Oct., 1903. Arapaho Traditions— Dorsey and Kroeber. 15 



fourth day he had become a young man. He was called Rock 

 (haxaana"ka°). A crystal had slipped into her womb and caused him. 

 He said: ''My grandparents must be lonely.*! am going' out to find 

 them;" He had got his mother to make him a bow, half of it painted 

 black and half of it red. He also caused her to make him turtle mocca- 

 sins according to instructions he gave her, and he made her give him 

 some pemmican. Then he started. He came to a spring and sat there 

 waiting for a girl. He allowed many to pass him by, but at last the 

 most beautiful girl in the village, wearing a white buflFalo robe and a 

 dress covered with elk teeth, came there. Then he asked her for a 

 drink.^ But as he had a big belly, sore eyes, a nose dirty on one side, 

 and was very ugly, she scorned him. She said: "Only if you have 

 the turtle moccasins will I grant you favor." Then he showed her the 

 turtle moccasins and won her love. While she looked down at her water 

 in order to give it to him, he had changed into a beautiful young 

 man. From this place he went on and again came to a spring. (He 

 does the same thing four times, the details of each incident being the 

 same, except that the girls are described as wearing dresses differently 

 ornamented.) He had given each of the girls some of his pemmican. 

 At last he reached his grandparents and he gave them all the rest of 

 his pemmican. Then he started to go back to his mother, successively 

 taking back with him on his way his four wives. 



Blue-bird had said to his brother Magpie : * "If I am killed, come 

 four days later to the place where it happened." Then he was run 

 over and trampled to death by the buffalo. Magpie mourned for him. 

 and went to the place, and looked, and finally found a blue feather. 

 He put it into the sweat-house and with his bow shot up into the air 

 four times. The fourth time the arrow hit the top of the sweat-house, 

 and Blue-bird came out alive. But they feared that place and 

 went to join him who had the turtle moccasins. They met Nih'a^ga",' 

 who went with them. Meeting him was a sign of death. The water 

 began to rise. They went to the top of a high mountain. Nih'a"ga" lay 

 down on the very summit, which had been reserved for the children. 

 When they told him to move away he feigned to be sick in hi§ back. 

 Then the waters came up. When the water almost touched them. Rock- 

 stretched out his foot with'the turtle moccasin on it and the water re- 



' A sign "of courtship. 



' An abrupt introduction of the end of the myth ot Blue-bird, Elk-woman, and Buffalo-woman, 

 No. 144. 



'The informant had previously said that at first there was a nation of white people fnih'angan), 

 who were cannibals. Because they ate each other they were destroyed. -Another race was made from 

 m\jd: thus the first human (Indian I man and woman were made. Of the earlier race only one was not 

 destroyed. He came and lived among the people. Compare with this the end of No 129. 



