Feb., 1904. Traditions of the Osage — Dorsey. 47 



and got there. They divided the Horses. His Horse died. The rest 

 of the wild Horses went off, and never came back. 1 



39. — The Boy who ran away. 



A boy was once living at a camp. One of the brothers had an iron- 

 gray horse ; it was his favorite. He told his brothers never to ride 

 the horse. He said he himself would never ride it. 



One time this brother went out scalp hunting with the rest of the 

 Indians. The other brother thought while his brother was gone he 

 would ride the horse and then turn it loose. So he caught the horse 

 and rode him, for he was not expecting his brother. 



While the boy was out riding the horse his brother came back. 

 When he had come back he gave the boy a whipping, because he had 

 ridden his favorite horse. 



The boy concluded that he would run away and stay away. So he 

 went off crying. He went out in the woods and kept going till he came 

 to some Pawnee, who were killing buffalo out on the plain. He lay 

 down in the tall grass, until some one talked. He looked up, and saw 

 two girls, butchering a buffalo by themselves. He went toward them. 

 The two girls saw him and were afraid of him. 



He said to the girls that he was not a bad man. So they said, 

 "We will take you home with us. Our father is a chief and he will 

 not kill you. At least we will tell our father." 



So the girls took the boy home with them and. told their father that 

 they had found a boy ,who was not dangerous, and they wanted him 

 for their brother. 



The chief asked the boy if he had a father or mother or any brothers 

 or sisters. The boy said, "I have a father and mother, and brothers, 

 but no sisters." He told his trouble to the chief — that his brother had 

 whipped him because he had ridden his favorite horse. He said he did 

 not expect to return home. So the chief said : "Well, I will take you 

 as my son, and you must treat these girls as your sisters. I have all 

 the horses you can ride." So the boy lived with the chief. 



The boy would go out and kill deer and wild turkey, and sometimes 

 he would catch wild horses and give them to his sisters. He lived with 

 them about two years, and one day he went out on a buffalo hunt. He 

 killed many buffalo, and when they returned home the sisters said 

 they wanted their brother to get married. 



The old man told the girls to look out for a nice girl. The girls 

 said they had one picked out for him. When they got back they went 



1 See No. 39. 



