uew^i'tt] legends 565 



116. The Acts of the Seventh Son, Djengo''se' 



In the olden time there stood in a certain land a lodge surrounded 

 by a dense forest, in which lived a very old man, his seven sons, and 

 a daughter. The youngest son was very small, and he possessed a 

 cur which was not larger than a gray squirrel and a very small bow 

 and arrows to match it; the bow, it is said, was a half span in 

 length. 



This small boy and his diminutive dog played together daily, 

 hunting fleas around the fii'eplace. The cur would track a flea, and 

 just as the flea would leap up from its hiding place the small boy 

 would shoot it with an arrow from his diminutive bow. Thus he 

 amused himself all day and far into the night. 



Now, the old man, the father of this family, forbade his sons from 

 going to hunt in a certain direction from the lodge. In time, how- 

 ever, the eldest son, wearying of this seemingly unreasonable re- 

 straint, determined to hunt in the forbidden direction, in order to 

 learn, if possible, what it was that caused his father to prohibit his 

 brothers and himself from going into that region. So, following 

 his resolve, he started for the region, but never returned home. Then 

 the second son resolved to follow his elder brother, so he also started 

 for the forbidden land; and he, too, never returned home. Finally, 

 when six of the brothers had gone away and none had returned, 

 the aged father said to his youngest son that he himself was going 

 in search of his six lost sons. After carefully instructing his 

 youngest son what to do for himself and his only sister in his ab- 

 sence, he started away. He, too, failed to come back, and the two 

 young persons in the lodge became anxious about their own fate, as, 

 they were then dependent on themselves. 



At last the youngest, the seventh, son informed his sister that she 

 and he would have to follow the path of their father. The time was 

 winter, but they started, following the trail in a light snow. As they 

 set out, the young boy, seizing his diminutive cur, dashed it against 

 the ground, whereupon it immediately arose in the form of a very 

 large dog. At this the boy sent the dog away, as it was of no 

 further use to him. The brother and sister traveled the entire day, 

 and when they were nearly famished with hunger they came to a 

 lodge just as it was growing dark. In this lodge they found, to their 

 great delight and comfort, embers still burning and before the fire, 

 which was nearly out, a large piece of broiled venison still attached 

 to the sticks and skewers. By adding fuel to the fire they succeeded 

 in building it up so that it would last during the night. Havine 

 eaten the broiled venison, and being very tired, they lay down near 

 the fire and were soon fast asleep. 



In the morning they ate the remainder of the venison and at once 



