Oct., 1903. Arapaho Traditions — Dorsey and Kroeber. , 297 



behind the bull and the arrows will not pierce you. The arrows will hit 

 the bull, but will hang down from him without piercing him. After he 

 has shot three times and the arrows have taken no effect, tell him : 

 'You say that you are strong and powerful! Come down ! Do not 

 be a coward !' Then he will come down frorii the tree. When he has 

 come down, the bull will turn and attack you. You must run away, 

 and that will cause the man to go away from the tree. When the 

 bull has killed him, gather all the parts of his body and burn 

 them. Be sure you are not tempted to take anything from the sparks 

 that fly out from the body of this man, which will turn to elk teeth 

 and bone beads and eagle feathers and other valuables. Throw them 

 all back into the fire." 



Then the young man started, following the bull until they came 

 near the tree. The man shot at the bull without result, and for the 

 fourth shot came down from the tree. Then the bull faced him, 

 charged on him, hooked him, threw him up, hooked him again, and 

 continued to throw him up until he was torn to strings. Then the 

 young man burned the old man for four days, until there was nothing 

 left of him but ashes, observing the warning that had been given him. 

 The ashes became white clay used for painting arrows. The bull went 

 back. Then the young man went to his wife and her mother and asked 

 them : "What has this man done previously ?" He did not know that 

 he had killed other men, but suspected it because his body turned to 

 valuables. The old woman said : "When visitors came they became 

 the old man's sons-in-law, and he sent them out four times to get sticks 

 for arrows. They were unsuccessful, and the fourth time he killed 

 them. There were three such young men. He fed their bodies to an 

 animal. It must be a water animal, for there are no tracks about.'" 

 Then the young man said: "I do not know where you came from. 

 But I know where I came from, for I started from a camp of people. 

 I will take you to the people from whom I came, and I will tell them 

 everything." Then they traveled for four days until they reached the 

 camp. The young man invited all the people ; then he began and told 

 them his story. Then he said, "There have been the following lives 

 (generations). The first did not do as they ought and were de- 

 stroyed. The second did not do to each other as was right and were 

 also destroyed. In the third the people did not do well. They were 

 cannibals, so they also were wiped out. The fourth life was this man, 

 whose body consisted of the valuables of life. He did not eat human 

 flesh, but he fed it to an animal. Look at these lives ! They all had 

 blood and hardships and troubles. Now I will go to the father and 



