Oct., 1903. Arapaho Traditions — Uorsev and Kroeber. 97 



water. The Panther saw and approached him. At first N:h'a"(;a'* 

 seemed not to notice him. Then he smiled at him. The Panther asked 

 him to marry him, and Nih'a^Qa** consented. So they were married and 

 hved together. Nih'a^qa'' told the Panther: "Only touch me. that will 

 satisfy you." He sent him hunting. Then he went out on the prairie. 

 He saw a rabbit, and said : ' Come here, my friend, I wish to speak 

 to you." "'What do you wish?" asked the rabbit. *T want you for my 

 child. I will keep you and give you food and water." The rabbit con- 

 sented, and Nih'a°<;a° took him home under his dress. After a time, 

 when the Panther came home, he said to him : "We are going to have 

 a child." "Good." said the Panther. He continued to go hunting. The 

 rabbit grew fat, and Nih'a'^qa^ became tired of caring for him, feeding 

 him. and giving him drink. So he gave birth, and wrapped the rabbit 

 up closely, and laid him on his bed. When the Panther came home, 

 he told him: "We have had a child born to us.' "Good," said the 

 Panther. "Is it a boy or a girl?" "A boy," said Nih'a°<;a^. "That is 

 good." "It is very strange in appearance. It looks like a rabbit. It 

 is very fat." "It is well," said the Panther. Then he started out to 

 hunt again, but came back behind the tent and listened. A man from 

 another tent came in and said to Nih'a^Qa*^: 'It is very strange. You 

 have been married only a short time, and have a child already. How 

 can that be?" "This is how it is," said Nih'a^Qa'^, opening his dress 

 et penem stantem monstrans. "That is how I gave birth to a child." 

 When the Panther heard this, he ran into the timber [from shame]. 

 "Stay there ! The woods and brush will be where you will live," 

 Nih'a"(;a" said to him. Then he said to the rabbit: "You are too fat. 

 You shall have no fat, except on your kidneys, and on your back behind 

 the shoulders. You will run fast, and leap, and live on the prairie. 

 This I give to you." — K. 



47. — Nih'a^ca^ and Whirlwind-Woman.' 



Nih'a^ga" was traveling. He met Nayaa^xatisei (Whirlwind-wo- 

 man) crawling." He said : "(jet out of my way !" So Whirlwind-wo- 

 man wxnt awa}'. and the dust spun in a circle. Soon he came to her 

 again. "I do not want you, Whirlwind-woman, go away !" he said. 

 Then she whirled ofif. Again he came to her and said : "There are 



' Informants J. 



' Nayaanxat means both whirlwind and caterpillar. Whirlwinds are supposed to be caused 

 by caterpillars. Similarly the turtle (baanao) has power over the fog (baana"). Curiously, the 

 same belief is implied in a ceremonial practiced by the Omaha-Ponka, whose words for turtle and fog 



are not alike (J. O. Dorsey, Ann. Rep. Bur. Ethn., XI, 410.) Whirlwind-wonian was several times 



mentioned as having brought the earth to its present size by spinning arbund it, while it was still 



