Page:Journal of American Folklore vol. 12.djvu/528

 1 80 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

rescuer told the other young man : " Go to the mountain, to its stone door, and tell your grandmother that I have killed the animal that I have been after so long." The young man ran to the foot of the mountain, stood before a flat stone door, and called as he had been told, telling the woman to bring a rope with her. The old woman was glad that the animal had at last been killed. The young man ran back, and was told by the man to help him butcher the snake ; then they would carry his friend to his house. They dragged the snake on shore by its horns, and cut it in two, and then into many smaller pieces. They made many trips to the mountain, carrying the meat. Inside, the mountain was like the interior of a tepee, with tent-poles, beds, and so on. Then the young man carried his friend to the mountain, taking him on his back, and holding his hands. The woman made a sweat-house, and he was put into it. The woman told him to try to move. The second time they poured water on the hot rocks he moved a little, the third time more, and after the fourth time he was perfectly well. Then they went into the mountain, and the man told his daughter to cook food, — corn and buffalo meat. This was the first time the young men had seen the daughter, who was very handsome. They ate all the food given them, and were well satisfied. Then the woman asked them why they had come. They told her that they were looking for game for their starving people. The woman said : " It is well, you will have something for your tribe." Then she asked them what kin they would be to the girl ; whether they would be her brothers. While they conferred, she said that they could marry her. The other young man proposed to the one that had been fast that he should marry her ; and the latter agreed. They were then all very grate- ful to each other, and the young man married the girl. The woman told her daughter to take the two young men to the herd of buffalo, and the girl showed them large herds of buffalo, and on the other side wide fields of corn. Then the woman told them to cross the river in the same place as before, and not to look backwards, and to rest four times on their way home. So they travelled for four days. Then an old man cried through the village that they were coming. All their relatives and many others came forward ; but when they saw that there were three persons, they held somewhat aloof. They entered a tent, and the new husband told an old man to cry to the people to come to shake hands with his wife and embrace her. This was done, and then the young man said that he brought good news, and that that same night his wife's herd would come from the moun- tain. At night long strings of buffalo came, and the people heard them on all sides. Early in the morning they saw the buffalo, as far as they could look. It was announced that the dogs were not to

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