Oct., 1903. Arapaho Traditions— Dorsey and Kroeber. 17 



Then man's life was ordained. The one with the turtle moccasins 

 threw a buffalo chip into the water, saying: "As this floats, let the 

 life of man be." But Nih'a''9a'' threw a stone and said: "Let man's 

 life be like this, for if all live, there will soon be no room for them." And 

 so men die. ^ 



Now the people lived peaceably until a man named Wax*uuhuunen 

 committed a murder. The people drove him away and he wandered 

 about, making very many arrows, and crying and crying. At last our 

 father, Nih'a°9a° above, came to him and said: "Be comforted. Pre- 

 pare racks for drying meat." Then as the man sat on a hill crying, 

 something came running towards him ; he saw that it was a buffalo 

 cow. He went close to the trail on which she was coming, in order to 

 shoot her. But she turned aside and went over the hill. Four times he 

 went to meet her, but she turned aside. The fourth time he started to 

 pursue, and shot at her; but the cow was impenetrable to his arrows. 

 She said : "I am the mother of all the buffalo. Do not shoot me ! I 

 would not be enough for the entire tribe ; others will follow me and 

 you will then have plenty for all the people." At this time there was 

 a famine among the people. Then the man ceased shooting at her 

 and went back to his tent. When his wife went to go out of the tent, 

 a hiintcabiit lay coiled around it with its head and tail together, so 

 that she could not go out. Her husband told her: "Take a [buffalo?] 

 skin, and feathers from four kinds of eagles,^ and wave the skin before 

 you." Then the woman took the skin and the four feathers and waved 

 them, and the animal made room for her. Then she spread the skin 

 out before it and tied the feathers to the four ends and gave it to the 

 hiintcabiit. Then the animal was gratified. The man and his wife 

 carried it to a spring and put it in, saying: "Here is a place for you 

 to live." Then it said : "Thanks, I am content. I will reward you." 

 Next morning there were buffalo all about the tent, grazing near by. 

 The man made holes in his tent and through these he shot the many 

 arrows that he had made. Without his leaving the tent, the buffalo 



swift and will not be Icilled," they said to the young bull. "But you, short-tailed hQrse, if you win 

 the race, you will not be killed; you will be the one who will carry burdens for all," they said to the 

 fiorse. So they started to run, and came, raising the dust. Just in the middle of the course, as the 

 horse was gaining, the bull turned aside. Then the horse was the one who reached the monument 

 (goal) first. On account of this it is that the buffalo is slow, and that is why we eat it. But to the 

 horse a long tail was given and from that time on until now it has been used for carrying loads. 



' This episode was also obtained as a separate myth from informant A: There were two per- 

 sons who were to determine life by means of a buffalo chip and a stone. Nih'angan took the buffalo 

 chip and threw it into the water: it sank, but came up again and floated on the surface. " Thus I 

 shall come again," said Nih'angan. The Indian (cawagnenitan) in his turn threw the stone mto the 

 water. '"Just like it I shall disappear," he said. 



'The Arapaho distinguish three or four different kinds of eagles, according to the amount of 

 white in the plumage. 



