NELSON] THE STRANGE BOY 493 



like a flash of light at the eagle and lodged under its wings, and in a 

 moment had eaten its way twice back and forth through the bird s 

 side, and it fell dead, whereupon the ermine vanished. This ermine 

 came from the gift of the second man with whom the traveler had 

 stopped. 



When the eagle fell the young man started toward the shaman s 

 house, and the boy cried to him, &quot;Don t go there, for you will be 

 killed.&quot; To this the traveler replied, &quot;I don t care,- I wish to see the 

 women there. I will go now, for I am angry, and if I wait till morning 

 my anger will be gone and I will not be so strong as I am at present.&quot; 

 &quot;You had better wait till morning,&quot; said the boy, &quot;for there are two 

 bears guarding the door and they will surely kill you. But if you will 

 go, go then, and be destroyed. I have tried to save you and will have 

 nothing more to do with you.&quot; And the boy went angrily back to the 

 kashiin. The young man then went on to the house, and looking into 

 the entrance passage, saw a very large white bear lying there asleep. 

 He called out, &quot;Ah, White-bear,&quot; at which the bear sprang up and ran 

 at him. The young man leaped upon the top of the passageway and, 

 as the bear ran out at him, drove the point of his spear into its brain, 

 so that it fell dead. Then he drew the body to one side, looked in 

 again, and saw a red bear lying there. Again he called out, &quot;Ah, Ked- 

 bear.&quot; The red bear ran out at him and he sprang up to his former 

 place. The red bear struck at him with one of its forepaws as it 

 passed, and the young man caught the paw in his hand and, swinging the 

 bear about his head, beat it upon the ground until there was nothing 

 but the paw left, and this he threw away and went into the house with 

 out further trouble. Sitting at the side of the room were an old man 

 and woman, and on the other side was a beautiful young woman whose 

 image he had seen in his dreams, which had caused him to make his 

 long journey. She was crying when he went in, and he went and sat 

 beside her, saying, &quot;What are you crying for; what do you love 

 enough to cry for?&quot; To which she replied, &quot;You have killed my hus 

 band, but I am not sorry for that, for he was a bad man ; but you killed 

 the two bears. They were my brothers, and I feel badly and cry for 

 them.&quot; &quot;Do not cry,&quot; said he, &quot;for I will be your husband.&quot; Here he 

 remained for a time, taking this woman for his wife and living in the 

 house with her parents. He slept in the kashim every fourth night 

 and at home the rest of the time. 



After he had lived there for a while, he saw that his wife and her 

 parents became more and more gloomy, and they cried very often. 

 Then he saw things done that made him think they intended to do him 

 evil. Becoming sure of this, he went home one day and, putting his 

 hand on his wife s forehead, turned her face to him, and said: &quot;You 

 are planning to kill me, you unfaithful woman, and as a punishment 

 you shall die.&quot; Then taking his knife, he cut his wife s throat, and 

 went gloomily back to his village, where he lived with his parents as 



