Oct., 1903. Arapaho Traditions — Dorsey and Kroeber. 119 



to her skull and produced the brain and converted it into the tallow. 

 He did not take all of it, but left some. He then gave it to this wife 

 and she mixed it with the dry meat, which made a nice delicious pem- 

 mican. The wife dished out the pemmican to the visitor, who ate it. 

 Nih'a"ga° watched every movement of the man and wife. 



"Well, my partner, I am obliged to you for the kindness and gen- 

 erosity, and I want to tell you plainly that you and I possess the same 

 tricks. or power in obtaining food, when necessary. 1 wish you would 

 come over to "my place some time, and see my wife and lodge," said 

 ;Nih'a''9a". "All right, we shall be over later on," said the man. 

 Nih'a"9a" got up and went back to his tipi. 



"Say, wife, I want you to be prepared and understand what I shall 

 do when my friend comes to see us," said Nih'a"<;a°. "When he comes 

 1 shall say to him before you that we are just out of food, and will tell 

 him that we would provide something. When he comes inside, I shall 

 order you to get a strip of cottonwood bark, and you will also get a 

 small stick. Then you will place the stick into the bark and hold it 

 over the fire. It will then turn into real meat," said Nih'a°<;a". 



One day the man did come to the front of the door. "Come in ! 

 Come in, partner ! You have come to us when we are just out of food ; 

 but at any rate, be seated !" said Nih'a^ga". "Go out and get a strip of 

 cottonwood bark and a small stick," said he to his wife. The wife did 

 sc. and soon had this bark over the fire, which actually roasted an<l 

 turned into real tenderloin meat. The wife then took the roasted meat 

 and beat it fine and placed it in a wooden bowl. ''Well, what shall we 

 have for tallow?" said the wife. "Bring a comb and sit in front of 

 me !" said he. So he combed her hair and parted it in the middle and 

 made a red streak over her head! "firing me an axe, and sit down 

 facing me !" said he. This the wife was a little afraid to do, but finally 

 consented to do it. 9o he took the axe and motioned it three times 

 toward her. At the fourth time he struck her and broke the head into 

 several pieces, causing her to bleed much. She was killed. "Well ! 

 Well ! I have not followed the exact method. I should have obeyed 

 the rule. I am sorry for you, my dear wife," said Nih'a"qa'', turning to 

 comfort her ; but she was motionless. The visitor laughed and went to 

 the dead woman and rubbed her and she was entirely healed. 



"Now watch me carefully, Nih'a"ga°," said the visitor. "Bring 

 me that axe and sit down," said he. (Of course the woman was 

 cleansed from death, and appeared like the wife of the visiter, not 

 ..Nih'a^Qa'^'s.) He took the axe and made a motion three times, and the 

 fourth time struck her on the head. The woman was still sitting alive 



