Q2 TRUE STORIES OF THE HEAVENLY BEINGS. 
many times, but could never find any artichokes. The next day the 
boy went back into the timber. The man spoke and said: “‘My son, I 
give you these leggings. I also give you these moccasins, and this robe 
that I have on. I also give you this quiver filled with arrows and the 
bow. From this day on you must kill yourown animals for meat. You 
must go and tell the women where to dig these artichokes and beans. In 
the spring I shall return and shall teach the women how to plant the corn, 
squash, and beans. Myson, 1am your father. I am one of the gods 
and I standin the north. My name is Ready-to-Give. When the peo- 
ple are hungry for buffalo, I blow my breath upon the land. My breath 
drives the buffalo to the people, and they slaughter many. The people 
made me angry, for they made you an outcast, my son, and so I have 
driven all the buffalo and game out of the country where they are trav- 
eling. The game and the buffalo will circle around and will come into this 
country. The people willroam over the plains for many years, and then 
they will think of you. They will think of your mother and the other 
women. They will wonder if you are stillliving. The people will be com- 
ing to open up their caches to get something to eat, for I shall make them 
hungry. Go to your mother and tell your mother that you have seen 
your father; that your father is the Wind which blows from the north, 
Ready-to-Give.’’ The boy gathered up his things and went to the grass- 
lodge. When he entered the lodge he gave his things to his mother and 
said: ‘‘Mother, put these things away. I have seen my father. My 
father says his name is Wind, Ready-to-Give. It was he who was with 
you. The Wind touched you and you did not know it. He has gone, 
but he has promised to come back to help me kill buffalo and game, and 
in the spring he is to come back again to teach us how to put our seeds 
into the ground.’’ 
The women were astonished at the talk of the boy. When the 
wanted meat they told the boy to take his bow and arrows that he had 
received from his father and go out to the timber and kill some game. 
Whenever the boy went out a long way from home his father would meet 
him, and they would go together until they came to a buffalo herd. 
The boy would walk right in among the herd and would kill a buffalo, then 
the father and his son would skin the buffalo and cut up the meat, then they 
would carry the meat to the boy’s home. After a while Ready-to-Give 
entered the lodge. The women knew him, and the mother of the boy 
gave him a seat close by. When Ready-to-Give spoke to the women, he 
said: ‘‘I shall be gone. JI know where the people are. They are starv- 
ing, but it is their fault. They made you people outcasts because this 
woman brought my child into the world. They will be coming back soon 
