Oct., 1903. Arapaho Traditions — Dorsey and Kroeber. 345 



Well, I am glad to see you, grandchildren," and he looked at them 

 closely. 



When these boys went in they saw this man ha*d tangled hair, and 

 inside of the tipi were snakes, crawling everywhere. The boys didn't 

 want to sit down, but got some flat stones and placed them under them 

 and sat down. (If they had sat down without placing the stones as they 

 did, the snakes would have run into their anus, but these boys were 

 smart and cunning.) "Well, my grandchildren, I want you to louse 

 me," said the man with tangled hair. "All right!" said the boys. So 

 they both sat close to him with stones at their bottom and began un- 

 raveling his hair, tied up in a knot on his forehead. (The old priests 

 used to tie their hair in a knot after the fashion of this man ; they also 

 wore tangled hair.) 



When these boys unraveled the hair, they found that the man 

 had open brains, from which he derived that name. This man who 

 camped alone in the woods had no sympathy for anybody else, and for 

 that reason he was called "the man with opened brains," or, "Open- 

 Brains." Properly speaking, he was the first murderer. The boys 

 kept at work, cracking the lice in their mouths, and finally made him go 

 to sleep. While Open-Brains was fast asleep the boys took his tangled 

 hair and tied it to every tipi pole inside, and then heated a big round 

 stone, big enough for the hole in his skull, which, after it was heated, 

 they placed inside his skull. Open-Brains struggled, but was finally 

 burned to death. These boys then cut off his tangled hair and carried 

 it home. When they arrived home, they gave it to their father to use 

 on his shirts and leggings as pendants. "Well, well, boys ! How in 

 the world did you get that man's hair? He was the most troublesome 

 being on earth !" said the father. "We got the man to sleep and placed 

 a heated stone in his brains," said the boys, "and killed him." 



"Now, my dear boys, I want both of you to keep away from that 

 big hill close to the river, for a fierce animal lives there," said the father. 

 The father, as usual, went out in search of game that morning. The 

 boys said again to each other, "I wonder what animal lives there. Let 

 us go over there and find it." So they went to the place and found a big 

 buffalo bull, covered with iron, and very fierce-looking. When the 

 buffalo bull saw them, he raised his head and shook it, and lifted his 

 tail and circled about, throwing the dirt in the air, ready to make a 

 charge on the boys. Before the buffalo bull was ready, the boys shot at 

 him and killed him. The boys went up to him and cut off his horns and 

 carried them to their father to be used for dippers. The father won- 

 dered how they had killed the buffalo bull, and they told him that they 



