V _,o ^P-^^ •e^. <9- * o « o ' o. V- "o K ,',|^K^<^. '^^o^ °i^v o o 'i^^^SC^.'^ i u. ^^ ■\ o oV ^"^ z^^:. \,_ . ,*^ c^ A 0^ ! ^.^ •o V .0 V- •^^0^ Ao^ ^oV vO .0 ,^^ iq. ,0 r-^^. jK •'■0 ■■>-«i>-: ^ ' o « o 3 • ^ ^x\ >" •'•*■, .*■* = . . . '■ ^** iq V^ <. 'O . . \5 ^^ /. 5^ A. \^y U %. i^/T'/ > I \^ u y* ■*'V. Is ?- %^ ANTHROPOLOGICAL PAPERS OF THE American Museum of Natural History. Vol. I. Part HI. GROS VENTRE MYTHS AND TALES. BY A. L. KROEBER. NEW YORK: Published by Order of the Trustees. May, 1907. Wonofffanh .r|sl t^l x\ h ryc/ 0' ANTHROPOLOGICAL PAPERS OF THE American Museum of Natural History Vol. I, Part III. GROS VENTRE MYTHS AND TALES. By a. L. Kroeber. CONTENTS. Introduction' ....... Myths and Tales 1. The Making of the Earth . 2. Origin Myth 3. Tebiaanta", the Two Women, the Bald Eagle, 4. Nix'a^t obtains Summer and the Buffalo 5. Nix'a^t is taught to call Buffalo 6. Nix 'ant and the Mouse .... 7. Nix 'a^t and the Mice's Sun-dance . 8. Nix VH eats Fat 9. Nix Vt eats Hiitceni .... 10. Nix'a'H and the liird with the Large Arrow 11. Nix 'a^t toses his Eyes .... 12. Nix 'a"t kills his Wife .... 13. Nix 'a^t and the Bear-Women . 14. Nix'a^t and the Dancing Ducks 15. Nix 'a"t's Adventures .... (a) With the Mice's Sun-dance (5) With the Women who loused him (c) With his Daughters .... (d) With the AVoman who crossed the River (e) With the Sleeping Woman (/) With the Buffalo he called anil the Rabbit 16. One-eyed Owl and his Daughter 17. The Man who went to War with his Mother-in- 18. The Kit-fox and the Ghost 19. Found-in-the-Grass . . .• . 20. Clotted-Blood 55 nd N law "t P.\GE 57 59 59 59 61 65 67 68 68 69 69 69 70 70 70 71 71 71 72 73 74 74 75 75 76 77 77 82 56 Atithropologica! Papers American Museum of Xatural History. [Vol. I, 21. Moon-Child 22. The Boy who was raised by the Seven Bulls 23. White-Stone 24. The Women \^'ho married the Moon and a Buffalo 25. The Women who married a Star and a Buffalo 26. The Deserted Children 27. The Girl who became a Bear 28. Shell-Spitter .... 29. Yellow-Plume and Blue-Plume 30. The Swallows and the Snake 31. The Origin of the Tsooyanehi Degree of the Dog-dance 32. The Origin of the Chief Pipe 33. Separation of the Tribe 34. The Cave of the Buffalo . 35. The Woman and the Black Dog 36. The Man born from a Horse 37. The Woman and the Horse 38. The Little Girl who was married by a Bear 39. The Young Man who became a Water-monster 40. The Woman who was recovered from a Water-monster 41. The Man who killed Hawks 42. The Man who was killed by a Bullet-hawk 43. The Man who was killed by a Bald Eagle 44. The Woman who tempted and betrayed her Brother-in-law 45. The Woman who tried to betray her Brother-in-law 46. The Bad Wife 47. The Man who acquired Invulnerability 48. The Man who recaptured his Wife 49. The Woman who married the Snake Indian 50. The Woman who revenged her Brothers . Abstracts P.\GE 90- 94 97 100 101 102 105 108 109 111 111 112 112 112 113 113 114 115 115 117 117 117 118 118 119 120 122 125 126 128 130 INTRODUCTION. The Gros Ventre myths and tales herewith presented do not exhaust the traditions of the tribe: they include, however, the majority of the more important stories known to them, and are probably representative of the mythology and tales of the tribe. They were collected in the winter and early spring of 1901, at the Fort Belknap Reservation in northern Montana, as part of the work of the ISlrs. Morris K. Jesup Expedition. Naturally there are many similarities to the Arapaho traditions. As a larger body of Arapaho traditions has been published with extended com- parative notes,^ such notes have not been added to the present Gros Ventre traditions; but references have been made to the corresponding Arapaho versions, under which the comparisons will be found. Among the more important Arapaho traditions and episodes which have a widespread distribution, but which have not yet been found among the Gros Ventre, are the story of the origin of death; of the woman who married a dog; of the young man who disguised himself us a woman, and cut off seven heads; of the well-known imitation of the host by the trickster in various ways; of the diving through the ice by the trickster to obtain food in imitation of his host; of the young man who was tempted by his sister-in-law, and then buried in a pit by her; of the turtle's war- party; of the deceived blind man, a favorite Eskimo and northern Atha- bascan tradition; and the well-known Plains story of the buffalo and elk women, or buffalo and corn women. The story of the girl who was born from the foot of a young man exists among the Gros Ventre, but was not obtained. It is very probable that some of these stories will be found among the Gros Ventre. An account of the origin of death similar to that of most of the Plains tribes is almost certain to exist. The story of the seven heads — being common to the Arapaho, Kootenai, and Sarcee, tribes surroimding the Gros Ventre — is also very likely to exist among them. One would expect the same of the story of the woman and the dog, though it is to be remembered, in this connection, that some of the northern Arapaho deny this to be a story of their tribe. ' G. A. Dorsev and A. L. Kroeber, Traditions of the Arapaho (Field Columbian Museum Publications, Anthropological Series V. Chicago, 1903). 57 58 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Xatural History. [Vol.1, Of the more important stories and incidents occvirring in the present Gros Ventre collection, but wanting in the larger Arapaho collection, the following may be mentioned: the separation of the tribe while crossing the ice; the very widespread incident of the hero who is swallowed by a monster, and kills him by cutting his heart ; the boy who is abandoned by his parents, and raised by buttalo-bulls; the tale of a young man who enters a tent among a hostile tribe to marry a girl; and the tale of the bad wife as told by the Blackfeet. Some of the mythical incidents that have the most common distribution in central North America, but that so far have not been found among either the Arapaho or Gros Ventre, are the story of the theft of light or the sun ; of the theft of, or some other means of obtaining, water; of the supernatural being that has been w^ounded by a human being, so that a human medicine- man only can extract the weapon; of the person or pursuer who crosses a body of water or a chasm on a leg, usually of the crane, and is shaken oft"; of the hero who transforms himself into a leaf or small object, which is drunk by a woman, as whose son he is reborn; of the bathing women with bird-skins, one of whom is captured; of the visit far to the east to the sun; of the unfaithful wife who has a snake or water-monster as her lover, — one of the most i)ersistent traditional ideas in northeastern America; the common conception of the origin of mankind or the tribe from the lower world or successive lower worlds; and a tradition of a visit to the land of the dead, other than in stories told as the actual experience of persons recentlv alive or still livino-. 1907.] Kroeber, Gros Ventre Myths and Tales. 59 MYTHS AND TALES. 1. The Making of the Earth. There was water everywhere. A person sent the Duck, the Otter, the Beaver, and the Turtle to dive for earth. All the other animals lost their breath before they reached the bottom. They had to come up again. But the Turtle said, "I am the one who can get it." He dived, and brought up mud. When the person scattered the mud, earth was made. He made the mountains by pouring a little earth from his hand. He also made streams and trees. It is not known who he was. Perhaps he was Nix'a'H.^ 2. Origin Myth. The people before the present people were wild. They did not know how to do anything. Nix'a"t did not like the way they lived and did. He thought, "I will make a new world." He had the chief pipe. He went out doors and hung the pipe on three sticks. He picked up four buffalo- chips. One he put under each of the sticks on which the pipe hung, and one he took for his own seat. He said, "I will sing three times and shout three times. After I have done these things, 1 will kick the earth, and water will come out of the cracks. There will be a heavy rain. There will be water over all the earth." Then he began to sing. After he sang three times, he shouted three times. Then he kicked the ground and it cracked. The water came out, and it rained for days, and over all the earth was water. By means of the buffalo-chips he and the ])ipe floated. Then it stopped raining. There was water everywhere. He floated wherever the wind took him. For days he drifted thus. Above him the Crow flew about. All the other birds and animals were drowned. The Crow became tired. 1 The Gros Ventre myths and tales here recorded were obtained from seven informants, who have tieen designated as follows: — M Bill Jones, one of tlie oldest men of the tribe, Nos. 5, 18, 25, 41. N Watches-All. an old woman, Nos. 26, 28, 30, 32, 33, 39, 40, 45-50. P Flea, a yonng man, Nos. 2-4, 20-23, 29. Q Blackbird, an old man, Nos. 1, 6, 16, 17, 38, 42, 43. R .A.ssiniboine, a yoiuif; middle-aged man, Nos. 14, 15, 27, 34, 35, 37, 44. S Paul Plumage, a young man, Nos. 7, 19. T Black Wolf, a middle-aged chief, No. 33. It will be seen that the traditions told by Flea, one of the youngest of the informants, are of a higher character tlian the otliers. Nos." 7 and 19 were obtained as texts in Gros Ventre. All the others were reconli'd in English. The Gros Ventre distinguish between myths and tales, which they call ha''tii'a"tya° and waa"tsea'a" respectively. The first thirty of the following traditions may be regarded as myths; the last twenty, as tales. The present myth is by informant Q. Compare Traditions of the Arapaho, op. cit., tales Nos. 1, 2, 3, 6, and "note, p." 6. Pronoimce x like German ch or Spanish j; to, like English ch: a, as in English bad; a° (nasal a), like French an; a", similarly nasalized; g, like English th in thin; 6, nearly as in German. GO Anthropological Papers American Muscinn of A'aturnl History. [Vol. I, It flew about crying, "My father, I am becoming tired. I want to rest." Three times it said this. After it had said so three times, Nix'a"t said, "AHght on the pipe and rest." Repeatedly the Crow cried to him, and each time was allowed to alight on the pipe. Xix'a"t became tired sitting in one position. He cried. He did not know what to do. After he had cried a long time, he began to unwrap the chief pipe. The pipe contained all animals. He selected those with a long breath to dive through the water. First he selected the Large Loon (biias^eiby^ii). The Loon was not alive, but Nix'a"t had its body wrapped up in the pijie. Xix'a"t sang, and then commanded it to dive and try to bring mud. The Loon dived. It was not halfway down wlien it lost its breath and immediately turned back. It came up almost drowned at the place where Nix'a'^t was. Then Nix'a"t took the Small Loon's body and sang. Then the Small Loon dived. It nearly reached the mud at the bottom. Then it lost its breath and went up again, and, nearly dead, reached the place where Nix'a"t was. Then he took the Turtle (baii'n). He sang and it became alive, and he sent it and it dived. Meanwhile the Crow did not alight, but flew about crying for rest. Nix'a'H did not listen to it. After a long time the Turtle came uj). It was nearly dead. It had filled its feet and the cracks along its sides with mud. When it reached Nix'a"t, all the mud had been washed away and it was nearly dead. Nix'a"t said, "Did you succeed in reaching the mud?" The Turtle said, "Yes, I reached it. I had much of it in my feet and about my sides, but it all washed away from me before I came to you." Then Nix'a"t said to it, "Come to me;" and the Turtle went to him. Nix'a'H. looked at the inside of its feet and in the cracks of its sides. On the inside of its feet he found a little earth. He scraped this into his hand. JNIeanwhile the Crow had become very tired. Then Nix'a'H, when he had scraped the earth into his hand, began to sing. After he had sung three times, he shouted three times. Then he said, "I will throw this little dust that I have in my hand into the water. I>ittle by little let there be enough to make a strip of land large enough for me." Then he began to drop it, little by little, into the water, opening and closing his hand carefully. And when he had dropped it all, there was a little land, large enough for him to sit on. Then he said to the Crow, "Come down and rest. I have made a little j)iece of land for myself and for you." Then the Crow came down and rested. After it had rested, it flew u]) again. Then Xix'a"t took out from his pipe two long wing-feathers. He had one in each hand, and began to sing. After he had sung three times, he shouted three times, "Youh, hou, hou," and sjiread his arms, and closed his eyes. When he had done this, he said to himself, "Let there l)e land as far as my eyes can see around me." When he opened his eyes, then indeed there was land. After he 1907.] Kroeber, Gros Ventre Myths and Tales. 61 had made the land, there was no water anywhere. He went about with his pipe and with the Crow. They were all that there was to be seen in the world. Now Nix'a'^t was thirsty. He did not know what to do to get water. Then he thought, "I will cry." He cried. While he cried, he closed his eyes. He tried to think how he could get water. He shed tears. His tears dropped on the ground. They made a large spring in front of him. Then a stream ran from the spring. When he stopped crying, a large river was flowing. Thus he made rivers and streams. He became tired of being alone with the Crow and the pipe. He decided to make persons and animals. He took earth, and made it into the shape of a man. He made also the shape of a woman. Then he made more figures of earth, until he had many men and women. When he thought he had enough persons, he made animals of all kinds in pairs. Wlien he had finished making these shapes, he named the tribes of people and the kinds of animals. Then he sang three times and shouted three times. After he had shouted, he kicked the ground, and there were living pairs of beings standing before him, animals and men. The reason why men are dark in color is that earth is dark. Nix'a"t called the world Turtle because the Turtle was the animal that had helped him to make the world. Then he made bows and arrows for men, and told them how to use them. The pipe he gave to a tribe which he called haa'ninin (the Gros Ventre). Then he said to the people, "If you are good and act well, there will be no more water and no more fire." Long before the water rose, the world had been burned. This now is the third life. Then he showed them the rainbow, and said to them, "This rainbow is the sign that the earth will not be covered with water again. Whenever you have rain, you will see the rainbow; and when you see it, it will mean tliat the rain has gone by. There will be another Avorld after this one." He told the ])eople to separate in pairs and to select habitations in the world for themselves. That is why human beings are scattered.^ 3. Tebiaa^'ta^", the Two ^VoMEx, the Bald Eagle, AND Nix'A^t. There was a lone tent. Two sisters lived in it. One was older, the other young. Tebiaa"ta^ ("cut-off-head") knew that the two women lived alone there. One morning, one of them went out to get wood. In front of the tent she found a fat deer, freshly killed and untouched. This 1 Told by informant P. Compare Arapaho, op. cit., Nos. 1, 2, 3, 6, and note. p. 6. For the recession of the water before stretched arms, compare also Arapaho, No. 5. The idea of the previous race occurs in Arapaho, No. 6, p. 15, footnote, and in No. 129, p. 299. 62 AnthropuliHjical Papers Atnerican Museum of Xatural History. [\'ol. I, happened every night. The fourth night the two women watched. One of them said, "Perhaps it is Naxaa"tsts' ('with-projecting-teeth,' another name for Tebiaa^ita"). If it is he, it will go hartl with us, for he is powerful." In the middle of the night they saw a person rolling a dead deer toward them. When he came near they saw that it was Tebiaa"ta" indeed. After he had left the deer he went off again. As soon as he had gone, the two women began preparations to fiee. The older stuck an awl in the ground on the side of the tent where she had her bed, and said to it, "When Te- biaa"ta" comes in, tell him, 'Go to my younger sister. She is young, and is the one whom you ought to have for your best wife.' " The younger sister stuck a quill-flattener (isowa") at the side of her bed, and told it, "When Tebiaa"ta» comes rolling to you, say to him, 'Go to the older woman. Siie knows best how to work. You should have her for your best wife.'" At night Tebiaa"ta'^ came to the tent. The women had gone. Only the awl and the quill-flattener were there. When he arrived, he saw the deer lying there, still untouched. He became angry, and said, "I worked hard to kill this deer for you. It is bad that you did not touch it." He went mside. The two bones looked like women. He went to the side where the older sister's awl Avas. It said to him, "Roll to my younger sister. She will be your best wife, for the older wife does the work for the tent and for her husband." Then he began to roll to the younger sister's bone. It said to him, "Roll back to my older sister. Let her be your best wife. I am young, and better able to move around quickly, and can do more work about the tent." Then Tebiaa'Ha" became angry. He rolled violently to one to strike her. The woman disappeared, and he struck the awl, wliich pierced his face so that he cried out in pain. The other woman disappeared at the same time. W'hen he had pulled the awl from his face he said, "You will not escape from me. I will kill you." He jumped out of the tent, looked, and smelled about to find where the women had gone. He found their trail, and rolled after them. They were already far away. They looked bac-k constantly, fearing that he would follow them. Then, from the direction in which they had come, they saw^ him rolling. One of them said to the other, "Oh, my older sister, what shall we do! Tebiaa'Ha" is rolling on our trail. What shall we do to escape him? Do something supernatural." "I will try something," said the older. "I will try to delay him so that we shall leave him far behind us. Let it be foggy before Tebiaa"ta", so that he will lose our tracks." Then there was a fog between them and the head, and he lost their trail and strayed from It. He looked for it, and after a time found it again, and followed them. Then they saw him coming once more. Then the older sister said to the younger, "Pity me, my younger sister. The head is pursuing us again 1907.] Kroeher, Gros Ventre Myths and Tales. 63 What shall we do to flee from him ? Now it is your turn to do something supernatural, so that we may leave him behind us." "Yes, I will try. Let there be a deep ravine between him and us. Let it be boggy and hummocky, so that it will be long before he passes through it." Then there was such a valley behind them. When Tebiaa^ta" got into the valley, he struck the hummocks, and bounded back and stuck in the swamp. It was long before he crossed, and the women had got far ahead. He said to him- self, "These women will not hide in a hole anywhere. If they do, I shall overtake them and kill them. They shall not go to the sky, for if they go to the sky, I shall not be able to reach them. That is the one place in which I cannot kill them." After a while the women saw him again, and the younger one said, "My older sister, do something supernatural again! I am getting tired." "Yes," said the older, "I will try. Let there be a river between us and the head, and along it let there be thick thorny brush, and rose-brush as thick as can be, so that Tebiaa"ta" will have great difficulty in passing through." Then there were a river and thorny brush behind them. Tebiaa"ta" came up. It was very difficult for him to pass. He was all scratched when he got through. The women were already far away. After a while they saw him on their trail again. Then the older sister begged the younger to use her supernatural power to delay the head. Her younger sister said, "I will try again to bring something between us and the head. Let there be cactus as thick as can be." Then there was a dense cactus behind them. When Tebiaa"ta" reached the cactus, he stop])ed. He tried to roll around, but it extended indefinitely. Then he thought, "I will go through." Then he really rolled through it; but he was full of spines, and bleeding. He stopped and pulled out all the cactus-spines. Then he followed the women again. They saw him coming. Both of them said, "I can do nothing more supernatural. I have done all. We must try to run." As they ran, they saw a man sitting on a high bunk. He liad his iiair in a large knot above his forehead. When they reached him they said, "Please ])ity us. We are running for our lives from the person who pursues us to kill us." "Run around me four times," he said, and they did so. "What is the person's name?" he asked. They said to him, "Tebiaa"ta"." "That is bad. He is more powerful than L But I will try." He loosened the knot of hair on his forehead. It had never been combed. The hair covered him entirely. He hid one of the women under each arm. W'hen Tebiaa'Ha" came, he said, "Have you seen my prey going by here?" "Yes, they have just pa.ssed by," said the man. The head went on, and smelled. Finding no tracks, he came back to the man. "They never went by here," he said. "Yes, they went by," said the man; and the head went on again. As ^oon as he was out of sight. 64 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. \Yo\. I, / the man said to the women, "Run over there, where there is a Bald Eagle. y Perhaps he will help you." Then Tebiaa'Ha'^ came back and said to him, / "Tell me this time where my prey is." "I have told you," said the man. The head looked around and saw the women's tracks. He folio ^^ved them again. The older sister said, "Now, my younger sister, try to run as hard as you can. Tebiaa"ta" is on our trail again." They reached the Bald Eagle. "Bald Eagle," they said, "pity us, because we are poor: try to save our lives." The Eagle said, "Go around me four times. I will help you. I will try to save you from Tebiaa'Ha"; but he is very powerful. j Now each of you get on one of my wings and shut your eyes." He flew ( down from the bank where he had been sitting, dived into the water, swam / underneath a long distance, came up again, and flew off. Tebiaa"ta" came there, dived into the water, swam under it, emerged, and followed / their trail. He fiew after them through the water and the air. He nearly caught the Eagle. When he came too near, the Eagle swooped aside. Thus they fought and dodged for a long time. Below where they were strug-gling; there was a tent. It was Nix'a'H's tent. His two sons were lying flat on their backs, looking iip into the sky. They began to see what was going on there. Whenever the head nearly toviched the Eagle, the boys cried "Wuuu!" Nix'a"t heard his boys crying "Wuuu," and saw them looking up in the air. He went outside, lay down on his robe, looked ( up, and cried "Wuvm!" But he saw nothing. The boys asked him, ' "Father, why did you say that?" "I like to say that, because you boys / say it. What are you looking at above?" "Father, we are looking at your j friend the Eagle. He is dodging about. On each of his wings sits a woman, j Tebiaa"ta" is pursuing them." "I am sorry," said Nix 'a'^t. "Tebiaa'Ha'^ j is powerful. Nevertheless I will try to do something for the Eagle and the j women. Therefore, my sons, gather wood as fast as you can, and I will I cut willows and build a sweat-house. Also gather stones, and then light the wood and heat the stones in the fire." Nix'a"t got willows, bent them round, and covered them with robes. Then he gave each of his boys a club. He said to one, "Stay here at the door and hold it up." To the other one he said, "Stand at the back and hold up the robes there." The boys stood at their places. Nix'a"t stood at the entrance of the sweat-house, and cried, "Bald Eagle, come down and sweat in my sweat-house." Four times he cried it. Then the Eagle heard him and came flying down. Nix'a'^t said to him, "Go in at the entrance, and fly out at the other end." The head was now close at the Eagle's tail. The Eagle flew in, and out again. As soon as he had gone through, the boy at the back of the sweat- house put down his robes. The other one closed the door. Tebiaa'^ta'^ was caught in the sweat-house. Hot stones were lying in a small pit in the 1907.] Kroeber, Gros Ventre Myths and Tales. 65 centre of the sweat-house. Xix'a"t poured water through a small hole in the top straight on the hot rocks. It steamed inside. Whenever the head pressed against the robes, the boys struck him Avith their clubs. At last he was killed. The Eagle sat there breathing hard. Thus Tebiaa^ta'^ was killed.^ 4. Nix'a^'t obtains Summer and the Buffalo. Nix'a"t was on his way, going visiting. He arrived at a camp. There was deep snow, and the people had nothing to eat. To whatever tent he went, he got nothing to eat. The people had nothing. He asked them, "Why do you not try to do something to obtain food?" "We cannot do it," they said. "There are no buffalo. We starve. There is only one old woman who has food. She is very stingy of it." At some distance there lived an old woman who kept the buffalo. She gave no food. Nix'a'H said, "I will try to make the old woman give up her food." Walking about the camp, he saw a boy, a chief's son, just old enough to speak. He took the boy by the shoulders and said, "Child, are you hungry?" "Yes, I am Inmgry," said the boy. "Would you like to see large herds of buffalo?" "Yes." "Would you like to see the ground bare?" "Yes. I am be- coming tired of playing on the snow. I should like to see the bare ground, so that I could play on it." "When I let you go, you must run to your father's tent, and cry. When your kin ask you, you must say nothing, but continue to cry. Only when I come and ask you, you must say, 'I should like to see large herds of buffalo and the bare ground to play on; for I am tired of the snow.'" Then the boy ran to his father's tent and began to cry. All asked him why he cried. But he said no word, crying continually. He cried day and niglit. His father thought he would invite man after man in the camp to ask the boy why he cried. He asked all the men to come. But the boy never answered. Then he thought, "I will ask Nix'a'^t. He is wise. Perhaps he will persuade the boy to tell why he is crying." Then he called, "Nix'a"t!" and Xix'a"t came in. He took the boy in his aniiS and said, "Well, jxjor child, what are you crying about? Your j)arents can hardly sleep, because you continually cry. You must be crying about something that is very hard. I want you to tell me what it is." Then the boy stopped crying, and said, "I cry because I am hungry, and should like to see large herds of buffalo. I should like to eat back-fat (nanii) and unborn calves. I should like to see the bare ground, for I am tired of play- > Told by informant P. Compare Arapaho, Nos. 5, 6, 35, 124. The Magic Flight is found also in No. 27. Compare note to Arapaho, No. 6. See, also. No. 26 for the calling back of the ipursuer. The pursuit by a round rolling object is found in Arapaho, Nos. 5, 6, 33-35, 81-124. 66 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. I, ing in the deep snow." Then Nix'a'H said to him, "You shall have what you want. You shall eat calves and fat from the back, and shall play on the bare ground." The boy was satisfied, and cried no more. Nix'a"t said to the boy's father, "Get an old man to cry out, 'Let the people move elsewhere. Nix'a"t has found out from the boy what he wants and what he cried for."' Then the people moved camp, and Nix'a'H changed into a little dog. The dog was scabby, with loose hanging ears. He remained at the camp-site after the people had left it. The old woman who kept the buffalo had a little grand-daughter who worked for her. The little girl said, " Grantlmother, I want to go to the camp-site to pick up things that have been lost." But the old woman said, "No, don't. Nix'a'H was in the camp. He is very deceitful." "I will not go far, only to the nearest tent. Let me go!" Then the girl went there. When she arrived, she saw the dog, who wagged his tail at her. She pitied him, and said "I will raise him." She took him back with her. "Grandmother, I have found a poor scabby dog. I want to raise him to be my dog," she said. The old woman .said to the dog, "You are a scabby dog indeed! You are not a dog at all. You are Nix'a"t." Then she said to her grand-daughter, "No, I do not want you to take this dog into the tent. Tie him outside." So the girl tied him outside, but fed him well; and he became fat, and his scabs fell off, and he grew fast. Soon he was able to carry a load of wood on a travois. The girl used to take him with her into the woods. At last the old woman began to think that he was really a dog. She allowed him to come into the tent with them. But at times she still looked at him suspiciously. Some- times she still said, "You look like a dog; but you are no dog. You are •Nix'a'H." After a time their meat was all gone. At the back of the tent hung an untanned buffalo-skin. The girl raised this, and the dog saw a hole beyond. Soon a young buffalo-cow came out. Just as she emerged, the old woman struck her on the back of the head with her hammer, and killed her. Many other buffalo tried to come out; Init the girl and the old woman put the skin down again. They pulleil out the young cow, and skinned her. The dog was there with them. The old woman had begun to like him. She now thought that he was really a dog. By the skin curtain there was an old greasy skin sack. The dog saw the old woman go to this, take a pinch from it, and throw it outside. Thereupon there was no snow about the door. Now Nix'a'H knew what to do. One day the girl took him far out into the Avoods with her. Then he turned into Nix'a'H. He said to the girl, "You thought me a dog, but I am Nix'a'H." Penem monstravit et ei raptje vim attulit. Puella fortiter clamavit, "Avia, Nix'a'H mecum copulat!" The old woman answered, "I told you he was Nix'a'H. You would not believe me. It is your own fault." Taking her hammer. 1907.] Kroeber, Gros Ventre Myths and Tales. 67 she ran towards them. When she arrived, Ni.x'a'H released the girl, ran off, and entered the tent. He seized the bag and ran into the hole behind the curtain. There he turned dog again, and, bai'king, drove all the buffalo out. The last one to emerge was a bull. Nix'a"t ejus in testiculis adhsesit. Taurus cum testes suos tactos sensisset, eos in corpus retraxit, ita ut Nix'a"t sub ventre celatus est. Thus he passed out by the old woman without being seen. As the buffalo ran, he threw out what was in the bag. Every- where the snow disappeared, and it was summer. When the bag was emptied, he went back to the old woman, threw her the bag, and said, "That is all I wanted from you." Thus Nix'a"t obtained buffalo and summer. Then he killed a cow and took the unborn calf, and cut the cow's back-fat and the tongue and some of the entrails. He carried this meat on his back, following the trail of the people. He reached their camp at night. Then he asked, "Where is the tent of the boy's father?" Being shown it, he went there and entered, called the boy, and said to him, "Here is what you asked for. Now eat it. To-morrow you will see summer and large herds of buffalo." Then the boy's father told an old man to go out and cry, "Nix'a"t has come back. You will see herds of buffalo and the summer to-morrow. He has brought some parts of buffalo to show that it will be so." That night there was a strong Chinook wind. That is why now we sometimes get the Chinook winds. Next morning, indeed, the peoj)le saw the bare land and herds of buffalo.^ 5. Nix'.Ot is taught to call Buffalo. A certain man, when he was visited and had no food, would go on a liill, sit down, and sing, " Hi'itana" wu'katyli." Then the buffalo would come running toward him in strings. Xix'a"t came to him and cried, wisiiing to learn the song. The man gave him the song, but said, "Do not use it too often. Sing it only when you need buffalo." Nix'a"t started off". Soon he sat down and sang. Then the buffalo came toward him in strings. He sang fom* times. The fourth time the buffalo did not stop approaching him, and all lay down on him. Cum ano solum eminente cuberet, lepus qui venisset cum eo copula vit. Nix'a"t denique cum emer- sisset abiit. Lepusculos qui profugerunt inquinans peperit. Ssepius ita cum accideret, Nix'a"to displicebat. Togse margini lapides imposuit, inquinavit, exsiliit, et ut lepores interficeret pedibus togam protrivit. Sed solum toffam foedavit.^ 1 Told by informant P. Compare Arapaho, Nos. 122, 133. - Told by informant M. Compare No. 15, and Arapaho, Nos. 32, 33. 68 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Xatural History. [\'ol. I, G. Xix'a^'t axd the Mouse. Nix'a"t cum femiuam trans flumen dormientem vitleret, ab mure ut penem ad eam portaret petiit. Mus penem transportavit, sed terrfe asperse parti anteposuit, ita ut Nix'a"t penem vagina? inserere cum vellet se Iffisit et clamavit.^ 7. Xix'a^'t and the Mice's Sun-dance. Nix'a"t was travelling. As he went, he heard the noise of the sun- dance. Then he stopped. He wanted to hear where the noise of the dance came from. He could not discover it. Where he stood, there lay an elk- skull. He sat down on it. When he sat down, he heard the noise of the dance clearly. "Ya! This must be the place, and I was looking for it at a distance." Then he looked into the skull, and saw the mice holding a sun-dance. As he looked in, he said to the hole through which he looked, "Become larger!" Then it grew larger. As often as he told it to stretch, it stretched. Finally he succeeded in thrusting his head through, and the mice scattered and ran out. Then his head stuck fast in the skull. Nix'a"t began to cry, because he did not know what to do. He could not even see. He got up and wandered off. He struck something with his foot, and said, "Who are you?" "I am a cherry-tree," it answered. "Indeed! I must be near the river," said Nix'a"t. And he continued to feel about him with his feet. When he touched something he said, "What are you?" "I am a cottonwood," it said to him. "Indeed! I must be very near the river," said Nix'a"t, and went on. Again he felt something with his foot, and said, "What are you?" "I am a willow," it said to him. "Indeed! I must be very close to the river now." Then he walked very carefully. In spite of all his care, he felt himself falling. "What are you?" he asked. Then it splashed, and he floated down the stream. He came floating to where there was a camp. People were swimming there. As soon as the swimmers saw him, they said, "Look out, there comes a bax'aa" (water- monster)," and all ran on the bank. When he had floated near them, he said, "I allow only girls to get me." Then two girls went into the water on each side of him, and caught his horns. Then they pulled him to shore. One of them went ashore, liut he caught the other and lay with her. As soon as the others saw him seize her, they ran back to the camp. "Ejus virginitatem Nix'a'H violat," omnes clamaverunt. Puelltie mater malleinii portans ad eum decucurrit. Adhuc puellfe concubebat. In dorsum eum 1 From informant Q. Compare Arapaho, Nos. 29-31. 1907.] Kroeber, Gros Ventre Myths and Tales. 69 percussit. Nix'a^t dixit, "Tua percussio meis impetibus in filiam tuam vim majorem dat. The place where you can kill me is in the middle of the heatl." The woman struck the top of his head, and broke the elk-skull. Xix'a"t got up and ran. All the women pursued him, but could not catch him.^ 8. Nix'a^t eats Fat. Nix'a"t found some fat floating in the stream. He asked, "How much does one bite off you when he meets you?" "A little piece only, alioquin diarrhceam segrescas." Nix'a"t bit off as much as he could. Then he went ahead down stream, and again met the fat. He asked it and was told the same, but again bit off all he could swallow. He met it repeatedly, until at last he swallowed it all. Tum abiit. Cito diarrhoea afflictatus est, Tantum inquinavit ut abire coactus est. Iterum cum inquinaret tanta excrementa defluxerunt ut eum abegerunt. Denique dum semper inqui- navit in tumulum ascendit. Inquinare continuavit donee defluxus eum circumdederat et quasi insulte tumulo institit.^ 9. Xix'a^t eats Hiitceni. Nix'a'H radices quje hiitceni appellantur edebat. Diu edebat. Tum crepuit. Cum creparet, sursum jactus est. Perpetuo altius jactus est. Tandem mulierem liberosque suos omnibus cum rebus familiaribus in se ponere jussit ut terra retineretur. Sed cum iterum crepuisset omnes sur- sum pulsi sunt.^ 10. Xix'a^t and the Bird with the Large Arrow. Nix'a"t met a Bird which had an immense arrow. He taunted it, saying that it was not able to use the arrow. At last the Bird said, "Well, I will shoot you with it." Nix'a"t went off. Several times he stopped, tiiinking he had gone far enough. But the Bird always told him, "Go farther, for I will kill you if you stand so near." Then at last the Bird shot and the arrow came flying. Nix'a"t was frightened, ran, turned, and dodged, but could not escape the arrow. He ran as hard as he could, but it came nearer and nearer. He took refuge behind a rock. The arrow I struck the rock and turned it over, so that it rolled on Nix'a"t. He could not get out. At last the Night-hawk came flying by. It shot past the ' From informant S. Compare No. 15, and Arapaho, Nos. 52, 53. 2 Compare Arapaho, No. 34. 3 Compare Arapaho, p. 60, footnote 1. Pronounce tc like English ch. 70 Anthropological Papers Aynerican Museum of Natural History. [^ ol. I, rock, venting wind each time. The fourth time, it broke the rock. Nix'a"t got up. "Come here," he said to the Bird. The Night-hawk came to him. Nix'a"t took it, and said, "Why did you do that to me? I was very comfortable tnider the rock." Then he pulled the Night-hawk's mouth wide open.' 11. Nix'a^'t loses his Eves. Nix'a'H met a Bird that was sending its eyes into a tree. Then he cried, and begged the Bird, until at last it gave him the power. It told him, "You must do this only when it is necessary." Nix'a'H went off. He tried his new power, and his eyes successfully left him and returned to him. After a time they remained in a tree. He could not get them back. Then he cried. A INIouse came to him, and Nix'a"t asked it to lend him its eyes. The Mouse lent him its eyes, and Nix'a"t was able to find his own. But his own eyes had already shrivelled on the tree. He soaked them in water until thev swelled. Then he put tliem back in his head.- 12. Nix'a^t kills his Wife. Nix'a'H was out on the prairie, crying for his wife, who had died. A man came to him, and asked, "Why do you cry?" He was accompanied by his Avife. Nix'a"t told him, "I am mourning for my wife, who has died." Then the stranger motioned with a stick as if to strike his wife. The fourth time, he struck her. Then she turned into two women. He gave one of them to Nix'a"t. Then Nix'a"t was glad. He went on with his new wife. He found a man crying for his dead wife. Then he motioned four times, and struck his wife and doubled her, and gave the man one of the women. He found another man, and a third, and gave them wives. Then he met a fourth man who was crying for his wife. Nix'a"t motioned, and, when he had motioned four times, he struck his wife on the head. Then she fell dead. 13. Nix'a^'t axd the Bear-Womex. The myth of Nix'a'H's diving for the reflection of fruit in the water, and of his adventures with the Bear-Women, is found among the Gros Ventre as among the Arapaho, with only the following differences. Nix'a"t found berries, not plums. He climbed on top of the tent, and from there dropped the berries down inside. While the Bear-Women were eating their own children, thev sent one little girl out to get wood for the fire. 1 Compare Arapaho, Nos. 19 and 33. ^ Compare Arapaho, Xos. 16, 17. 1907.] Kroeber, Gros Ventre Myths and Tales. 71 Nix'a"t said, "I will get it," and went out. Then he threw wood into the door until it was blocked. Then he ran, calling, "I have made you eat your own children." The dialogue about the flint-birds, fire-birds, and smoke-birds, is missing. In all other details, the Gros Ventre version resembles the Arapaho.^ 14. Xix'a^'t axd the Daxcixg Ducks. Nix'a"t was going along the river in the thick timber. Then he came to an opening in the woods. There he stopped and thought what to do. He sat with his head down. Suddenly he stood up. He shouted loudly, ■"AH ducks, prairie-chickens, and cottontail-rabbits come here! I will make a dance for you." Then the birds came flying to him, and the rabbits ran up. He made them all stand in a circle and close their eyes. He said, *'You must keep your eyes shut when you dance." Then he sang, and they danced. He began to break the birds' necks. INIeanwhile he sang, ■"As you dance, you must not look!" At last a little prairie-chicken dancing at the end opened its eyes and saw him. It flew up crying, "Nix'a°t is killing you all!" Then the remaining birds all flew off and the rabbits ran away. Nix'a"t said, "Nix'a"t always accomplishes what pleases him. Nix'a'H is always fortunate. Now he has a feast." Then he made a fire. He put the ducks and prairie-chickens and rabbits that he had killed into the ashes under the coals. Then he said, "Nix'a"t is sleepy. I think I will sleep." Ano jussot, "Wake me if any one comes." Then he w^ent to sleep. Wolves and coyotes came. They smelled around. They ate all the meat, and left only the bones. At last Nix'a"t woke up. He coughed. He said, "Now I shall have a feast." He found only bones. He looked all around. There was nothing left. Ano suo dixit, "I told you to move and wake me if any one came." He took a firebrand, and suum anum attrivit. Tantum dolore aft'ectus est ut ano eminente cuberet ut ventus eum refrigeraret.^ 15. Nix'a^t's Advextures. (a) With the Mice's Sun-dance. Nix'a"t was out on the prairie. Then he heard a noise. He said, * 'There must be a camp near by." He ran one way, listening, then another. But he always came back to the same place. He stood on a skull in order to look about. Then the noise was under his feet. He looked in, and saw people dancing. There were men, women, and children. 1 Compare Arapaho, No. 49, also 50. 2 Told by informant R. Compare Arapaho, Nos. 26, 27. 72 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Xatia^al History. [Vol. I, Thev were mice that were making the sun-dance. Xix'a"t watched the dance. He Avanted to see. He continually told the opening of the skull to stretch wider. It became large enough for him to look in with both his eyes. i\s he continued to look, he liked the dance better. He tokl the hole to stretch wider. He wanted to get to the women inside. At last the hole stretched over his head. It contracted around his neck. The Mice ran out. Nix'a"t could not get his head out from the skull. He wandered about. He asked the trees and bushes what they were. He came to sage- brush, then to a rosebush. Then he came to a large Cottonwood. When he found this he said, "I am still at a distance from the river." Then he came to a birch. He said, "That is the kind of tree with many kidneys on it." Next he came to a young Cottonwood. Then he said, "Now I am near the river." Then he came to the small willows, and then he fell down the bank into the river. He went down with the current. He came floating to women and girls who were bathing. He said, "I will give beads to whomever pulls me ashore." [The tale continues like No. 7, until the elk- skull is split from his head.] Then he got up and ran off, all the women running after him. He said, "I wish there were a hole I could enter.'^ Then there was a hole and he went in. He came out on the other side. He found white clay. He put some over his right eye. He took a stick, peeled the bark off so that it looked white, and laid it across his arm. Then he went back to where the women were, and asked them what they were doing. They told him. Then he abused Nix'a"t. He said, "He is always doing such things. Why do you not dig him out ? Then you can pound him to pieces." Then all the women crawled into the hole. He blocked the entrance with wood, and set it on fire. Then he smothered them . (b) With the Women ichn loused him. Then he went on to the river. As he went along he saw two pretty young women. They sat lousing each other. He said, "That is a nice thing they are doing." He pretended to scratch his head and catch and bite his lice. "I have too many lice," he said. Then he said, "Do you not want to louse me?" They said, "Yes." Then they sat opposite to each other, stretching out their legs, and told him to lay his head on their laps. Then he was satisfied. Soon he went to sleep. They took burrs, and filled his hair with them. They went off. The burrs made his hair stretch. They pulled the skin of his fprehead up. Then he sat up. He could hardly close his eyes. At last he cut off all his hair. Then he cov- ered himself with mud, and went home, crying. His wife saw him coming. She said, "There comes the fool! He has been doing something again.'* 1907-1 Kroeber, Gros Ventre Mijths and Tales. 73 AYlien he was at a little distance, he began to cry harder. At last she became impatient and went out to him. Then he said, "Those bad peo- ple who visited me! They told me, 'Your wife is dead.'" Then he kissed his wdfe. (c) With his Daughters. After he had been at his tent a while, he pretended to be sick. He would not eat, and became very thin. He had two daughters. They were unmarried, and young and pretty. Now Xix'a'H seemed nearly dead. Then he said, "Old woman, I shall leave you soon. There are those skin- scrapers, and sleighs of ribs, and stone hammers, which I made for my daughters. I want them buried with me. Put me into that crooked tree here. Do not tie me: only wrap me in my robe, and put those things in with me. There is a man called One-eyed Owl. He always has white clay over his right eye. He carries a sharp tomahawk (kaahaanou). Give him both my daughters when he comes, and put up a tent for him. Give them to no one but him." Then he became worse, and died. His wife and daughters mourned for him. They cried. They buried him as he had said. He lay in the tree for four days. Then a coyote passed. Nix'a'H called it and said, "Howl, and call all the coyotes and wolves." The coyote sat down and howled until they all came. Nix'a"t broke all the skeletons that were there, and scattered them about. He broke and scat- tered the im])lements that were buried with him. Then he said to the wolves, "Now howl, 'We have eaten Nix'a'H.'" Then they howled, "We have eaten Nix'a'H;" and he ran into the brush. When his wife and his daughters heard what the wolves howled, they screamed and cried. Nix'a"t remained out four days more. Then he made himself a pointed tomahawk, and painted his robe white. He put white clay over his right eye. He also covered a scar on his cheek. Then he came and sat on the hill near the tent. One of the girls went out. She saw him. "He looks like the man that my father was telling of," she said. She went in and told her mother. The woman looked out and saw him. "That is the one," she said. "Both of you go and take his robe. Take hold of it on each side, and bring him in. Do not be ashamed. He is the one your father men- tioned." Then the two girls went out and brought him. The woman put up a tent for him, and the girls sat by him on the bed, one on each side. At night they lay down, one on each side of him. Then he slept Avith them both. Thus they did many nights. The two girls were very beautiful, and he too Avas a fine-looking man in the day. One of the two girls noticed that at night he was not good looking. Then she saw a scar under his right eve, and thought, "He looks like my father." She could 74 Anthropological Papers American Museujn of Natural History. \\o\. I, not help thinking it was he. "I think it is Nix'a"t my father who has married us," she said to her mother. "You foohsh one! Your father is dead," said the woman. Several times the girl said the same to her mother. At last one night the woman raised the tent-door a little and looked in. Indeed it was Nix'a'H! She eried, "Ah! is that how you die, Nix'a'H, to marry your daughters?" She ran to get a club, and he ran off. {d) With the Woman ivho crossed the River. Then he continued to go. He saw a woman going in his direction. He overtook her. He pretended to be a woman, "^^here are you going, my friend?" he said. "My husband beat me antl I am going away. Where are you going?" she said. "My husband beat me too, and I am leaving also. Let us go together," said Nix'a"t. Then they went together. They came to a river. "Go first," said the woman. "No, you go first," said Nix'a"t. Then they both lifted up their dresses. "Oh! your legs look like a man's," said the woman. "Have you never heard tell of the woman whose legs look like a man's?" said Xix'a"t. Cum longius in flumen introiissent, vestes altius levaverunt. "O, clunibus viro similis es!" dixit femina. "Nunquam fama illam feminam accepisti cujus clunes viri illis simihe essent?" dixit Nix'a'H. Pa?ne cum transiissent penis Xix'a'Ho e manibus prolapsus aquam percutiens sonum dedit. He picked it u]) hastily. "What did you drop?" asked the woman. "It is too bad! It was a love-root. I am sorry I dropped it," said Nix'a'H. When they had crossed, subito penem ei monstrans, "Aspice, amica!" Nix'a"t dixit. £x- territa in terram cecidit. Ad earn adiit libidinamque explevit. Turn iterum profectus est. (e) With the Sleeping Woman. He came to a camp. He looked into a tent and saw a pretty woman asleep. He went in, sat down, and waited for her to wake up. When she did not awake, he went out, and, cum excrementum in extremum baculi cepisset, put it on her dress. Then he came in once more and coughed. Still she did not wake up. Then he pushed her thighs, saying, "Surge, lectum inquinavisti." At last she awoke. Then Nix'a"t pretended that he was about to cry out, but the woman hastily told him, "Do not!" Four times he made as if to call out loudly, "Hjiec femina lectum inquinavit," sed summissa voce susurravit. Mulier dixit, "Si taces, me tibi dabo." "Bene, si te possidere me sines, tacebo." "Cautus sis, fratres prope dormiunt," mulier dixit. Tum Nix'a"t libidinam explevit. 1907.] Kroeber, Gros Veyitre Myths and Tales. 75 (/) With the Buffalo he called and the Rabbit. Then he went on again. He saw a man sittmg on a high bank. His legs were hanging over the cliff. He had two round rattles. He sang, and struck the rattles on the ground. Then the buffalo came in strings on each side of him, and fell over the bank and were killed. Then Nix'a'H cried. He said, "Pity me ! " The man said, "What do you wish ? " Nix 'a"t cried louder. At last he persuaded the man to let him have the power of calling the buffalo. The man gave it to him, saying, "You must not use the song for nothing. You must only use it when the camp is very hungry." Then Nix'a"t went oft'. Soon he began to try his power. He sat at the edge of a bank, and sang and rattled. The buffalo came in strings, and fell over the bank. He left them and went on. Three times he called the buffalo. When he called them the fourth time, the buffalo came and pushed him over the bank, and fell on top of him. Anus ejus solus eminuit. Lepus advenit et cum anum vidisset, cum eo copulavit. Nix'a^t lay there. After a time he saw a Coyote. "Come here. Coyote," he said. "What is it?" asked the Coyote. "Call all the coyotes and wolves," said Nix'a"t. The Coyote went on a hill, and howled. All the coyotes and w^olves came, and ate the buffalo, and dragged away the bones, until at last Nix'a'H emerged. He went on. Tum inquinavit. When he looked back, he saw little rabbits scampering away. He said, "Good!" He was pleased. Three times he saw rabbits run off. Quater cum inquinare pararet, he picked up rocks, spread out his robe behind him, and weighted its edge with rocks. Tum inquinavit, and suddenly jumped out from his robe. "I will get you this time!" he cried as he stamped about on his robe. Then he lifted up the edge and looked under. He thought he had killed rabbits, but there was only excrement. His robe was soiled. He began to run toward camp as hard as he could, crying loudly, "Come out, all! The enemy pursue me! Mount your horses! Inquinantes Piegani me perse- quuntur! Celeriter nisi venietis, togam meam inquinabunt!" The people hastily mounted, rode, came there, and found him toga inquinata. "I told you to hurry," said Nix'a"t.^ IG. One-eyed Owl and his Daughter. A man lived alone with his family. He had a pretty daughter. He said, "When I die, let my daughter marry a one-eyed man who has white I Obtained from informant R. Compare, for the first episode, Nos. 7 and 13, and Arapaho, Nos. 49, 50, 52, 53: for the second, Arapaho, Nos. 53-55; for the third. No. 16, and Arapaho, Nos. 42, 43: for the fourth and fifth respectively, Arapalio, Nos. 36 and 37; for the sixth, No. 5, and Arapalio, Nos. 32, 33. 76 Anthropological Papers A)nerican Museum of Natural Histonj. [Vol I, clay on his eye." Then he pretended to be sick. He told his wife, "When I am dead, do not bind me up, but lay me on the prairie." Then he seemed to cUe, and she put liim out on tlie prairie. He called the wolves, and told them to howl, "We have eaten the person here." He gathered bones and laid them by his l)lanket. He Avent away, painted one of his eyes white, and came to his own tent. His daughter, coming out of the tent, saw him, and told her mother, "There is the man that my father wanted me to marry." Her mother said to her, "Let us put up a tent for him." Then they put uj) a tent, and the girl married him. He always went off in the morning and came back at night. Then the girl saw that he had a scar, which her father had had. She said to her mother, "He looks like my father." Her mother said to her, "Tie a string from your bed to mine, and pull it when he enters." At night he came, and the girl pulled the string. Then the woman came from her tent and found her husband. She beat him nearly to death/ 17. The Man who went to War with his jNIother-in-law. There was a camp-circle. A man went off. At a distance he built two brush shelters. The next day he came back. He sat in his lodge and did not speak. His wife asked him, "What is the matter?" He did not answer. She asked him again and again. At last he said, "I saw many men going to war with their mothers-in-law in order to steal horses for them." Then his wife said, "I will ask my mother to go with you." She asked her mother, and her mother consented. Then they started off to- gether, the man riding in front and she behind. They came to the place where he had been, and each slept in a shelter. In the morning the man went out as if to look for tracks. When he came back he said, "I cannot find the tracks of the people I saw. I do not know where they can have gone." Then they staid there over night again. The man had put stones near his bed. He threw them at his mother-in-law's shelter. Soon she said, "Some one is troubling me here. There is a ghost about. I^et me come into your shelter." He consented. After a time he again threw stones to where she was lying. She said again that she Avas being disturbed, and asked, "Una dormiamus." Iterum assensus est. Tum se frigere questus est. Mulier rogavit, "Qua parte friges?" "Hie," dixit. Iterum rogavit, "Qua parte? Sumus soli. Nullus cognitum habebit. Die mihi qua parte te frigere." "Hie, tange," dixit. Tum ilia tetigit. Erectus ei penis fuit. Dixit, "Inserere ut calescat volo." Muliere assensa penem inseruit. Illic vixerunt donee mulier filium peperit, postquse domuni redierimt.- ^ From informant Q. Compare No. 15, and Arapaho, Nos. 42, 43. 2 From informant Q. Compare Arapaho, Nos. 39, 40. 1907.] Kroeber, Gros Ventre Myths and Tales. 77 18. The Kit-fox and the Ghost. The Kit-fox started. He went along a path in the woods. As he went, he smeh something that stunk. He stopped and sniffed. The odor eame from a dead person buried in a tree. The Kit-fox said, "It stinks." Then the dead person came dowTi from the tree and asked, "AVhat were you saying?" "I said it smelled good," said the Kit-fox. "No, you said something bad of me." "No, I said, 'It smells like sweet-grass about here.'" The ghost at last allowed him to go. The Kit-fox went oft'. When at some distance, he called to the ghost, "I said, 'Something smells bad here.' " Then the ghost pursued him. He came near, and almost caught him. The Kit-fox ran into a hole just as the ghost caught the end of his tail and pulled it off. After a time the Kit-fox came out again and From a te.xt obtained from informant S. Compare Arapaho, No.s. 19-143. For tlie dis- astrous consequence of shooting an arrow, compare Arapaho, No.s. 6, 141, 142. 1907.] Kroeber, Gros Ventre Myths and Tales. 83 ■ents what the child was. The old man said to her, " It is a boy, but you must say, 'It is a girl.'" The young woman went back and told that it was a girl. The man said, "Take some of this refuse over and let the old woman drink it, so that she will have milk to raise the child." The old man knew that the child was supernatural. He said to his wife, "Swing the child on the southwest side of the tent (to the right of the door), then swing it on the northwest, then at the northeast, then at the southeast." The old woman swung the child at the west (right) of the door. \Vhile she was swinging it, the child began to laugh. AYhen she swung it for the second time, at the northwest of the tent, it began to talk. When she swung it the third time, it became a large boy, who nearly jumped off the swing. When she swung him the fourth time, at the left of the door, he jumped off. He Avas a fine-looking young man. Then he told his father, "Make me a bow from the last rib of a buffalo, and make me four arrows from the neck- tendons of buffalo." Then the old man made the bow and arrows. He made them well, and put stone points on the ends of the arrows. The young man asked him, ".When are you and your son-in-law going hunting?" The old man said, "I do not know. I go whenever he tells me." At night the son-in-law sent one of his wives to tell the old man to be ready to hunt the next morning. Very early the next morning the old man and Clotted-Blood went out. The son-in-law sent one of his wives to tell the old man to come. The old woman cried back, "He has gone ahead." The woman told what her mother had said. Then the son-in- law said, "I will find him, and when I find him I will kill him." Clotted- IJlood had alrciidy killed a fat buffalo. The man saw the buffalo, came near, and called, "Look about you for the last time, old man, before I kill you." Clotted-Blood had said to the old man, "Take this kidney and eat it. Let him see it. Turn around, and hold it up so that he can see you eat it." He himself Avas hiding, lying behind the buffalo. The man said, "What are you eating there? Drop it I" The old man was frightened, and nearly let the kidney fall. Clotted-Blood said to him, "Hold it fast and eat it!" Again the man ordered him to dro]) it. Clotted-Blood ordered him, "Hold it, else I will kill you before him!" Now the man was very close. Then Clotted-Blood stood up beside the old man. The man stopped, looked at him, laughed, and said, "Well, there is my brother- in-law." Clotted-Blood said, "Yes, I am your brother-in-law. I have been waiting a long time to see you. You have treated my father badly." He rolled up liis sleeve, and put an arrow on his bow. The man jumped back. Clotted-Blood shot him in the right side. When he tried to pull out the arrow, it stretched. The more he pulled, the farther it stretched. He could not [)iill it out. Then Clotted-Blood shot him in the other side. 84 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Xatural History. [Vol. I, When he tried to pull out the arrow, it stretched. He could not pull it out. Then he fell down. The boy had killed him. Even while he was dyings he continued to speak: "You cannot escape me. You cannot get where I will not find you." Clotted-Blood told his father to get wood and make a large fire. The old man made a fire. Clotted-Blood told him, "Cut off the legs and arms of the dead man." The old man refused. He said, "My son-in-law was very wonderful. I do not wish to do this." "Well, I will do it," said the young man. He cut off an arm, and threw it into the fire. The arm spoke: "You can go to no place where I will not get you." Clotted-Blood did not care. He cut off the rest of the limbs, and threw everything into the fire. When he had burned up the dead man altogether, he asked his father, "Wliich of your four daughters tried to help you?" The old man said, "My youngest daughter is the only one that ever loved me. She alone helped me. The others never helped me." Then they started to go back. " We will leave this meat. You will not need it. You will have plenty when you get back," said Clotted-Blood. Then he killed three of the women and their children. Only the youngest woman and her child he did not kill. He burned the bodies up, as he had the man's. Then they went into the man's tent and took all the property. They had plenty to eat. Clotted-Blood asked the old man, "My father, are there any ])eople in the land besides you?" "Yes, there are many tribes," said the old man. "I will go visiting," said Clotted-Blood. The old man told him, "Do not go. No one ever returns. There is something that kills them." But the young man was determined to go. Then the old man said to him, "If you will go, I will tell you all the dangerous places. The first is a tree. Every one that passes on the trail by that tree is killed." Then Clotted-Blood started. He saw the tree. "There is the tree," he said. He came near it. The tree began to sway. Then he tried to go around it. It was impossible. He had to pass by the tree. Then he made a motion to go under. The tree nearly fell, and he jumped back. Then again he made a motion to go past, but jumped back. Then he went far back, and ran. When he was under the tree, it fell and broke. Then Clotted-Blood was a down feather floating in the air. It lit on the ground and he was a man again. The tree had been hollow. The })eople it had killed were inside. Some were dead, some were only bones. Some were not yet dead. Clotted-Blood took them all out. He caused those who were not dead to live. Then he burned the tree. He told the people, "Go back where you came from. Why did you let this tree kill you? You should have known better. You are not children." Then he came to a bridge which was supported in the middle by a 1907.] Kroeber, Gros Ventre Myths and Tales. 85 buffalo-head. Whenever he tried to step on it, the bridge gave way. Then he stepped on it as if to cross, and the bridge went down. Three times he stepped on it and the bridge went down. The fourth time, he walked out on it. Just as the bridge began to sink, he jumped, and reached the land on the other side of the water. The bridge went down and never emerged. Then he came to a great wolf. His father had told him, "Even if you stand far away, the wolf will suck you towards him." Then Clotted- Blood stood at a distance, and said to the wolf, "Now draw me in. I have heard that you draw people toward you." Then the wolf began to suck. The young man walked toward him. He pretended that he was being drawn along, and made motions as if resisting. "Indeed you are wonderful! You are really drawing me toward you!" he said. He went toward him as fast as he could walk. The wolf lay there with his mouth open. Without stopping, Clotted-Blood went right on, and jumped down his throat. Inside he found people. Some Avere alive, some nearly dead, some dead, and some were only bones. Above him he saw the heart hang- ing and beating. Then he said, " Ix't us dance. You sing and I will dance." Then the people sang for him. He tied a knife to the top of his head, and danced. When he jumped, he pricked the heart. Each time, the wolf leaped. Then Clotted-Blood jumped high and pierced the heart, and the wolf fell dead. Then he reached up and cut it off. Then he cut the sides of the wolf open, and came out with the peo[)le. Then he went on. He met an old woman. She had a large wooden dish which she heUl up toward people. It drew them toward it, and when they struck the dish they were burned. He went toward the old woman and called, "Old woman, come out with your dish. I wish to be drawn by it." "My grandson, I have been wishing for a long time to see you," said the old woman. Clotted-Blood continued to tell her, "Bring your dish and point it at me." Then at last she brought it out. He was really drawn by the dish. As he went, he made himself go faster. When he came near, he turned into a down feather, which was blown over her head, and lit behind her. Then he turned to himself again, seized the old woman from behind, and began to turn the dish toward her. She said, "Pity me, my grandson!" He said, "You are the old woman who destroys people with her dish." He continued to play with her. Then he turned the dish toward her, and she was drawn into it and consumed. Then he put the dish on a large flat rock, pounded it with mauls, broke it up, and burned it. He came to a large camp, whose chief was a large Bull. The first tent he came to was an old tent outside the camp-circle. He went in and found an old woman. She said, "Well, my grandson, what are you doing here? \ 86 Anthropologicol Papers American Museum of Natural History. [\'ol. I, This place is dangerous. Go back before they fiiifl you have come here. I pity you. Go back." "To whom do you refer?" asked Clotted-Blood. Then she told him about the powerful rnill. Clotted-Blood said, "That is the one I came to see." The old woman urged him again to go back. He said, "He is the one I came to see. I Avill not go back. Cook for me. I am hungry." The old woman continued to urge him to go back; but he said, "Cook for me. I am hungry." When the Bull learned that he was in camp, he sent for him. The Bull was accustomed to gamble with any one that came. He had everything prepared for playing. Clotted- Blood went to him. They played with a wheel and sticks. Clotted-Blood le; him win everything except his bow and four arrows. Then he began to win. He won everything the Bull had. When the Bull had only one thing left to bet with, he became angry. As they ran, following the wheel, he snorted. Next time, as they ran after it side by side, he was more angry. He turned his head, hooked the young man. and tossed him. As Clotted- Blood flew up, he turned to down. When it lit, he was a man again. The Bull's horn was broken. "When one does that to me, it is what makes me angry," said the Bull. He charged, and tossed the young man again. Again Clotted-Blood turned to a plume, and when it reached the ground, he was a man. At once he ran for his l)ow. The Bull's other horn was broken. "When one does that to me, it is what makes me still more angry," said the Bull, and charged again. Then Clotted-Blood turned to down and flew entirely over him. He was wondering what to do to wound him, for the Bull was altogether of bone. He was impenetrable. That is why all were afraid of him. The Bull charged again. Clotted-Blood turned to a down feather, jumped over him, lit behind him, and shot him in the anus. The arrow went in out of sight. The Bull fell, and Clotted-Blood cut him to pieces. Then a crier called to the camp, "Clotted-Blood has come. He has killed the powerful Bull. He has killed all that was danger- ous on the way. The people are free again." Clotted-Blood gave all his winnings to the old woman. He asked her, "Where is there another camp?" She told him, "There is one down stream. Do not go there. The people are powerful." But Clotted-Blood started. Wlien he reached the camp, he went into an old tent. An old woman said, "There is my grandson Clotted-Blood! You had better go back. If they find you here, you will never go away alive." Clotted-Blood said, "Give me to eat. What is it you refer to?" When he had eaten, the old woman told him, "There is one who has a swing at the river. He kills all that swing with him." Then Clotted-Blood said, "That is what I want. I have heard of that swing, but I have never swung. I wish to try it. That man is the one v.hom I have come to see." When it was found out that 1907.] Kroeber, Gros Ventre Myths and Tales. 87 he was in the camp, the man Avho swung people sent for him, saying, "Tell him to come to swing." Clotted-Blood made answer, "It is good. I will come. He is the one whom I wished to see. I shall come to him soon." Then he went to him. On a tree that leaned over a steep bank there was a swing. Below it there was deep water. Then the man swung him. Clotted-Blood said, "Good! this is good." Then he said, "Now you in your turn swing." Then he swung the man. Then Clotted-Blood in turn went on the swing again. The man swung him. He swung him hard, and when he was far out, he cut the rope, and Clotted-Blood fell. When he was near the water, he turned into a down feather. It was blown along by the wind, hovered, and lit just across the river at the edge of the water. There he stood as a man again. Then he went back. He said to the man, "It is much pleasure to swing, is it not ? Let us continue. Now it is your turn. Get on the swing." Then the man went on. Clotted-Blood swung liim hard. When he was above the water, he cut the swing. The man fell into the deep water. A large water-monster (bi'i^a" or bax'aa"^) was in the water. This was the guardian spirit of the man that had the swing. He swung people in order to feed them to this animal. Then it swallowed him. But it knew the man, and brought him to shore. He came back to Clotted-Blood. Clotted-Blood said, "Let us continue to enjoy ourselves by swinging. Xow it is my turn." Then he swung. Then the man cut the swdng, and he fell. He allowed himself to fall into the water. He fell straight into the water-animal's mouth. Inside of it he found people whom it had eaten. He cut up the animal. Then he came out. He went back to the man, and said to him, "I have found you out. It is you who have been inflicting suffering on the people. I shall make you suffer." Then he shot an arrow into his side and another into his other side. He killed him. Then a crier called out to the camp, "Clotted-Blood has arrived. He has killed the man with the swing and his supernatural animal. We are free again. We will live happily from now." Clotted-Blood asked the old woman, "Is there another camp?" She said, "Down the river. But do not go. The people there are powerful." "I am travelling in order to see such places," said Clotted-Blood, and started. Then he came to the camp and went into an old woman's tent. [The original here repeats the dialogue between him and the old woman.] In this place there was a man with a sharp leg. He caused those who came, to play at kicking with him. Clotted-Blood put a limb of a cottonwood under his robe. They played, and he proved superior to the man. Then the man kicked at him with his sharpened leg. Clotted-Blood threw the stick out, and the other's foot pierced it. Then a large cottonwood-tree stood there. In the top of it stuck this man. Clotted-Blood left him there 88 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Xatural History. [\o\. I, to starve. Then a crier called to the camp, "Clotted-Blood has killed the one that kicked. We are free again. He has killed every dangerous being^ that he has met." Then Clotted-Blood asked his way to the next camp from the old woman. He came to another old woman's tent. [The original repeats the incident in full.] The old woman told him, "A chief gives his daughter to those who come visiting. Then he asks them to do something that will kill them." When the chief learned that Clotted-Blood was in the camp, he sent for him. He said to him, "I have been waiting for you. I wish you for my son-in- law." Clotted-Blood said, "Yes, 1 am glad to have a wife, for I am poor."^ After he had been given the girl, his father-in-law first wished him to get a bin-ning coal. His wife told Clotted-Blood what her father wanted, and that he must go to a certain light that was shining. Clotted-Blood went. He knew at once what the light was. It was the morning star. So he got it and brought it back. Then his father-in-law sent him to get sticks of cherry-wood for arrows. He told him to go to a certain thicket. There he had four bears that killed all who came. Clotted-Blood took his bow and went toward the thicket. The bears came out and rushed at him. He jumped about, avoiding them, and shot. He killed them all. Then he cut up their skins into thongs. He made a big bundle of the cherry-sticks,, put the fat of the bears in with it, and, tying the whole together with the bearskin thongs, carried it home. Then he sent it to his father-in-law by his wife. The old man was frightened, and blushed. He did not know what to say. When he had made his arrows ready for feathering, he told his daughter to send her husband to get feathers. He told her to ask him to go to a rocky precipice w4iere birds that had suitable feathers lived. Clotted-Blood went there and found a nest with two young ones in it. Then he went into the nest and sat with the young birds. He watched them. Whenever they opened their eyes, lightning flashed. Whenever they moved, it thundered. "You are wonderful little birds," he said. He took the little female by the bill, and twisted it. "How does it cloud up when your mother comes?" he asked. The Bird said, "It clouds up very dark. My mother is terrible. She comes with hard rain, and with thunder and light- ning." "Oh, yes! your mother is very powerful," said Clotted-Blood, and twisted the bird's bill again. Then he twisted the bill of the young male, and asked him, "How does it cloud when your father comes?" The Bird said, "The clouds are Avhite when my father comes, and he comes with heavy hail and thunder and lightning, for my father is very powerful." "Oh, yes! your father is very powerful," Clotted-Blood said, and twisted his nose. Then he saw a black cloud coming. Soon the sky was clouded all over, and it rained and thundered, and there was lightning. Clotted- 1907.] Kroeber, Gros Ventre Myths and Tales. 89 Blood went into a cavity in tlie rocks. When the shower was over, he saw a white cloud come very quietly; he could hear the roar of the hail. Then the old female Thunder spoke to him from the cloud, "What are you doing there among my children ? Go away! You will make me angry." Clotted- Blood came out from the young birds. He said, "Very well. Let me speak to you first. If you are powerful, you will be able to pull my arrow out." Then he shot his arrow into a solid flat rock. It went half in. "If you can pull it out, you can kill me," he said. Then the female came down, and the thunder roared, and the lightning flashed, and she seized the arrow, and rushed up. The arrow stretched, and lengthened, and pulled back with all its force, and she was dashed on the rock. Then the male Thunder went far up, and came down violently, seized the arrow, and pulled it until the arrow snapped back, and he was dashed against the rock. The two Thunders were not dead, but they could not move. They said, "Pity us! W^e will give you our power if you will let us live." Clotted- Blood said, "Very well, I will not destroy you altogether. I will leave your young ones so that there will be some thunders. But I will kill you, for I need your feathers." Then he wrung their necks and took their feathers; but he left the young ones. That is why there still are thunder and lightning. Then he went home. "Take these feathers to your father," he said to his wife. Then she took them. The old man was very much frightened when he saw the feathers of the powerful birds. Then his father-in-law told him, "There are seven buffalo-l)ulls. Go and kill tiiem. I want the sinew of their shoulders to put on my arrows." Clotted-Blood went and saw the seven bulls. He approached them very cautiously. Nevertheless they saw him. One of them charged on him. He stood still, and the buffalo struck at him with his sharp horn. Then only a down feather flew there, and the buffalo's horn was broken. Then the rest charged, until all seven had broken a horn. Then they ceased attacking him. There was a large rock that rose a little above the ground. Clotted-Blood said, "I will not kill you if you can knock this rock out of the ground. If you cannot loosen it, I will kill you." Each of the bulls still had a horn. One of them made medicine and charged at the rock. He struck it, and broke his horn. Six of them charged it, and broke their horns. Then the seventh, an old one, charged. He knocked the rock loose. Clotted-Blood said, "I will kill you all. Only this old one knocked the rock out, and shall live." Then he shot the six, and killed them. He cut the sinew from their shoulders, and took their horns in his robe. Then he went back. He gave the horns and the sinew to his father-in-law. His father-in-law was angry because he overcame everything. He told him to get him flint for arrow-points. The place was under a high cliff. Clotted- 90 AnthrnjxAogical Papers American Muscion 0/ Xatural History. [\'ol. I, Blood went. When he stood at the place, the cliff fell. He turned into a feather, and the wind from the falling bank blew it away. It lit, and he .stood there a man. The cliff was all down. AVhere it had fallen, the flint was exposed. Then he filled his robe with it for his father-in-law. At night his father-in-law sent him to get water at the river. Clotted-Blood took a bucket. When he came near the river he saw two lights. They were the eyes of a water-monster (bi'i^a") . He tried to go aside, but the animal drew him. When he found he could not keep away, he took its horn, and stepped on the middle of its head. He filled his bucket, cut off its horns, and took them back with him together with the water. He told his wife, "Take this water and these horns to your father. Tell him he can have them." The old man was angry. He had thought the water-animal would surely kill his son-in-law. He said, "My son-in-law is indeed a powerful man. He has killed everything he has met." Then he went to kill him himself. He took his bow. He went out and called, "Come out, my son-in-law! You have killed all my powerful beings (nana'Uil'i^ihii). Now i will kill you." Clotted-Blood said, "My father-in-law, I did not destroy your beings. Why do you want to kill me?" He went outside. The old man shot at him, and he stepped aside. The arrow went into the ground. His father-in-law continued to shoot imtil all his arrows were gone. Then Clotted-Blood took his bow and arrows. He had only four arrows and a down feather, which he always wore tied at the back of his head. He said, "My father-in-law, you have been shooting at me much. Now I in my turn will shoot. I have waited for this a long time. You have killed many men. Now you in turn will die." Then he shot, and killed his father-in-law. He cut him to pieces and burned him up.^ 21. :Moox-Child. The Sun and the ]Moon disagreed al)out women. The ^Nloon said, "The women outside of the water and outside of the brush (human females) are the prettiest down below." The Sun said, "No, they are not. When- ever they look at me, they make faces. They are not pretty: they are the worst-looking women in the world. The women in the water are the most beautiful. When they look at me, they look just as if they were looking at their own people. I think them the most beautiful women on earth." He meant the Frog. The INIoon said, "You think the Frog is a pretty woman? You surely have poor judgment of women. The Frog has long > From informant P. Compare, for the first part of the story, Arapaho, Nos. 130, 131, also 132, 133: for the swing, No. 5; for tlie sliarpened leg, Nos. 57, 108, 109: for the thunder- birds, Nos. 139-143; for tlie tasks set by the fatlier-in-law. No. 129. 1907.] Kwi'bcr^ Gros Ventre Myths and Tales. 91 le^s. She is green, with spots on her back, and large himpy eyes. I do not think one hke that pretty." The Sun said, "Well, we will compete in this. As soon as I have set, I will go to the earth and get the Frog. I will bring her up here to be my wife." "Very well," said the Moon. The Sun got the Frog without any trouble, and brought he-r up with him during the night to his mother's tent. The Frog hopped. With each leap, she urinated. Then his mother asked, "Wliat ridiculous thing is that?" He said, "My mother, be still. That is your daughter-in-law." Then his mother was silent. During the night the ^Nloon shone, and selectetl a woman on earth. When he disappeared early in the morning, he went to the earth. The woman that he had chosen was troubled all night, and could not sleep. She did not know what troubled her. She could not satisfy herself. Early in the morning she took a rawhide rope and told her sister-in-law to come with her to get wood. They both went to the woods. When they came among the trees, they saw a porcupine. The woman said, "I will kill this porcupine, for I want to use its quills for embroidery." She pursued it, and, when the porcupine ran up a tree, she climbed after it. The porcupine kept climbing up. Several times she could almost touch it. Whenever she rested, it rested only a little dis- tance above her. Thus it continued to do until they reached the sky. The tree reached to a hole in the sky, and the porcupine went in through this. When th(> woman had climbed up to the hole, she saw a young man standing at the side of it. He .said to her, "Let us go to my mother's tent." They went, and, when they arrived at the tent, he went inside. The woman remained outside. The man said, "My mother, ask your daughter-in-law to come in." Then his mother went outside. As soon as she came out, she called gladly, "Oh, what a fine-looking daughter-in-law I have! Come in!" Then the girl went in. The Frog was sitting beside the Sun, and the woman sat down ne.xt to the Moon. So their mother-in-law had two daughters-in-law to use for her work. The woman did much for her, but the Frog did little. Whenever she was sent anywhere, she hopped along. When the mother-in-law forgot that she had a Frog as a daughter-in-law, she sometimes startled her by her hopping. Then their mother-in-law one day lioiled the thickest part of a paunch. When she had boiled it, she cut it in two ])ieces, and gave one to the woman and one to the Frog. "Xow, my daughters-in-law," she said, "I want you to eat this paunch. I \\ill have the one that makes the mo.st noise in chewing it for my best daughter-in-law." Then the woman was the best, for she had good teeth. She made much noise in chewing. The Frog, in.stead of chewing the paunch, took a piece of charcoal. But while she chewed it, her blackened saliva ran down from each side of her mouth. The Moon did not like the 92 Anthropological Papers Ayncrican Museum of Natural History. {\o\. I, Frog, his sister-in-law. He said, "Wherever the Frog is sent to go, she only hops and urinates. You should not move at all, Frog. Whenever you move, you urinate, dirty one!" Thus the ]Moon spoke to the Frog whenever she was sent on an errand. At last the Sun could hold his j)atience no longer. He picked up the Frog, and threw her against the Moon's face. "Because you do not like her, the Frog shall always stick to your face. But I will have your wife." That is why there is black on the moon. Then the Sun took the JVIoon's wife. The woman had had a son by the IMoon. The boy was already old enough to talk. The woman ditl not like the country in the sky. When her husband the Sun was hunting, she would go out on the prairie and cry, feeling lonely. Once she found the hole through which the Moon had taken her up to the sky. When she looked down, she saw people and the things she used to see. She went back" to her tent. When her husband went hunting again, she told him to bring her all the sinews in one buffalo. Then he did what she asked. But he forgot one sinew. When he went hunting again, the woman went out on the prairie, and began to twist the sinew into a long string. When she had finished it, she left it out on the hills, and came back. Her husband went hunting again. As soon as he was gone, she prej^ared to go to the ])Iace where the hole was. She tried repeatedly to leave her boy; but he begged her, "Please, mother, do not leave me behind! Take me with you!" Then she took him. She tied the sinew rope to a stick, and tied the other end around her chest. Then she descended, climbing down with her hands. When she got down to the end of the string, she was about as high above the earth as a tent. She could do nothing, for she had no knife. She hung helpless. When her husband the Sun missed her on arriving at his tent, he looked for her everywhere. At last he came to the hole. Tiien he saw his wife hanging below, swinging. Then he took a stone and spit on it. He said to the stone, "When I drop you, fall straight on the woman and strike her head, but do not touch the boy." He dropped the stone, and it killed the woman. The string broke, and she fell to the ground. The boy remained near his mother. Even when she was rotten, and when only her bones remained, he played about her. There was a field near by, and every night he went and stole from it. It belonged to an old woman. She missed what she had planted, and watched. Then she caught the boy. She spoke very kindly to him: "Is that you, my grandchild jVIoon-child ? " "Yes, it is I, my grandmother." "Come and live with me. I want vou to work about the tent." Then he went with her. He lived with her, but whenever he was out doors he spoke with his father in the sky. Once the old woman warned him: "Do not go to that place. If you go there, you will see a tent. There are only pretty girls in it. If they see vou, 1907.] Kroeber, Gros Ventre Myths and Tales. 93 they will invite you to come to them. You will be able to do nothing but go to them, because they are very beautiful." Then the boy wondered why his grandmother told him not to go there. Instead of following her warning, he decided to go and at least look at the tent, and see what kind of a tent it was. Then he went in that direction. Then, indeed, he saw very pretty girls playing outside the tent. As soon as they saw him, they said, *'Is that you, Moon-Child?" "Yes," said the boy. They said, "Come and play with us. You are so handsome! If you wish, you can select one of us to be your wife." Then the boy went to them. He picked up a flat rock and put it away out of sight on his body. When he came to the tent, the girls embraced him, and kissed him, and put their arms around him; and as each one touched him, she said, "Take me for your wife." One of them said, "We want you to tell myths." The boy said, "Very well. But when I tell myths, I do not allow people to lie on the bed in the usual way. I want them to lie with their heads toward the fire." Then the girls lay down as he told them, and he began to tell mv'ths. He had put the flat rock under him for his seat. One of the girls turned into a snake, and went imderground. While he was telling myths, he felt the snake try to dash up into his body. It smashed its head on the stone. He felt it, but continued to tell myths until all the girls went to sleep. Then he took out his knife. The girls were lying with their heads on the logs along the edge of the beds all around the Are. He went on talking. As he talked, he went around and cut off their heads. Just as he got to the last one, she turned into a large snake and went underground. She said, "You will be overtaken some day. You cannot always iiave stone for your seat. You will be caught somewhere." The boy answered, "You will live under- ground." After he had killed the snakes, he went back to his grandmother. She told iiim to watch the field closely. Then he guarded it. As he walked around it, watching, he found a tent. An old woman stood there. She said, "Is that you, my grandchild Afoon-child?" "Yes, it is I," he said. "Will you come in and have something to eat?" she asked. "Yes, I will come in," he said. lie went in, and she gave him food. While he ate, she began to jnit wood into the fire. She made a large fire. She said, "When persons come into my house, I play with them after they have eaten." The boy said, "Yes, I will play with you." Tlien they wrestled. When she thought he was getting out of breath, she ])ushed him toward the fire. He turned aside, however. Thus they continued to push each other toward the fire. At last the old woman became tired, and he threw her into the fire. He held her there until she was consumed. This old woman had always stolen from his grandmother's field. Meanwhile the boy never forgot what the snake had said to him. When he went to sleep, he stuck an arrow up 94 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. I, near his head, and said to it, "If the snake comes, fall on my face." Then, indeed, the snake came, and the arrow fell on him, and he woke and got up. But one night he Avas very sleepy. He stuck the arrow tightly into the ground, and went to sleep. The snake came to where he was lying. The arrow tried to fall. It tried several times. But it could not fall. The snake was close. Then it made a dash, and shot into the boy's anus. "Well, at last I have you. You said I would not catch you. This is the last you will live. Now you will die." Thus the snake said to the boy. But he answered, "No, I do not think I will die. You will become hungry, or out of breath, and you will leave me." The snake said, "No, I will remain in you until you die." The boy said, "No, I do not think you will. I think you will go out from me before I am dead." The boy lived some time with the snake in him. Then he died. The snake was in him still. After a time he had become nothing but bones. The snake would not leave him. He continued to lie there. Then the jNIoon wondered where his boy was. He never saw him going about any more. At last the boy was tired of lying on the ground so long. He said to his father, "Do something for me. I am tired of lying." Then the Moon made a cold rain. The snake crawled about under the bones, and at last went to find shelter. As soon as it had gone out from him, the boy stood up alive, just as he had been before. He caught the snake and cut it to pieces. He said, "You thought you would kill me. You were deceived. Instead of killing me, you are dead yourself." As the boy rose from his bones, his mother at the same time also got up alive.^ 22. The Boy who was raised by the Seven Bulls. There was a camp. A boy and a girl were lovers. The girl became pregnant. Her mother asked her what made her belly swell. She would not acknowledge, but said that she was sick. When she was about to deliver, she told her mother, "I have had a lover and am pregnant. I am ashamed. Let us throw the child away." The camp moved, and she and her mother fell behind. She was in great pain. When the rest of the camp was out of sight, they stopped, and the girl gave birth to a boy. Her mother dug a hole in a buffalo-wallow, put the child in, and covered it with earth. Then they left it. The child cried and struggled, and partly uncovered itself. Seven old Buffalo-bulls were near by. They were following the trail of the camp. One went to the wallow in order to wallow in it. He heard a sound he did not know. Then the others came, until ' From iuforinaiit P. Compare Arapaho, Nos. 134-138, and note to No. 137, p. 339. 1907.] Kroeber, Gros Ventre Myths and Tales. 95 all seven were there. They found the child and looked at it. They pitied it. One of them said, "Let us raise it. We will have it for our son." Then the first Buffalo began to wallow. As he wallowed, he licked the boy all over. Then another one licked him. When all seven had licked him, he was no longer a baby, but a boy. The Bulls told him to climb on the Bull who had first found him, and to hold on to his mane. Then they went off. The Bulls thought the boy hungry, but did not know what to give him to eat. They asked him, "Will you eat grass with us?" "No, I cannot eat it," the boy said. "What do you eat?" "I do not know," said the boy. .One of the Buffalo said, "They eat buffalo." At first the Bulls did not know how to kill a cow for him. They planned. They got a cow among themselves, and killed her with their horns. They told the boy, "Break a stone, and use the sharp edge to cut her up with." The boy broke rocks, and used the points and edges for a knife. Thus he was happy, for he had much to eat. He played wnth his fathers. W'hen he found feathers, he would tie knots in the long hair of their manes, and fasten the feathers there. He also tied feathers to their tails. Then the Bulls told him to make a bow. He knew nothing of the life of his tribe, therefore they instructed him. They told him, "Go into the woods and cut a piece of cherry-wood. Make it so long. Cut also seven sticks of cherry-wood for arrows. Season these. Shape the wood into a bow and arrows. Then cut sinew, and twist it into a bowstring." The boy did all this. Then they told him how to attach feathers to the arrow with sinew, and how to break flint into shape for arrow-points. When the boy had finished his bow and arrows, his fathers told him to kill his game himself. They carried him into a herd on their backs. In the middle of the herd he would jump oflF, and kill the cow he thought the best. The Bulls loved the boy very much, and never became angry at what he did. Sometimes the boy in play cut thongs of rawliide and tied their feet together; but they did not become angry. Each in his turn, they carried him over the country. He lived with them until he was a young man. Then his fathers took him to a large herd in which there was a powerful Bull. He kept only young Cows in his herd. Whenever any Bull approached, he drove him away. One of the Seven Bulls told the young man, "You must be very careful when we come to this herd, for the Bull is jealous and powerful. Do not even go near the Cows, or you may lose your life." When they reached the place where the herd was, they saw the dangerous Bull. The Seven Bulls watched the young man closely. But he escaped from them, and went toward the herd. One of the young Cows came running to him. "I heard that the Seven Bulls had a good-looking young man. Are you he?" she said. "Yes." "You are indeed handsome." Then she began 96 Anthrojiological Papers American Mvsetim of Natural History. [Vol. I, to try to attract the young man's desire, and at last succeeded: he went to her et earn olfactavit. Then a young Bull, a servant of the powerful Bull, went and said, "A young man, the son of the Seven Bulls, is with one of your young wives." The Bull became angry. He came swiftly to where the young man was standing with the Cow. When the young man saw the Bull, he fled. The Bull said, "It is useless for you to try to escape. I will overcome you together with your fathers, the Seven Bulls." When the young man reached his fathers, they said, "We must save our son, even though we die for it." They got up and stood around him with their tails raised. One of them went out to meet the powerful Bull. The power- ful Bull broke all his legs so that he was unable to move. Then another one went, but was disabled; and another; and so all went against him, and had their legs broken. Then the powerful Bull said to the yoimg man, "Now it is time for you to be killed." The young man said to him, "I do not think you will kill me. Perhaps you will kill me; but I do not think so." He rolled up his sleeve, preparing to shoot. He had a white plume on his head. The Bull charged on him, and tossed him up; but only the white plume flew up in the air. When it came down, then* stood the young man. The Bull tossed him repeatedly, l)ut did not injure him. Then the young man shot the Bull. His arrow nearly went through him. Then he went to the other side of him, and shot another arrow nearly through him. Then he killed the powerful Bull. After he had killed him, he told his seven fathers, "I will try to heal you." He went to the one who had first found him, drew his bow on him, and said, "Get up, or I will shoot you." Four times he made a motion as if to shoot. The fourth time, the Bull got up well and sound. Then the young man took another of his seven arrows, and pretended four times to shoot one of the others, and this one arose sound. With each of his seven arrows he cured one of the Bulls. Each of the seven thanked him. They said, "You have shown that you think well of what we have done for you." Then one of them said, "It is time for you to go to your own people. We have raised you. You are a man. Now it is time for you to go. We cannot change you into a buffalo. Go to your father and mother." Then they went to look for the camp where his parents were. They went one behind the other, and the young man rode them in turn and played with them. When they came near the camp, they all stopped. "Your people are very near. You had better go to them. We thank you for restoring us to life." The young man thanked them for having raised him to manhood. As he was about to leave them, he stopped and said, "I do not like to leave you, my fathers. I love you. If I go to the camp, I shall not know my people. I shall not understand them if they talk to me. I shall not know my father and mother." The 1907.] Kroeber, Gros Ventre Myths and Tales. 97 Bulls said to him, "You will know your father and mother when you reach the camp. You will understand the people when they speak to you, and they will understand you. You are a human being: we are animals. We cannot turn you into an animal. That is why we tell you to leave us. Now go. ^Yhen you are near the camp, stop. Many young women will be playing ball. The ball will roll straight to you, and stop in front of you. Then pick it up. One of the young women will follow the ball, and will come to you. She is your mother. When she comes to you, you must give her the ball, saying, 'Here is the ball,' my mother.'" The young man did all this. When he said, "Here is the ball, my mother," she was ashamed. Instead of acknowledging him as her son, she ran home, crying. All the other young women were surprised to see him following her. She entered the tent, and he entered it after her. There he saw her father and mother. He said to them, "My grandparents, I am here. I am your grandson." When he had said this, his grandmother spoke. She said, "How is it that we are your grandparents?" "Do you not know," said the young man, "tiiat, when the people were moving camp, my mother gave birth to a child ? After I was born, you l)uried me in a buffalo-wallow. Seven old bulls found me. They brought me up until I was a man." His grandfather was surprised. He had known nothing of what his wife and daughter had done. When the young man had finished telling about iiimself, the girl stopped crying, and his grandmother took him in her arms and kissed liim as her grandson. When night came, the young man said, "Now I will go and look for my father. I want my mother to go with me." Then they went out. Many young men were gambling with hiding-buttons in a tent. The young man and his mother went there. He looked in at the men gambling. While he looked, one party guessed right. Then the others threw the buttons (kaa(;haan) to them, and the man that picked them up was his father. As soon as he saw this, the young man went in and said, "My father, let us go home." The man was surprised and got up. The young woman had come in too. Then all three went out and to their tent. That is how the young man found his father and mother.^ 23. White-Stone. There were seven brothers and one sister. Every morning one of them went hunting and did not return. The oldest was the first to go. Then tli(^ next old(>st \\ent to look for his brother. He also did not return. Thus thev continued until all were gone. When the woman knew that her 1 Told by informant P. 98 Anthropological Papcr^i American Museum of Xatural History. [\\)1. I, brothers had all been killed, she went into the hills and cried. She thought she would kill herself. She swallowed a white stone that was near her. After she had swallowed it, her abdomen began to grow larger day by day. She gave birth to a boy. She said to herself, "I am so glad that 1 have a son. His name shall be White-Stone (Na"khaana''"tya")." She made a swing for her baby at the left of the door, the southeast side of the tent. She swung the child four times, and it began to smile. Then she made a swing on the northeast side of the tent, and swung the bal)v four times. Then it began to talk. Then she put the swing on the other side of the tent,. at the northwest corner. After four swings, the child almost jumped off. Then she put the swing near the door again, at the southwest of the tent, and, after she had swung him four times, he jumped oft" as a boy. The woman made him a bow of a short rib and an arrow of neck-tendons (hityii'ta"). Then the boy asked his mother, "In what direction did my uncles go?" She said, "Do not seek them. It must be a very dangerous place to which my brothers went, or they would have come back." "Nevertheless, mother, I wish to go to that place. Therefore tell me in which direction they went." At last she told him. There was a hill not far from the tent, over which they had gone. The boy went to the hill, and when he had gone over the top, he saw a buftalo-buU standing. He started to creep up on him. The buffalo stood still. The boy noticed at once that it was the buffalo that had been the cause of his uncles' deaths. When he came near, he shot it. He killed it. He began to cut the skin in order to flay it. Then an old woman came toward him. When she reached him, she said, "You drew blood from my buffalo." "Yes,. grandmother." Then she imitated the boy's speech, "Yes, grandmother." She told him that he must take the entire bull, and carry it on his back to her tent. The boy said, "It is impossible to carry so heavy a load as the meat of a whole bull. Besides, I have nothing Avith which to carry it." " Use your bowstring," she said. The boy said, " ^ly bowstring is not strong enough." She said, "Use it anyway, you have nothing else. I want you to carry the bull." The old woman had an iron cane. She had done thus to the boy's uncles. When they had got to her tent and stooped to lay down the load of meat, she had struck them in the back of the head with her cane, and killed them. When the old woman told the boy so often to carry the bull, he became angry. He knew that it was she who had killed his uncles. He took his bow and said to her, "And I want you to carrv the bull to your tent on your back. You must be the one who has killed mv uncles. 1 am glad that I have found you to-day. This is your last day." Then the old woman began to speak kindly to him, "Is that you, mv grand- .son White-Stone ? I have been longing to see vou. I am glad to see voii 1907.] Kroeber, Gros Ventre Myths and Tales. 99 to-day. Do not compel me to carry this Ijull. I have nothing to carry it with." "Well, grandmother, I am glad to see you too. To-day you shall repay the death of my uncles. You have a belt with Ayhich you can carry the meat." When the old woman knew that she must carry the bull, she took it on her back. Then she asked, "Where are we going with this bull ?" White-Stone said, "You should know where we are going. Have you a tent?" "Yes." "Take it there." He took the cane away from her. On the way she became tired, and wanted to rest. "Grandson, please let me rest," she said. "No, I do not wish you to rest. You will have time to rest when you reach the tent." When they were at the tent, and she stopped to unload, he struck her on the head with her cane, and killed her. Then he saw his uncles lying around outside of the tent. He said to them, "You are men. You are not boys to be killed by an old woman like this." Then he took hold of the seven dead bodies, and dragged them into the tent. After he had dragged them in, he closed the door and stepped aside. He shot an arrow up in the air, and when it descended he called, "Look out, look out, look out, my uncle!" and one of them jumped up and ran out. Then he shot and called out again, and he could see the tent move; and again one of them jumped out. He shot up again, and another one came out of the tent. He shot up a fourth time and called, "Look out, look out, look out, my uncles!" and all four emerged from the tent. Thus he brought all his uncles to life. He took them home with him. After he had brought his uncles back, he asked his mother, "Where is there a camp?" She did not want him to go away. He insisted. Finally she told him where the camps of the people were. Then he went in that direction. He came to a camp and went into an old woman's tent. As soon as he had entered, she looked at him and said, "Is that you, my grandson White-Stone? Where did you come from, and where are you going?" "I came from home, and I am visiting here." The old woman said to him, "Do not stay here long. Go back. Bone-Bull (i^a'^na^tya*^) is here. He is very jealous towards strangers. If you stay long, you will have trouble with him." White-Stone said, "I do not like to go home. I came here in order to see p('o])le. I wish to stay." The old woman warned him: "Do not go near the tent of Bone-Bull. You will get into trouble with him." The bull had a beautiful young wife. White-Stone asked, "Which of the women is Bone-Bull's wife?" The old woman pointed her out to him, and he saw that she was a beautiful Avoman. White-Stone dressed himself finely. On his head he wore a white plume. He also carried his bow. Then he went and stood at the place where the women got water. As soon as the young woman saw him, she took a bucket and went for water. When she was filling her bucket, he went to her, caught her around the back, and began 100 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. I, feeling her breasts. She ran back to her tent, and cried, "Bone-Bull, White-Stone has touched my breasts." Bone-Bull came out. He ran in all directions, he was so angry. "You cannot go very far, young man," he called to White-Stone. Meanwhile White-Stone was standing at one place. The bull came to him very angry. "You cannot escape me," he said. But White-Stone had been standing still. The bull ran against him, and hooked him. The horn with which he struck him flew to one side, broken. White-Stone said, "You also cannot escape very far from me." When the bull had hooked liim, the plume on his head flew up, and White- Stone with it. He dropped on the bull's back. "When persons do things like this, it makes me still angrier. You will not be able to escape me," said the bull. He hooked White-Stone with his other horn. This horn broke also, and White-Stone again flew up with the pliune and lit on the bull's back. Then White-Stone took his bow, and shot him in the anus. After he had shot him behind, he went in front of him, and shot him in the mouth. This arrow went straight to the heart. After he had killed him, he built a fire, and put the body in and burned it to ashes. Then he went to the old woman and said to her, " From to-day you are free. 1 have killed Bone-Bull." Before this, the people did not go out doors in the da}1:ime. They were afraid of the l)ull. Xow the people were rid of him, and hapj^y that White-Stone had killed him.^ 24. The Womex who married the Moon and a Buffalo. Two women were lying out doors at night. (3ne of them said, "I wish I had the moon for my husband." The other said, "I wish I had that smallest star for my husband." The next day, when they were getting water, the ■Moon appeared to the women as a porcupine on a dead tree. Wlien the woman who had wished to have the moon as a husband saw it, she climbed up the tree after it. She came near it, but never reached it. The ^Nloon caused the tree to stretch up and up. The other woman called to her, "You are rising," but she did not listen to her. Thus she con- tinued to ascend until she reached the sky. Then the ]Moon took her and married her. Then she had a child. When the jNIoon went hunting, she Avent to dig hiitceni-roots. The Moon told her, "Do not dig the roots of a blue flower." Then she dug the plant with the blue flower, and there was a hole in the sky. She looked down and saw her home. Then she became sad. Her husband noticed it and asked her, "Why are you sad?" 1 Told by informant P. For the restoration to life in the sweat-house, compare No. 40, and Arapalio, Nos. 5, 6, 119; for Bone-Bull, No. 81; for the child born from a stone, No. 6: for the bow of rib, and arrow of tendon.jNos. 139-142; for a general parallel, the myth of Liglit-Stone, No. 85. 1907.] Kroeber, Gros Ventre Myths and Tales. 101 She told liim that she wanted to return to the earth. He said to her, "I will send you home." Then she made a rope of sinew and a bag of skin. With this the Moon let her down. The people were on the prairie playing. An old man with sore eyes was lying on his back. As he looked up, he saw a speck. Then he told others. They ridiculed him. Then they looked and saw it also. They all watched. The tiling came nearer. At last they saw that it was a woman. Then she reached the earth, and returned to her people. The other woman, who had wished for a star, was approached by a buffalo- bull when she was getting water. He said to her, "I am the one you wished for." She denied it. Then he asked her, "What did you say at night?" Then she remembered that she had wished for the faintest star. He said, "I am he." Then he took her away. Xo one knew where she was. At last the hunters found her in the middle of the herd. But they could not reach her. Then the Gopher said, "I will rescue her." He dug a long hole, and excavated under the place where she was sitting. Then the woman fell into the hole. Only her robe was left in the position in which she had been sitting. Then the Bull told her to get up. She did not answer. He became angry, and struck her with his horn. He found her robe empty. Then he sent the buffalo out in pursuit. The woman, having returned through the underground passage, fled with her father and mother. They came to three trees, and climl)ed one of them. All the buffalo came there and went by. At last came an old buffalo who was scabby. He rubbed his sides against the tree. The woman had to urinate. She could restrain herself no longer. Tlie urine flowed down on the old bull. He looked up and saw the woman. He went after the other buffalo and brought them. They hooked the tree with their horns until it fell. It fell on one of the other trees. Then the people climbed on that. Then the buffalo butted this tree until it fell on the middle tree. Then this tree told the people, "Climb on me." The buffalo all went to strike this tree also. At last all of them broke their horns. [End uncertain.]^ 25. TiTK WoMF.x wno married a Star axd a Buffalo. One night two girls were hdng out doors with their faces toward the sky. They wished for stars. They would say, "I want that one," and then, "I want that one." Then a star came down and took one of them up. The other one remained on earth. Once she saw a buffalo-bull running by, and said, "I wish you were my husband." When she went to get water, • Compare No. 25, and Arapaho, Nos. 12, 81-84, 144. 102 Anthro])ologicaJ Papers American Museum of Xatural History. [^'ol. I, she saw a young man standing bv the path. He tohl her, "I am the one you Avanted to marry." He took her with him, and she hved surrounded by a buffalo-herd. Her husband looked for her, and found her in the middle of a buffalo-herd. Then the Gopher burrowed underground to where she was, and took her back Avith him. The woman and her husband climbed a tree. When the Buffalo-bull missed her, he ran about, searching. At last he smclled her, looked up, and saw her in the tree. All the buft"alo began to hook the tree with their horns. They finally cut the tree down, and when it fell, killed the man. The Bull took the woman back with him into the herd. The people asked the Badger to help them. He dug under- ground to where the woman was. He made a hole there, into which she fell. Then he took her back with him through the burrow. Then her brother-in-law fled with her. The Buffalo followed their tracks by scent. The man and the woman reached the camp, followed closely l)y the Buffalo. The woman ran inside a tent. The Bull stood outside, shaking his tail. Then he went in. The people could not stop him nor wound him. He took the woman back with him. The people all went to bring her back. They saw her in the herd, but could not rescue her. Then they sent the Bald Eagle. He seized her by her head, and flew oft' with her. All the buft'alo looked up and saw her soaring through the air. They could do nothing. Then the woman came back to her people.^ 26. The Deserted Children. There was a camp. All the children went oft" to play, "^rhey went to some distance. Then one man said, "Let us abandon the children. Lift the ends of your tent-poles and travois when you go, so that there will be no trail." Then the people went off. After a time the oldest girl amongst the children sent the others back to the camp to get something to eat. The children found the camp gone, the fires out, and only ashes about. They cried, and wandered about at random. The oldest girl said, "Let us go toward the river." They found a trail leading across the river, and forded the river there. Then one of the girls found a tent-pole. As they went along, she cried, "My mother, here is your tent-pole." "Bring my tent- pole here!" shouted an old woman loudly from out of the timber. The children went towards her. They found that she was an old woman who lived alone. They entered her tent. At night they were tired. The old woman told them all to slec]^ with their heads toward the fire. Only one little girl who had a small brother pretended to sleep, but did not. The 1 From informant M. Compare note to tlie preceding version. 1907.] Kroeber, Gros Ventre Myths and Tales. 103 ■old woman watched if all were asleep. Then she put her foot in the fire. It became red hot. Then she pressed it down on the throat of one of the children, and burned through the child's throat. Then she killed the next one and the next one. The little girl jumped up, saying, "My grandmother, let me liye with you and work for you. I will bring wood and water for you." Then the old woman allowed her and her little brother to liye. "Take these out," she said. Then the little girl, carrying her brother on her back, dragged out the bodies of the other children. Then the old woman sent her to get wood. The little girl brought back a load of Cottonwood. When she brought it, the old woman said, "That is not the kind of wood I use. Throw it out. Bring another load." The little girl went out and got willow- wood. She came back, and said, "My grandmother, I have a load of wood." "Throw it in," said the old woman. The little girl threw the wood into the tent. The old woman said, "That is not the kind of wood 1 use. Throw it outside. Now go get wood for me." Then the little girl brought birch- wood, then cherry, then sagebrush; but the old woman always said, "That is not the kind of wood I use," and sent her out again. The little girl went. She cried and cried. Then a bird came to her and told her, "Bring her ghost-ropes (tsookan^ana^tso), for she is a ghost." Then the little girl brought some of these plants, which grow on willows. The old woman said, "Throw in the wood which you haye brought." The little girl threw it in. Then the old woman was glad. "You are my good grand-daughter," she said. Then the old woman sent the little girl to get water. The little girl brought her riyer-water, then rain-water, then spring- water; but the old woman always told her, "That is not the kind of water I use. Spill it!" Then the bird told the little girl, "Bring her foul, stag- nant water, which is muddy and full of worms. That is the only kind she drinks." The little girl got the water, and when she brought it the old woman was glad. Then the little boy said that he wanted to go out ut mingeret inquinaretque. Puella anui dixit, "Ayia, fraterculum oportet mingere inciuiuareque." "In tabernaculo mingito!" " Quandocuncjue urinat flumen fecit." "In tabernaculo inquinato!" "Cum inquinat semper montem fecit." "Well, then, go out with your brother, but let half of your robe remain inside of the tent while you hold him." Then the girl took her little brother out, leaving half of her robe inside the tent. When she was outside, she stuck an awl in the ground. She hung her robe on this, and, taking her little brother, fled. The awl made the sound of the boy qui inquinare conatus est. The old woman called, "Hurry!" Then the awl answered, "My grandmother, my little brother is not yet ready." Again the old woman said, "Now hurry!" Then the awl answered again, "My little brother is not ready." Then the old woman said, "Come in 104 Anthropohcjical Papers American Museum of Xatural History. [Vol. I, now, else I will go outside an.l kill you." She started to go out, and .stepped on the awl. The little girl and her brother fled, and came to a large river. An animal with two horns (a bax'aa") lay there. It said, "Louse me." The little bov loused it. Its lice were frogs. " Catch four, and crack them with your teeth," said the Water-monster. The boy had on a necklace of plum-seeds. Four times the girl cracked a seed. She made the monster think that her brother had cracked one of its lice. Then the ba.x'aa" .said, "Go between my horns, and do not open your eyes until we have crossed." Then he went under the surface of the water. He came up on the other side. The children got off and went on. The old woman was pursuing the children, saving, "I will kill you. You cannot escape me by going to the skv or bv entering the ground." She came to the river. The bax'aa" had returned, and was Iving at the edge of the water. " Louse me," it said. The old woman found a frog. "These dirty lice! I will not put them into mv mouth!" she said, and threw it into the river. She found three more, and threw them away. Then she went on the Water-monster. He went under the surface of the water, remained there, drowned her, and ate her. The children went on. At last they came to the camp of the peo{)le who had deserted them. They came to their parents' tent. " My mother, here is vour little .son," the girl sai.l. "I did not know that 1 had a .son," their mother said. They went to their father, their uncle, an.l their grand- father. Thev all said. 'T did not know 1 had a son," "I did not know I had a nephew," "1 did not know I had a grandson." Tlicn a man sai(l, "Let us tie them face to face, and hang them in a tree and leave them." Then thev tied them together, hung them in a tree, put out all the fires, and left them. A small dog with sores all over his body, his mouth, and his eyes, pretended to be sick and unable to move, and lay on the ground. He kept a little fire between his legs, and had hidden a knife. The people left the dog Iving. When they had all gone oft', the dog went to t he children, climbe.l the "tree, cut the ropes, and freed them. The Uttle boy cried an.l cried. He felt bad about what the people had done. Then many butt'alo came near them. "L.)ok at the buft'alo, my brother," said the girl. The boy looked at the buffalo, and they fell dead. The girl wondered how they might cut them up. "Look at the meat, my younger brother," she said. The bov looked at the dead buffalo, and the meat was all cut uj). Then she toki him to look at the meat, and when he looked at it, the meat was dried. Then they had much to eat, and the dog became well again. The girl sat down on 'the pile of buffalo-skins, and they were all dressed. She folded them together, sat on them, and there was a tent. Then s1k> went out with the dog and looked for sticks. She brought dead branches, broken tent-poles, and rotten wood. "Look at the tent-poles," she said to her 1907.] Kroeber. Gros Ventre Myths and Tales. 105 brother. When he looked, there were large straight tent-poles, smooth and good. Then the girl tied three together at the top, and stood them up, and told her brother to look at the tent. He looked, and a large fine tent stood th?re. Then she told him to go inside and look about him. He went in and looked. Then the tent was filled with property, and there were beds for them, and a bed also for the dog. The dog was an old man. Then the girl said, "Look at the antelopes rimning, mv brother." The boy looked, and the antelopes fell dead. He looked at them again, and the meat was cut up and the skins taken off. Then the girl made fine dresses of the skins for her brother and herself and the dog. Then she called as if she were calling for dogs, and four bears came loping to her. "You watch that pile of meat, and yoti this one," she .said to each one of the bears. The bears went to the meat and watched it. Then the boy looked at the woods, and there was a corral full of fine painted horses. Then the children lived at this place, the .same place where they had been tied and abandoned. They had very much food and much property. Then a man came and saw their tent and the abundance they had, and went back and told the people. Then the people were told, " Break camp and move to the children, for we are without food." Then they broke camp and travelled, and came to the children. The women went to take meat, but the bears drove them away. The girl and her brother would not come otit of the tent. Xot even the dog would come out. Then the girl said, "I will go out and bring a wife for you, my brother, and for the dog, and a husband for myself." Then she went out, and went to the camp and .selected two pretty girls and one good-looking yoimg man, and told them to come with her. She took them into the tent, and the girls .sat down by the boy and the old man, and the man by her. Then they gave them fine clothing, and married them. Then the sister told her brother, "(io outside and look at the camp." The boy went out and looked at the people, and they all fell dead.^ 27. The Girl who became a Bear. There was a large camp. Many little girls were playing. They were all little. Only one was older. She played with the rest in the brush near the river. She said to the others, "All go and bring something to eat. Whoever does not bring the last rib is not loved by her parents." The children all ran home, and each one brought back a short rib of a buffalo. Then they cooked and ate the meat, and the oldest girl took eight of the ribs. She said. "Now we will play bear. I will play that these are my 1 From informant N. Compare No. 3, and Arapalio, Nos. 127, 128. h 1 00 A nlhni/jolnrpral Pnprr.s American MuHmm of Natural History. [\ ol. I, white Haws." 'J'lxii ili