238 Field Columbian Museum — Anthropology, Vol. V. 



frui volent, ego concedatn." Testudo dixit: "Propter oculos pedesque 



rubros mas habebor (hiwagaa^x, stallion). Humi vivam et in gramine 



ero. Coire opus meum est. Mulieribus Satisfaciam." ^ — K. 



/■• 



105. — The Girl who became a Bear.'' 



There was a great tribe. The children used to play at being bear 

 in the sand. One of them was an older girl. When they played, she 

 said: "Bring the claws." Then she would tie the claws to her hands. 

 They played that she was a bear, living in the sand-hills, and that 

 about her den berries were thick. The smaller children would come , 

 tc gather berries, and while they were picking, the one that played bear 

 came out and attacked them. She had a little place where she used 

 to sleep. Once she tore her younger brother's back, injuring him. In 

 the evening, when the children all went home, she said: "Do not tell 

 them that I have turned bear. If my mother asks for me, conceal it 

 from her. But if you tell, nevertheless, I shall come to the camp." 

 When her little brother got home, he did not tell that he was hurt. A.t 

 night, when they went to bed, they saw something about the boy ; and 

 v/hen they asked him, he told how his elder sister had become a bear. 

 Even while he was telling it, the dogs barked, and the one who had be- 

 come a bear entered the camp. At once the children and women 

 mounted swift horses and fled, while the young men remained to fight 

 the bear. While the rest were fleeing, the little boy who had told and 

 his sister were left tied together to a cottonwood tree. While the men 

 were still fighting the bear, a scabby dog going about the camp pitied 

 them as he saw them bound, and with his teeth he began to loosen the 

 rope with which they were bound. At last he tore it. When the chil- 

 dren found themselves free, they began to flee, following the trail of the 

 people at random. By this time the bear had killed those that had 

 stayed to keep her back, and followed the fugitives. The boy looked 

 back. Alas ! she was coming. The two children had a ball. Whenever 

 they kicked it, it carried them along with it. They did this repeatedly 

 when the bear came close, until both became tired. Then the ball said: 

 "Throw me up three times, and the fourth time kick me up. Then you 

 will rise to this above (the sky) and be happy." The bear came near 

 again. Then the boy threw the ball up three times. When he had 



* For various versions of Turtle's war-party, see J. O.Dorsey, Contr. N. A. Ethn., VI, 271, 

 (DJjegiha); Hoffman, Ann. Rep. Bur. of Ethn., XIV, 218 (Menoraini); Journ. Am. Folk Lore, XIII, 

 189 (Cheyenne). 



' Informant C; text. 



