Page:Journal of American Folklore vol. 12.djvu/532

 1 84 Journal of A merican Folk-Lore.

XX.

Nearly every night a child disappeared from a camp. A young man wondered who stole the babies. One dark night he said to himself : " I will watch to-night. I will watch every tent where the people are sleeping. If any one takes a child to-night, I may hear it cry out." So he watched the whole village, and looked outside. He found that the thief was Two-Faces, who had one face in front and one at the back of his head, so that he could look on both sides of him. The. young man found him fast asleep. Near him were many dead babies that he had stolen. Most of them had their ears cut off, and Two-Faces had a long string of ears on a line, for he lived on human ears. The young man ran to the river and looked for shells. He gathered a great number of shells, which looked almost like human ears, and strung them, and bloodied them. Then he cut a piece of meat, and shaped it like an ear. When Two-Faces awoke, he saw a person sitting near him eating an ear. It was this young man eating the meat. Two-Faces asked him where he learned to eat ears. The man said to him : " I live on ears. I always steal children and cut off their ears. The only thing that I am afraid of is that if I eat salt, it will kill me." Then Two-Faces said : " I should at once die if any one beat a gourd (?) and fat was thrown in the fire." When night came, they both went to the camp. The young man then told Two-Faces to wait for him ; he would go ahead. Then he went to his friends and told them to prepare : he was bringing Two-Faces, who had stolen all the children. He directed that a gourd be beaten and fat meat thrown at the fire. So at last they succeeded in killing Two-Faces. Then he was burned.

XXI.

Some men were on the warpath. They were near a lake, and there they saw a large water-turtle coming toward the water. But they did not know that the turtle was a great powerful being of the lake. So they ran to the turtle, and — there were four of them in all — got on its back. The turtle carried them toward the lake. But they were fast to it, and at last in their distress cried out for help. The turtle still took them toward the water. The men now feared that they would never come back home and see their families and friends again. But a great help came to them at last. A great heaviness and darkness came upon them, and the thunder's rain fell, and then lightning struck the turtle's head. And finally they were saved.

XXII.

In a solitary tent lived a lone family, — a man, his wife, and two

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