STEVENSON.] 



THE TWINS. 43 



tlieir homes the vigilance of some of the parents saved the race, and 

 iu spite of the iiunierous deaths the pe()])le increased, and they built 

 many houses. Four years (referring to periods of time) the Skoyo and 

 animals captured and ate the Sia whenever they left their villages, 

 but the Sia were not always to suffer this great evil. 



The sun father determined to relieve the people of their trouble and 

 so he became the father of twin boys. 



Ko'chinako, a virgin (the yellow woman of the north), when journey- 

 ing to visit the center of the earth, lay down to rest. She was embraced 

 by the Sun, and from this embrace she became j)regnant. In four days 

 she gave evident signs of her condition, and in eight days it was still 

 more jterceptible, and in twelve days she gave birth to male twins. 

 During her condition of gestation her mother, the spider woman, was 

 very angry, and insisted upon kno^ving the father of the child, but the 

 daughter could not tell her; and when the mother asked when she be- 

 came pregnant, she could not rei)ly to the question, and the mother 

 said: "I do not care to see the child when it is born; I wish to be far 

 away.'" And as soon as the daughter complained of approaching labor 

 the mother left, but her heart softened toward her child and she soon 

 returned. In four days from the birth of the boys they were able to 

 walk. When twins are born, the first-born is called Kat'saya and the 

 second Ivat'che. 



Ko'chinako named her tirst born Ma'-a-se-we and the second U'-yuu- 

 yew?. These children grew rapidly in intelligence, but they always 

 remained small in stature. One day they inquired of their mother, 

 ''Where is our father T' The motlier replied, "He is far away; ask no 

 more questions." But again they asked, "Where is our father?" And 

 they received the same reply from the mother. The third time they 

 asked, and a fourth time, when the mother said, "Poor children, 

 your father lives far away to the east." They declared they 

 would go to him, but she insisted they could not; that to reach him 

 they M'oidd have to go to the center of a great river. The boys were 

 so earnest in their entreaties to be allowed to visit their father, that the 

 mother finally consented. Their grandmother (the spider woman) made 

 them each a bow and arrows, and the boys started off on tlieir journey, 

 traveling a long way. Upon reaching the river they were puzzled to 

 know how to enter their father's house. While they stood thinking, 

 their grandmother (the spider woman) a])peared and said, "I will make 

 a bi'idge for yon." She spun a web back and forth, but wlien the bridge 

 was completed the boys feared to cross it; it ai)peared so frail. Then 

 the grandmother tested the bridge to show them it was safe. They, 

 being now satisfle<l, crossed tlie bridge and descended to the center of 

 the river, and there found their father's house. The wife of theii- 

 father inquired of the boys, " Who are you, and where did you come 

 from!" "We come to find our father." The woman then asked, "Who 

 is your father?" and they answered, "The Sun is our father;" and the 



