DAKOTA MYTHS. 141 
who was cast away on the unvisited island?” These were good old women. Then 
one said: ‘ Even if one is almost dead he eats; cook something for him.” Then they 
boiled for him and gave him food and said: *‘Grandchild, you have come through 
many difficulties, but the hardest is yet to come.” And he said, ‘Grandmother, I 
brought two raccoons and laid them outside, take them.” So they took them and 
boiled them. Then one said to the other, ‘Give some counsel to my grandchild.” 
Whereupon she said: “Grandchild, you will go to the house of The Two Women. 
They will treat you well, but at night they will seek to kill you. But we shall be there 
with you.” Saying this, she pulled out a tooth and gave to him. And they say the 
other one gave him a bundle. The one who pulled the tooth and gave him was the 
Gopher; and the other who gave him the bundle was the Badger; he tied up his ear 
and gave him. Then one of the old women told him what todo. ‘“*When you lie with 
one of the Two Women and she covers you with a blanket so that you can not breathe, 
pierce a hole in the blanket with this tooth, and you shall breathe freely; then untie 
the bundle. When they give you food, you will look to the earth and say: ‘ Grand- 
mother, whither have you gone, and at once we will be there with you.’” 
Then he traveled till he reached a very large tent. And outside of it there was 
a bark lodge. He entered into the tent and sat down in the back part. But no one 
was there. But when the evening was coming on he heard young women laughing 
loudly. In the bark lodge he had seen an old woman, who now said; ‘*Come quietly, 
you big-eyed courtezans.” So when one of them would have entered she saw him 
there, and saying, “My house smells of something,” she turned back. Again the 
other came and said the same thing and went again. But now, when both had come 
home, one of them went to cooking for him, And she gave him the half of a man cut 
up. This she put in a dish and placed before him. He bowed his head and looking 
to the earth said: “‘Grandmother, where have you gone?” Lo! from the earth there 
came a white mouth pushing up and sat down. So he emptied it all in and handed 
the dish back. And the young woman said, ‘‘My younger sister, now we two have 
mysterious man food.” Then the other young woman also gave him her man-flesh, 
which he took, saying, ‘Grandmother, whither hast thou gone?” And from within 
the earth a white mouth came and sat down. So again he poured all the food in the 
mouth and handed the dish back. And the young woman said, ‘ My older sister, 
now we two have mysterious man-food.” 
When it was now dark one of the young women lay down with him, and covered 
him with a blanket; but it was very heavy, so that he could not breathe. Then he 
pierced a hole through it with the gopher’s tooth and with his nose through it he lay 
breathing. The woman thought something was wrong and touched him. But just 
then he untied the bundle, and the woman threw off the blanket and started off ex- 
claiming, “A man has made a hole in my side.” That blanket was the clear sky 
planket. 
Then the other young woman in turn lay down with him, and put over him a 
covering that was so very heavy that he could not breathe. Again he punched a hole 
in it with the gopher’s tooth, and lay breathing. Again there was the touch. She 
thought he was dead. But he untied the bundle; when she suddenly exclaimed: “A 
man has made a hole in my side,” and threw off the blanket. This was the black 
cloud blanket. In this way, as the story is told, he made them both good and married 
them both. 
