82 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [ BULL. 80 
Granny again warned the boy that he must be very careful when 
he was traveling about the country alone. One day the boy started 
out by himself and came to a place where two men were butchering 
a buffalo cow with an unborn calf. One of the men was a rough 
fellow and he followed the boy, carrying the calf and calling out: 
“Take this to Granny and tell her to cook it for you.” The little 
boy was afraid of the man, and in trying to escape he backed against 
a leaning tree, then he backed up the tree and along its branches 
to the farthest end. The men put the calf in the crotch of the tree 
and they went on butchering the buffalo cow. After this they went 
away, leaving the boy in the tree. He stayed there a long time. At 
last the two men came back, and the more sensible of the two said to 
his companion, “I told you not to scare that little boy. He is still 
in the tree.” He went near and called to him, saying, “ Why do 
you stay in the tree?” The little boy replied, “ I’m afraid of the calf.” 
The man said, “If you will take a message to Granny, we will 
take down the calf and go home.” The little boy consented to do 
this, and the man said, “Tell Granny that we want her for our 
daughter-in-law. ” 
When the little boy came home, Granny pretended to be much 
pleased, though she had been hoping that he would never come back. 
She said, “I thought surely you were lost.” ‘The little boy told his 
strange experience and said, “The only way I could get back was 
by promising to tell you that these men want you for their daughter- 
in-law.” Of course this meant that they wanted the gifts, such 
as robes and meat, which would accompany a daughter-in-law. 
Granny said, “ You did exactly right. Go back to the men and tell 
them we have decided to do as they say. We will feed and clothe 
them well, but in return we ask for one of their bows and arrows.” 
The boy went back to the men and gave Granny’s message, saying 
that they were good hunters and he also hunted a good deal, so he 
would like one of their bows. They gave him one, but as soon as 
Granny saw it, she said: “That bow is not good. Their medicine 
bow is patched with string and hangs opposite the door. Go back 
again and say you have wounded a deer and that the string on your 
bow is broken. Say that you want a bow to kill the deer, then 
snatch the medicine bow and run as fast as you can. They will not 
stop you, for you have already given part payment for it.” 
The boy did as Granny told him, and brought back the bow. She 
sald, “ They made you suffer, now we will make them suffer a little.” 
Granny went into the field and got a large sunflower stalk. She 
took a long section of this, bored a hole lengthwise through it, and 
cut seven holes in one side of it. She said the seven holes represented 
the seven months of winter, and told the boy that when he blew in 
