14 
MUSEUM BULLETIN NO. 16. 
up and take it home. When you have brought this home, your 
brother-in-law will tell you to get the bark of a certain very large 
tree. That tree belongs to him and it is there for a certain pur- 
pose. Just as you touch the tree, it will fall upon you and 
kill you. Some of your brothers met their death in that way. 
Now you take a stick and go as near to the tree as you can and 
throw the stick at it. It will hit the bark, which will fall off. 
Then you take as much of it as you want and bring it to him. 
When you have brought this, he will send you out again and tell 
you to fetch the pole for the sweathouse. When you get to the 
place where he has sent you, you will find four large rattlesnakes 
lying curled up. These are what he meant you to get. Some 
of your brothers met death there. They were killed by the snakes. 
So now, my grandson, take some tobacco with you and give 
it to them and tell them not to hurt you. I shall put in my 
influence to help you with them. These snakes do not belong 
to him; but he is more powerful than they and he keeps them 
there as his slaves. He just gives them enough to eat and to drink. 
However, they have never had anything to smoke, and they will 
be glad to accept your gift and not molest you. When you 
come to your brother-in-law’s place, put their heads in the ground 
and twist their tails, and so you will have the finest kind of 
lodge structure. After this has been done, he will tell you to 
pick up the stone with your naked hand and burn you up. That 
is how some of your brothers met their fate. Now, my grand- 
son, when it comes to that point, try to find some excuse to leave 
him and come over to see me before you pick up the stone.’ ” 
In the cases cited, the figures of the buzzard and old woman 
seem to exist for the sole purpose of foretelling what is to happen. 
They seem to have no connexion whatsoever either with the 
hero of the plot or his enemy. Their role is quite similar to that 
of the good or bad fairy of European folklore, who turns up at the 
opportune moment. How are we to explain their role ? If we 
wish to remain on firm ground and eschew general assumptions 
that can be neither proven nor disproven, the best procedure 
would be to explain it by the function it fulfils. From this 
point of view they are indisputable literary devices, at least 
now. The plot demands them. 
