home, a war-party of the enemy attacked\nthe village. All the Pawnees went out to fight them, but the poor boy\nstayed behind in the lodge. He took down his bundle, filled the pipe,\nand pointed it first to At\u00edus, and then towards the Bear\u2019s lodge, and\nsmoked. Then he took the paint and mixed it with grease, and rubbed it\nall over his body except his face: that he painted black. Then he put\nthe feather on his head and the little bear-robe on his back, and took\nhis war-club in his hand and started out. The Bear had told him that in\ngoing into battle he must never start towards the east, but must attack\ngoing towards the west. So he went around, and came on the battle-field\nfrom one side.\n\nAs he came up he saw that his people were having a hard time, and were\nbeing driven back. There was one of the enemy who seemed to be the\nbravest of all. The poor boy rushed at this man and killed him with his\nclub, and then ran back to his own line. When his people looked at him,\nand saw that it was really the poor boy who had just done so brave a\ndeed, they knew that what the chief\u2019s son had said was true. When he\nstarted again to rush towards the enemy\u2019s line, all the Pawnees\nfollowed him. He ran among the enemy, and with his club killed one here\nand one there, and the enemy became afraid and ran, and the Pawnees\nfollowed and killed many of them. That night they returned to the\nvillage, rejoicing over the victory. Everybody was praising the young\nman. Old men were calling his name, young women were singing about him,\nand old women dancing before him. People no longer made fun of his\nfather or mother, or of him. Now they looked upon him as a great and\npowerful person.\n\nThe Bear had told him that when he wanted his name changed he must call\nhimself Ku ruks la war\u00b4 uks ti, Medicine Bear.\n\nThat night the Bear came to the boy in his sleep and spoke to him. He\nsaid: \u201cMy son, to-morrow the chief of the tribe is going to ask you to\ntake his daughter for your wife, but you must not do this yet. I wish\nyou to wait until you have done certain things. If you take a wife\nbefore that time, your power will go from you.\u201d\n\nThe next day the chief came to Medicine Bear and asked him to marry his\ndaughter, and told him the people wanted him to be their head chief. He\nrefused.\n\nSome time after this all the different tribes that had been attacked by\nthem joined forces and came down together to fight the Pawnees. All the\npeople went out to meet them, but he stayed in his lodge and painted\nhimself, and put his feather in his head and the bear-claw on his neck\nand his bear-skin on his back, and smoked as he always did, and took\nhis club and went out. When he came to the battle, the Pawnees were\nhaving a hard time, because the enemy were so many. Medicine Bear\ncharged, and killed a man, and then came back, and the second time he\ncharged, the people charged all together, following him, and they\nkilled many and drove the enemy off, and those who had the fastest\nhorses were the only ones who got away. The Pawnees went home to the\nvillage. Everybody rejoiced, and there were many scalp-dances. Now the\npoor boy was more highly thought of than ever. Even the chiefs bowed\ntheir heads when they saw him. They could not equal him. This time he\ncalled himself Ku ruks ti carish, Angry Bear.\n\nAfter the excitement had quieted down, one day the head chief said:\n\u201cMedicine Bear, in all this tribe there is no chief who is equal to\nyou. Sit down by my daughter. Take her for your wife, and take my place\nas chief. I and my wife will go out of this lodge, and it shall be\nyours. You shall be the chief of the tribe. Whatever you say we will\nabide by.\u201d The poor boy said: \u201cMy father, I will think about this. By\nmorning I will let you know.\u201d In the night, before he slept, he filled\nthe pipe and smoked as the Bear had told him to do, and then he went to\nbed. In dreams the Bear said to him: \u201cMy son, you have done what I\nwished you to do. Now the power will remain with you as long as you\nshall live. Now you can marry, if you will.\u201d\n\nBut the boy was not yet ready to do this. The girl was very pretty, and\nhe liked her, but he felt that before he married there were still some\nthings that he must do. He called his brother and said to him, \u201cGo,\nkill the fattest of the buffalo; bring it to me, and I will take a long\njourney with you.\u201d\n\nHis brother went hunting and killed a buffalo, and brought the meat\nhome, and they dried it and made a bundle of it. Medicine Bear told his\nbrother to carry this bundle and a rawhide rope and a little hatchet,\nand they started on a journey towards the Missouri River. One day\ntowards evening they reached the river, and they found themselves on\ntop of a steep-cut bluff. The river ran at its foot. The poor boy cut a\ncottonwood pole and drove it into the ground, and tied the rope to it,\nand then tied the other end of the rope about his brother\u2019s body. Then\nhe sharpened a stick and gave it to his brother and said: \u201cNow take the\nbundle of meat, and I will let you down over the bank. You must put the\nmeat on a ledge of the cliff, and when the birds come you must feed\nthem. Give a piece to the first one that comes, and then take your\nsharp stick and get another piece, and so feed all the birds. They are\nthe ones that have power, and they can take pity on you.\u201d So he let the\nchief\u2019s son down.\n\nThe first bird that came was a buzzard, then an eagle, then hawks and\nowls, all kinds of birds that kill their prey. He fed them all. While\nhe was doing this, the poor boy was above lying on top of the bank.\nLate in the afternoon, just as the sun was going down, he saw, far up\nthe river, what looked like a flock of geese coming. They came nearer\nand nearer, and at last passed out of sight under the bank. Afterwards,\nwhen he looked down on the river, he could see in the water red light\nas if it were all on fire, and as he lay on the bank he could hear down\nbelow him the sound of drumming and singing just as plain as could be,\nand all the time the chief\u2019s son was hanging there in front of the\nbank, and the poor boy would call down to him to cry and ask the\nanimals to take pity on him. When Medicine Bear had done this, he\nstarted back and went home, leaving the chief\u2019s son hanging there.\n\nThe chief\u2019s son stayed there all the night and all the next day, and\nfor three days and nights, and on the night of the fourth day he fell\nasleep. When he awoke he was in a lodge. It was under the Missouri\nRiver. When he looked about him he saw that those in the lodge were all\nanimals. There was the beaver, there was the otter, two buffalo, the\nantelope, hawks, owls, ermines, bears, frogs, woodpeckers, catfish\u2014all\nkinds of animals. On each side of the lodge was a little pool, and in\neach pool sat a goose, and every time they sang, the geese would shake\ntheir wings on the water, and it sounded just like drumming. The chief\nof the animals spoke to him, saying: \u201cMy son, at this time we can do\nnothing for you. We must first send our messenger up to the Bear\u2019s\nlodge to ask him what we may do for you.\u201d While he was saying this the\nBear\u2019s servant entered the lodge and said: \u201cMy father, it is all right.\nOur father the Bear told me to say to you that his son has sent this\nyoung man to you, and you must exert all your power for him.\u201d\n\nNow the animals began to make ready to use their power to help the\nchief\u2019s son. First the Beaver talked to the young man, to tell him of\nhis powers and his ways, so that he might perform wonderful acts. How\nhe should take the branch of a tree and strike a man with its point and\nit would go through him, and then how to draw it out and to make the\nman well again. He gave him the power to do this. He taught him how to\ntake a stick two feet long and swallow it, and then take it out again\nfrom his throat, and gave him this power.\n\nThe Otter gave him the power, if his enemies ever attacked him, to\nbreak their arrows with his teeth and shoot back the shaft without a\nspike, and if he hit an enemy with the shaft, it would kill him. \u201cThe\npoison from your mouth will kill him,\u201d he said.\n\nThe Ground-dog said: \u201cMy son, here is my little one. I give him to you.\nTake him, and if you have an enemy among the doctors in your tribe,\ntake this little one down to the water early in the morning and dip his\nnose in the water, and when you take it out it will have a piece of\nliver in its mouth. The man who has tried to kill you will be found\ndead.\u201d\n\nThe Owl said: \u201cMy son, I give you power to see in the night. When you\ngo on the war-path and want to take horses, the night will be like\ndaytime for you.\u201d\n\nThe Hawk said: \u201cMy son, I give you power to run swiftly, and I give you\nmy war-club, which is my wing. You shall strike your enemy with it only\nonce, and the blow shall kill him. Take also this little black rope;\nyou shall use it when you go on the war-path to catch horses. Take also\nthis scalp which you see hanging down from my claw. You shall be a\ngreat man for scalping.\u201d\n\nEach of the other animals gave him all his kinds of power.\n\nFor two days and two nights they taught him the different kinds of\npower, and for two days and two nights they taught him the different\nkinds of roots and herbs for healing the sick. They said to him: \u201cYou\nshall be the great doctor of your people. Every now and then you must\nbring us tobacco, so that we can smoke.\u201d They further told him that at\nthis time they could teach him only a little, but that afterwards, one\nat a time, they would meet him out on the prairie, and would teach him\nmore. At last they said: \u201cNow it is time for you to go. Your friend has\ncome, and is waiting for you out on the prairie.\u201d\n\nThe Buffalo now stood up and said: \u201cMy son, I want to be with you\nalways. I give you my robe. Wear it wherever you go, that the people\nmay know that you come from this place.\u201d All the animals said, \u201cWe want\nto be with you too.\u201d Each one of the birds took off a feather and put\nit on the robe, and each animal put one of its claws on it, and some\nput medicine on it. In one of the holes the Beaver tied a little\nsweet-grass, and others did the same. By the time they were through,\nthe robe was all covered with feathers and claws and smelled sweet. The\nanimals had put their medicine on it so that it smelled sweet. Then the\nanimals said, \u201cGo, my son, to your people, and bring us something to\nsmoke, so that we may be satisfied.\u201d\n\nPresently the chief\u2019s son found himself upon the bluff, facing his\nbrother. His brother grasped him in his arms and said: \u201cOh, my brother,\nyou smell nice. What a fine robe you have on! Look at all these\nfeathers.\u201d They hugged each other. Then they went home together. The\nchief\u2019s son had a bundle that the animals had given him.\n\nSoon after this the Pawnees had a big doctors\u2019 dance. These boys went\ninto the doctors\u2019 lodge and said: \u201cDoctors, you are the head doctors,\nbut we have come to-night to visit you. We want to do a few things\nourselves.\u201d The doctors all said \u201cLau-a.\u201d The young men took seats\nclose to the door, which is the most important place in this dance. All\nthe doctors were surprised, and said \u201cUh!\u201d\n\nThe Bear boy got up first and began shooting at the chief\u2019s son, just\nas he had done with the Bear, and all the doctors thought he was\npowerful, shooting at this young man and curing him. When he got\nthrough, it was the other boy\u2019s turn. He would take a long sharp stick\nand thrust it through his brother, and then heal him again, and then\ntake a knife and stab him, and then cure him. He did some powerful\nthings, more so than his brother had done. After the doctors had seen\nall these things they all said, \u201cLet us have these two for our head\ndoctors.\u201d But the poor boy said: \u201cNot so. This one who is sitting by me\nhas more power than I have. He ought to be the head doctor, for I am a\nwarrior, and can never stay in the camp to doctor people. My brother\nhas gone into the animals\u2019 lodge, and they have given him more power\nthan I possess.\u201d So the chief\u2019s son was chosen to be the head doctor.\n\nWhen the doctors\u2019 dance was over, the two brothers at once started to\ngo to the animals\u2019 lodge, carrying with them tobacco and a pipe. When\nthey got there, the chief\u2019s son told his brother to wait on the bank,\nthat he was going down to take the tobacco and the pipe to his fathers.\nHe jumped off the steep bank into the river, down into the door of the\nlodge, and went in. When they saw him all the animals slapped their\nmouths and called out. They were glad to see him. After smoking with\nthem, he went back to his friend. After that the chief\u2019s son would go\noff by himself and would meet the animals on the hills. They would tell\nhim about different roots, and how to doctor this disease and that. He\nwould come back with some roots and herbs and put them away.\n\nFinally the head chief sent for the Bear man and said to him: \u201cMy son,\nI offered you my lodge, my daughter, and the whole tribe. Now take all\nthis. Let me go out of this lodge and look for another one, and you\nstay here with my daughter.\u201d The young man said: \u201cWhat of my brother?\nSend for the other chief. Let him give his daughter, his lodge, his\npeople, to him, and this day we will accept your gifts to us. My\nbrother will after this be the head doctor of this tribe.\u201d The other\nchief, when asked to do this, agreed, and it was so done.\n\nThe Bear man went often on the war-path, but his brother stayed at\nhome, and fought against the enemy only when they attacked the village.\nHe took charge of the doctors\u2019 lodge. The Bear man after this had some\nchildren, and when they had grown up he told his son the secrets of his\npower. He was now beginning to grow old, and his son went on the\nwar-path, while he stayed at home.\n\nOne night he had a dream about his father the Bear. The Bear said to\nhim: \u201cMy son, I made you great and powerful among your people. The\nhairs of my body are falling, and soon I shall die. Then you too will\ndie. Tell your son all the secret powers that I gave you. He shall keep\nthe same power that you have had.\u201d\n\nSoon after this the old Bear must have died, for the man died. Before\nhe died he said to his brother: \u201cDo not mourn for me, for I shall\nalways be near you. Take care of your people. Cure them when they are\nsick, and always be their chief.\u201d\n\nWhen the enemy came and attacked the people and wounded any, the\nchief\u2019s son was always there and always cured them. He was a great\ndoctor. At last he also died, but his son had the same kind of power.\nBut these two sons never had so great powers as their fathers.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE FIRST MEDICINE LODGE\n\n\nA great many winters ago the Piegans were camped near a small creek.\nTheir lodges were arranged in a circle, enclosing a large open space.\nThis was long before they had horses. They used dogs to pack with.\n\nThe head chief had a daughter. She was good and beautiful. Many young\nmen had asked to marry her, but she had refused them all. One day she\nwent to the stream for water. There she met a boy, well known through\nthe camp, because of a great scar on his cheek, which made him very\nugly. From this the people called him Scarface. He was very poor. His\nmother and father were dead, and he lived with his grandmother. His\nclothes were old and torn, and he wore about him part of a worn buffalo\nrobe. Yet, though his clothes were poor and his face was ugly, his\nheart was good, and the cruel taunts of his people often made him very\nsad.\n\nWhen Scarface met the beautiful girl, he asked her if she would marry\nhim. She looked at him in scorn and said: \u201cDo you think I would marry\nsuch an ugly person as you? When you remove that great scar from your\nface, come and ask me.\u201d Then she left him. He sat for a long time\nthinking over the cruel words the girl had spoken. His heart was sad.\nAt last he went slowly to his grandmother\u2019s lodge.\n\nWhen he entered he said: \u201cGrandmother, make me some moccasins and put\nsome dried buffalo meat in a sack for me. I am going away and may be\ngone a long time.\u201d She gave him the things he asked for, and he left\nthe lodge and started to go to a butte not far from the camp.\n\nWhen he reached the top of the butte, he threw himself upon the ground\nand wept and prayed to the Sun to have pity on him and remove the scar.\nAt last he stood up and made a bed of the stones which he found on the\nside of the butte. Then he lay down to sleep. While he slept a voice\nsaid to him: \u201cMy son, rise, and go to the butte to the right of you.\nThere you will find your father.\u201d He did as the voice had said.\n\nWhen he reached the place, he threw himself on the ground and wept as\nbefore, and prayed the Sun to help him. He made a bed of stones like\nthe one he had lain on before, and while he slept another voice said:\n\u201cMy son, your journey is not yet ended. Rise and go to that butte still\nfarther to the right. There you will find one who will direct you on\nyour way.\u201d Again he obeyed the voice.\n\nWhen he reached this butte he made his bed as before, and slept, but no\nvoice spoke to him. In the morning he awoke. As he sat on the ground,\nhe was wondering what he should do next. Again a voice spoke, saying,\n\u201cMy friend, shut your eyes.\u201d He did so, and in a short time the strange\nvoice said, \u201cOpen your eyes and look about you.\u201d\n\nWhen he opened his eyes, he was far up in the blue sky, in another\nworld. It was all a wide prairie. There were no mountains, no trees.\nThere were only rivers, with a few bushes upon their banks. He could\nnow see the person who had spoken to him. He was a young man about his\nown age, but he was very handsome. He wore a shirt, leggings, and robe\nof some strange animal\u2019s fur, and his moccasins were embroidered in\nstrange and beautiful colors and patterns. The young man said to\nScarface: \u201cMy name is Sun Dog. The Sun is my father and the Moon my\nmother. Yonder is my father\u2019s lodge. Let us go to it. My father is not\nnow there. At night he will enter.\u201d\n\nThey reached the lodge. Very large it was and very beautiful. Many\nunknown animals were painted on it, and behind it, hanging from a\ntripod, were the war clothes of the Sun, made of the skins of strange\nanimals, and trimmed with fine feathers. Scarface was ashamed to enter\nthis beautiful lodge, for his clothes were poor and his moccasins were\nworn with travel; but Sun Dog said to him, \u201cEnter, my new friend, and\nfear nothing.\u201d\n\nThey entered. All about were seats covered with white robes, and\neverything was strange. The Moon was there. Sun Dog approached her and\nsaid: \u201cMother, I have brought a young man to our lodge who is very\npoor. I beg you to have pity on him and help him in his trouble.\u201d The\nMoon spoke kindly to Scarface, and gave him something to eat.\n\nWhen it was time for the Sun to come home, Sun Dog hid Scarface and\ncovered him up with robes. When the Sun came to the door, he stopped\nand said, \u201cThere is a person here.\u201d \u201cYes, father,\u201d said Sun Dog, \u201ca\ngood young man, who is in trouble, has come to see you.\u201d The Sun said,\n\u201cBring him to me.\u201d Sun Dog removed the robes and brought Scarface\nbefore the Sun. The Sun looked at Scarface a short time, and turning to\nthe Moon, bade her make Scarface as handsome as their own son, and give\nhim some nice clothes to wear. The Moon made some medicine and rubbed\nit over Scarface. In a short time he was changed into a very handsome\nyoung man. The Moon took Sun Dog and Scarface before the Sun and said,\n\u201cO Sun, tell me which is Sun Dog.\u201d The Sun looked at the two boys for a\nmoment, and then pointed to Sun Dog, and said, \u201cThis is our son.\u201d Again\nthe Moon rubbed the medicine on Scarface, until she was sure that the\ntwo young men looked alike, and again she took them before the Sun and\nsaid, \u201cO Sun, tell me now which is our son.\u201d He looked at them a long\ntime, and, pointing to Scarface, said, \u201cThis must be our son.\u201d\n\nIn the morning before leaving the lodge, the Sun called the young men\nto him and said, \u201cMy children, do not go near that lodge by the river,\nfor in it live four large white birds with long bills with which they\npluck out people\u2019s hearts. I have had four other sons, but they have\nall been killed by these birds.\u201d Then he left them.\n\nThe two young men went out hunting. They went on and on, when suddenly\nSun Dog cried out, \u201cThis is the place where my brothers were killed!\nSee! there are the birds coming one after another towards us. Let us\nmake haste to get away.\u201d He ran away, but Scarface waited until the\nbirds came near him. As they came up, he struck each on the head with a\nclub which he carried, and killed them. After some time Sun Dog\nreturned, and the young men took the birds home to the lodge.\n\nThe Moon was very happy when she saw that the destroyers of her sons\nwere dead. When the Sun returned in the evening, Sun Dog said, \u201cFather,\nmy friend killed the bad birds to-day,\u201d and he showed them to him. The\nSun called Scarface to him and dressed him in clothes made of white\nbuffalo skins and painted his face and said: \u201cIt is now time, my son,\nfor you to return to your people, for they need your help. They are\nbeneath us, and not far from here. Sun Dog will take you and will tell\nyou what I wish you to do.\u201d After shaking hands with the Sun and Moon,\nthe two young men started on their journey.\n\nAfter they had gone some distance, they stopped. Sun Dog said: \u201cSoon we\nwill have to part, but first I must tell you what the Sun has commanded\nyou to do. If there are any sick or dying among your people, in order\nto make them well you must build the Medicine Lodge. First you must get\none hundred buffalo tongues. Select four pure women of your tribe to\nhelp. Let one woman make the medicine, another cut thin and dry the\ntongues, and the other two boil the tongues. Go into the tall brush and\nclear a place for the Medicine Lodge. When everything is ready, call\nthe people together to take part in the dance. Let each take a piece of\nthe tongue, and let all say together, \u2018Great Sun, let us eat together,\nand grant to us that our people may recover.\u2019 If the women you select\nto make the medicine and to cut and boil the tongue are pure women, the\nsick and the dying among your people will recover; if not, they will\ndie.\n\n\u201cNow, my brother,\u201d continued Sun Dog, \u201cyou have heard the commands of\nthe Sun. You will soon find yourself on the butte you came from. We\nmust now part.\u201d They shook hands. Sun Dog said, \u201cShut your eyes.\u201d\nScarface shut his eyes, and when he opened them he found himself\nsitting at the foot of the butte from which he came. The circular camp\nlay before him.\n\nHe went to his grandmother\u2019s lodge, but no one recognized in the\nhandsome young man the one who had left them so poor and ugly. All\ngathered about him to listen to his wonderful story. He told them of\nthe commands of the Sun, and a short time after made the Medicine Lodge\nas the Sun had commanded. This was the first Medicine Lodge.\n\nScarface became a great chief and all listened to his wise words. The\nbeautiful girl came to him and said, \u201cYou are very handsome now, and a\ngreat chief, and I will marry you.\u201d But he sent her away. He married\ngood women and lived a long time. When he died Sun Dog took him back to\nthe Sun, where he lives forever.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHUNDER MAKER AND COLD MAKER\n\n\nIn ancient times, before horses had come from the south and been taught\nto bear burdens, the people did not move camp often, but remained in\none place so long as sufficient game could be found to furnish food.\nThey shrank from taking down their lodges and travelling over the\nprairie to fresh hunting-grounds, for their dogs could not pack\neverything, and they themselves were forced to carry heavy loads on\ntheir backs. One season they had hunted on a little stream in the\nfoot-hills since early spring. The summer passed, the leaves began to\nfall, and with the approach of winter the great herds of buffalo slowly\ngrazed out on the plains, and finally disappeared to the eastward.\nHardy and warmly furred as they were they feared the deep snow and the\ncold of the mountain country.\n\nWhen the last of the buffalo had gone, a great hunter named Low Wolf\nthought that it was also time for him to move. He said to the chiefs:\n\u201cCome, now, the buffalo have gone; they are our food; let us too move\naway from the mountains and follow them.\u201d\n\nBut the chiefs said they would not break camp for a while. \u201cSnow will\nnot fall for one or two moons,\u201d they said, \u201cand there are still plenty\nof elk, deer, moose, and other small game close by. Do not be\nimpatient. Let us wait.\u201d\n\nLow Wolf would not listen to them. \u201cNo,\u201d he said, \u201cI am not a hunter of\nsmall game. The buffalo are my living, and to-morrow I shall follow\nthem, even if I go alone.\u201d\n\nThe people thought that he was joking; but the next morning they\nlearned that he meant what he said, for when they arose they saw that\nalready his lodge had been taken down, and his wife and daughter were\nbusy packing the dogs and lashing the travois on them.\n\n\u201cHold on,\u201d said the chiefs, coming up; \u201cwhy all this hurry? It is not\nsafe for you to go alone. It is not right for you to take your wife and\ndaughter out on the lonely plains. Think of all the dangers. Wait until\nwe are ready to move.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat the Low Wolf has said cannot be unsaid,\u201d he replied. \u201cI told you\nthat to-day I should start after the buffalo, and now I am going.\u201d\n\nFor several days the little family travelled eastward along the valley\nof the evergrowing stream, but found no buffalo. Then they turned\nnortheast, and after four nights on the wide prairie saw before them\nanother valley. Buffalo were all around them now, and Low Wolf said\nthat if they could find plenty of timber and water he would be content\nto stay in this place until spring. There was a large river flowing\nthrough the valley, and along its banks grew groves of large\ncotton-woods and willows. At the edge of one of these groves the dogs\nwere unpacked and the lodge put up where it was protected from the\nwind. That night, as the little family sat about the fire eating fat\nbuffalo ribs, Low Wolf said: \u201cAh, how foolish were the people not to\ncome with me; here we have a fine sheltered camp, plenty of wood, and\non all sides the buffalo darken the prairie. Besides, down here it is\nstill summer weather, while up there where they are it is already\nfreezing at night.\u201d\n\nThe days passed happily. Every morning Low Wolf went out to hunt, and\nhis wife and daughter dried the meat that he brought in, tanned soft\nrobes for sleeping and for covering, and cut great piles of fire-wood\nagainst the cold of approaching winter.\n\nOne evening, Plover Call, the daughter, went out to gather the night\u2019s\nwood, and while she was lashing a pile of it to carry in she happened\nto look up, and saw standing near a man wearing his robe hair side out.\nHe was facing the river, his back towards her, but she supposed it was\nher father, although it seemed strange that he should follow her out\ninto the timber, as there were no signs of any enemy about.\n\n\u201cWhat are you doing there?\u201d she asked. \u201cCome, I have gathered my wood;\nlet us go home.\u201d\n\nThe man turned towards her and lowered his robe from his face, and she\nsaw that he was a stranger\u2014a handsome young man, with light-colored\nhair and a white face. Strangely enough she was not afraid of him, for\nhe had a kind face, and his blue eyes looked pleasant.\n\n\u201cAh,\u201d he said, as he slowly drew near where she stood, \u201cI have come\nfrom a far land. I have left my people, for something told me to go in\nsearch of a wife. When I saw you I knew that you were the one I was\nmeant to find. Let us live together.\u201d\n\nPlover Call forgot her wood as she looked at him. \u201cCome with me to our\nlodge,\u201d she said at last, \u201cand I will find out if it may be as you\nask.\u201d When they came to it she told him to stand outside for a little.\n\n\u201cFather, mother,\u201d she said, as she entered the doorway, \u201cI have found a\nyoung man out in the woods who wishes to marry me; are you willing that\nhe should?\u201d\n\n\u201cIs he strong and active?\u201d asked Low Wolf.\n\n\u201cIs he well clothed and good-looking?\u201d the mother inquired.\n\n\u201cOh,\u201d said the girl, \u201che is everything you ask, and more; he is even\nstrange-looking, for he has a white face, and his hair is the color of\nlast year\u2019s prairie grass.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said Low Wolf, \u201cit matters not about his looks, so long as he\nis an active man; yet it is strange that he is so different from us.\nTell him to come in.\u201d\n\nPlover Call went to the doorway and beckoned to the young man, and when\nhe had entered, her father and mother motioned him to a seat, and soon\nbegan to talk to him, asking many questions. The young man replied\nreadily to all of them, so after he had considered for a time, Low Wolf\nconcluded to give him his daughter. The next day she and her mother\nbegan to make a new lodge, and as soon as it was finished, put up and\nstored with robes and clothing, food and other things, the two were\nmarried.\n\n\u201cI am glad that you came,\u201d the father said to the young man, \u201cand glad\nto give you my good daughter. We will not be so lonely now, and if the\nenemy should come there will be two of us to fight them.\u201d\n\nThe fourth day after the young couple were married and had moved into\nthe new lodge, the stranger arose early, and after a hurried meal told\nPlover Call that he intended to go hunting. His wife was pleased, and\nsaid that he must bring in a deer, for she wished to tan the skin and\nmake him some moccasins.\n\nHe picked up his bow-case and quiver, slung it on his back and started,\nand shortly after he left the lodge, low, continuous rumbling of\nthunder was heard, beginning quite near the lodges, and finally dying\naway in the distance. Plover Call and her parents came out of their\nlodges, looked around, and were surprised to see that there was not a\ncloud in the sky; and again it was the wrong time of year for thunder.\nMoreover, the young man was not to be seen in any direction, although\nhe had gone but a moment before. It was all very strange.\n\nEvening came; the sun had gone down, and the shadow of night covered\nthe valley, when again thunder was heard, this time far away at first,\nand then coming nearer. Then presently Plover Call heard something\nheavy fall by the doorway, and her husband entering, said: \u201cWell, I got\nthe deer for you. There it lies just outside.\u201d\n\nThe young woman was uneasy; she went over and consulted her father.\n\n\u201cSurely mysterious things are happening about here,\u201d said Low Wolf,\n\u201cand I suspect your husband is not what he seems to be. Anyhow, it is\nwell to be on the safe side; do not eat any of the deer he brought in.\u201d\n\nThe young woman went back to her lodge, cut some meat from the deer,\nand cooked it for her husband. While he was eating she skinned the\nanimal, cut it into quarters, and hung it out on a near-by bush. After\nthe evening meal was over her father came in, and the two men talked\nfor a long time about hunting and war, and her husband told interesting\nstories about his people. Listening to him, both Plover Call and her\nfather were ashamed of their fears, and resolved to make amends by\ntreating the young man as kindly as they knew how.\n\nThe next day the wind changed to the north, and there came a light fall\nof snow; no hunting was done. The following morning Plover Call\u2019s\nhusband again started out with his bow and arrows, and, as before, as\nsoon as he left it thundered for a long time. The fears of the little\nfamily were again aroused, and when at night the young man returned\nafter a long rumbling of thunder, they were all frightened, and feared\nthat something dreadful was about to happen. The hunter had brought in\nanother deer and told how he had killed it, and where he had been\nhunting.\n\n\u201cWhy,\u201d said Low Wolf, \u201cI was out there, too, this morning; it is\nstrange I did not see you. I should have seen your tracks anyhow.\u201d\n\nThey learned the next day that he made no tracks. When he started out\nthey watched him; he took four steps from the lodge door, and then\nsuddenly vanished, the thunder beginning again and rumbling away into\nthe distance. As he disappeared, a strange-looking bird was seen flying\nthe way the thunder was muttering. Then they knew that this person was\nreally the thunder bird, and their hearts were filled with a great\nfear.\n\nFour times the strange husband went hunting, always disappearing at the\nlodge door in his mysterious way, always accompanied by thunder, going\nand coming, never leaving any footprints beyond the lodge. Yet when at\nhome he was just like any other young man, light-hearted, sociable, and\nkind to his wife. The morning after his fourth hunt he said that he\nmust go and visit his people.\n\n\u201cIt is a very long distance that I must travel,\u201d he said to them, \u201cand\nI may be away many moons; but do not worry, for I shall return as soon\nas I can.\u201d With that he left the lodge, and peering through the folds\nof the doorway, they saw him vanish as before, and as the thunder\nrolled, saw the bird flying out across the valley, over the rim of the\nplain towards the south.\n\nThe moons came, grew, and went, but Plover Call\u2019s husband did not\nreturn. She was glad of it, and so were her parents, for they all\nfeared his terrible, mysterious ways.\n\nOne evening the young woman was again chopping wood by the river, and,\nagain looking up, she saw a man standing near her, wearing his robe\nhair side out. Again she thought it was her father, but when she\naddressed him he turned around, and she saw it was a stranger. At first\nshe was sure it was her husband, but as he lowered his robe she saw\nthat he was dark-faced and black-haired like herself. \u201cWho are you?\u201d\nshe asked. \u201cWhy are you here?\u201d\n\n\u201cI am of your race,\u201d he said, \u201cbut from a far-away tribe. I am seeking\na wife; will you marry me?\u201d\n\nPlover Call would not answer his question, but told him to go with her\nto her parents\u2019 lodge. Low Wolf decided that she might marry the\nstranger at once. \u201cThe other one,\u201d he said, \u201cthat Thunder Maker, has\nbeen gone a long time, and I am sure he will never return. We need\nanother drawer of the bow in case of attack, so put up your lodge again\nand try to live happily.\u201d\n\nAlthough he had appeared rather strangely, and, like the Thunder Maker,\nhad said he came from a far country, there was nothing that seemed\neither odd or mysterious about Plover Call\u2019s new husband. He hunted\nwith her father, prayed to N\u00e1pi, the creator, as she did, and in no\nrespect was different from any young Blackfoot she knew. He was very\nkind and gentle, and the girl soon loved him with all her heart. They\nlived together very happily. One day, as he sat in the lodge making\nsome arrows, the distant rumbling of thunder was heard.\n\n\u201cGo!\u201d his wife cried. \u201cLeave here at once; the man I told you of is\nreturning.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will not leave this lodge,\u201d said he, calmly, \u201cfor the Thunder\nperson, nor any one else.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut you must,\u201d she replied; \u201che will be angry; and oh, I fear him.\nListen! he is coming nearer. Hurry away before it is too late.\u201d\n\n\u201cAh,\u201d said her husband, \u201cyou do not love me, or you would not ask\nthis.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is because I do love you that I want to have you go.\u201d\n\n\u201cSay no more,\u201d he replied; \u201cnow that I know you love me, I shall surely\nstay. I do not fear him.\u201d\n\nSuddenly the curtain of the doorway was thrown back and the Thunder\nMaker bounded into the lodge. He was very angry. Streams of lightning\nflashed continuously from his eyes. Sheets of ill-smelling smoke,\nmingled with blue flame, rolled in waves from his body. Plover Call\nshut her eyes, nearly fainting at the dreadful sight, and her heart\nstood still from fear.\n\n\u201cWhat are you doing here?\u201d he cried to the man calmly scraping his\narrows. \u201cWhat are you doing here in my lodge? Go at once, or I will\nkill you where you sit.\u201d\n\n\u201cDo you go yourself,\u201d the other replied, \u201cor it will be the worse for\nyou. This is my house, and this woman whom you deserted is my wife.\u201d\n\nThunder Maker sprang into the air in fury, and more fearfully than ever\nthe lightning flashed from his eyes. Raising his hand to strike, he\nstepped suddenly towards his enemy, but the man as quickly held up some\nsoft, white, downy eagle feathers, and blew them from his hand, and a\nterrible cold, biting wind filled the lodge. Thunder Maker fell back.\nThe wind increased, and the lodge shook as if it would be blown away.\nFine, sharp, stinging frost-flakes hissed in through the doorway and\nfrom under the edges of the lodge skins. Colder and colder it grew;\nand, trembling, quivering, his lips blue, his teeth chattering, Thunder\nMaker staggered to a bed and fell upon it.\n\n\u201cYou have beaten me; your power is greater than mine,\u201d he cried. \u201cOh,\nCold Maker, have pity!\u201d\n\nFor Plover Call\u2019s new husband was Cold Maker, he who brings the fierce\nstorms, the biting wind, and drifting, whirling snow from out the\nnorth. And now, as he saw his enemy gasping, shaking, and begging for\nmercy, as he lay on the bed, he laughed. \u201cWill you promise never to\nreturn; never to trouble us again?\u201d he asked. \u201cI will go, I will go,\u201d\ngroaned the other. \u201cYou promise? Then go, and be sure you keep your\nword.\u201d\n\nThe cold wind and the hazy frost ceased as suddenly as they had come.\nThunder Maker staggered to his feet. He reeled out of the lodge.\nLightning no longer flashed from his eyes. The blue flame and stifling\nsmoke no longer rolled from his person. He looked very poor and sick as\nhe disappeared.\n\nNow that Plover Call knew who her new husband really was, she was not\nat all afraid of him, although he was one of the deathless ones, who,\nfor the time, had taken the form of man. They continued to live happily\ntogether, and when summer came he went with her and her parents, and\njoined the great camp of the Blackfeet.\n\nOften Cold Maker said to her people that he could not remain with them\nalways, but he never told them when he should go away. \u201cAfter I have\ngone,\u201d he said once, \u201cI will try to warn you of the approach of a cold\nstorm. When you see a raven flying about in the winter, and crying its\nloud notes, look out, for the cold storm will be near.\u201d\n\nAfter many years Plover Call died of old age, and Cold Maker mourned.\n\u201cHe will leave us now,\u201d the people said. They were right. One day he\ndisappeared and was seen no more. But his words were not forgotten.\nSince that time they have named the raven after him. Even to this day\nthe raven comes to give warning of an approaching storm.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE BLINDNESS OF PI-WA\u1e54-\u014cK\n\n\nPi-wa\u1e55-\u014dk, Flint-knife, was a Blood warrior; he was brave and\nambitious, seldom passing a day idly in his lodge. If not away on the\nwar-path against some distant tribe, he was sure to be out hunting. The\nburning heats of summer, the cold, and the piercing snow-drifting winds\nof winter did not keep him back, if he thought game was to be found.\nThere were always many buffalo hides and many skins of elk, deer, and\nantelope stacked up about his lodge, and within were thick warm robe\nbeds, and piles of soft buckskins, tanned by his wife \u00cd-kai-si, the\nSquirrel. None knew better than the poor, the blind, and the crippled,\nthat the parfleches piled up behind the beds, and filling the space\nnear the doorway, contained stores of fat dried meat, rich pemmican,\nmarrow fat, dried berries and roots, to a share of which they were\nalways welcome. The couple had no children, and they said that unless a\ncrowd of guests feasted and smoked in their lodge of an evening, they\nfelt lonesome. So for many years they lived, happy and prosperous, and\nthen a great trouble came on them.\n\nOne day Pi-wa\u1e55-\u014dk returned from a hunt and complained that his eyes\nhurt him. \u201cThey feel as if some one had thrown sand in them,\u201d he said.\n\u201cWhen I try to see something far away, they fill with tears and\neverything becomes indistinct.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, that is nothing,\u201d \u00cd-kai-si said to him, \u201cthe hard wind which you\nhave been out in all day has made them a little sore. I\u2019ll stew some of\nthose leaves my old grandmother used to say were good for the eyes, and\nafter you have bathed them once or twice, no doubt you will see clearly\nagain.\u201d\n\nThe lotion was used for a day or two, but the inflammation increased. A\ngreat doctor was called in; he looked carefully at the red lids and the\nthin, ever-spreading film covering the eyes, and prescribed a steam\nbath, into which he threw certain herbs. It did no good, and a great\nmedicine man was sent for. He came with ceremony, dressed in a\nbear-skin robe, carrying a bag of mysterious medicines, and shaking his\nrattles as he entered the lodge. Seating himself by the patient, he\nasked many questions as he examined the swollen eyes. At last he\ninquired if Pi-wa\u1e55-\u014dk had experienced unpleasant dreams of late.\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d the sick man replied, \u201cthe night before this affliction came\nupon me, I had a terrible dream; you remember that I killed two Crow\nwarriors this spring when we had the battle with them at the Yellow\nRiver. Well, I was fighting it all over again in my sleep. I had\nstabbed and taken the scalp of one Crow, and was turning to struggle\nwith the other, when the dead one sprang up, all bleeding and\nsightless, the loose skin of the forehead hanging over his eyes, and\nwith a loud cry struck me with the war-club still hanging from his\nwrist. Then I woke, frightened and trembling from the awful sight.\u201d\n\n\u201cAh!\u201d said the medicine man, after thinking a little. \u201cThat explains it\nall; the ghost of some enemy you have killed is near here, and is\nblinding you in some mysterious way. Well, let me get to work; perhaps\nI can drive him away.\u201d\n\nHe opened the medicine bag and took from it a long pipe stem painted\nred and black, to which was tied a small buckskin sack, ornamented with\nthe feathers of certain small birds, and curious claws and teeth. No\none but he knew what was inside the little sack; it was his secret\nhelper. \u201cHai-yu,\u201d he cried to it, entreatingly. \u201cHai-yu, you certain\nthing of the earth. Help me now; help me to drive away the ghosts from\nthis sufferer\u2019s eyes. As you long ago told me in my dreams to do,\nfavored one of the Sun, that I will now do. Intercede for us all here\nto-day; ask the Sun to have pity on us all; to grant us long life, good\nhealth, and sufficient food.\u201d\n\nSuch was his prayer. He knelt beside Pi-wa\u1e55-\u014dk, and began an ancient\nmedicine song, shaking his rattles and motioning the unseen spirit to\ndepart. At times he picked up the long stem and blew through it on the\ninflamed eyes, calling out at the end of every breath: \u201cWhooh! Ghost,\nretire.\u201d\n\n\u201cHow do you feel?\u201d he asked, when about to leave, after many songs and\nprayers, and blowings through the stem.\n\n\u201cOh,\u201d Pi-wa\u1e55-\u014dk replied, \u201cI can\u2019t say that I see any plainer, but I\nthink my eyes are not so painful.\u201d\n\n\u201cAh!\u201d the medicine man said, \u201cthat is but natural; you cannot recover\nat once; when we have driven the ghost away for good, then it will\nstill take time for the eyes to become clear.\u201d\n\nAfter some days it was found that the medicine man\u2019s charms had failed.\nOne after another, the doctors and mystery men of the tribe were called\nin. This was expensive. One demanded two horses, another a gun and\nblanket, another three horses; another would not step inside the lodge\nuntil he had been paid ten horses. One by one Pi-wa\u1e55-\u014dk\u2019s herd changed\nhands; little by little the store of soft robes and food disappeared,\nand the lodge became bare. But the afflicted one did not get well. For\na time he could see objects dimly, then they became mere shadows; then\nthe light went out entirely. Pi-wa\u1e55-\u014dk was blind.\n\nIt was hard for the man who had led such an active life to sit idly in\nhis lodge day after day. He visited but little from lodge to lodge, for\nhe did not like to ask any one to lead him about here and there. His\nwife was kind, cheering him with her constant talk and making light of\ntheir great misfortune. She worked hard to provide things as of old, by\ntanning for a share the hides and skins brought in by hunters. The\npeople were all kind. They did not forget how generous the blind one\nhad been in his prosperous days, and they came daily to relieve his\npoverty with gifts of meat, and even tongues and pemmican. Of an\nevening the chiefs and warriors would assemble in his lodge as before,\nto smoke and talk and cheer his spirits. Through all the pain, and the\ndarkness of constant night, Pi-wa\u1e55-\u014dk kept up a good heart, though at\ntimes, when he thought of the sunlight shimmering over the yellow\nprairie and painting the tops of the distant mountains with wondrous\ncolor, he was very sad to think that he was never again to behold it\nall, never again to join in the chase, never again to experience the\nfierce joy of battle. One thing that kept him up was the thought that\nby some good chance he might, some day, be cured. He remembered the\nstories of the ancient ones who had been made well by their brothers,\nthe animals of the plain and forest, of the air and the water, and he\nthought that they might help him too, if only he had an opportunity to\nmeet them.\n\nThe people were camping along the foothills of the mountains, and one\nevening, after a long day\u2019s travel, the lodges were pitched by a wooded\nstream, and right under a high sandstone cliff which formed one side of\nthe valley. The next morning, while yet the people slept and even the\ndogs were quiet, while not a stir of any kind broke the stillness of\nthe camp, Pi-wa\u1e55-\u014dk, restlessly turning on his bed, heard the shrill\ncry of a bald eagle (Ksi\u1e31-i-kinni, whitehead), now near, now far, as it\ncircled around and around above the valley. In his mind he saw the\ngreat bird soar, now high, now low, with scarcely a movement of its\npowerful wings, saw the flash of golden light on its body as it turned\nto the rising sun. \u201cAh,\u201d he thought, \u201cif my sight were only as good as\nthat bird\u2019s, how happy I should be! Far up in the air, it looks down\nupon the world, and nothing escapes its eye, from the great brown\nbuffalo quietly grazing to the little ground squirrel hunting about its\nhole for a root of grass.\u201d\n\nPresently the camp awoke to another day of the chase, of toil, of\nfeasting, and of play. \u00cd-kai-si arose, built a fire, and cooked the\nmorning meal. A friend dropped in to share it and tell of a recent\nexciting bear hunt. Pi-wa\u1e55-\u014dk scarcely heard him, for he was still\nthinking of the great bird swinging so strong and free in the blue sky\nabove. All at once he realized that here, perhaps, was the opportunity\nhe had long sought; here, close by, was a \u201clittle brother,\u201d as his\nfathers called them, more keen-eyed than any other living thing. Surely\nit knew how to keep the eyes bright and clear, how to cure them if they\nbecame diseased. \u201cFriend,\u201d he said to his guest, \u201cthis morning, when\nall was still, I heard a whitehead sounding its cry as it circled\naround above us. Did you happen to see it?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d the man replied, \u201cit has a nest here, and just as I came in I\nsaw it carrying something to feed its young. Far up on the cliff by\nwhich we are camped is a short pine-tree, growing out from the climbing\nrock; there, in the branches, the bird has built its home.\u201d\n\n\u201cFriend,\u201d Pi-wa\u1e55-\u014dk cried; \u201cit is as I thought: my chance has come. I\nbeg you to guide me to that place, for I believe the traveller of the\nsky can cure me.\u201d\n\n\u201cHai-yu,\u201d the friend exclaimed, \u201cyou know not what you ask. With my\ngood eyes, and seeing plainly where to cling and step, it would be a\nhard task to reach that height; for you it would be sure death to\nattempt the climb.\u201d\n\n\u201cEven so,\u201d the blind one replied, \u201cyet must I try to do it. Death comes\nin many ways. It stares us in the face at every turn. Wherever we go,\nwhatever we do, it lies in wait for us, like a panther for the deer by\na forest trail. I am not afraid; have pity and help me try to reach\nthat nest.\u201d\n\n\u00cd-kai-si cried, and begged him to think no more of such a dangerous\nthing; the friend told how straight and high the cliff was, how\ndifficult to climb, but they talked in vain. He said that if no one\nwould help him, he would go alone, on until he fell and died. At\nlength, seeing that he was not to be turned from this which he had set\nhis mind upon, the friend consented to be his guide, and they started.\n\nIt was but a few steps to the foot of the cliff, where the fallen rocks\nmade a sloping hill; they soon surmounted this, and then the climb\nbegan. Sometimes they were side by side, the leader guiding the blind\none\u2019s hands and feet, and again he was ahead, and reaching down would\npull Pi-wa\u1e55-\u014dk up on a narrow shelf. All the people of the camp stood\nwatching them with wide-staring eyes, and as the two went on, higher\nand higher, over places where it seemed there was no jutting rock to\noffer foothold, they held their breath, fearing, expecting, that the\nnext step would be the climbers\u2019 last.\n\nPi-wa\u1e55-\u014dk\u2019s courage won. At last, tired and breathless, they came to\nwhere the gnarled and stunted tree hung to the cliff\u2019s face by its\ngiant roots. \u201cHai!\u201d said the guide; \u201cI never thought we would reach it;\nhere we are at last. And now, what next?\u201d\n\n\u201cHelp me up into the nest.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat I cannot do. There is no room for more than one. The limb would\nbreak if both of us were on it.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen,\u201d said Pi-wa\u1e55-\u014dk, \u201cI will go alone,\u201d and he began to climb out on\nthe trunk, his friend telling him just where to reach for a hold on the\nspreading branches. Then came the most dangerous feat of all, to climb\nover the rim of the wide and loose-sticked nest; but that too was\naccomplished, and the tired man lay down in its hollow beside the\nscared and hissing fledglings. \u201cGo,\u201d he called out to his friend, \u201cgo\nand leave me for a time here alone.\u201d\n\nThe young man climbed on up to the summit of the cliff, and walked away\nto a distant point, where he waited until he should be called.\n\nPi-wa\u1e55-\u014dk lay motionless; the young birds ceased their frightened\ncries, and all was still save for the breeze, which sung through the\ntree-top with a mournful sound. If the limb on which the nest was built\ngave way from his added weight, he knew that he would fall upon the\nrocks far below, a crushed and shapeless mass. It was an uneasy and\nfrightful thought.\n\nAnd now from afar the parent bird espied him in the nest, and swooped\ndown with a terrible rushing roar, like far-off thunder. Down, down,\nshe came, swift as an arrow, to the very edge of the nest, and then\nsoared upward with a bound, the rushing air behind swaying the tree as\nif a hurricane was passing. Again and again, four times in all, the\nbird made a rushing dive at the helpless man, and each time he heard\nits nearing cry he prayed, crying out that he had not come to harm its\nyoung, but to ask its aid. And at last the whitehead seemed to\nunderstand, for after the fourth fierce rush, it slowly sailed around\nand settled on the edge of the nest.\n\n\u201cHai-yu,\u201d Pi-wa\u1e55-\u014dk cried, \u201cbe you male or female, father or mother of\nthese young birds, as you love them, pity me.\u201d\n\n\u201cI am their mother,\u201d the bird replied, \u201cand, since you have called upon\nme in their name, say what is in your mind; I will help you if I can.\u201d\n\nThen the blind one told of his affliction, and how through great danger\nand sore distress of mind he had climbed the cliff, hoping the great\nbird might cure him.\n\n\u201cAlas,\u201d said the whitehead when he had finished, \u201cwhat you ask is\nbeyond my power; nor could my husband, who is away hunting, help you.\nNone of my kind could make you see again, for we have never had\noccasion to treat the eyes. We live to great age, but our eyes remain\nstrong and clear to the very end.\u201d\n\nPi-wa\u1e55-\u014dk wept. \u201cAlas!\u201d he cried, \u201chow my hopes have fallen. This long\nand dangerous climb, after all, brings no relief.\u201d\n\n\u201cNot so,\u201d said the bird. \u201cI cannot give you sight, but in other ways I\ncan do much for you. Here is a feather from my tail; take it, and keep\nit carefully, and you shall live to old age. And since you are helpless\nin your blindness, I will do more. I will teach you many wonderful\nthings, and will give you power to heal the sick. Then you will not sit\nsad and idle in your lodge. The people will keep coming for you to go\nhere and there to heal them and to practise your mysterious rites, and\nyou will be so busy that you will forget your blindness.\u201d\n\nThen the bird began, and through the long morning taught Pi-wa\u1e55-\u014dk,\nshowing him the secret of many wonderful things, telling him how and\nwhat to use for certain ailments. It took a long time to explain it\nall, and just as the bird finished, the blind one fell asleep.\n\nAfter a little he awoke. \u201cPut out your hand and feel,\u201d the whitehead\nsaid. He did so and found he was lying on grassy ground.\n\n\u201cYou are on the prairie at the top of the cliff,\u201d the bird continued;\n\u201cyour friend is sitting away over there on a point. Rise up and motion\nhim to come, for I must leave you now.\u201d\n\nWhen the young man saw him beckoning, he came running with all his\nmight. \u201cAh!\u201d he cried, as he came near, \u201cyou are cured.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d Pi-wa\u1e55-\u014dk replied. \u201cI am still as blind as ever.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen how came you here? How could you climb that awful cliff and still\nbe blind?\u201d\n\n\u201cI do not know,\u201d said Pi-wa\u1e55-\u014dk. \u201cI was asleep in the whitehead\u2019s nest,\nand when I awoke I was here.\u201d\n\nThe way home was easy, for they followed the rim of the valley to a\npoint beyond the cliff, and then descended a sloping hill. And when\nthey had arrived at camp the people came crowding around to hear all\nthat had happened.\n\nAs the whitehead had said, Pi-wa\u1e55-\u014dk became a great medicine man and\nhealer of the sick, and, through the secret power that the bird gave\nhim, he was able to do many strange things. He and his wife, \u00cd-kai-si,\nlived to a great age. He was the greatest healer the Bloods have ever\nhad.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRAGGED HEAD\n\n\nMany years ago there was a Nez Perc\u00e9 Indian whose name was Ragged Head.\nHe wore the long hair on the front of his head tied up in a bunch, and\nthe ends hanging over were ragged and of different lengths. This was\nwhy they gave him this name. This man was a great warrior. He could not\nbe killed. When he was a young man his dream helper had come to him in\nhis sleep and had spoken to him, saying:\n\n\u201cMy son, you are a man who need not fear to go into battle, for neither\narrow nor bullet nor lance nor knife can hurt you. You may rush into\nthe very midst of the enemy, and they will all run away from you. Take\ncourage, therefore, take great courage.\u201d Then his dream helper smoked\nwith him.\n\nBut when the dream helper had spoken to him in his sleep, and had told\nhim that he need not be afraid of his enemies, and had smoked with him,\nit had said further:\n\n\u201cMy son, some day you must die, and it may be that you will be killed\nby your enemy, for there is one thing that can hurt you. Only one\nthing, but of this you must be careful. If you should be shot with a\nramrod, it will pierce your flesh and you will die.\u201d\n\nAfter Ragged Head had returned to the camp, he told this part of his\ndream to no one, except to two of his close friends, for he did not\nwish it to be known and talked about. None of these three men thought\nmuch about it, nor felt afraid, for every one knows that people when\nthey are in battle and are trying to kill their enemies, do not shoot\nramrods at them, but bullets.\n\nWhen this man went to war he did not carry a gun, nor arrows, nor a\nlance. His weapon was a great war-club, made from the butt of an elk\nantler. With this he used to beat down his enemies. In the end of the\nclub he had put a lash, and he used it also as a riding quirt.\n\nEvery summer Ragged Head used to cross the mountains from his country\nto the plains, to hunt buffalo and to make war on the Piegans. When he\nsaw a party of his enemies, he would charge down upon them, shaking his\nwar-club and shouting out the war-cry; and when the Piegans saw who it\nwas that was coming they all tried to get out of his way, for they knew\nthat he could not be killed, and that they could not do anything to\nhurt him. So he killed many of his enemies, and had great fame among\nhis own people and among those against whom he fought. He was a leader\nof war-parties and always successful. Everybody was afraid of him, for\nall people knew that he had strong spiritual power, and that he could\nnot be killed.\n\nIt was early summer. The grass had started. The snow was melting on the\nmountains. Already the streams were high. It was time to go to war.\n\nFrom their camp on the plains a party of Piegans set out on the\nwar-path to cross the mountains and take horses from their enemies on\nthe other side\u2014Snakes, Flat Heads, or Nez Perc\u00e9s. On foot they made\ntheir way along the lower hills, climbed up through the narrow pass,\nand at length stood on the top of the mountain range, from which they\ncould look out over the lower country to the west. There, in the wide\ngray plain before them, they could trace the winding courses of many\nstreams, and from some of them rose smokes which showed that people\nwere camped there, and they knew that these people were their enemies.\n\nWhile they were stopping here, overlooking the country, the leader of\nthe war-party said to his young men:\n\n\u201cNow, here we will separate and go off in small parties to see what we\ncan discover, and after ten nights we will all meet again at the Round\nButte at the foot of this mountain, and return to our camp together.\u201d\n\nSo here the party divided, going off by twos and threes to try to find\nthe camps of their enemies.\n\nThere were two young Piegans who went off together. The younger of the\ntwo carried a bow and arrows, and the other had an old shot-gun the\nbarrels of which had been cut off short, so that he could carry it\nunder his robe without its being seen. The tube which had held the\nramrod in its place had been broken off, and there was no way to carry\nthe rod except in the barrel of the gun. When the boy was shooting, he\nheld the ramrod in his hand.\n\nAfter a few days\u2019 travel these young men found a trail where people had\npassed not long before, and following this trail, they saw a camp, and\nhid themselves near by to wait for night and then to go to it and take\nhorses. This was the camp of the Nez Perc\u00e9s, and Ragged Head was its\nchief.\n\nIn the night, after it was dark and the camp had become quiet, the\nyoung men crept down to the river, close to the lodges, to see what\nthey might do. The older boy said to his companion, \u201cI will go first\ninto the camp and see how things are there, and perhaps take a horse or\ntwo, and then I will come back here and tell you, and we can both go\nback and take more horses if all goes well.\u201d The other said, \u201cIt is\ngood; I will wait for you here.\u201d\n\nThe older boy crossed the stream and crept into the camp and looked\nabout. The people were sleeping; it was all quiet, and in front of the\nlodges were tied many fine horses. He found two that he liked, and cut\nthe ropes that held them, and led them back across the stream to where\nhe had left his friend; but when he reached the place his friend was\nnot waiting there. So the young man led the horses into the brush and\ntied them, and crossed the stream again for more. As he was wading\nthrough the water, carrying his gun muzzle up so that the ramrod should\nnot fall out, and when he was near the other bank, he saw a man\nstanding there, and thought it was his friend.\n\nWhen he came close to him he said: \u201cWhy did you not wait for me on the\nother side, as you said you would?\u201d The person did not answer, but\nstretched out his left hand and caught the boy by the hair, pulled him\nforward, and raised a great club, as if to strike him.\n\nThen the young Piegan was frightened. He put up his left hand to ward\noff the blow, and with his right he pushed the muzzle of his shot-gun\nagainst the person\u2019s body and pulled both triggers. The gun went off.\nThe man fell, and the young Piegan quickly ran away.\n\nAt the sound of the shot all the Nez Perc\u00e9s rushed out of their lodges\nand up and down the stream to learn what had happened. On the\nriver-bank they found Ragged Head dead. In his body was the splintered\nramrod.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNOTHING CHILD\n\n\nA long time ago there lived in the Blackfoot camp a young man who did\nnot like company. He preferred to be alone. He had a wife but no\nchildren, and one young brother who lived with him. This was his only\nclose relation. This man had a tame bear, which he had caught when it\nwas a little cub. During the day he went hunting, and set traps and\nsnares for game, and at night, when he returned to the camp, he did not\ngo about visiting at the other lodges, but stayed at home by himself.\n\nOne day he thought he would move away from the village and camp\nalone\u2014just his own lodge. They started, the man and his wife, and the\nyoung brother and the bear. They went up towards the mountains, and\ncamped in the timber. The man hunted and killed plenty of game, and\nthey stayed there for a long time. While the older brother was hunting,\nthe younger one used to stay at home, making arrows and shooting with\nthem, and at length he became a very good shot.\n\nAfter a time the younger brother had grown big, and he was a handsome\nboy, and the woman fell in love with him, but he took no notice of her.\n\nOne day, while the young brother was sitting in the lodge making\narrows, and the woman was outside tanning a hide, she called to him and\nsaid, \u201cOh, brother, come out and kill this pretty bird that is here,\u201d\nbut the boy was busy smoothing his arrows, and paid no attention.\nPretty soon she asked him again, and then a third time, and when she\ncalled him the fourth time he got up and went outside and killed the\nbird and gave it to her, and then went into the lodge again and kept on\nworking at his arrows. He did not stop and talk with her. Pretty soon\nthe boy went off into the timber to try his arrows. The bear was lying\nby the door of the lodge.\n\nThe woman was angry at the boy because he took no notice of her, and\nshe made up her mind that she would be revenged on him. So while he was\ngone she scratched and bruised her face and tore her hair.\n\nAt night her husband came home, and when he looked at his wife he saw\nthat her face was scratched and swollen and her hair all pulled about.\nHe sent out his young brother to hang up the meat that he had brought\nin, and the boy went leaving arrows lying by the fire to dry. While he\nwas gone the woman said to her husband, \u201cYour brother has beaten me\nbecause I asked him to shoot a pretty bird for me.\u201d She showed her\nhusband the scratches and bruises she had made on herself, and said,\n\u201cSee how he has used me.\u201d\n\nWhen the man heard this he was angry, but he said nothing. When the boy\ncame back from hanging up the meat, he looked for his arrows but did\nnot see them. Then he asked, \u201cWhere have you put my arrows?\u201d but no one\nanswered, and at length he saw the ends of them among the ashes, for\nhis brother had thrown them into the fire. When the boy saw that his\narrows had been burned he cried, and taking his robe and his bow and\nwhat arrows he had left, he went out of the lodge. He made up his mind\nthat he could not live here with his brother any longer, and decided to\ngo away. The bear, which all this time had been lying by the door of\nthe lodge, listening, was angry at the lies the woman had told, and at\nwhat her husband had done, and he got up and went out and followed the\nboy. They travelled for a while and then slept, and the next day went\non again, going towards the mountains.\n\nFor two days they travelled, and on the third day, as they were going\nalong, the boy saw sitting in a tree-top a bird that was white as snow,\nand different from any bird that he had seen before. He took an arrow\nfrom his quiver and shot the bird, and as it fell, it caught among the\nbranches and lodged there. He threw sticks at it, but could not knock\nit down, so he made up his mind that he would climb the tree and get\nthe bird and his arrow. When he had tightened his belt and was just\nabout to climb the tree, the bear spoke to him and said: \u201cYou had\nbetter not do this. If you go up there something bad may happen. It\nwill be better to let the things go.\u201d But the boy was very anxious to\nget that bird and his arrow, and would not listen to the bear\u2019s words,\nbut began to climb the tree.\n\nHe reached the branch where the arrow was, but when he stretched out\nhis hand to take it it moved up a little higher, just beyond his\nfingers. So he climbed higher and again reached for the arrow, and\nagain it moved up a little higher. He kept climbing and climbing, with\nthe arrow always moving in front of him, until at last he climbed out\nof sight.\n\nFor the rest of the day the bear stood at the foot of the tree, looking\nupward and whining and moaning for his friend, but he saw nothing of\nhim. About sundown all the boy\u2019s clothing came tumbling down together,\nbut nothing was seen of the boy. The bear would not leave the tree. He\nwaited there, hoping to see what had become of the boy, but that was\nthe last of him. He saw him no more.\n\nAfter the boy and the bear had left the camp, the older brother kept\nthinking of what had taken place. When they did not come back he felt\nlonesome and sad, and began to fear that something would happen to his\nyoung brother, and at last he made up his mind that he would start out\nand learn what had become of him. He left his lodge and set out in the\ndirection the two had taken. He found their trail and followed it, and\nafter two days came to the tree and there saw the bear, standing on his\nhind feet and resting his paws against the tree. The man asked the bear\nwhat had become of the boy, but the bear would not reply to him. He\nasked him the same question again, and a third and a fourth time, and\nthen the bear answered and said: \u201cAll this trouble has come upon us\nthrough your fault, because you listened to the lies your woman told\nyou. Your brother has climbed this tree and has gone out of sight, and\nnow for three days I have stood here, waiting for him to come down. His\nclothing has fallen down from up above, but he does not return.\u201d They\nwaited by the tree longer, but the boy did not come down, and at length\nthe man said to the bear: \u201cMy brother is gone. He will never come back.\nWe had better go back to the camp where we can live.\u201d The bear went\nback with him.\n\nOn their way the bear told the man how it really had been, and that it\nwas not the boy who had hurt the woman, but that she had done it\nherself, and in this way had caused his brother to lose his life. Then\nthe man was angry, and when they came near to the lodge he took an\narrow from his quiver and shot his wife, and her shadow went to the\nsand-hills.\n\nThat night the man said to the bear, \u201cWell, we are only two now, and\nfor myself, I have decided to stay here and starve to death, and as for\nyou, you had better leave me and go your way and make your living as\nall bears do.\u201d So the bear went away and did not return.\n\nOne night while the man was lying asleep, he dreamed of the bear; and\nthe bear spoke to him and said: \u201cMy brother, listen to the words that I\nspeak to you, and do now what I tell you to. Go back to the old camp of\nyour people, to the cliff where they drive the buffalo, the pi\u015b kun,\nand wait there. A camp of your people is moving towards that place.\nThey are very poor and have but little to eat. It may be that you can\nhelp them. Be sure to do exactly as I tell you from this time on, and\nin the days to come you will be unhappy no longer, but will have plenty\nof everything and will have full life. Now I wish you to-morrow, when\nyou awake, to eat up your lodge and everything that is in it. This\nseems to you like a hard thing, something that cannot be done, but, by\nthe power that I give you, you will be able to do it.\u201d\n\nWhen the man awoke, in the morning, he thought for a long time over\nwhat the bear had said to him in his sleep, and how it had said that in\nthe time to come he would be poor no longer, but would have full life,\nand how it had said that it would give him that power, and he made up\nhis mind to do as the bear had told him. He tore down his lodge and\nbegan to eat it, and found that this was not a hard thing to do. He ate\nthe lodge and the lining, his clothing, his wife\u2019s things\u2014everything\nthat he could find in the lodge, and then took his bow and arrows and\nstarted to go to the cliff as the bear had told him to.\n\nNow since the bear had left, the man had had no food to eat, and on his\njourney he found himself getting weak and growing smaller. When he\nreached the cliff there was no camp there, so he waited, and all the\ntime he kept getting weaker, and smaller and smaller, until he was no\nbigger than a year-old child. He thought now that he would surely die,\nand hid himself under a bunch of rye grass.\n\nThe next day the people moved in and camped at this place. An old woman\nwent out to get some grass for her bed, and while she was gathering it,\nshe heard a sound as if a little child were crying. She went in the\ndirection of the sound, and under a bunch of rye grass she found a\nlittle child. She carried him into the camp and took good care of him.\nWhen the chief of the camp heard of how she had found the child, he\nsaid to the old woman, \u201cTake good care of that child; he was put there\nfor some good purpose.\u201d\n\nAs time passed the child grew fatter and stronger, and the old woman\ngrew fond and proud of him. They called him Ki\u015b tap i pokau (Nothing\nChild.)\n\nNear this camp stood a tree, and every day an eagle came and alighted\nin the tree. The chief had tried many times to kill this eagle, and so\nhad other men, but no one could kill it. When they found that no one\ncould kill it, they wanted it all the more. The chief had two very\npretty daughters, and at length he said that he would give his\ndaughters to any one who would kill this eagle. When this was called\nout through the camp by the old crier, all the young men came out to\ntry to kill the eagle, but no one could do it. At last Nothing Child\nsaid to the old woman, \u201cGrandmother, make me some arrows so that I can\nkill the eagle.\u201d The old woman laughed when he asked her this, but she\nwas very fond of him, so she tied a string to a deer\u2019s rib for a bow\nand made him some little arrows, and he set out to kill the eagle. When\nthe young men who had been shooting at the eagle saw the child coming\nwith the tiny bow, they laughed and made fun of him, but Nothing Child\nfitted a little arrow on the string of his bow, and shot and killed the\neagle. Then all who were standing by were astonished, but they said,\n\u201cIt must have been a chance shot.\u201d The eagle was taken to the chief\u2019s\nlodge, and they told him it had been killed by the Nothing Child. So he\ntold his daughters to go and marry the found boy.\n\nBut the young men were not satisfied with this decision. They said that\nit was not fair, that the boy had made a chance shot, and they asked\nthe chief to try their skill in some other way. So the chief told the\nyoung men that they might again try their luck for the young girls, and\nthat whoever killed a white wolf with a black tail should have his\ndaughters. All the men went out from the camp and built their wooden\ntraps, and Nothing Child also went out and made a wooden trap. The next\nmorning they all went out to visit their traps, and in almost all the\ntraps they found something\u2014wolves, foxes, badgers, and other animals.\nSome of the wolves were white all over, and some were white with gray\ntails, but no one had a white wolf with a black tail. The Nothing\nChild, with his grandmother, went out from the camp to his trap in a\ndifferent direction from the rest, and in their trap they found a white\nwolf with a black tail. They took it into camp and to the chief\u2019s\nlodge, and when he saw it he said that this was the wolf he wanted.\n\nNow all the young men in the camp were jealous of the Nothing Child,\nfor it was certain that he would get the chief\u2019s daughters for his\nwives. So they went to the chief and asked him to try his people once\nmore, that they thought that the Nothing Child had not killed the wolf\nfairly. So the chief now said: \u201cWhoever will bring me a white fox with\na black-tipped tail shall have my daughters. This will be the last\ntrial, and after this no one need complain.\u201d\n\nThe young men set their traps all over the prairie, but Nothing Child\nasked his grandmother to go with him, and he went to a place far from\nall the others and there set his trap. The next morning the young men\nall went out to look at their traps. Some had foxes and some had other\nanimals, but when Nothing Child went to his trap, he found in it a\nwhite fox with a black-tipped tail, and when it was taken to the\nchief\u2019s lodge he said that this was the fox he meant, and he told his\ndaughters to get ready and go and marry the Nothing Child. The youngest\ngirl was willing to do what her father ordered, but the elder was not.\n\nThey put on their finest clothing and left their father\u2019s lodge and\nstarted for Nothing Child\u2019s home. As they walked along, the elder girl\nsaid to her sister, \u201cI am not going to marry this child, to be laughed\nat by everybody.\u201d The younger sister said, \u201cI am going to do what my\nfather told me to. It is better to do so. Besides that, the Nothing\nChild must be a very powerful person. See how many wonderful things he\nhas done.\u201d The elder girl said, \u201cWell, I am not going to his lodge. I\nam going to marry Masto pau (Raven Arrow).\u201d This was a young man who\nhad the power to turn himself into a raven whenever he wished. So the\nelder girl went her way to Raven Arrow, but the younger kept on towards\nNothing Child\u2019s lodge.\n\nWhen the girl came to the lodge and went in, the old woman told her to\nsit down. Nothing Child was playing at the back of the lodge. The girl\nsaid, \u201cMy father sent me to sit beside the person who killed the eagle,\nthe white wolf with the black tail, and the white fox with the\nblack-tipped tail.\u201d Nothing Child said, \u201cI am the person who did that,\nbut I do not want any woman to sit beside me.\u201d The girl answered: \u201cMy\nfather sent me to sit beside you, and I shall stay here. I am not going\nhome any more.\u201d When the boy saw that the girl was resolved to stay, he\nsaid, \u201cVery well, you shall be my wife.\u201d So she stayed, and was\npleasant and nice with the boy and played with him, and he liked her.\nShe saw that he was very poor, but she seemed to take no notice of\nthat.\n\nAt this time the camp was very short of food. The young men scouted far\nand near over the prairie, but could find no buffalo. It was a hard\ntime; everybody was hungry. One day Nothing Child said to his wife:\n\u201cNow you stay here for a while. I am going away for a time. I am going\nto try to find a band of buffalo and bring them into camp.\u201d He made\nready for his journey and started. After he had travelled a long way he\ncame to a wet, marshy place near the mountains, where in summer many\nbuffalo had been. Here he gathered up buffalo chips, and made great\npiles of them in a row, and when he had finished, he went back some\nway, and then came running and shouting towards the piles of chips.\nWhen he got close to them he stopped, and then went back again, and\nagain came running and shouting upon the chips, but nothing happened.\nHe repeated this a third and a fourth time, and the fourth time, when\nhe got near the piles, the chips turned into buffaloes and rushed off\nover the prairie, and Nothing Child ran them towards the camp and drove\nthem over the cliff into the pi\u015b kun, so that once more the camp was\nsupplied with meat.\n\nThe next day Nothing Child told his wife to go to her father\u2019s lodge\nfor the day, and not to return until night. After the girl had gone he\nspoke to his grandmother and said: \u201cGrandmother, you have seen what\nstrange things I have done, and you can see that I have some power.\nThat power which I have was given to me by a bear that has helped me,\nand because I have done just what he told me to I have been able to\naccomplish the things that you have seen me do. I do not know the\nsecret of my power, but I know that I have it. Now, Grandmother, I want\nyou to do something for me. I want you to take a rope and tie me by the\nfeet to the lodge poles, so that I may hang head downward from the\npoles. I am little, and you can easily hold me up.\u201d The old woman did\nas he had told her, and he hung there head downward. Pretty soon he\nopened his mouth, and a little piece of cowskin stuck out. Nothing\nChild took hold of this and began to pull on it, and more and more came\nout, and at last he had pulled out the whole of his old lodge, and then\nhe pulled out the lining, and afterwards many of his old belongings.\nWhen he had eaten all these things they had been old, but now they were\nnew and white, and finely ornamented. The lodge was painted, the\nwoman\u2019s clothing was beautifully worked with porcupine quills; there\nwas a new full set of war clothing for himself\u2014all very fine.\n\nAfter he had done this Nothing Child asked the old woman to untie him,\nand when he was on his feet again it was seen that he was no longer a\nchild, but a full-grown man, very handsome. He told the old woman to\nset up the new lodge, and she did so. When his wife returned she was\nsurprised to see all the new things. They looked strange to her. Also\nher husband, who, when she last saw him, was a small boy and rather\nugly, was now a big, fine-looking man. The girl was pleased with the\nchange, and now they lived together for a long time very happily.\n\nAfter a time Raven Arrow became jealous of Nothing Child because of his\npower, but Nothing Child did not notice this, and, because Raven Arrow\nwas poor, he asked him to come and live with him in his lodge. He did\nso, and they lived together for some time, and now the elder daughter\nof the chief was sorry that she had not done as her father had told her\nto.\n\nOne day, in the early summer, Nothing Child\u2019s wife said to him, \u201cOh,\nhow much I would like some fresh berries to eat!\u201d He said to her: \u201cDo\nyou want some fresh berries? Well, now, go out and gather a lot of\nsarvis berry branches and bring them to me here in the lodge.\u201d The\nwoman did as he had told her, and brought in the bushes and threw them\ndown on the floor of the lodge. Then Nothing Child took a tanned\nelk-skin and covered the bushes with it. In a short time he told his\nwife to take the skin off the brush, and when she did so she was\nastonished, for she found the twigs loaded with fine ripe berries, as\nthough they were growing.\n\nNow, when Raven Arrow\u2019s wife saw this she felt that she too would like\nsome berries, and she asked her husband if he could do this. But he\nsaid: \u201cNo. It is useless for me to try to do things that I know I\ncannot do. I can change myself into a raven and can do many other\nthings, but I cannot make ripe berries grow in the spring, nor can I do\nmany other things that Nothing Child does.\u201d\n\nAfter some time it happened that food again became scarce in the camp,\nand the chief sent word to his son-in-law, asking him if he could not\nagain bring the buffalo into the camp, as he had done before. The\nhunters had been out and had travelled far over the prairie, but they\ncould see nothing. Nothing Child sent word back that this was a hard\nthing he was asked to do; he feared he could not do it, but he would\ntry.\n\nHe made ready for his journey and started, travelling a long way\nlooking for the buffalo, but he found none. He then went to the marsh\nwhere he had made buffalo before, and again made many little piles of\nbuffalo chips in rows, and again went back some distance and then came\ncharging down on the piles running and shouting. And the fourth time he\ndid this the piles of chips changed into real buffalo and started\nrunning. And Nothing Child ran the herd over the cliff, as he had done\nbefore, and again the camp was supplied with meat. In this herd was one\nwhite buffalo. His wife met him at the cliff, and he told her that this\nwhite buffalo was hers. That she must be careful of the skin when she\nhad taken it off.\n\nHis wife told her husband that Raven Arrow had changed himself into a\nraven, and had flown away to look for buffalo, saying that if he found\nany he was going to drive them out of the country. This made Nothing\nChild angry, but he said nothing and waited. One day, as he was sitting\nby the fire, Raven Arrow, in the shape of a white raven, flew into the\nlodge and lit on the ground by him. When Nothing Child saw him he\nseized him and tied him by the feet to a lodge pole high up in the\nsmoke and kept him there until he was nearly dead from the smoke. At\nlast Nothing Child asked him if he would promise never again to drive\nthe buffalo away from the people. Raven Arrow promised that he would\nnever again do so, and Nothing Child untied him and let him down, when\nhe changed into a man again. Up to that time ravens had always been\nwhite, but ever since the smoking that this raven got they have been\nblack.\n\nNothing Child and his wife lived to full age and always had plenty of\neverything.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSHIELD QUIVER\u2019S WIFE\n\n\nThere were two young men growing up in the Blackfoot camp. They were\nboth good warriors and were making great names for themselves. One was\nlucky in taking horses. His name was Shield Quiver. The other was\nfortunate in killing enemies when he went to war. He was called\nBearhead. When either of the two went to war, he always had a big party\nto follow him. Bearhead was jealous of Shield Quiver, because he always\nbrought in horses.\n\nOne time the Blackfeet were camped at the Bear Paw Mountains, when\nShield Quiver made up his mind that he would go off on the war-path.\nWhen he said that he was going, a large party intended to go with him.\n\nBefore he started the chief of the camp sent for him to come to his\nlodge, saying that he wished to speak with him. When Shield Quiver had\ncome to the lodge the chief said: \u201cHere, my young man, now that you are\ngoing to war, take my daughter with you, for you are the man that ought\nto have her. But you will have to be on your guard against Bearhead. He\nwants my daughter, and for a long time has been trying to get her, but\nI cannot let him have her. He has a bad disposition. He has had many\nwives, but, after living with them for a short time, he has got angry\nwith them and killed them. I am afraid that if I give him my daughter\nhe might kill her.\u201d\n\nShield Quiver thought for a little while, and then said: \u201cVery well; I\nwill go to war, and I will take your daughter with me, but if I go with\na woman I cannot let men go with me. I shall have to go alone.\u201d\n\nThe chief said: \u201cI cannot say anything about that. You will do what you\nthink best. I cannot advise you.\u201d\n\nSo Shield Quiver took the chief\u2019s daughter for his wife. He said to his\nfollowers: \u201cNow I am going to war, but you men cannot come with me. I\nshall be gone two moons, and then I will come back. I am going alone.\u201d\n\nHe started with his young wife, and they went towards the Snake\nCountry. They travelled for a good many days, until they came to a\nrange of mountains and crossed it. Then they went on towards the head\nwaters of a stream that they could see a long way off. When they\nreached this stream they found that the Snakes had been camped there,\nand had moved away that day. The fires were still burning in the camp.\n\nWhen Shield Quiver found that the Snakes had only just moved from\nthere, he said to his wife: \u201cHere, let us get back in the brush. These\npeople are not far from here. They may see us. We must hide ourselves.\u201d\nThey went back into the brush and hid.\n\nWhile they were waiting in the brush a dark cloud came up in the west,\nand it looked as if they were going to have a storm. Shield Quiver said\nto his wife: \u201cWhile we have to wait, I will fix up a little shelter of\nbrush here, so that we may keep dry; but to-night we will go to the\ncamp and take horses.\u201d\n\n\u201cVery well,\u201d said his wife, \u201cwhile you are fixing the place, I will go\naround the point and into the old camp and will see if I can find\nanything there that has been left behind.\u201d For often something may be\nforgotten and left in the camp.\n\nThat day the Snakes had left this camp, and had moved over to another\ncreek. The head chief of the Snakes had but one son, a fine-looking\nyoung man\u2014the handsomest in all the Snake camp. That morning, before\nthey moved, he had painted himself and had dressed himself finely, and\nafter he had finished he handed his mother his sack of paints to pack.\nWhile his mother was packing, she put down the paints in a little patch\nof brush, near the lodge, and then went away and forgot them.\n\nWhen the young man came into camp that evening he said to his mother,\n\u201cMother, where are my paints?\u201d Then his mother remembered that she had\nleft them in the camp they had just come from. She said, \u201cOh, my son, I\nforgot the sack, and left it in a little patch of brush just back of\nwhere the lodge stood.\u201d The young man caught up a horse and went back\nto get it that same evening.\n\nWhen he rode into the old camp, and came to where the lodge had been,\nhe saw there on her knees a woman with an elk robe over her head, and\nin her hands his paints, which she was looking at. When he rode up to\nher, and when she looked up at him, he saw that she was very pretty,\nand he liked her as soon as he looked at her; and she, when she saw\nhim, so handsome and finely dressed and painted, liked him.\n\nHe made signs to her, saying, \u201cWho are you, and what tribe do you\nbelong to?\u201d She signed back to him that she was a Blackfoot. Then she\nasked him, \u201cWho and what are you?\u201d He answered, \u201cA Snake.\u201d He asked her\nby signs, \u201cWhere is the party that you are with?\u201d She said, \u201cThere are\nonly two of us.\u201d He said, \u201cCome, get on my horse behind me here, and\nlet us go to my camp.\u201d She answered: \u201cNo, there are some things that I\nhave here that I want to get. Then I will go with you.\u201d Then she\nthought a little and said: \u201cThe only other person here is my husband.\nWhy do you not kill him? I will help you.\u201d The Snake said: \u201cIt is good.\nI will do it.\u201d The girl said to him: \u201cI will go to him, and do you\ncreep through the brush, and as soon as I see you I will throw my robe\naround him and hold him, and you can kill him with your lance.\u201d\n\nShe went back to the camping-place, and when she got there her husband\nwas stooping down hobbling the horses. The Snake was right behind her,\ncreeping through the brush. She walked up to her husband and threw\nherself down over him, and kissed him while he was hobbling the horses.\nHe looked up at her and laughed. He thought she was only playing with\nhim. In a minute he heard the footsteps of some one coming, running,\nand he said, \u201cLook out! here comes somebody,\u201d and he tried to throw her\noff, but he could not. He raised himself up while she clung to him, and\nthe Snake made a pass at him with the lance, but he was afraid of\nkilling the woman, and he missed the man, and Shield Quiver caught hold\nof the lance. He kept calling to his wife: \u201cLet go of me. This man is\ntrying to kill me. He will kill us both. Let us try to save ourselves.\u201d\n\nShield Quiver and the Snake wrestled and tugged backward and forward to\nsee who should get the lance. They were both strong men, and at length\nthe shaft broke, and Shield Quiver held the piece on which was the\nhead. Then he jumped back and shook off his wife, and rushed at the\nSnake and thrust the lance into his breast, and so killed him with his\nown lance.\n\nThen he turned to his wife and said: \u201cNow, woman, I have killed this\nman that you have tried to help, and I would like to have you tell me\nwhat is the reason that you acted as you did, and tried to help him to\nkill me.\u201d\n\nThen the woman explained her reasons, and said: \u201cWhen I left you I went\ninto the camp and found this sack of paint, and while I was looking at\nit he came up and asked me to go to his camp with him, and I liked him,\nand thought that I would go with him. So we laid a plan to kill you\nbefore we went to camp.\u201d\n\nShield Quiver said to her: \u201cNow, woman, listen. Bearhead wanted you. He\nhas had a good many women, and he has killed all that he had. Through\npity I took you. I never expected to take a wife. I will not do\nanything to you for what you have done to me, but will take good care\nof you and will give you back to your father.\u201d\n\nHe scalped the Snake and took everything that he had. The woman was\ncrying hard. He asked her what she was crying about, and she answered:\n\u201cI am crying for my lover, who is dead.\u201d He said: \u201cSaddle up your\nhorse. We will go home.\u201d\n\nThey started, and after many days\u2019 travel reached the Blackfoot camp.\nIt was in the night. The next morning Shield Quiver said to his wife:\n\u201cPut on your best clothing. I told you I was going to give you back to\nyour father, and I am going to take you there this morning. So get\nready to go.\u201d\n\nThe woman put on her best clothes, and painted herself up nicely, and\nthey started off to the old chief\u2019s lodge. The old chief was glad to\nsee his son-in-law and his daughter back again. No one knew that Shield\nQuiver had killed a Snake. He had not spoken of it to any one. After\nthey had sat down the young man reached down into his belt and drew out\nthe scalp and said: \u201cHere, old man, here is all I have done on this\njourney. I have taken no horses, but I have killed a Snake. I have\nkilled your daughter\u2019s lover. It is only by the help and the power of\nthe Sun that you see me here to-day. Your daughter tried to kill me on\nthis trip, while I was fighting with this Snake Indian. I am afraid to\nlive with her, and have brought her back to you again. This is the best\nI can do, to give you this scalp and your daughter back again.\u201d When\nShield Quiver had said this he got up and walked out of the lodge, and\nwent back to his own home. The old man said nothing.\n\nThe girl had two brothers, and both were sitting in the lodge while\nShield Quiver was speaking; and when they had heard the story told, and\nhad thought about it, they got up, and each took hold of one of the\ngirl\u2019s arms, and they led her out of the lodge. Then they said to her:\n\u201cYou cannot live here with us. You had better go and join your dead\nSnake lover.\u201d\n\nSo they killed her there.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE BEAVER STICK\n\n\nIn ancient times, long before the people had found horses and used them\ninstead of dogs to bear burdens and drag lodge poles, there lived\nMan-yan\u2014New Robe\u2014an orphan.\n\nNew Robe\u2019s parents had died when he was a little child, and he was\nbrought up by an old woman who also died before he grew up to be a man.\nHis parents, hopeful for his future, had given their son a good name,\nbut in all his life up to the time he was seventeen or eighteen years\nold, he had never worn a new robe or any other new article of clothing.\nThe cast-off garments of the well-to-do were thought good enough for\nhim. He was always dirty and ragged, and his matted and tangled hair\nhung low over his forehead, and almost hid his sore red eyes. Somewhere\nhe had picked up an old bow, but it had no strength; and even if it had\nbeen strong and full of quick spring, the broken-pointed flint heads of\nhis arrows would not have pierced the flesh of any large animal. He had\nan old flint knife, but its edge was so ragged and blunted that it\nwould scarcely cut a piece of boiled meat.\n\nYet New Robe lived along contentedly enough, for he knew nothing better\nthan all this. He never thought that he was different from other young\nmen, until one day he chanced to overhear the conversation of some\nyoung women. He was lying half asleep in a patch of willows when the\ngirls came along, and, stopping near him, sat down and kept on talking.\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said one, \u201cyou have each told your choice, but you have not\nspoken of the very handsomest and nicest of all the young men. Why have\nyou forgotten New Robe?\u201d\n\nThey all shrieked with laughter\u2014she who had spoken most of all\u2014and then\nbegan to jest about him, and New Robe\u2019s face grew hot as he heard the\nmany unkind things they said about his appearance and his poverty. One\nof the girls, however, had a better heart.\n\n\u201cIt is wrong,\u201d she said, \u201cfor us to talk in this way about the young\nman. He cannot help being poor, and I am sorry for him. I must say,\nthough, that he might be cleaner and neater than he is. I wish I could\ntalk to him; I would like to tell him some things that would be for his\ngood.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy, you must be in love with him,\u201d one of the girls exclaimed,\nlaughing.\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d replied the other, \u201cI pity the poor young man, and, if my\nfather would allow me, I would marry him and make a man of him. All he\nneeds to change his ways is kindness and teaching.\u201d\n\nIn the evening New Robe met this girl, Mas-tah ki\u2014Raven Woman\u2014as she\nwas coming from the river with a skin of water. Already he had combed\nout his hair and washed himself, and she stared at him in surprise.\n\n\u201cAh,\u201d he said, stopping her in the path. \u201cTo-day I heard your kind\nwords, and have taken them to my heart. I am going away to try to earn\na name, to try to become a chief. Pray for me; ask the Sun to help me.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will pray for you every day,\u201d said the girl.\n\n\u201cAnd if I return such a man that no one need be ashamed of me,\u201d he\nasked, \u201cwill you be my wife?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, gladly,\u201d she replied. \u201cAnd now go; people are looking at us.\u201d\n\nThe next morning New Robe left the camp. He did not know where to go,\nnor what he was going to do. Something seemed to tell him to push\nforward, and that somehow, in some way, he would be fortunate. He had\nbut little food, only some tough, dried meat, and his weapons were poor\nand of little use; yet he did not fear that he would starve, or suffer\nany harm from the animals or from the enemy.\n\nIt was late in the fall, and the nights were very cold. One evening,\nafter a long day\u2019s tramp, he came to the edge of a broad beaver pond.\nTall, thick grass grew on the dam, and he pulled armfuls of this and\nheaped it up, and then crawled under the pile to pass the night. It was\na warm, soft nest, and he was already almost asleep when some one\ncalled his name. He lifted his head and looked out from under the\ngrass, and saw standing near by a handsome young man, very beautifully\ndressed.\n\n\u201cCome,\u201d said the stranger, \u201cthis is a cold and cheerless place. My\nfather\u2019s lodge is close by, and he asks you to be his guest.\u201d\n\nNew Robe arose and shook the grass from his robe. \u201cIt is strange,\u201d he\nsaid, \u201cthat I did not see your camp. Before I descended into the valley\nfrom the prairie I looked carefully over it, up and down.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is very near here,\u201d the stranger replied. \u201cCome, let us go in. My\nfather waits for us, and the night is cold.\u201d\n\nHe started, and led the way out over the ice, which had frozen from the\nshore for some distance out into the pond. New Robe followed, wondering\nwhy they should take that course. Presently they reached the edge of\nthe ice; just beyond, a large beaver house rose above the water.\n\n\u201cThat is our home,\u201d said the stranger. \u201cNow, I am going to dive, and\nyou must follow me. Just shut your eyes, and do not be afraid.\u201d\n\nWith a great splash he disappeared in the water, and New Robe, after\nhesitating a little and praying to the Sun for aid in this strange\nadventure, closed his eyes and pitched headlong into the place where\nhis companion had disappeared. After swimming a few strokes, he felt\nthe pressure of the water suddenly give way, and, opening his eyes,\nfound that he was in a great circular lodge. From the doorway a pool of\nwater extended into the centre of it, and between its edge and the\nwalls were beds of soft and beautiful robes. On the one at the back sat\na kind-looking old man, who spoke pleasantly to him and bade him take a\nseat by his side; and as New Robe stepped out of the pool he found that\nhe was perfectly dry\u2014no part of his clothing or person had been wet by\nthe water he had passed through. Near the old man sat his wife, a\nhandsome old woman, and on other beds reclined their two sons, one of\nwhom had guided New Robe to the place. They all wore clothing of\nbeautiful material and fashion, but he now noticed that the skin of\neach of these persons, wherever it could be seen\u2014even their faces\u2014was\ncovered with fine fur, that of the two sons being pure white.\n\n\u201cYou are welcome, my son,\u201d said the old man\u2014\u201cwelcome to the lodge of\nthe Beaver Chief. One of my sons saw you creeping into your nest of\ngrass, and I bade him invite you in. These nights are cold for one to\nbe without shelter.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d added his wife, \u201cand no doubt the poor young man is hungry; he\nseems to be lean and pinched.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh! Ai! To be sure,\u201d said the old man; \u201cof course he is hungry: just\ngive me a dish, and I will prepare some food for him.\u201d\n\nNew Robe looked in astonishment at what the Beaver Chief was doing. He\ntook a large buffalo chip and placed it in the dish, and began to break\nit up into fine pieces, singing, as he did so, a strange song. The\nhard, dry stuff turned into rich pemmican, and when the last bit of the\nchip had been broken up the bowl was passed to him. His wonder\nincreased when he found that the food tasted as good as it looked.\n\n\u201cOur only food,\u201d said the old man, \u201cis the bark of the trees; for,\nafter all, you know, we are actually beavers, although we have the\npower to change our bodies into the form of any living thing. But there\nare many secret and wonderful things that we have learned through much\nprayer and through the search for different medicines. Stay with us for\na time, and perhaps you may learn something of them. Just look about\nyou and see how many we have gathered in our time.\u201d\n\nIndeed, there were more than one could count. They hung on the walls\nand from the roof, enclosed in beautiful pouches and sacks of strange\nshape. New Robe wondered what they were, and wished he could open each\none and examine it.\n\nThe pool in the centre of the lodge was never still; the current coming\nin from the door whirled slowly around and around. On its surface\nfloated a short piece of beaver cutting which seemed very old and quite\nwater-soaked; yet it did not sink, nor, like other pieces of wood,\nfinally float out on the current constantly entering and going out of\nthe doorway. Night and day it whirled slowly around the circumference\nof the pool. Although there was no fire in the lodge, it was warm\nenough, and not colder at night than in the daytime: thus little\ncovering was needed when its occupants went to bed.\n\nNew Robe was awakened from his first night\u2019s rest in the strange place\nby the old man calling him to arise and eat. He had scarcely begun to\ntaste a fresh dish of the strangely made pemmican, when the water in\nthe pool began to heave and rise, and then again sank to its level as\none of the sons arose from its depths and stepped over to his couch,\nnot a drop of water clinging to him or his garments. \u201cOur pond is\nfrozen over,\u201d he said. \u201cNot even an air-hole remains open.\u201d\n\n\u201cHai!\u201d the old man exclaimed. \u201cIs it so? Well, winter has come, and,\u201d\nturning to New Robe, \u201cnow you cannot leave us until spring comes and\nmelts the ice. But do not be uneasy; we will treat you well, and try to\nmake your life here pleasant.\u201d\n\nSo New Robe spent the winter in the beaver\u2019s lodge. The days came and\nwent, one after another, and easy contentment marked their flight. Most\nof the waking hours were passed by the beavers in praying to their\nmedicines and in singing their sacred songs, and the young man,\nlistening, learned much of their secret wisdom.\n\nThe months passed, and one morning the water in the whirling pool was\nseen to be a little muddy. The next day, one of the sons reported that\nin places the ice had melted. The old man and the two sons went out to\nlook about and inspect the dam, leaving New Robe and the old woman\ninside.\n\n\u201cKyi,\u201d she said, \u201csummer is now come, and you will soon leave us.\nBefore you go the old man will make you a present; he will give you\nyour choice of all his medicines. Choose that stick whirling about\nthere in the pool, for it is the strongest of them all. He will try to\nmake you believe it is worthless, but insist on having it, and finally\nhe will give it to you.\u201d\n\nPresently the others returned. \u201cWell,\u201d said the old man to New Robe,\n\u201cspring has really come, and I know that you wish to return to your\npeople. I am going to give you something to take back with you. Look\nabout you, my son. See all these beautiful medicines hanging on the\nwalls. Choose the one you fancy, and it is yours.\u201d\n\n\u201cGive me that,\u201d said New Robe, pointing to the floating stick.\n\n\u201cO-e-ai!\u201d the old man exclaimed, in a surprised and pained tone.\n\u201cO-e-ai! What? That old stick? Surely, my son, you must be crazy. Look\nabout you; open your eyes and choose one of these beautiful medicines.\u201d\n\n\u201cGive me the stick,\u201d New Robe repeated.\n\n\u201cCome, come. Surely you do not know what you ask for. Now let me\nexplain to you,\u201d and the old man began to point out the different\nmedicines and to tell what they were, explaining the wonderful and\nmysterious power of each. \u201cThere, you see,\u201d he concluded, \u201chow\nunreasonable was your choice. Now I have explained them all, tell me\nwhich will you have?\u201d\n\nNew Robe considered; he wondered if the old woman had not been mistaken\nin advising him to choose the old beaver cutting, but he caught her\neye, and, assured by her meaning glance, replied as before, \u201cGive me\nthe stick.\u201d\n\nOnce more the old man tried with all his power to persuade him to make\na different choice, and the sweat rolled from his brow as he entreated\nthe young man to select something else, and once more New Robe said, \u201cI\nwant the stick.\u201d\n\n\u201cO-e-ai!\u201d cried the old man in despair. \u201cFour times you have asked for\nthe old cutting, and when that sacred number is reached I cannot\nrefuse. Take the cutting, my son. It is the most valuable and powerful\nof all my medicines. It is really a beaver which, at will, you can\nchange to the simple cutting as it appears to be.\u201d\n\nNew Robe was pleased, and when he learned how powerful the medicine was\nthat he had chosen he knew that he had not left the home of his people\nin vain. He was now obliged to put off his departure, for he had to\nlearn the hundred songs and the many prayers that went with his gift.\nBut at last he knew them all by heart, and the old man gave him some\nparting advice.\n\n\u201cYou must not look back,\u201d he said, \u201cwhen you leave us, not even once,\nor the medicine will leave you and return to me. Also, you must always\ncarry it concealed beneath your shirt, hanging by the string I have\ntied to it. Never let any one see it, or your power will be broken.\u201d\n\nThen they all bade him good-bye, and he dived into the pool, and\npresently rose to the surface of the pond. When he reached the shore he\nknelt down in the grass and cried, cried long and bitterly, for he felt\nvery sad to leave the kind beavers. It was all he could do to keep from\nlooking back for one last glimpse of them. But after a time he rose and\nwalked on, out of the valley, up over the dry, wide plain. After a\nlittle he came to a river, swollen and swift with the melted snows. He\nplaced a little cutting in the water, and it changed at once into a\nlarge, pure white beaver.\n\n\u201cLittle brother,\u201d said New Robe, \u201cthe stream is high and dangerous. Cut\nme some logs so that I may make a raft on which to cross it safely.\u201d\n\nAt once the beaver began to fell some trees, and, as fast as he cut\nthem into lengths, New Robe bound them together. In a little while\nthere were enough to bear his weight, and he crossed to the other side\nin safety. Then, lifting the beaver up, it changed into the stick\nagain, and, putting it safely in his bosom, he journeyed on.\n\nOne morning he came in sight of the camp, and sat down on a neighboring\nhill, prepared to do just as the old man had instructed him.\n\nPretty soon two or three young men approached, looking with wonder at\nthe strange and beautiful robe he wore. When they had come near enough\nto hear his voice\u2014for he kept his face covered\u2014he told them to stand\nwhere they were, and asked them to go and tell the father of Raven\nWoman that he was New Robe, returned from strange adventures, and with\na powerful medicine. \u201cAsk him,\u201d he said, \u201cto have four sweat lodges\nbuilt for me, in a row from east to west, and when the stones are\nheated to let me know.\u201d\n\nThe young men returned to the camp, and in a little while came back to\nsay that all was ready. New Robe told them to walk ahead and warn the\npeople to keep away from him, and, as they all stood in a big crowd on\neach side of his path, he came to the first sweat lodge and entered it.\nSprinkling the water on the hot stones, he began the sacred songs that\nthe old man beaver had taught him, and, as he sang, some of the fur\nwith which his body had been gradually covered during the winter fell\nto the ground. Soon he left this sweat lodge and went into the next\none, and the people crowded around the one he had left, looking with\nwonder at the little heap of shed fur. So he went into the four sweat\nlodges, one after the other.\n\nWhen he came out of the fourth sweat lodge, New Robe had shed the last\nof his beaver fur, and was so changed that no one recognized him. He\nwas a beautiful, clear-eyed, long-haired young man. He went straight to\nRaven Woman, who was standing near, and took her hand. They were both\nso happy they could not speak. The girl\u2019s father pointed to his lodge.\n\u201cIt is yours,\u201d he said, \u201cand everything it contains. Go and live\nhappily, my children.\u201d\n\nNew Robe became a great chief. By the aid of his medicine he was able\nnot only to cure sickness, but he became a great warrior. No river or\nlake could stop his way, and he was able to kill many of the enemy who\nwere encamped by the shores of any water, for, whenever he asked it of\nhis medicine, it took him safely down under the surface of the water,\nwherever he wished to go.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLITTLE FRIEND COYOTE\n\n\nIt was in the summer, when the Blackfoot and Piegan tribes were camped\ntogether, that the Blackfoot Front Wolf first noticed Su-y\u00e9-sai-pi, a\nPiegan girl, and liked her, and determined to make her his wife. She\nwas young and handsome and of good family, and her parents were\nwell-to-do, for her father was a leading warrior of his tribe. Front\nWolf was himself a noted warrior, and had grown rich from his forays on\nthe camps of the enemy, so when he asked for the young woman her\nparents were pleased\u2014pleased to give their daughter to such a strong\nyoung man, and pleased to accept the thirty horses he sent them with\nthe request.\n\nIn those days, in the long ago, such inter-tribal marriages were\ncommon, for the two great camps often travelled together in quest of\nthe buffalo, sometimes for a whole winter and summer, and thus the\nyoung people became acquainted with each other. Again they would be\nseparated by hundreds of miles of rolling plain.\n\nAfter their marriage the young couple continued to live in the Piegan\ncamp, for Front Wolf had many friends there of his own age, who begged\nhim to remain with them. They liked to go on raids under his leadership\nbetter than with any one else. It seemed to his wife as if he were\nalways away on some expedition, so seldom was he at home, and as she\nhad learned to respect and love him, she was very lonely during these\nlong absences. One summer, only two or three days after his return from\na successful war-journey against the Crows, he said to his wife: \u201cIt is\na long time since I have seen my parents. Now I think it time for me to\nvisit them and give them some horses. If you have any little things you\nwish to send them, hurry and make them ready, so that I may take them.\u201d\n\n\u201cI have some pretty moccasins for your father,\u201d said Su-y\u00e9-sai-pi, \u201cand\na fine buckskin dress for your mother; but I am not going to send them.\nI want to go with you and present them myself. It seems as if you do\nnot care at all for me. Here you are just home from a long journey, and\nyet you would start right out again, without thinking about me at all.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d Front Wolf replied, \u201cit is not that I do not love you; you may go\nwith me if you insist on it. I did not like to ask you to make the\ntrip, for the distance is great, and there is danger on the way.\u201d\n\nSu-y\u00e9-sai-pi was happy. She began her preparations at once, and only\nlaughed at her parents when they urged her to remain with them, telling\nher that the plains swarmed with war parties in search of scalps and\nplunder, and that she would surely be killed.\n\nAt this time the Piegans were hunting on the Lower Milk River, but the\nmorning that Front Wolf and his wife started away the whole camp moved\ntoo, for the chiefs wished to pass the hot season along the foot-hills\nof the great mountains. At the last moment five young Blackfeet,\nvisitors in the camp, decided that they too would return home, so they\nset forth with the couple, and helped drive the little herd of horses\nthat Front Wolf intended to give his relatives. The northern tribe was\nthought to be summering on the Red Deer River, and a course was roughly\ntaken for the place where it joins the Saskatchewan. This brought the\nlittle party, after three or four days\u2019 travel, to the Cypress Hills,\nor, as they were named by the Indians, the Gap-in-the-Middle Hills.\nThey reached the southern slopes of the low buttes one morning, after\nbeing without water all the preceding day, and prepared to camp and\nrest at the edge of a little grove, close to which a large, clear\nspring bubbled up from a pile of sunken bowlders. They did not know\nthat a large camp of Kutenais was just behind the hills where they\nstopped, and that one of their hunters, seeing them coming, had hurried\nhome and spread the news. Su-y\u00e9-sai-pi had scarcely started a fire when\nthe warriors from the camp were seen to be approaching the little party\nfrom all directions, completely hemming them in. Although these two\ntribes, the Blackfeet and Kutenais, had once been very friendly to each\nother, they were now at war. When the strangers approached, one of\nthem, the chief, who had learned Blackfoot in other days, called out,\n\u201cDon\u2019t fire; we are friends; we will not harm you.\u201d\n\nFront Wolf and his friends had drawn the covers from their guns,\nprepared to fight and to sell their lives dearly, but when Front Wolf\nheard this, and saw that the strangers made no motions to shoot, he\nlowered his rifle and said: \u201cThey intend to make peace with us; I guess\nthey are tired of being at war with our people. Do not be afraid; they\nwill not harm us.\u201d\n\nThe chief came up first, and shook hands with Front Wolf and the rest,\nsaying: \u201cI am glad to meet you. Our camp is near. Come over to my\nlodge, and we will feast and smoke.\u201d\n\nThese were kind words. The little party of Blackfeet did not doubt that\nthey were sincere. They packed up again, mounted their horses, and rode\naround the hill to the lodges. The chief invited them to stop with him,\nand they rode towards the big lodge in the centre of the village, where\nmany people were gathered. There they dismounted, when suddenly their\narms were taken from them by the surrounding crowd, and they were\npushed into the big lodge. It was a very hot day, and all around the\nskin lodge-covering had been raised to allow the cool breeze to pass\nbeneath it, so the prisoners could see all that was happening without.\nTheir little band of horses was quickly divided and led away; and then\nthe chief and all the men had a long talk.\n\nPresently the chief came inside and sat down in his accustomed place at\nthe back of the lodge. Following him four warriors entered, and seizing\nthe young Blackfoot who sat nearest the door, led him out some little\ndistance from the lodge, where one of them brained him with a war-club,\nand then every one tried to get a piece of his scalp or to plunge a\nknife into his body. In a moment his hands, feet, and head were\nsevered, and women were pushing and kicking and pounding the mutilated\nparts here and there, singing as they did so the shrill song of\nrevenge. The Blackfeet looked on at this terrible butchery of their\nfriend with horror, but in stolid silence, all save Su-y\u00e9-sai-pi, who\ngave a frightened cry when she saw the poor fellow struck down, and,\nclasping her husband by the arm, buried her face in his breast. The\nchief smiled, but did not speak. Presently another one of the young\nBlackfeet was led out, and met the fate of the first one. One after\nanother, when his turn came, each arose and accompanied his captors\nwithout struggle or cry, and met his death as a warrior should.\n\nAt last all had been killed except Front Wolf and his wife, and\npresently they came for him. Su-y\u00e9-sai-pi clung to him and cried and\nbegged, but her husband himself put her from him and went out, saying\nto her a last kind word. \u201cDo not cry,\u201d he said. \u201cTake courage. Take\ncourage.\u201d As he neared the place of butchery he began to sing his\nwar-song, and the poor wife, looking on, saw him smile as the great\nstone club descended, and he fell forward lifeless to the ground. The\nwoman now thought that her turn had come, but the executioners did not\nreturn. She wished that they would not delay; she wished to have the\ndreadful ordeal over with, so that her shadow might overtake her\nhusband\u2019s as it travelled along on the road to the Sandhills\u2014home of\nthe departed Blackfeet. All the Kutenais, even the women and children,\nhad now painted their faces black, and were dancing the scalp-dance,\ncarrying before them the scalps, stretched on long, forked willows.\n\n\u201cCome,\u201d said the chief to Su-y\u00e9-sai-pi, offering her the scalp from\nFront Wolf\u2019s head\u2014\u201ccome, join us in this dance and be happy.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou may kill me,\u201d the woman replied, \u201cbut you cannot make me dance. I\nbeg you to kill me, so I may join my husband.\u201d\n\nThe Kutenai laughed. \u201cYou are too young to die yet,\u201d he said; \u201cand,\nbesides, we do not kill women. Before long we are going to make peace\nwith the Blackfeet and Piegans, and when that time comes we will give\nyou back to your people.\u201d\n\nOf course it was a lie, for he had no thought of making peace, but\nintended to keep the woman.\n\nSu-y\u00e9-sai-pi was very sad. If she sat in the lodge, the scalp-song rang\nin her ears; if she stepped outside, the bodies of her husband and\nfriends greeted her eyes. She could do nothing but cry and wish for\ndeath to take her.\n\nSeveral days passed, and the rejoicings of the camp still continued.\nOne afternoon an old widow woman called her into a poor little lodge\nand said: \u201cI have great pity for you, and will do what I can to help\nyou. I do not know what the chief has decided to do with you, but,\nwhatever it is, I would save you from it. Your only chance is to try to\nget away from here in the night and seek your people. I will fill a\ngood big pouch with dried meat and pemmican, and some moccasins, and as\nsoon as it is dark I will place it behind my lodge. When the people are\nall asleep, and the evening fire has died out, leave your bed as\nquietly as you can, pick up the pouch, and hurry away in the direction\nfrom which you came.\u201d\n\nSu-y\u00e9-sai-pi burst out crying. No one had been kind to her before, and\nkindness made her cry. She kissed her new friend, and when she could\nspeak she said that she would try to get away that night. It seemed as\nif night would never come, and then as if the people would never stop\ntalking and feasting and go to bed. But at last everything was quiet in\nthe camp, and in the chief\u2019s lodge the fire of small willows had died\ndown, and the deep breathing of the occupants showed that they were\nasleep. The captive cautiously arose from her couch near the door and\nstole outside. She stood and listened a moment, and then coughed once\nor twice. No one moved inside; so, feeling sure that no one was\nwatching her, or had noticed her come out, she went to the widow\u2019s\nlodge, and found the pouch behind it, and quickly but noiselessly left\nthe camp.\n\nThe sky was overcast, and presently heavy rain, with thunder and\nlightning, came up, but she walked swiftly, steadily on, not knowing\nnor caring whither, so long as it was away from her enemies. The shower\npassed, and the moon came out, and then the poor woman heard shouts and\ncalls, and the rushing tread of horses; the whole camp was aroused, and\nthey were searching for her. She crouched in the shadow of a bowlder,\nand heard horsemen go by on either side. Once two or three of them rode\nby in plain sight. She remained there a long time, until everything was\nstill again, and then hurried on. In a little while she approached a\nsmall lake, and saw three horses by its edge.\n\n\u201cHere,\u201d she said to herself, \u201cwould be a good chance if I only had a\nrope. Perhaps they are hobbled; if so, the thongs will do for a\nbridle.\u201d She walked carefully nearer, when suddenly she saw three dim\nfigures on the ground and heard a loud snore. She almost fainted with\nfright, knowing that these were some of her pursuers waiting for\ndaylight to resume their search. Quick as a flash she stooped among the\nlow brush, crawled slowly back, and then, rising, hurried away in\nanother direction.\n\nIn a little while day began to break, and she found herself on a wide\nplain south of the hills. In a little ravine near by there was an old\nwolf den; she crawled down into it, feet foremost, first carefully\nobliterating her footsteps in the soft, loose earth about it. There she\nremained all day, eating none of her little store of food, for she was\nso thirsty it choked her. Several times during the day she heard the\ndistant tramp of horses, but she did not look out, much as she wished\nto see what was going on.\n\nWhen darkness came once more, she climbed out and started in search of\nwater, not knowing which way to look for it, or whether she would ever\nfind any. She travelled on, and on, and on, and, when daylight again\nbrightened the sky, found herself at the place where her husband lay.\nYes, there were the bodies of him and his friends, now shapeless and\nterrible objects. And the Kutenais were gone. Fearing that she might\nfind her people, dreading the awful vengeance that would overtake them\nif she did, they were no doubt already fleeing towards the pine-covered\nslopes of the great mountains. Worn out from her long tramp, and nearly\ncrazed from thirst, the poor woman had barely strength to go on to the\nspring, where she drank long of the cool water, and then fell asleep.\n\nThe sun was hot, but Su-y\u00e9-sai-pi slept on. Well on in the afternoon\nshe was awakened by something nudging her side. \u201cThey have found me,\u201d\nshe said to herself, shivering with terror, \u201cand when I move a knife\nwill be thrust in my side.\u201d She lay motionless a little while, and then\ncould bear the suspense no longer; slowly rising up and turning back\nher robe, what should she find lying by her side but a coyote, looking\nup into her face and wagging his tail!\n\n\u201cOh, little wolf!\u201d she cried. \u201cOh, little brother! Have pity on me. You\nknow the wide plains; lead me to my people, for my husband is killed,\nand I am lost.\u201d\n\nThe little animal kept wagging his tail, and when she arose and went\nagain to the spring, he followed her. She drank, and then ate a little\ndried meat, not forgetting to give him some, which he hastily devoured.\nShe talked to him all the time, telling him what had happened, and what\nshe wished to do; and he seemed to understand, for when she started to\nleave the spring he bounded on ahead, often stopping and looking back,\nas much as to say, \u201cCome on; this is the way.\u201d\n\nThey were passing through the broken hills, and the coyote, quite a\nlong way ahead, had climbed to the top of a low butte and looked\ncautiously over it, when he turned, ran back part way, and then circled\noff to the right. Su-y\u00e9-sai-pi was frightened, thinking he had sighted\nthe Kutenais, and she ran after him as fast as she could go. He led her\nto the top of another hill, and then, looking away along the ridge, she\nsaw that he had led her around a band of grizzly bears, feeding and\nplaying on the steep slope. Then she knew for certain that he was to be\ntrusted, and she told him to keep a long way ahead, to look over the\ncountry from every rise of ground, and to warn her if he saw anything\nsuspicious. This he did. He would wait for her at the top of a ridge,\nwhere they would sit and rest awhile, and as soon as she was ready to\ngo on he would run to the top of the next rise before she had taken\nfifty steps. If thirsty, she would tell him, and in a little while he\nwould always take her to some water. Sometimes it would be a small\ntrickling stream in a coul\u00e9e; sometimes a soft, damp gravel-bed, where\nshe was obliged to scoop out a hole; sometimes it was a muddy\nbuffalo-wallow\u2014and it was always strong with alkali\u2014but it was the best\nthere was.\n\nIn this way, after many days, they came to the Little (Milk) River. The\npouch had long been empty, and Su-y\u00e9-sai-pi was weak from hunger, and\nher weary feet were swollen and blistered, for the last pair of\nmoccasins had been worn out. Here by the river were plenty of berries\nand some roots that are often eaten\u2014good to fill the belly, but not\nstrength-making food. Of them she ate all she could, and frequently\nbathed her feet, and kept on up the valley; but every day she went more\nslowly. The stops for rest were more frequent now, and the coyote\nshowed that he was beginning to feel uneasy. When he thought she had\nsat still too long, he would whine and paw at her dress, and look away\nup the stream, urging her to go on. He himself fared well on the\nground-squirrels and prairie-dogs he managed to catch, and often he\nbrought one to her; but she could not bring herself to eat it raw, and\nshe had no way of building a fire to roast it.\n\nOne day, while the sun was hottest, the two stopped to rest in a thick\npatch of brush. They were near the mountains now, and the valley was\nwide, with low, sloping hills on either side. The woman had been\ntelling her companion\u2014she talked to him now as she would have talked to\na person\u2014that her feet were swollen so badly she could go no farther,\nand then she fell asleep. She was awakened by the coyote jerking her\ngown and whining, and she sat up and listened. Pretty soon she heard\npeople talking; they were some distance away, but the murmur of their\nvoices seemed familiar; they came nearer, and she heard one say, in her\nown language, \u201cLet\u2019s cross the river here.\u201d\n\nShe hobbled out to the edge of the brush and called to them, and when\nthey rode up to where she stood, at first they did not know her, she\nwas so worn and thin. She told them her story, and pointed to the\ncoyote by her side, telling them how it had helped her, and begging\nthem not to kill it. They told her that the camp was only a little way\nabove on the river, and offered her a horse to ride, but she asked them\nto go on and tell her mother to come after her with a travois, for she\nfelt too sore to ride. Presently her mother came, and her father, and a\ngreat throng of the people, and when she saw them approaching she put\nher arms around the coyote and kissed him.\n\n\u201cYou have saved my life,\u201d she said; \u201cand much as I grieve to, we must\npart now, for, while I might prevent the people from harming you, I\ncould not stop the camp dogs from tearing you to pieces. But do not go\nfar away. Every time we move camp my father\u2019s lodge shall be the last\nto go; and when the rest and the dogs have all left, we will leave food\nfor you where our lodge stood. We will always do that.\u201d\n\nThe coyote seemed to understand. He licked her face and whined, and as\nher mother and father approached he slowly moved away, looking back\nmany, many times.\n\nSu-y\u00e9-sai-pi cried\u2014cried at parting with her faithful guide, and\nbecause at sight of her mother all her trials and sufferings came back\nto her mind. They placed her on the travois and drew her to camp, where\nall the people came to sympathize with her, bringing something from\ntheir store of choice food as presents.\n\nThe coyote was not forgotten; food was always left at the camp site, as\nshe had promised, and often, as Su-y\u00e9-sai-pi and her people started on\nafter the others, they saw him standing on a near hill, watching them\nout of sight.\n\n\n\n                               THE END\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNOTES\n\n\n[1] Of all the games played by men among the Pawnee Indians, none was\nso popular as the stick game. This was an athletic contest between\npairs of young men, and tested their fleetness, their eyesight, and\ntheir skill in throwing the stick. The implements used were a ring six\ninches in diameter, made of buffalo rawhide, and two elaborate and\nhighly ornamented slender sticks, one for each player. One of the two\ncontestants rolled the ring over a smooth prepared course, and when it\nhad been set in motion the players ran after it side by side, each one\ntrying to throw his stick through the ring. This was not often done,\nbut the players constantly hit the ring with their sticks and knocked\nit down, so that it ceased to roll. The system of counting was by\npoints, and was somewhat complicated, but in general terms it may be\nsaid that the player whose stick lay nearest the ring gained one or\nmore points. In this story, the Buffalo by their mysterious power\ntransformed the girl into a ring, which they used in playing the stick\ngame.\n\n[2] Cf. The Story of the Indian, p. 194, and The Indians of To-day, p.\n43.","title":"The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":42531}