May, 1903. The Arapaho Sun Dance — Dorsey. 219 



so that they both may eat it. Get it done quickly," said the father. 

 "All right," said the mother, frankly. So she then proceeded and 

 soon got the tripe boiled. She gave them each quite a big bowl of it. 

 The human woman took her bowl quickly and began to chew the tripe, 

 cracking it nicely. The old folks were very much pleased by her 

 quality of sharp teeth. While the human woman was eating, and the 

 parents were watching her mouth, the frog woman or toad woman 

 slyly procured a small piece of charcoal and put it into her mouth. 

 When she placed the tripe in her mouth she looked around and chewed 

 it, but there were no musical notes from her mouth, because she didn't 

 have the teeth to grind it. While she was chewing away, the black 

 saliva was seen running down from the corners of her mouth. "Oh! 

 Look at her! She has no teeth, poor thing. Say, mother, look at 

 her. Surely she has not the grinders. Laugh at her," said Moon, 

 laughing vigorously. "My dear child, don't act mean to your sister- 

 in-law; speak kindly to her," said the mother. 



"Now, dear children, I want .you to continue with your hunting 

 expeditions and supply us with beef, so that these women may be 

 contented," said the father, with emotion. So both young men, with- 

 out the slightest objection, started off in opposite directions. 



Shortly after they had gone off, the father got his wife to make 

 two digging-sticks' for his daughters-in-law. After the presentation 

 of the stick, the mother of Moon then showed the women the use of 

 them. "When you go out to dig vegetables, strike^the ground at the 

 southeast corner of the vegetable, then at the southwest corner, then 

 at the northwest, and then at the northeast corner of it; then receive 

 it by raising it at the west. That is to pry it out from the ground," 

 said the mother. The human woman still assisted her mother-in-law, 

 while the other one was idle. 



Finally the young men returned from their hunt, bringing more 



' The sticks were made of niyahah (camping-near-river) wood. This wood is very solid and 

 grows very tall, standing at the edge of the rivers. It has a red-looking, slippery bark with white 

 dots, and is used extensively for breastpins and stake-pins for tipis. This stick has four notches of 

 bark at the top. It is painted black at the top, and the rest below is painted red. The dark red 

 notches of bark represent the Four-Old-Men. This digging-stick after it was finished represented 

 the earth, day, night, camp-circle, and human being. 



When the father-in-law gave the occupation to the women, he made a combination of digging- 

 sticks for both women, red and black, making one solid "stake-pin that binds us all.'' Each paint 

 on th^ digging-stick bears two of a kind, i. e., Four-Old-Men, being the stake-pins of the father's 

 lodge and also of the people's lodges. There are four digging-sticks stuck in the ground, two on 

 each side, at the bottom of the center fork, but there is only one plain one. This plain stick is used 

 in getting the sods for the Offerings-lodge, and signifies the present temporal life. The painted 

 stick indicates spiritual and temporal beings. Since there was no "blood-stain" with our father, 

 the sign for virtue was black paint (wahahshe, black paint — charcoal woman). Therefore the dark 

 or black paint on the stick typifies our father's country, and the stick with red coloring typifies the 

 human blood, the shedding [of blood] or connection of Moon with the human woman, for that it 

 is painted red at the end 



