616 TRIBES OF THE UrPER MISSOURI [eth. ANN. 46 



returned and said, " You have done wrong, you are a bad man, evil 

 will befall you, the Wau-wau-kah shall bar your road home to your 

 people. But your brother is a good man, has ears, and for his sake 

 some of my buffalo will follow him home to his people, and the white 

 cowskin shall be his fetish to remember me by." They separated; 

 the travelers pursued their journey and encamped on the prairie at 

 the foot of what they supposed was a mountain, but which was the 

 Wau-wau-kah lying across their road. In the morning they advanced 

 to go around it, but, turn whichever way they would, the monster 

 turned with them and obstructed their way, so that the whole day 

 was spent in useless efforts to get forward. 



The good brother proposed sacrificing some corn to appease it, 

 but the other became very angry and would not listen to any peaceful 

 measures. He collected immense piles of buffalo dung all around 

 the monster and set it on fire, by which the Wau-wau-kah was 

 roasted alive. The smell of the roast being savory he cut out a 

 slice and ate it, offering some to his brother, who, however, would 

 not taste thereof. In the morning they continued their way, the 

 buffalo following at a distance. At rising the ensuing morning the 

 one who had eaten the flesh of the monster said, " Look, my brother, 

 what handsome fine black hair is growing from my body." The 

 other looked and beheld the hair of the beast. On the next morn- 

 ing he said, "Look at my head, my brother, horns are coming out 

 upon it," and so it was. On the third morning he said, " Look at 

 my legs, my brother, fish scales are growing there." Each and every 

 morning when they arose the Indian was assuming more and more 

 the shape and apearance of the Wau-wau-kah. In the course of a 

 few days his body was completely covered with hair, his head was 

 furnished with horns of a monstrous size, and his legs were growing 

 together in the form of a fish. They traveled on, the body and 

 entire shape of the Indian rapidly increasing in size and appearance 

 to that of the monster whose flesh he had eaten. They now pro- 

 ceeded slowly, owing to the difficulty the one experienced in walking 

 by the change he was undergoing, and this impediment increasing 

 in proportion as his extremities gradually assumed the form of a fish. 



In the course of time they arrived at the mouth of the Yellow- 

 stone and encamped for the last time together. The change was 

 now nearly completed, and when they arose in the morning behold 

 a complete Wau-wau-kah was presented, who said to the other, 

 ''Depart, I am no more your brother; I am no more a man; I am 

 either your friend or your enemy, according to the way you treat 

 me. Leave. You will find your people several days' travel down 

 on the banks of the Missouri. Take them the corn. Yonder stand 

 the buffalo you have brought; they will follow you home. You will 



