336 Field Columbian Museum — Anthropology, Vol. V. 



boy, with his bow still in his hand, watched her closely; he saw tears 

 falling and mucus coming from her nose. "Are you crying?" he asked. 

 ''No, my grandson, I am sweating; I was not crying," said she. She 

 went out and left the boy. When she returned, her legs were cut and 

 blood-stained, and her arms also. "What is the matter with your legs 

 and arms ? You must have cut yourself !" said the boy. "No, my 

 grandson, I went across a thicket of thorns and was scratched ; that 

 is how I bled," said she. She went out again. Now the boy thought 

 that he would ask her whether the monster was her husband. He thought 

 it was her husband. She went out on the prairie in order to mourn. 

 When she came back she looked very sad. "Grandmother, were you not 

 the wife of that animal ? It appears so to me !" the boy said to her. 

 "Yes, my grandson, he was my husband." "Well, if you had told me 

 before, I should not have done that. I should not have killed him." 

 He was sorry for what he had done. He lived with her for some time, 

 helping her. Then he said to her : "I am going away. Where is 

 the camp to which I belong? My mother belonged to this earth, and I 

 want to find my relatives again. I am the son of the moon, and the 

 grandson of the father and mother above." She said to him : "Towards 

 the west is the camp where your people are." He started to go. He 

 came to a bare hill. He rested there. Snakes were asleep there with 

 their heads out of the ground. "I have come to the wrong place to 

 rest," said Little-star. With his bow he struck the heads of the snakes, 

 killing many. One- woke up, saw what Little-star was doing, and 

 ipried out : "Wake up, crazy Little-star is killing us ; I think I alone 

 have saved you ! Little-star, I will kill you. I will follow you. You 

 can go to no place to escape me, either by day or at night. You will 

 surely become tired, you will surely sleep some time. Then I shall 

 overtake you." Then Little-star said to his bow : "Whenever I sleep 

 I shall put you next to me, standing upright in the ground. If I sleep 

 too long, wake me by falling on my head !" Then he went away from 

 there. He came to where he saw the camp of his people ; but he did 

 not stay. He told them that he had done something; that he was try- 

 ing to escape. The people knew him to be Little-star. He went on 

 again. When he cariie to a place to sleep, he slept. The bow dropped on 

 his head and he awoke ; the snake had overtaken him. It said : ' I will 

 catch you later. You cannot escape me." It was constantly behind 

 him. With the aid of his bow, he could travel very fast. At night he 

 lay down to sleep. The bow fell. Again the snake had reached him. 

 ^'You cannot escape me," it said. "There is no hole into which you 

 can go. Some time you must become tired and sleep too fast." A 



