THE CANNIBAL WITCH AND THE BOY WHO CONQUERED THE BUFFALO. 75 
to journey westward. When they were upon the prairie, the two girls 
said: ‘‘Young man, we came after you; will you go with us; will you 
keep up with us?’”’ The young man said, ‘“‘I will try.” ‘‘Well,’’ said 
the girls, “‘suppose we walk fast; can you keep up with us?”’ ‘‘Yes,”’ 
said the boy, “‘Ican.” ‘‘If we trot, can you keep up with us?’’ ‘‘Yes,”’ 
said the boy, ‘I can keep up with you.” “If we run very fast will 
you keep up with us?” ‘“‘Yes,’’ said the boy, ‘‘I will keep up with 
you.”’ The girls were satisfied, and said, ‘‘We will now set out for our 
country.” 
The girls started, the boy following. When they went out from the 
ravine, the boy saw that they were again Buffalo. He followed and 
finally ran and caught up with the Buffalo. One of them said, ‘‘See 
yonder hills; let us try and get to them by noon.”’ The boy said, ‘‘ All 
right.’”” The three ran, the boy keeping up with the Buffalo. The 
Buffalo then tried to leave him behind, but he staid with them. When 
they came to the hills, the Buffalo again said, ‘‘Let us get to yonder 
mountains that you see far away.’’ The boy said, ‘‘All right.” The 
_ three ran again as fast as they could until they came to the mountains. 
The two Buffalo were then willing to rest, but the boy said, ‘‘Go on.”’ 
The boy touched the Buffalo and they all started off again. They 
ran through the valleys and over the mountains. About midnight they 
were on top of amountain. There they stopped. The boy lay down to 
rest, then the two Buffalo turned into girls again, and the two girls came 
and lay by the boy. The girls again questioned the boy as to how, if 
the Buffalo should run after him, he could get away. The boy told all 
the secrets of his traveling upon the arrows and the bow. He said: 
“‘The black arrows that I have are all little blacksnakes, the bow is a 
large blacksnake; the bowstring is the backbone.” ‘‘Well,’’ said one 
of the girls, ‘‘suppose the Buffalo were to run after you; what would 
you do when you first shot the arrow and the Buffalo did not find you?”’ 
‘‘T would keep on.’’ ‘‘Then,”’ said the girl, ‘if I were there, I would 
say, ‘Keep on; you will find him; he is still going on.’” “‘Yes,”’ said the 
boy, ‘‘you could say that each time.’’ ‘‘When the arrows have all been 
shot,’ said the girl, ‘‘what would you do?” ‘‘I would throw the bow 
upon the ground and get upon the bow, and stay upon the bow until 
the bow stopped traveling, in a broad meadow filled with thick grass.” 
‘‘What would the Buffalo then do?” said the girl. ‘* Well, then tell all 
the Buffalo to surround the grass and eat it. When the Buffalo have 
eaten the grass, then choose one bull, who will go to the bunch of grass 
and let it blow its breath; I shall then jump out and run to a pond.”’ 
‘‘What shall I say then?”’ said the girl. ‘‘Tell the Buffalo,” said the 
boy, ‘‘to drink out of the pond until they come to a small hole where 
