60 TRUE STORIES OF THE HEAVENLY BEINGS. 
One day he went to the gambling grounds, and while there the mother 
opened the bundle and saw the kernel of corn. Thewoman picked it up 
and began to pray to it, and promised it to care for it, and also asked 
that she might have many children. Then she wrapped the bundle up 
and laid it away. When the young man came home he did not feel well 
and so he went to bed early. In his dream he saw the woman again, and 
this woman said: ‘‘I am Corn-Woman. Your mother saw me and asked 
many things. All the things that she asked of me will come true.’’ 
The young man became a good warrior. He brought home many 
ponies and scalps. He said, “In the tribe is a nice-looking girl whom 
I like.””. The Corn-Woman spoke to him in a dream and said: “I 
do not want you to marry for two seasons. When you have received 
my spirit and you understand me, then you shall marry. You must 
tell your mother to place me in a large hill of earth. When a stalk grows > 
from the hill and you find corn upon the stalk do not eat it, but lay it 
away. Then the next spring tell your mother to plant some more corn 
and the next fall there will be a good crop and you will see how the corn 
has multiplied.’’ The young man did as he was told. As the spring 
came the mother placed the kernel in a big hill of earth. In the fall she 
gathered five ears of corn. These she laid away until the next spring; 
then she planted much more corn. 
About that time the young man married. The young man and his 
wife had many children, and their children had children, and thus they 
multiplied as did the corn. The man said to his mother, “‘Mother, you 
must never drop a kernel upon the ground nor into the fireplace, for the 
corn has life.’’ The young man’s first child was a girl. Corn-Woman 
appeared to the man in a dream and said: ‘“‘I shall name the girl. 
Call her ‘Woman-Carry-the-Leading-Corn,’ because her father carried 
Mother-Corn upon his back when on the war-path.’’ When Corn- 
Woman disappeared she told the man to tell his people, when they were 
ready to plant corn, to pray first to Mother-Corn and then to Mother- 
Earth. ‘‘When you have placed the corn in the earth then stand to 
the west and pray to Mother-Evening-Star to send rain upon the earth 
so that the corn will grow. Pray also to Mother-Moon, who helps give 
life to people, and she will listen to what peoplesay. Never drop a ker- 
nel upon the ground, for Mother-Corn will curse you and your life will 
be shortened.’’ Corn-Woman also told the young man that when the 
corn-fields were high, all the people were to take their children into the 
fields and to pass their hands over the stalks and then over the children. 
Thus the children would grow and bad diseases would go away from 
them. Corn-Woman also said: ‘‘When the tassels are out then watch. 
