Page:Journal of American Folklore vol. 12.djvu/525

 Cheyenne Tales. 177

XVI.

There was a great medicine-man, who was powerful and did injury, but who had a good daughter. He lived near a geyser, in an earth- lodge. Several young men lived with him, and went out hunting for him. He had great quantities of dried buffalo meat hanging all around his lodge. When meat was scarce in a village near by, he sent his young men to summon the people to him, and then he gave a feast to the various companies. Then this great man told the companies to dress, and dance before him. When the dance was almost over, he announced that he would pick out a young man to be his son-in-law. So he selected a young man, but after the mar- riage he sent the village away again. He was malicious, and did not treat his son-in-law rightly. Every night he had a fire, and slept close by his son-in-law and daughter. When they moved, he raised his head, and said : " Don't stir ! Sleep ! " When they talked, or even whispered, he made them be quiet, and ordered them to sleep. Even when they were outside, and spoke against him, he was so powerful that he knew it. The first morning he sent his son-in-law out to cut arrows. He told him that if he brought no smooth, straight sticks, he need not come back. The young man wandered through the woods, but he found only rough sticks, and he was dis- couraged, and tired, and cried. A person called to him, and asked him why he wept. The young man related his trouble, and the per- son told him to cut bulrushes of the right length. So he got as many bulrushes as he could carry, and they turned to smooth sticks. Then he went on up a mountain, and cried again. The birds heard him, and asked him why he cried. He said that he could not get the eagle-feathers that his father-in-law wanted for feathering the arrows. So the eagle shook himself, and feathers flew out, and he got as many as he could use. Then he returned, carrying the sticks and feathers. His father-in-law had four men who could make bows and arrows, and they began to make the arrows for him. Then he sent his son-in-law to get plums for the arrow-makers. It was nearly winter, and there was no fruit of any sort left, but he told him to get fresh plums, and bring none that were rotten or dried. He knew this was impossible. The young man took a bag, and went out, cry- ing. Again a person asked him why he wept. The young man said it was because he was to get plums for the arrow-makers of his father-in-law. The person told him to go to a plum-bush, and that

contains foreign elements, these are not the same in different tribes. It seems probable that we have not a case of adaptation and corruption of a European original, but a native story which for some reason has attracted European addi- tions, perhaps because exceptionally European in spirit. VOL. xiii. — no. 50. 12

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