he'vVttJ legends 639 



their lodges to carry out the bride's request. During the following 

 night the young man who had first heard the walking of the still un- 

 known woman again heard the sound made by falling corn grains. 

 In the morning the people of the several lodges found their corn 

 bins well supplied with corn, and they were greatly rejoiced at this 

 good fortune. Then an old woman, one of the near neighbors of the 

 bride, said : " I will ask the young woman whence she came to us, so 

 that we may know who it is that has been so kind and merciful to 

 us." So going to the lodge of the. newly married couple she addressed 

 the bride, saying: "I have come to ask you to tell us whence you 

 came to us?" The bride willingly replied: "I came from the south, 

 where my mother lives. She knew of your destitute condition and 

 felt very miserable about it, hence she sent me to marry this young 

 man. He indeed knew that I was coming before I arrived here. My 

 mother sent me on this errand so that I could protect you by pro- 

 viding for your most pressing needs." Replying, the old woman said : 

 " I am thankful and so are all my neighbors that your mother was 

 moved to pity us by seeing our distressing condition and destitution; 

 it is through her that we shall live. We are indeed grateful to her and 

 to you for fulfilling your duty in the matter." Thus it was made 

 clear to all the people to whom they owed their good fortune. They 

 saw then that it was through the bride and her mother that the bare 

 corncobs that hung in the corn stacks were again filled with grains 

 of corn, and that their corn bins were again full of grain. 



After this there came a time when the bridegroom's younger 

 brother began to dislike his sister-in-law, and he sought in many 

 ways to abuse her, saying rude things to her at times. At first the 

 sister-in-law paid no attention to his abuse.**^ One day she made 

 bread from corn grits, and she gave a loaf of it to her hostile brother- 

 in-law, saying : "I have made this for you." But he seized it rudely, 

 exclaiming: "Do you mean to insult me? I will not eat such bread 

 as that; it is not fit to eat." With these words he tossed the loaf of 

 bread into the fire. Without a word of remonstrance the young woman 

 cast herself down on her couch and covered her head in sorrow; and 

 she remained thus until her husband retui-ned. At once he asked the 

 cause of her sorrow. At first she refused to tell him. Finally, 

 however, he prevailed on her to do so. She said: "Lately your 

 brother abuses me at every opportunity. I made him bread of the 

 best material I had, and he sneeringly threw it into the fire. So I 

 will go home to my mother. If you desire to accompany me, you 

 may do so. It will require as much time for me to return to ray 

 home as it required to come here. When my mother sent me she did 

 not expect me to return to her home again. But I must go, and all 

 that I brought with me shall go back with me. All is due to your 

 brother's fault. This is why I am sorrowful." Her husband was 



