Oct., 1903. Arapaho Traditions — Dorsey and Kroeber. 109 



water was somewhat deep, and he laid his back on the surface of the 

 water and floated down. 



Below there were women and girls bathing; they saw the skull 

 floating down the river, and they got out and said, ' There is a skull 

 floating down the river, let us catch it." The women told the young 

 men to supply themselves with ropes and to come near to the shore and 

 catch this skull floatjng down the river. So they roped it and dragged 

 it to the shore, and there was Nih'a'^ga". They all said, ''That is 

 Nih"a"9a"!" They recognized him by his color. 



Nih'a"9a" said, ''Now hit me right in the forehead, on top of the 

 head." So they hit him on the top of the head, and the skull opened 

 and there he was, and he laughed and greeted these girls. 'T feel happy 

 to see you. sisters,'" he said. (He was at a camp where bathing took 

 place ) Then the girls said to him, "'What do you want, Niha°ga°; do 

 you want anything?" Then said Nih'a'^ga", 'T am feeling somewhat 

 tired and needed a little rest, and if you have no objection I want to lay 

 my head on your laps, sisters-in-law." So Nih'a"ga'^ laid his head en 

 their laps, and they began to search for lice in his head and there they 

 worked away until Nih'a^qa" went to sleep. After Nih'a"ga" had gone 

 to sleep, they left him, and there he lay on the bank ot the river. He 

 finally waked up and commenced to scratch his head, and to his sur- 

 prise, found cockle burrs all over his heaH. "Now," he said, "what am 

 I going to do?" So he decided to cut his hair to get rid of these burrs. 

 So he went and cut his hair. — D. 



Told by Hawkan. Cf. Origin Mytli, Arapaho Sun Dance ; also Nos. 52 and 54. 

 This tale is cited as a reason why no one may approach or enter the Sun-dance lodge from the 

 west, the altar with the buffalo skull being just inside the lodge on this side. 



54. — Nih'a'^ca^ cuts his Hair. 



Nih'a"ga" went down the river and came to some women taking a 

 bath. "Come over. Nih'a"ga°! We are playing. Let us have you for 

 a child, one at a time," said the women. These women were very 

 handscme and charming. So Nih'a°<;a" went to them and selected the 

 best one as the first mother. He laid his head on this woman's lap, which 

 was very soft ; then the rest of the women began searching for lice on 

 his head. These women picked his lice until he fell asleep. While 

 sleeping, the burrs began to stick to him, until his head was covered 

 wdth them. (The women who loused him were burrs.) 



Finally he awoke with the painful contortions of his face, caused by 

 the burrs. So dreadful was the pain about his face and head that he 

 took a knife and gradually cut off his hair, a lock at a time, until he had 



