Feb., 1904. Traditions of the Osage — Dorsey. 23 



her to put her head in a bundle, and to take her where her husband 

 and his wife, were, and to lay her right between them. This the 

 sister-in-law did, and the woman's head swallowed both of them, 

 and her stepfather and stepmother. 



Then the sister-in-law started home, by the way she had come, 

 carrying the head in the bundle. That night the head told the little 

 girl not to be afraid of anything, saying she could kill anything. 



On the fourth day, the head said to the little sister-in-law, "If 

 you see a big hollow tree that you think may have a raccoon in it, 

 you must throw me in it. I will kill all the raccoons." At last the 

 little girl got scared of the head. The little girl saw a big hollow 

 tree. She threw the head into it. The little girl defecated right 

 by the tree. She started home, and the head said, "Are you there?" 

 The excrement said, "Yes." The head started after the little girl. 

 It caught up with her in a short time. The little girl threw grease 

 on the ground, so the head would stop and eat it. The little girl 

 now had but just one drop of grease left. She dropped it. The 

 head came up and began to eat it, then started after the little girl. 

 The little girl ran through a creek, and came where there were 

 two old women roasting acornsi. The head came right after her, 

 and asked the old women if anybody had passed them. The old 

 women told the head that they had not seen the liittle girl. The old 

 women made a pot of boiling water and threw the head into it and 

 killed it. The little girl got home all right. 1 



18. — The Old Woman and the Grasshopper. 

 There once lived together an old woman and a Grasshopper, 

 and the old woman was playing sick ; she said she was going to 

 die, and wanted some big fat animal to bury her. The Grasshopper 

 finally lost his grandmother, and he mourned, and said, "Grand- 

 mother, old grandmother, grandmother always said that she wanted 

 a big animal to bury her." The Grasshopper went to where there 

 was a herd of Buffalo to get some one to bury his grandmother, and 

 the Buffalo said, "Well, what is the matter with you?" The Grass- 

 hopper said, "My grandmother said she wanted one of you to 



■ The pursuit by magic flight of a rolling stone or skull or head is widespread. For pursuit by 

 rolling head, see Kroeber, J. A. Folk-Lore, Vol. XIII., p. 185: Schoolcraft, Hiawatha, p. 26s; Morice, 

 Trans. Can. Inst., Vol. V., p. 5; Russell, Explor. Far North, p. 202; Petitot, Trad. Ind., pp. 40?, 407; Dixon 

 Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., Vol. XVII., part 11. p. 97; Curtin, Creation Myths, p. 325; also found among 

 the Pawnee, Wichita, and Arikara. For pursuit by rolling skull, see, Dorsey and Kroeber, Anth. Ser., 

 F. C. M., Vol. V., No. 35 and 124; also Pawnee. For pursuit by rolling rock, see, Dorsey and Kroeber. 

 ibid., Nos. 32, 33, 34, 81; Grinnell, Blackfoot, p. 16;; Rand, Micmac, 316; Mooney, Am. Anthropologist, 

 Vol. XL, p. 197; Kroeber, J. A. Folk-Lore. Vol. XIV., p. 260; McDermott, J. A. Folk-Lore, Vol, 

 XIV., 245: Russell, Explor. Far North, p. 210; also found among the Wichita. 



