194 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 39 



contend, Roots jumped upon Ite! first but could not move him. Then 

 Roots looked at his antagonist and saw that he was half buried in the 

 ground although a human being. This made Roots angr}^ and he 

 stooped down, picked Itc! up, and threw him down headlong. After 

 he had done so he looked and lo! there lay only a rock. If it had not 

 been for the numbers of roots that Roots sent out, however, Itc! 

 would have beaten him. 



50. THE MUCUS CHILD 



From a certain village the men began to disappear. They would go 

 up into the woods behind after firewood and never come back. Finally 

 all the rest of the men went up there together, intending to kill what- 

 ever had been destroying their friends, but they, too, never came back. 

 Then the women and children began disappearing in the same manner 

 until not one person remained except a woman and her daughter 

 who refused to go out. 



After that the younger woman walked back and forth in front of 

 the houses, crying and calling to each of the former house owners. 

 One day she cried very hard until the mucus ran down from her nose, 

 and, wiping this off, she threw it down near one of the doors. After 

 a while she noticed from the corner of her eye that it moved. She 

 looked at it closely and saw that it was like a bubble. Then she 

 stooped down to examine it and saw in it a little man. Before the 

 bubble had disappeared she picked it up and svv'allowed it and soon 

 discovered that she was pregnant. In a short time she gave birth 

 to a boy. 



This mucus child grew up very fast, and, when he was old enough 

 to shoot, his mother made him a bow and arrows with which to 

 practise. When he became somewhat larger he asked his mother, 

 ''Mother, wh}^ are these houses empty? Where have the people that 

 occupied them gone?" And his mother answered, "We had many 

 friends in this village. They would go after wood and never return. 

 The women and children did the same hing. They followed their 

 husbands and parents and never returned." This bo}" grew up very 

 fast, and meanwhile he ke])t thinking to himself, "I wonder what 

 happened to those people who went up after wood and did not come 

 back." After he had become still larger he made himself a bow 

 and arrow points, and his mother made him a quiver. With these 

 he ventured a short distance up into the woods. He was afraid to 

 go far. 



Finally he thought, "I am going a long distance uj) into the woods, 

 but I am not going to say a word about it to my mother." And so, 

 early in the morning, he went straight up from the house and, after 

 traveling for some time, reached a creek of black water which ran out 

 from under a glacier. There he met a large man who said to him, 



