Page:Journal of American Folklore vol. 12.djvu/534

 1 86 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

with them. Finally they all went out again ; only the children's father now stayed with them again. But they regretted what he had done to them. So they caused the lions to jump upon their father, and he was killed. 1

XXIII.

A certain " ghost" had a body like a man's, but he had two faces, one looking forward and one backward. He was immensely large, and could almost step over the greatest rivers when he came to them while walking. He was a great hunter, for he could catch and take hold of the game. He found a tent standing by itself, in which lived a man with his family, including a handsome daughter. The ghost fell very much in love with the girl, and determined to supply the family with meat. Every morning before daylight he brought game to the tent. The man did not know who was so kind to them. He dug a hiding-place, and entered it while it was still dark. Then he saw the ghost come, bringing game. But he was very much afraid now, and after the ghost had gone, he started off to hide with his family. The ghost followed them, and came to their tent. But the man would not give him his daughter. They decided to play "hand-game" (hiding-button) for her. So they played for five nights. But the man won, so that the ghost lost both the girl and his meat.

XXIV.

Among the people who lived generations ago there was a young man as handsome as might be. Almost all the girls and young women liked him very much, and always talked of him. Once, as night came on, there came a very beautiful girl. She had come from the sky, and was a bright star in the west. But the young man did not know this ; and at night they both ran off together. He told his family that he was married, and they were glad to hear this. But she was a star just come from the sky to be a woman. So they married. Then the girl took him far off, and she told him that she was a bright western star. They both went to the sky, and the man also became a star. His name had been Beaver, and so a star in the western sky is still called Beaver.

xxv.

A man had two wives. One was called Corn-woman, and the other White-buffalo-woman. This second wife was really a buffalo, but the man was ignorant of this. He had two children by her.

1 Two tales, the Snake-Lover, and the Abandoned Children, seem to be united here. The latter is also Arapaho. Cf. Leland, op. cit. p. 273 ; Rand, op. cit. p. 46; Schoolcraft, op. cit. p. 265 ; Teit, op. cit. xxxi.

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