Chapter III: Part 3

They went, and there stood an old hollow cottonwood tree. Near its base was a knot where there was a hole. Lying by the tree was an ash stick, about six or seven feet long, and about eight inches in diameter. “Now,” said the woman, “do you see the stick? That stick is what makes the people come out of that hole. You shall use that stick, only do as I tell you, and you will be successful. Cut-Nose is the one who sits at the entrance, so when the Buffalo gather about the tree, he is the first to come out. He gets away. The Buffalo do not try to kill him, for he helps the Buffalo.”

So the young man lay down in the timber, while the woman returned to the camp. When it was daylight he began to make bows and arrows. He made many. Every night the woman would come to visit him. She gave him buffalo meat. Thus the young man stayed in the timber and kept on making bows and arrows. Often the boy went into the village with the woman and listened to the singing of the Buffalo. The woman told the young man to hurry in making the bows, for it was nearly time for the ceremony to be over, then the Buffalo would march out where the tree stood. The young man now hurried to make the bows and arrows. For two days the ceremony was kept up, the singing continuing all night. The third day the boy had many bows and arrows completed. The woman came in the night and gave the boy long sinew strings for the bows. The boy put the strings upon the bows and now the weapons were completed. The woman took the boy into the camp, and there he heard singing. At the end of every tenth song the singing was stopped. In a little while the singing would be resumed. Now the woman told the boy that the next morning they would have to return to the timber and bring the bows and arrows.

The next morning they went and brought the bows and arrows and placed them at the foot of the tree, the bows already strung, and the arrows with the bows. “Now,” said the woman, “as soon as you see the Buffalo coming towards the tree, you run up to the tree three times, and you will hear shouting. As soon as you hear shouting, wailing and screaming, pick up the bows and arrows and give them to the men and tell them to shoot at the Buffalo. Do not give any bows and arrows to the first man who comes out, for his name is Cut-Nose, and he it is who helps the Buffalo. Give out the bows and arrows, then pick up your own and go to killing the Buffalo. As soon as the Buffalo see that your people are killing them they will run. Keep right after them, and scatter them as much as possible.” The boy placed all the bows around the tree. Then he and the woman hid under the bank.

As the sun was coming up in the east the rattles were laid down. Singing was stopped. There was mourning; everybody seemed to be crying. Then the Buffalo all came to the ceremonial lodge and stood around until the four priests came out, who walked towards the tree. The young man jumped out from his hiding place. The first man, whose name was Cut-Nose, came out with a war-whoop. The people came up next in the hollow tree. There seemed to be a strong current coming out from the hollow tree, blowing the people up and out of the tree. But as the people came out, especially men, this young man picked up bows and arrows, and placed them in the men’s hands, and said: “Make haste; shoot the Buffalo. Kill them. Do not be afraid of them.” As each of the men came out, the young man handed him bow and arrows, and told him to shoot and kill the Buffalo. It was not long until the young man had a large company of men with bows and arrows killing the Buffalo. As the Buffalo ran towards their village some one shouted and said: “Get some of the meat! Carry it with you, and whenever we stop running we can have something to eat!” So the Buffalo people ran and picked up human meat and each placed the meat they picked up, under the arm, and ran. The human meat that they placed under their arms became a part of their flesh, for the people ran after them so closely that they finally became buffalo. (This is the reason why the Arikara used to cut the meat from under the shoulder and throw it away. This meat the Arikara would not eat.)

The young man and the Buffalo woman now went to the tipi of the bundle and took the bundle. The people came back and burned everything that was in the village. Then they made a new camp and the Buffalo woman, who was now married to the young man, taught the people the songs and ceremony that go with the bundle. So these people became a part of the Arikara.

* * * * *

When this story is told, everybody keeps quiet.

FOOTNOTES:

[14] Told by Snowbird.

14. THE GIRL WHO MARRIED A STAR.[15]

In olden times, when the people lived upon the Missouri River, there was a village. In this village there were two girls who, in the night, slept outside of their lodge on an arbor. As they lay upon the arbor one night they were talking about the different young men in the tribe whom they liked. One of them spoke of liking a certain young man, while the other girl said she did not like any one of the young men in the tribe. She looked into the sky. She saw a bright, red star in the heavens towards the east. She said, “There stands the star I like, and if that star were here upon the earth I would marry him.” The girls then went to sleep.

In the morning they arose and went after water. As they were coming back, they saw a porcupine. The girls ran after it and tried to kill it. One of them said she wanted to get the porcupine, for she did not have enough quills to do some of her work. The porcupine got to a cottonwood tree that was near the river. The girl climbed up after it. The other girl wanted to go home and get an axe, so that they might chop the tree down, but this particular girl who had said she liked the star, said, “No, I can climb.” She climbed the tree.

As the girl climbed up the tree the tree grew higher. The girl disappeared, so the girl on the ground went home and told what had happened. The girl kept on climbing for the porcupine until she reached another world. When the girl came into the other world she recognized that she was in a strange country, and she began to cry.

The porcupine had turned into a man. The man spoke to the girl, and said: “Why do you cry? I am the Star that you saw and that you said you liked. I went down after you. I turned myself into a porcupine and you came after me, and now you are here in my home.” The girl saw that the man was not young, but middle-aged, though he was very handsome. She stayed with him and liked him, but the man kept going away every night. She cried every night, for she wanted to return to her people.

Many years afterward she gave birth to a male child. When the child was born his mother found the picture of a star upon his forehead. This woman told her husband one time that her son wanted some wild turnips and that she wanted to go and dig some. The man told her that it was very well for her to go and dig these turnips, but that she must not go to the valleys to dig them, but she must go to high places. While she was out digging these turnips she thought about her people and she began to cry. Then she went to the valley and dug into the ground to get a turnip. Her digging-stick ran through the earth. She removed the dirt, looked down, and there saw the people underneath. She then knew that she was far away from her people.

She covered the place and began to cry. While she was crying, she heard the voice of a woman calling her. The voice said, “My daughter, why are you crying?” She said: “I am crying for my people, for they are far away below us. I was brought up by my husband, who is a Star.” The woman told the girl not to cry, for she would help her. She took the girl to her cave in the side of a cliff, and there she confronted her. She told her to tell her husband that when he went to kill buffalo he must take all of the sinews from one whole buffalo, and that when she got these sinews she must bring them to her; that she would make a sinew string that would reach to the ground below.

The girl went home. She told her husband that she wanted to do much sewing, and that she needed sinew, and she wanted him to get all the sinew that was in a buffalo, so she could have many sinews and would not have to ask him for any more. The man went hunting. He killed a buffalo. He took all the sinews he could find. He forgot, however, to get the two sinews that are in the shoulder-blade of the buffalo. He brought the sinews to his wife, and gave them to her.

One time when the man was away she took the sinews to the old woman and gave them to her. The old woman was glad. She said: “Now go to your home, and remain there. I am to make a string, and when it is complete I shall let you know, so that you then can go to your people.” The girl went home and stayed, but once in a while she visited the old woman’s dwelling place, and she saw the piles of string that the woman was making. As soon as the old woman had completed the string she told the girl, and said that the girl must come to her place when her husband was away. The young girl had also made a long string of sinew, but it was separate from the string that the old woman had made. This she carried herself when she went to the old woman’s place.

They now went to the valley, and there dug a hole, large enough for her with her boy on her back to go through. After this was done she went to her home, put the child upon her back, covered it with her robe, then tied the robe about her breast. She went to the place. The old woman had brought a large-sized stick, which was laid across the hole, and the sinew was tied to the pole. The girl tied the sinew about her body and covered her hands with a part of her robe. She slipped down, down, down the string and after a time she found herself at the end of the string. The earth was still far away. She took her own string and tied it to the string that she was tied to. She fastened herself to the other string after untying herself from the main string, and slid down upon it. She slid down until she had reached the end of the string, and she was at the height of the highest tree from the ground. She saw that she could not get down, so she made a loop and put her foot in it so that she stood upon the string, and there she hung.

When the woman’s husband came home he found her missing. He went out to hunt for her. After a time he came to the place where the hole was, and there he saw the woman hanging on the string. He went and took up a little stone, about the size of his thumb. He took this to the place where the hole was dug. He placed the stone on the string, then said, “Now I want you to slide down on the string and hit the woman upon the head and kill her, but do not harm my boy.” As he let go of the stone a sound was heard like that of thunder. The stone slipped down upon the string and struck the woman on the top of the head and killed her. As the woman fell down towards the earth the boy slipped out from the robe upon the back of the woman and fell on the ground, but was not hurt.

The boy stayed around where the woman was lying, for he was now about five or six years old. He would go off from his mother during the day and in the evening he would come back, crawl under the robe, and nurse at his mother’s breast. He did this for many days. At last the boy had to leave her, so he went on west from where his mother lay. He came to a patch of squash and also to a cornfield. This he went through, taking corn from the stalks and eating it raw. He returned to his mother and sat there.

In the morning, the owner of the field, who was an old woman, went into her field, and there she saw a child’s footprints. She was so glad to see the footprints that she went home and made a small bow and some arrows. She also made a small shinny ball, and a stick. The old woman thought if this child was a girl it would choose the shinny ball and stick, and if it was a boy it would choose the bow and arrows. In this way she thought she could tell whether the child was a boy or a girl. The old woman made these things, and took them into the field and left them there.

The next day, the boy went back into the field. There he saw these things upon the ground. When he saw the bow and arrows he jumped at them and picked them up. When he had picked them up he went through the squash field and began to shoot at the squash. The old woman came upon the boy and caught him. She called him her grandson, and told him that she had been waiting for him for a long time. She took the boy home.

The boy was satisfied to be with his grandmother. His grandmother, before she went into the field, used to roast a lot of corn. Then she scattered this corn in her lodge, then would go out hallooing, and say, “Blackbirds, come and eat of this corn that I have prepared for you.” The blackbirds would come in flocks and enter the lodge, and there they would eat the corn that she had scattered over the ground in the lodge. Then the old woman would go into her field and would leave the boy at home. Sometimes the boy went out to hunt rabbits and little birds. In the evening, when the old woman came home from the field, she used to take a lot of corn and put it in her corn mortar and pound it. She made mush out of the pounded corn. There was a curtain of buffalo hide in the lodge. The old woman, after she had made the mush would place a bowl of it behind the buffalo hide curtain. Why she did this the boy did not know.

One day when the old woman had gone out to feed the blackbirds, the boy began to roast some corn. After he had got a big pile roasted he went out and yelled, and said, “Come, blackbirds, I have prepared for you the corn that my grandmother told me to prepare; come and eat!” The blackbirds came in flocks into the lodge. The boy went out and stopped the smokehole with a piece of buffalo hide, then went into the entrance and stopped up the passageway with a dry buffalo hide, so that the birds could not go out. The boy then picked up a club and said: “Blackbirds, I am going to kill you all, for you have been eating my grandmother’s corn all this time. You shall not eat my grandmother’s corn any more.” So the boy began to run around in the lodge after the birds, hitting them with the club and killing them. He killed all of them, and placed them in a pile.

When the grandmother came home the boy said, “Grandmother, I have killed all these blackbirds that have been eating your corn all this time; they shall not eat your corn any more.” The old woman appeared glad. She told the boy that he had done right in killing the birds. The boy said, “You may cook the blackbirds, a few at a time.” The old woman really was not glad, for these blackbirds guarded her field for her. She owned these blackbirds. She placed them upon her robe and took them out. She brought them to life again, and said: “My blackbirds, fly away.” The old woman returned to the lodge.

The old woman then told the boy that he must go into the timber and cut a good-sized ash and some dogwood. The boy went and brought back the ash and the dogwood to the old woman. The old woman scraped on the ash wood, cutting it the right length for the bow and the right length for the arrow sticks. She then told the boy to go west of her lodge and to throw the arrows into a pond that he would come to. The old woman told the boy that when he should throw these sticks into the water he should say, “Grandfather, I want the strongest bow that you can give me, and I want wonderful arrows with it.” So the boy took up the sticks and went west from the lodge. He came to the pond. He threw the sticks into the water, and said, “Grandfather, give me the strongest bow that you can give me, and wonderful arrows.” Then the boy returned into the lodge. The next morning, the boy went down to the pond, and there he found a black bow and four black arrows. These he picked up, then he went home.

The boy went to hunt every day, for now he had a good bow and good arrows. One day the boy saw the old woman place a bowl of mush behind the buffalo curtain. When she went out to her field, the boy wanted to see what made the old woman place the mush behind the curtain, for each time she pulled out the wooden bowl that had held the mush, the mush was gone. The boy went to the curtain, lifted it up, and there he saw a serpent, with its big eyes looking at him. The boy then said: “Ah! I see now! You are the one that eats all my grandmother’s mush.” The boy took his bow and arrows and shot the serpent in the head and killed it. The serpent made one great, big noise, fell back, then slipped down into the pond. After the serpent had slipped down into the pond the water spread out and formed a lake.

When the old woman came home, the boy said, “Grandmother, I have killed the big monster that was lying behind the curtain, for he was eating all your mush.” The old woman said: “My grandson, you did right. I am glad you killed him. He has gone back into the lake, where he will always remain.” The old woman really was not glad, but mad, in her heart, for she now saw that the boy had supernatural powers. She wanted the boy killed. She did not let this be known, for she decided that she would send him to the place where her wild animals were stationed. When the boy was gone the old woman cried and mourned for her husband, who was the serpent. She said (without the boy hearing), “My grandson, you have killed your grandfather.”

The next day, when the old woman was ready to go to her cornfield, she told the boy that he must not go to a certain place, for the place was dangerous. After the old woman had gone into the field the boy went to the place where the old woman told him not to go, and there he went around looking for the dangerous place. He finally saw a mountain-lion coming towards him, ready to leap upon him, but he gave a command for the mountain-lion to stop, and the mountain-lion obeyed. The boy went and led the mountain-lion to the old woman’s lodge. He told the old woman to come out, that he had an animal for her which she could ride when she went off to her field. She told the boy she was glad he had brought the animal, but she whispered to herself, “Well, you must be a wonderful boy, but you shall be killed.” She then took the animal into the brush and told it to go away, for the boy was wonderful and might kill him. As the old woman was going towards the lodge she whispered to herself, “You must be a wonderful boy, but I will send you to a place where you can not kill my animals.”

The old woman then told the boy that he must not go to a certain mountainous place, for the place was dangerous. The boy went, notwithstanding. There he found the cinnamon bear coming to attack him. He commanded the bear to stand still and do nothing. The bear obeyed. The boy then caught the bear by the ear and led it into the old woman’s lodge. He said: “Grandmother, I have an animal for you that is very tame. You can ride it, and you can have it to help you clear your field.” The old woman appeared to be glad, but she was not. She took the bear, led it into the timber, and told it to go away, for the boy was wonderful and might kill it.

The old woman then told the boy that he must not go into the southwest country; that there were four wonderful men there. The boy went, though, and he saw the four wonderful men killing buffalo. These men looked up, and said: “Here comes Old-Woman’s-Grandson. He is a wonderful boy.” The boy got to where the men were skinning a buffalo cow, and, as the entrails were taken out, the boy saw that the cow had a calf in her and that the men were taking it out. The youngest man picked the calf up, and said, “Old-Woman’s-Grandson, take this to your grandmother.” The boy jumped away from it, for he was scared. When the youngest of the men found out that the boy was afraid of the calf he kept on trying to get it near him. Old-Woman’s-Grandson kept running from the calf, until he came to a tree. He climbed the tree. The young man placed the calf on the forks of the tree, so that the boy could not get down. The men then went home with their meat. The boy stayed in the tree many days, and nearly starved, when one of the men came, and said, “Old-Woman’s-Grandson, if you will promise your grandmother to us, I will take this calf down.” The boy said, “I promise.” So the man took the fœtus down.

The boy came down from the tree and went home. The old woman, when she saw the boy coming back, said that she was glad to see him again, for she thought that he had been killed. She asked the boy where he had been, and what had kept him so long. He told her that the men had tried to kill him by placing the fœtus next to him. He also said that he had had to promise the men that they could have her if they would remove the fœtus from the tree; that he had promised and they had removed the fœtus. The old woman said that it was well, but that she had one thing to ask of them, and that was, that they should give the boy something in return for his grandmother. So the boy went and visited these men in their lodge. He said to the men: “What is it that you are to give me in return for my grandmother? My grandmother has consented to marry you men.” The men said, “We are to give you a bow and arrows.” The boy went home and told his grandmother that they were to give him a bow and arrows. The old woman said: “That is good. That is what I wanted you to have. Go to the lodge of the wonderful men, and as you enter the lodge, rush around to the south side of the lodge, where there are five bows set up. The middle bow you shall take up, and say, ‘This I shall take in return for my grandmother.’” So the boy went into the lodge with the men. He ran to the south side of the lodge, and there the bows were, leaning up against the wall of the lodge. He picked up the middle bow and arrows. The men were all sorry that the boy had picked out the middle bow and arrows. The boy then told the men they could go to the home of his grandmother and be with her. Itaque hi ad anus domicilium venerunt ibique cum ea sicut cum uxore concubuerunt.

After they had left the lodge the old woman called the boy, and said, “Take this flute and play around the lodge of these wonderful men.” Her grandson took the flute and went to the lodge of the wonderful men and there he played the flute, circling around the lodge. When the wonderful men heard the flute they were scared. They closed up their lodge with earth. The boy kept on whistling, for he was now taking revenge on them for trying to put the fœtus next to him. The men lived on the meat they had in their lodge, but this soon gave out. These wonderful men died of hunger, and were never to be known again upon the earth.

The young man went home and told the old woman that the men had died; that the earth had closed in on them. The old woman was satisfied. Then she thought, “Now is the time to send my grandson to dangerous places, so that he may be killed, and I shall be freed from him.” The grandmother told the boy he must not go upon a certain hill, for the place was very dangerous. The boy went upon the hill, and there he found a den. He entered this den. He found that it was a den of Snakes. Before the boy entered the den he picked up a little rock and took it with him, and when he sat down in the lodge in the den of Snakes he placed the stone upon the ground and sat upon it as upon a stool. The Snakes were glad to see the boy. The boy said: “Well, you people are here in a den, trying to catch eagles. It seems to me that you people ought to welcome a stranger to your den. It seems that I am not welcome.” The Snakes all spoke up, and said: “Old-Woman’s-Grandson, you have spoken the truth. We will now give you something to eat.” So one of the Snakes spread out hot coals and placed a long gut for the boy to eat. This was rolled in the hot coals until it was burned a little, then it was taken off and given to the boy to eat. The boy took up the gut by each end and placed the ends together. He commenced to tell the Snakes that he had come a long way and was very hungry; that he would very much like to eat that, but as he saw that the gut was not well done he could not eat it. He twisted the ends, and the Snakes whispered to one another, “Why, he knows that this is a Snake, for he has twisted the head off.” As he twisted the head off he saw plainly that it was a Snake. He threw the head into the fire and placed the gut upon the hot coals again and roasted it some more. He left the Snake burning until it was burned so that he could not eat it. Once in a while he would hear the Snakes say, “What are you waiting for?” Then some Snake would disappear in the ground and would come up and try to get into the boy’s rectum, and they would hit the rock and tell the rest of the Snakes that they could do nothing, that the boy was sitting upon a rock.

Soon the boy said: “It is well that we should tell some tales.” The Snakes said, “Let Old-Woman’s-Grandson tell his story first.” But the boy said, “No, you tell the first story.” The leader, the chief of the Snakes, who was very large, said that he would tell a story. This Snake began to tell a story of how a girl had said she liked a certain Star, and how the next day, the girl found the porcupine; that the porcupine had climbed the tree and she also had climbed it; that the tree had stretched and went up to the Star that the girl liked; that the Star had married this girl; that a boy had been born to them; that the boy had the image of a star upon his forehead; that the boy’s father was a Star; that the woman had requested her husband to get sinews for her; that this woman had given the sinews to an old woman that she might make a sinew string; that the Star had forgotten to get the two sinews under the shoulders of the buffalo, and for that reason the string had proved too short to reach the ground; that the Star had missed his wife and child; that he had hunted and had found a hole in the ground; that the Star had picked up a stone and had sent it down on the string to kill the woman, telling it to save the child; that the child had stayed around its mother until she had decayed; that the child had gone to the old woman’s lodge and gone into her field; that the old woman had made bow and arrows and a shinny ball and stick, had placed them in the field, so that she might find out whether the child was a boy or a girl; that the boy had come and picked up the bow and arrows and had gone to shoot at the squash in the field; that the old woman had caught the boy and had taken him home and made him her grandson, when he became known through the country as “Old-Woman’s-Grandson;” that through the boy’s powers he had scattered the blackbirds through the earth; that the mountain lions were also scattered through the earth; that the bears were scattered through the earth; that even the water-serpent had been killed and sent back to the lake; that the serpent had been the boy’s grandfather; that the boy had killed the old woman’s husband, who was really his grandfather; that the boy had visited the four wonderful men; that the four wonderful men had found a fœtus in a buffalo cow; that they had tried to put it next to him to scare him; that the boy had climbed the tree and they had placed the fœtus at the forks of the tree, so that he could not climb down; that the boy had offered his grandmother to the four wonderful men to get the men to take away the fœtus and let him down the tree; that the boy had taken the wonderful bow and arrows from the four wonderful men; that these men had married the old woman; that afterwards the boy was given a flute by his grandmother, which was done that he might take revenge upon the four wonderful men; that he had killed the four wonderful men, so they would be no longer on the earth; that now Old-Woman’s-Grandson had come to the people who were sitting in a den trying to catch eagles; that he now sat before them, sitting on a rock; that he was given a long gut to eat, but that he had found out that it was a Snake; that he had thrown it in the fire and burned it. “This,” said the leader, “ends our story. Old-Woman’s-Grandson will now please tell us a story.”

The boy then began to tell about himself, just as the Snake had told it, following it up. “Now,” said the boy, “as the people in the den were sitting around, listening to Old-Woman’s-Grandson, there came a strong wind from the southeast, and blew towards the den.” As the wind blew from the southeast the Snakes on that side went to sleep. Then he told about the wind coming from the southwest, and those Snakes in the southwest went to sleep. Then the wind from the northwest came, and those who were there went to sleep. Then the wind from the northeast came, and those Snakes on that side went to sleep. Now the boy waved his hand all around the circle, and all went to sleep as they were listening to Old-Woman’s-Grandson.

In the center was the fire. There was a long stick in the form of a circle around the den, and all the Snakes were upon this, in a circle all around. The boy now arose, took his flint knife, and commenced to cut the heads on the stick around the fireplace. When he came to the last one, it opened its eyes and woke up. It ran into a hole, and said, “Old-Woman’s-Grandson, watch yourself, for hereafter I am your enemy.” The Snake disappeared in the ground.

Now the boy went out and went home, and he told the old woman that he had killed the Snakes. The old woman was then afraid of the boy. She knew that he was wonderful. After that, the boy watched himself in all of his journeys, because of the Snake he had failed to kill. Whenever he wanted to drink he had to go among the rocks, where he would drink from the pools of water. The boy could not drink water from the springs, for the Snake was always ready to jump into his mouth. When the boy wanted to sleep he lay down, placing the arrows he had as follows: One outside of each knee and one outside of each shoulder, sticking them in the ground. The bow the boy used for a pillow. Whenever the Snake approached him sleeping the arrows fell upon him, so that he woke up.

The boy became very sleepy one time, for he had not slept much during all this time. He lay down, and placed the arrows as usual, and went to sleep. The Snake came. One of the arrows fell on the boy, but failed to wake him. Another fell on him, but he did not wake. Then another arrow fell, then the last one fell, but the boy did not wake. The Snake crawled up to the boy, and, as it reached his stomach, the boy, in his sleep, reached for his knife and made motions to cut the Snake, but the Snake kept on going. The boy kept trying to get the Snake, but it went into the boy’s mouth. It crawled up into the skull and nestled itself there. The boy lay there as though dead; but the Snake knew that the boy was not dead. The Snake remained there until the boy dried up and became nothing but a skeleton.

The father of the boy studied hard as to how to get the Snake out of the boy’s skull. Although the boy was dead, the skull was the living part of the boy. The boy’s father then found a plan for getting the Snake out. A storm came from the north. It rolled the skull over and turned it up so that the hole in the skull was upward, and as the rain fell it ran into the skull and filled it with water. This did not drive the Snake out. The father called on the Sun to get nearer to the earth, so as to heat the skull so that the Snake would have to jump out. The Sun moved towards the earth and heated the skull. Soon the water was boiling. It became too hot for the Snake, and finally the Snake crawled out of the skull. No sooner had it got out than the boy stood up and caught the Snake by the neck. He then took up stones and hit the Snake’s snout, so that it made its head short. Then the boy sat down upon a rock and began to rub the Snake’s teeth upon it, and said, “Now you must promise that you will never bother people again.” The snake promised. The Snake, as it was turned loose, said, “Once in a great while I shall bite people, but not often.” The boy reached for the Snake and it disappeared,—that is why the people get bitten by snakes once in a great while.

The boy then returned to his grandmother, who was glad to see him. The boy told his grandmother that she was now free to do as she pleased, for he was going off; that the country was now free from wild animals. So the old woman disappeared, and the boy went southeast to the village of the people.

There the boy told his story, and the people knew that he was the son of the girl who had climbed up the cottonwood tree. The boy did many wonderful things for the people, and the people said that it was through the boy that the people could travel through these wild countries, for now all the wild animals had been scattered and were not as fierce as they had been before. The old woman had disappeared and had made her camp in some other place. The boy died after he had cleared the country of all the wild animals.

There is an old cottonwood tree on the south side of the Missouri River, close to the place known as Armstrong, that the people claim is the tree that stretched upward, taking the girl up to the Star. Still south of the cottonwood tree is the place where the people say the stone is that was thrown down by the Star and which killed the woman. To the west is the lake where the monster fell. At the southwest of the cottonwood, it is supposed, was the Snake den. The people say that to-day snakes are very numerous there. South of this place, among the hills, is where the mountain-lion is supposed to have been. Close to the cottonwood, in the timber along the Missouri River, is the place where the bear is supposed to have been.

FOOTNOTES:

[15] Told by Yellow-Bear.

15. THE GIRL WHO MARRIED A STAR.[16]

One night two pretty young maidens were sleeping on top of a summer arbor. They were ill with monthly sickness. One said, “Kario, I love that little bright star, and I wish it was my husband.” That same night, while sleeping, the girl was taken away up in the heavens, to live with her husband, he giving her instructions what to do and what not to do. He could not always stay at home, as he was in the chase. One of the instructions was that the woman should never dig up an Indian turnip at slough-like places. While her husband was away, the woman determined she would discover the mystery connected with her husband’s injunction. When she had dug the turnip she saw what the mystery was. She saw the people living on this earth looking like crawling insects.

When she saw this she cried and cried and cried. She went to an old woman for comfort. The old woman saw that the woman had been crying; so she questioned her and found out her trouble. The woman answered that she could easily be relieved of her trouble. So she advised her to collect all the sinew she could find from the meat her husband brought.

The girl told her husband she wanted all the sinew there was in all the game he killed, even the very smallest piece. Her husband did as she asked, not knowing her intention. When a very large number had been made the woman took the sinew and went to the old woman, who began to make what she had promised to make for her. “Come back in a few days,” she said, “and I will have the thread ready for you. Remember to come when your husband goes on a long chase.”

The husband started on a chase, and the girl went to the old Woman’s lodge and told her that her man had gone. The old woman got her sinew rope and fixed it around the woman’s waist and began to let her down—down—down. She went with her first child on her back. The place she started down was where she had dug up the forbidden root. The twine was lacking about twenty or more feet. The old woman was an old spider, it was found. Old Spider-Woman did not have enough cobweb and sinew, so the woman hung on the rope, not able to touch the earth.

When her husband returned he found his wife missing. He began to look for her. He thought at once of his order, and so went out where she usually dug. He found a stick in the grass. He discovered the rope tied around the stick, and his wife and child hanging away down near the earth. He picked up a stone and talked to the stone, saying, “Do not harm the boy, but kill the mother.” Down—down—went the stone, and struck the young mother on the head; it cut the rope and her body fell; but the boy was safe. The boy stayed by his mother’s body and fed himself at her breast for a time. Her body began to decay.

The boy went off and got into a cornfield, not knowing that it was corn. When lonesome he returned to his mother. The owner of the field was an old woman. She saw the footprints in her field. She wondered what it could be. She made a little ball and a crooked stick, also a little bow and arrows. She thought if it was a girl she would take the ball and crooked stick, but if it was a boy he would take the bow and arrows. When the old woman looked she found the little fellow had taken the bow and arrows.

The old woman was very joyful. The little fellow had done much damage to her squash vines with his bow and arrows. She went out and hid in the field, waiting for the little fellow. The boy came as usual with his weapons and the old woman sprang out and caught him, saying, “Oh, atine, atine; you are to come home with me.”

She took the boy home and gave him food, such as fresh corn mush, succotash, and squash. The boy seemed quite happy. When the woman went out to work he amused himself with his arrows, shooting little birds in the field, and on his grandmother’s return he would bring the birds for her to eat. She was a happy grandmother, proud of her little grandson. The boy grew larger. When he began to make his own bows and arrows to his taste he began to bring home larger game, such as deer and antelope. His grandmother was still happier.

The boy’s grandmother was accustomed to place under a curtain which was always closed, a big wooden pan of whatever they had to eat, before she went to her work. The boy, noticing this, made up his mind to find out what it was. While she was gone, he moved the curtain and beheld a huge serpent with large yellow eyes. The boy said within himself: “Ah! here is the one that eats up everything that grandmother puts here.” He took his bow and arrows and shot and shot, until he killed it.

The boy’s grandmother came in. The boy spoke up, and said: “Grandmother, I have killed the bad one that ate up everything you placed under that curtain.” The old woman appeared glad of it, but was hurt at heart. She covered the serpent and placed it in a pool. The serpent said that he could not do anything, because the boy was gifted with a great mysterious power of his father. The dead serpent was the husband of this grandmother.

The grandmother, wounded at heart, planned to have the boy killed in some way. She forbade him to ever go into the timber near by, because there were all sorts of dangers there. In this timber, she said, was a bear that wanted to tear him into small strips. When the old woman had gone he started out to the forbidden place. He found the bear, captured him and thought he was strong and would do to haul corn and wood for his grandmother. On her return she saw the great, big black-bear tied. The boy spoke up, saying, “I have here a strong animal which will work for us.” The old woman appeared to be happy, but felt hurt that the boy could have captured the bear. She was the owner of all animals around, both good and bad. She turned the bear loose and explained the case to the boy, saying she could not use the bear in any way.

One day the boy was gone all day and all night. His grandmother now thought him dead. Roaming around, the boy found a tipi. In the tipi were four strong-looking men. Around the fire was the meat of a whole buffalo and an elk. The boy stood on one side looking at the game. The men were playing with plum dice in a basket. The interest of these men was very noticeable. One man’s nose got very dirty, but he would not move to clean it. The boy outside did not like it. He took his arrow and shot through the hole he was peeping through. The arrow cleaned the man’s nose. The men rushed out and gave the boy a hearty welcome, for they had already heard of his wonderful doings. They took him in and gave him a whole buffalo to eat. He began to eat, and ate as much as usual. The men began to ask why he did not eat more. He said he could not, as he had had his fill. The men ate heartily. They cleared the meat that was before them. The men asked him to stay all night. They invited him to join them on a hunting trip.

Next day they started. They killed an elk. They dressed it and found a fœtus. As courtesy, the hunters took the fœtus and placed it before the boy to take home with him. The boy was affected. He asked them to remove the fœtus. He was standing by a tree. He started up the tree. The men, seeing he was afraid of it, moved it, little by little, toward him. They were afraid of him and were trying to do everything to get rid of him. The boy was afraid of the fœtus. He would not come down while it was in the way. The men came home. By and by a man was sent out to see if the boy was there. Coming to the spot he found the boy still there. The boy asked the man to remove the fœtus. He refused. He went home and reported all he had seen. In about four days the men came around and found the boy still there. They found him very thin, and suffering for food and water. He would not come down while the fœtus was there. The men made a conditional offer,—if he would deliver up to them his grandmother they would remove the fœtus. The boy said he would. They removed the fœtus. The boy started home at once. He told his grandmother what had happened and what he had done. Out of love for his life he had given her up to these men.

The grandmother was happy on his return. She said she would grant his request. About two days after, she and the boy started out where the men were. They stopped at the entrance of the tipi until they heard a voice from within asking them to step in. The boy said, “Nawa, I have done what I agreed to do. Here is my grandmother.” “Ah ho! Ah hi!” they replied, “you were honest and have done as you agreed to do. That is the way for noble boys to do. As this is a bargain for your life we will do all we can for you to turn our power and skill over to you.” Now they began to teach the boy the ceremony of catching eagles and of hunting. “It was our desire to have your grandmother, and as you have been true to your agreement, we are glad.” All were satisfied. The grandmother and son then went home.

The next day the boy started out on the prairie for game. He met a camp of Snakes, mostly deadly Rattlesnakes, and there were all the other kinds of Snakes. They were glad to have him come. They invited him in. They gave him the best seat. He knew what danger there was to meet. So as he sat down he took out a smooth stone which he used for sharpening his knife, and placed it in his anus. The room was clean and there was a ridge around the fire for a pillow. Time and again he noticed a Snake disappear and attack him where he had defended himself. He knew it. They said: “He must be hungry. Give him something.” They gave him a spleen. He took it and looked at it. He replied that he could not eat it raw; so he poked up the fire and threw the spleen in. It cracked and made the audience wild. The spleen was the teeth of all these Snakes. The boy knew the secret and could not be fooled so easily.

The Snakes, resting on the square pillow-like structure, demanded of the boy that he relate some happenings or stories, to pass the night pleasantly. He refused to be first. He agreed to take his turn with them. They began. Each Snake had for his subject the life of their guest and that of his grandmother. When all were through with their stories the boy began his story: “Nesaru commanded the winds to blow; at evening they stop, the trees stop rustling, the grass keeps on for a while, but they all fall asleep.” This much of the story put a part of them to sleep. “Nesaru sends hurricanes of trials and hardships in our lives; the same to all kinds of trees and to large, deep rivers; they rage and beat against their banks, the water gets dirty, there comes on the gentle night, soft breezes, the trees quiet down, the rivers are calmed, the waters clear up and they are asleep.” This was the end of the boy’s story. The remainder of them fell asleep.

The boy thought of how he was to have been treated, and he decided to be avenged. He took from his belt his sharp knife and cut along a straight line on the square structure, cutting off the head of every Snake until he came to the last one, which slid away, saying as he went, “Old-Woman’s-Boy, I will remember all.”

As the boy left he was very particular as to how he should carry himself. Having gone many miles he thought all danger was over. He placed his arrows around him, bidding them to awaken him when danger was near.