NELSON] TALE OF THE RED BEAR 46'9 



Morning came and Pi-tikh'-cho-lik' came out of the house and 

 arranged Lis hunting gear upon the kaiak. After saying " good-bye" 

 to the women on the shore he paddled out to sea, singing pleasantly. 

 When he was out of sight Ta-ku'-ka went down from the hillside and 

 followed the women into one of the houses; they seemed surprised to 

 see her, but made her welcome, asking her many questions. They 

 admired her face and its color, which was lighter than theirs, also 

 several tattooed lines on her face, one up and down between her eyes 

 and three that extended down across the chin from her lower lip; 

 they were also pleased with the shape of her garments, which were 

 diflerent from theirs. By and by one of the women said, " You are 

 very handsome with the beautiful lines marked on your face; I would 

 give much if you would teach me how to make my face like yours." 

 Ta-ku'-ka answered, " I will show you how it is done, if I can please 

 you, but it will hiirt you and you may not wish to bear the pain." " I 

 shall not mind the pain," said the woman, " for I wish to be handsome, 

 as you are, and am ready to bear it." "Be it as you wish," said 

 Ta ku'-ka. " Go into the house and make a fire, and put by it a large 

 clay pot, filled with oil; when the oil boils call me. I will make your 

 face beautiful like mine." When the woman had thanked her and had 

 gone to make ready, the other women asked her many questions. 

 " Will it hurt very much?" and " Will she really be as ])retty as you 

 are?" and others. To which Ta-ku'-ka replied, "She will not be hurt 

 very much, and she will be i)rettier even than I." 



In a short time the woman came back, saying that the oil was ready. 

 Ta-ku'-ka then went into the house and told her to kneel before the pot 

 of boiling oil and to bend her face over it. As soon as this was done, 

 Ta-ku'-ka grasped her by the hair and thrust her face down into the 

 hot oil and held it there until the woman was dead, saying, "There, you 

 will always be beautiful now." Then she laid the body on the bed 

 platform, and covering the face, went back to the other women. Dur- 

 ing her absence the other two had been talking together, and when she 

 came back they asked her if she had succeeded in making their com- 

 panion handsome, and Ta-ku'-ka nodded her head. 



Then both women said, " We, too, will make you presents if you will 

 make us beautiful," and she consented. Then all went to the dead 

 woman's house, and Ta-ku'-ka said to her companions, " Do not disturb 

 your friend ; she sleeps now and her face is covered so that nothing will 

 break the charm ; when she awakes she will be very handsome." After 

 this she killed both the other women as she had the first, saying, as she 

 laid them on the ground, " You, too, will be very pretty." She then 

 made three crosses of sticks and placed them upright in the sand where 

 the women had danced on the shore the evening before, ui)ou which she 

 placed the clothing of the dead women so that a person at a distance 

 would think they were standing there. Then she took a red bearskin 

 and went back to her hiding i^lace in the rocks. Evening came, and the 



