150 Field Columbian Museum — Anthropology, Vol. V. 



and women they all believe that she had intercourse with the snake 

 who appeared to her as a real person. This baby snake was thrown into 

 the fire and burned up. 



This occurred among the Southern Arapaho Indians and fright- 

 ened them. If the women had let the snake baby alone, to see the result, 

 the mystery would possibly have been known. It was a rattle-snake, 

 but did not fight after it was born. — D. 



Told by River-Woman. Cf. TQ. 



78. — The man who became a Snake. 



There was a camp-circle in the spring of the year, close to the 

 river. One day two young men started out on the war-path. They were 

 gone for several days, when they accidentally came across two large 

 eggs in a nest on the ground. They stopped and got off their horses 

 to identify the eggs. They disputed. One said that he felt sure they 

 were from a goose, but the other believed they were from a snake. The 

 latter advised his friend not to molest them. Still, the other man took 

 them along. When night overtook them they camped and built a 

 fire. Since the former man was hungry, he at once boiled the eggs and 

 ate them, but did not give any to his partner. 



They went to bed in a shelter tipi, and in the morning the body of 

 the man [who had eaten the eggs] was swollen. During that day the 

 man became so fat that his partner had to cut his clothes to get tbem 

 off. He went naked, and his partner was afraid of him. Although he 

 was getting fat all the time and looking strange to his partner, he talked 

 to him about his condition. He told him that his body was going to 

 change. The fat man got up and walked a distance and sat down facing 

 his partner. He then at once became a big snake, with a long body, 

 and with very large eyes. The change made his friend tremble and 

 unable to speak, but he kept his friend at good range and talked to him. 



The snake said to his friend, "Now I want you to do the right 

 thing, to tell the truth of what has happened to me, and. to say that 

 you were an eye witness. You may tell my father, mother, brothers, 

 sisters, and other relatives that I ate eggs which I thought were those 

 of a goose, but have become a big snake, that I still talk the same lan- 

 guage as they do. Please do this for me. Do not try to hide anything 

 from my folks. You may saddle my horse and yours and I will go with 

 you the rest of the way." So the man did so. The two started and kept 

 at an even gait until they came to a river. At the river there was, on 



