Feb., 1904. Traditions of the Osage — Dorsey. 33 



and there were lots of Indians out killing buffalo. Old Cheat would 

 take his wife out with him, to get all the buffalo tongues. And so he 

 came to this boy. The old man, being afraid of Old Cheat, had told 

 his grandson to have the tongue ready for him. But the boy said, "I 

 am not going to do it, grandfather." Then the old man said, "Why 

 not? He is an Old Cheat, and he will kill you if you do not." Then 

 said the boy, "I will kill him, and if I do not, I will beat him out of his 

 wife." And the old man said, "Why, you cannot do anything like that, 

 nor can any other man." 



So Old Cheat got off his horse and started for the boy, and the 

 old man cried. But the boy stamped his foot on the ground so that 

 Old Cheat was paralyzed. And Old Cheat said, "Boy, I will give you 

 one of my wives." But the boy said, "I will take the one I want when 

 I get to the camp." Old Cheat said, "No, you cannot." 



When the boy got back to the camp he went to Old Cheat's tipi 

 and took one of his wives, and he took the prettiest one he had. This 

 made Old Cheat mad, and he said, "I will kill him this time !" So he 

 started to get his wife ; but the boy and the girl reached the camp just 

 before he got there. 



The boy said to the girl, "Get those two lice off from my head." So 

 the girl took them, and they were red and blue. The boy threw them 

 at Old Cheat, when they turned into Mountain-Lions, and they killed 

 Old Cheat in a little while. So the people got back their horses and 

 girls and they gave the girl to the boy. 1 



28. — The Boy and his Dog. 



Five of the boys of a family went hunting one day, to stay four or 

 five days. One boy stayed at home with the old folks and his sisters- 

 in-law. One of the boys who went on the hunt told the small boy, 

 who was to stay at home, that he should set the grass on fire if anything 

 should happen at home before they returned. So the small boy stayed, 

 and took care of the tipi. Just before the boys came back from the 

 hunt, the Pawnee came and got the women and burned the old woman 

 and the old man, and started off with the young women. 



So the boy did as he had been told to do, and the rest of the boys 

 saw the smoke. They returned, but when they got there, there was 

 nothing left but the boy and his Dog. Then the boys said, "How long 

 have they been gone?" "Just a little while," said the small boy. 



Then they started on the run along the trail, and kept it up for two 



1 The Pawnee have a similar tale. Compare Dorsey and Kroeber, Traditions of the Arapaho, 

 No. 12. 



