Oct., 1903. Arapaho Traditions — Dorsey and Kroeber. 343 



went out after game. Maybe she is fast asleep, it being late," and 

 he unloaded his pony. Then he went into the tipi and saw his wife 

 covered up with buffalo robes, and with her back to the fireplace. "Get 

 up, my wife, and build more fire, and let us have some supper," said the 

 husband, pulling the robes off from her. Still she did not answer him. 

 He grabbed her and turned her body toward the fire, and found that 

 her belly was opened. Then the husband laid everything down and wept 

 bitterly over his wife. He went out during the night and cried on ac- 

 count of his wife's ill fortune. 



In the morning the husband came back to the tipi and fixed his 

 wife up properly inside, and immediately went out on the prairie 

 mourning over his wife. When he came back in the evening and went 

 into his tipi, he found his arrows scattered inside. "Well, this is a 

 strange affair; I am here alone, and my wife dead, and I wonder who 

 comes in and bothers my arrows !" said the man. 



In the morning he went out again on the prairie to mourn, but came 

 back secretly to see who went into the tipi during his absence. When 

 he approached he heard boys playing inside, and creeping close to the 

 tipi, rushed inside and caught one of them, which was named "By- 

 the-Door," while the other boy ("Spring-Boy") escaped to the spring 

 again. By-the-Door fought his father, scratched him and bit him to get 

 loose, but the father held him tight. "My dear boy, look at your things 

 inside, the bows and arrows, the ponies out on the prairie grazing, and 

 other things ; will you please give up and be a companion to your own 

 father?" said the man. Finally the child yielded and both were happy. 



The next morning the father, when about to start off to mourn, told 

 his boy to persuade his brother, Spring-Boy, to come out and play an 

 arrow game (like a game of stick arrows), and he would come around 

 secretly in the mean time. So By-the-Door was instructed to win the 

 first bet, and while Spring-Boy should get down to look, he should 

 jump on him and held him and call his father. So the father went away 

 and By-the-Door cried to his brother to leave his hiding-place and come 

 in for a good game. But Spring-Boy answered, "No, I don't want to 

 go, for our father caught you." "Well, no! I got loose from him," 

 said By-the-Door. "Come out and let us enjoy ourselves. He will be 

 gone a long while, for I scratched his face and bit him badly," said 

 By-the-Door. Finally Spring-Boy came out and looked around, very 

 much afraid to go in, but he was anxious to play with his brother. So 

 he went inside and the game went on as if nothing had happened, the 

 dead mother lying inside. "Say, Spring-Boy, I won that arrow, see! 

 The sinew strin^j touches the feathers cf the other arrow." said Bv- 



