MooNEY] nOn'yunu'wI 319 



Tliev kept up the fig-ht without result until iinother l)ird. little Tsi'- 

 klliir. the chickadee, liew down from a tr"n> :uul alig-hted upon the 

 witch's rii;ht hand. The warriors took tiiis as a siyn that thcv nuist 

 aim there, and they were riirht. for her heart was on tlie inside of her 

 hand, which she kept doubled into a tist. this same awl hand with 

 which she had stalibed so many people. Now she was frii;htcnf(l in 

 earnest, and began to rush furiously at them with her lonj)- awl tiiigi>r 

 and to jump about in the pit to dodge the arrows, until at last a lucky 

 arrow struck just where the awl joined her wrist and she fell down 

 dead. 



Ever since the tsi'kllili' is known as a truth teller, and when a uian 

 is away on a journey, if this bird comes and {)erches near the house 

 and chirps its song, his friends know he will soon l)e safe home. 



67. NUN'YUNU'Wi, THE STONE MAN 



This is what the old men told me when I was a Ijoy. 



Once when all the people of the settlement were out in the moun- 

 tains on a great hunt one man who had gone on ahead climbed to the 

 top of a high ridge and found a large river on the other side. While 

 he was looking across he saw an old man walking about on the oppo- 

 site ridge, with a cane that seemed to be made of some bright, shining- 

 rock. Tlie hunter watched and saw that every little while the old 

 man would point his cane in a certain direction, then draw it back and 

 smell the end of it. At last he pointed it in the direction of the hunt- 

 ing camp on the other side of the mountain, and this time when he 

 drew back the staff he sniffed it several times as if it smelled verj^ good, 

 and then started along the ridge straight for the camp. He moved 

 very slowly, with the help of the cane, until he reached the end of the 

 ridge, when he threw the cane out into the air and it became a bridge 

 of shining rock stretching across the river. After he had crossed 

 over upon the bridge it became a cane again, and the old man picked 

 it up and started over the mountain toward the camp. 



The hunter was frightened, and felt sure that it meant mischief, so 

 he hurried on down the moimtain and took the shortest trail back to the 

 camp to get there before the old man. When he got there and told 

 his story the medicine-man said the old man was a wicked cannibal 

 monster called Nun'yunu'wi, "■ Dressed in Stone." who lived in that 

 })art of tiie country, and was always going about the mountains look- 

 ing for some liunter to kill and eat. It was very hard to escape from 

 him, l)ecause his stick guided him like a dog, and it was nearly as hai'd 

 to kill him, because his whole body was covered with a skin of solid 

 rock. If he came he woulil kill and eat them all, and there was only 

 one way to save themselves, lie could not bear to look upon a men- 

 strual woman, and if they could find seven mensti'ual women to stantl 

 in the path as he came along the sight would kill him. 



