October, 1903. Traditions of the Crows — Simms. 309 



The four boys gathered the scalps and a large number of prisoners, 

 mostly women and children, and took them home. The four boys re- 

 peated this and brought many horses. 



The people wanted to know how these boys could do such great 

 things, and the last boy to join, told the two daughters of the chief how 

 the keeper of the bladder and his associates were so victorious. 



As soon as the two original 1 boys heard that they had been deceived, 

 the keeper of the bladder took his medicine and disappeared in the sky, 

 where he belonged, and was formerly one of the big stars; the other 

 three boys remained on earth. 



21. — The Beautiful Daughter of a Chief, her Wicked Husband 

 and the Seven Brothers. 



Once upon a time there lived a chief who had a beautiful daughter, 

 with whom the sons of other chiefs were in love, and each wanted her 

 for his wife, but she was proud and would not consent. But one day, 

 she said she would marry the man she should next meet at the spring 

 where she went to get water, and she began preparations to accompany 

 the man, if he came from afar, to go on the journey to his home. 



Towards evening, one day, she went to the spring to get some water 

 and she saw a man on the opposite side of the spring wrapped up in a 

 buffalo robe. He said to her, "Come on," and she followed him to his 

 camp, where he lived in a big tipi. 



It was the custom of this man to go after the beautiful women of 

 different tribes, and when any one of the women would vex him four 

 times he would throw her over a steep bank into the river, where his 

 father lived in the shape of an alligator, which devoured the women as 

 they were thrown in. 



After the chief's daughter had been with this man she followed 

 from the spring for a short time, and he told her to comb his hair, 

 which she started to do ; but finding snakes in his hair, she pushed him 

 away from her, which vexed the man, for the first time. The following 

 day he ordered her to wipe his neck, and there she found worms crawl- 

 ing around it, and again she pushed him away and for the second time 

 she vexed him. The next day, he told her to wash his feet, and she 

 found them decayed and badly swollen, and as she refused to do this 

 for him, he was vexed for the third time. He next told her to make 

 him a robe of thick buffalo hide, and she told him she could not do so, 

 for she had no tools, and she cried because she could not do it ; but he 

 insisted. Still she declared she could not do it, and for the fourth time 

 he was vexed. 



