THE GIRL, SPIDER-WOMAN, AND THE BALL GAME. 239 
shall be close by. I shall blow my breath upon the strings that hold 
the twin balls together and shall wear the string out so that it will break. 
You shall then say, ‘I will go and get my twin balls and we will play.’”’ 
When the day that was set for the game came, her uncle told her to 
take his stick and to hit him several times upon his ankles where they 
were swollen. The girl did as she was told by her uncle; then she went 
to play the game of twin ballswithSpider-Woman. Spider-Woman threw 
the twin balls up and the girl tried to catch them, but she could not. 
_ When the girl touched the string she noticed that it seemed to be giving 
out, and so she made up her mind to catch the balls with her stick. She 
did not get the best of the old woman, but she knew that the stick was 
cutting the string, for she remembered what her uncle had told her. When 
the old woman was about to win, the girl caught the balls and threw 
them, but the string parted and the balls separated. Old Spider- 
Woman then wanted to stop playing, so that she could fix her twin balls, 
but the girl insisted that they finish the game, as she, too, had twin balls. 
She told her uncle, and her uncle put out his feet and she began to beat 
his feet. After a while she noticed the twin balls coming out from under 
his feet. She took the balls and went out and began to play with the 
old woman again. 
The girl won all the games they played and won all of Spider-Woman’s 
people, and at last she won Spider-Woman herself. The people who 
were with the girl rushed on to the old Spider-Woman, killed her, and 
burned her. When the old woman was burned she was seen to jump 
from the fire into the grass in the form of a spider. The girl went home 
and told her uncle all that had happened. Her uncle told her to whip 
his ankles and to place the balls at his feet. By so doing the man took 
possession of the twin balls again. The man then said: ‘‘This is the 
way we get rid of Spider-Women. We shall not have such persons 
among the people, but the people will have sickness such as I have, so 
that they will have to walk with a crooked stick for support.”” And so 
that is why the people have rheumatism. 
75. THE BOY WHO KILLED THE CANNIBAL WITCH. 
(See Abstracts.) 
[Told by Thief, Kitkehahki. This story is told to children to teach them that 
when roaming over the prairie they should not marry strange women, because the 
strange women are spider-women and have a bad influence. It also teaches the 
children that birds are good friends, that they help to destroy evil spirits and exist 
on earth for this purpose. The story also encourages the children in their desire 
to help slay the evil spirits. The lark especially was to be respected and esteemed, 
because the lark it was who led the boy to the lodge of the godsin the west, where 
he received a sacred bundle and instructions, at which time also the people were 
promised the buffalo. The larks, in their song, speak in the Pawnee tongue, “I 
am not afraid.’’] 
