October, 1903. Traditions of the Crows — Simms. 305 



above their tipi ; for an old woman lived there who had a boiling pot, 

 and every time she saw any living object, she tilted the kettle toward 

 it and the object was drawn into the pot and boiled for her to eat. 

 The boys went one day to see the old woman, and they found her asleep 

 and they stole up and got her pot and awakened the old woman and 

 said to, her, "Grandmother, why have you this here?"' at the same 

 time tilting the pot towards her, by which she was drowned and boiled 

 to death. They took the pot home and gave it to their mother for her 

 own protection. 



Their father told them not to disobey him again and said, "There 

 is something over the hill I do not want you to go near." They were 

 very anxious to find out what this thing was, and they went over to the 

 hill and as they poked their heads over the hilltop, the thing began to 

 draw in air, and the boys were drawn in also ; and as they went in, they 

 saw people and animals, some dead and others dying. The thing 

 proved to be an immense alligator-like serpent. One of the boys touched 

 the kidneys of the-thing and asked what they were. The alligator said, 

 "That is my medicine, do not touch it." And the boy reached up and 

 touched its heart and asked what it was, and the serpent grunted and 

 said, "This is where I make my plans." One of the boys said, "You 

 do make plans, do you?'' and he cut the heart off and it died. They 

 made their escape by cutting between the ribs and liberated the living 

 ones and took a piece of the heart home to their father. 



After the father had administered another scolding, he told the 

 boys not to go near the three trees standing in a triangular shaped piece 

 of ground; for if anything went under them they would bend to the 

 ground suddenly, killing everything in their way. One day the boys 

 went towards these trees, running swiftly and then stopping suddenly 

 near the trees, which bent violently and struck the ground without hit- 

 ting them. They jumped over the trees, breaking the branches, and 

 they could not rise after the branches were broken. 



Once more the boys were scolded and told not to go near a tipi over 

 the hill ; for it was inhabited by snakes, and they would approach any- 

 one asleep and enter his body through the rectum. Again the boys 

 did as they were told not to do and went to the tipi, and the snakes in- 

 vited them in. They went in and carried flat pieces of stone with them 

 and as they sat down they placed the flat pieces of stones under their 

 rectums. 



After they had been in the tipi a short while, the snakes began 

 putting their heads over the poles around the fireplace and the snakes 

 began to relate stories, and one of them said, "When there is a drizzling 



