THE TURKEY RITUAL. 183 
Again the Gobbler sang: 
Yonder are acorns hanging upon the trees. 
Yonder are acorns hanging upon the trees. 
Far away by walking we will arrive. 
There where rocks abound. 
Yonder are acorns hanging upon the trees, 
Yonder are acorns hanging upon the trees, 
And that is why 
Our feet are flat and rough. 
Then the old man cried out and told the people what the Turkeys said: 
“These people have been where the rocks abound, and that is why their 
feet are flat and rough.”’ 
Then the old man told the people that the Turkeys were going to the 
land in the south where the rocks abound and where there were many 
_ acorns; that they wanted the people to know that there they would always 
live, so that the people could come there and hunt and kill them. 
50. THE BOY WHO TURNED INTO A PRAIRIE DOG.’ 
There was a village upon the side of a hill. Near this village, towards 
the east, was acreek. Across the creek was a Prairie Dog town. 
In the village was a little boy whose name was Black-Eyes. The boy 
was good-looking and everyone liked him. He grew up and was now 
a young man. He saw a nice-looking young girl in the village. Every 
day the boy stayed around the place where the people dipped their water 
from the creek. He waited there for the girl. One day the girl came. 
The boy talked to her, and she scolded him. The boy did not mind the 
scolding and followed her toward the village. Just before they entered 
the village she stopped the boy and said: ‘‘Boy, I want you to know 
that I do not care for you. I can never marry you and, I do not want 
you to talk to me any more.” 
The boy was sorry, and told his mother about it. While he was tell- 
ing his mother about the matter he nearly cried. The mother told him 
not to cry, as there were many other girls in the tribe. The boy took his 
bow and arrows and said: ‘‘ Mother, I am going.”” The boy went out from 
the lodge and traveled east. He crossed the stream of water and as soon 
_as he got over.to the other side he began to cry. His tears dropped on 
the ground. He entered the Prairie Dog town. In the center of the 
1 Told by Thief, Kitkehahki. The tale illustrates the breadth of the feeling of 
relationship on the part of the Pawnee to the animal supernatural beings, the re- 
lationship to the prairie dogs being brought out in this special tale, and for this 
reason the Pawnee told their children they live in earth-lodges, which they compare 
to the so-called prairie-dogs’ lodge. 
