THE MEDICINE-CHILD AND THE BEAVER MEDICINE. 249 
their way of curing, and their sleight-of-hand. At last they said, ‘‘Go 
now to your people, take these things with you, and teach other people 
about our mysteries. ’”’ 
The boy went to his lodge, and the next day it was announced through 
the village that the lost young man, who had been known as the medi- 
cine-child, had returned. At last the other Skidi band heard that the 
young man who had been lost had returned. The old man who had 
bewitched him heard of it. For several days he thought of what he 
should do, for he knew that he had poisoned the young man, and knew the 
young man had come back. He was sure that the young man must 
be wonderful. So one day he told his wife that he wanted her to 
gather up her medicine-bags, her robe, and several other presents; 
that he wanted again to visit his friend who had returned. They 
started and they went to the lower village, and as they walked 
through the village they met a man, and they asked where the bov’s 
lodge was. He pointed out the lodge to them, and they went in and 
placed the presents down in front of the boy, and the medicine-man told 
him that he was very glad that he had come back; that he had returned to 
have some more story-telling. The young man said that he was willing. 
The old man sat down and talked and talked, and then he said, ‘‘I must 
be going home.’”’ The old man and the old woman went home. 
In a few days the young man made up his mind to visit the old man. 
He went to the Skidi village and asked for the old man’slodge. The lodge 
was pointed out and he went to it. The old man was glad to see him, 
and the old man sat up all night with him, talking about the different 
mysteries. The old man filled up his pipe and put in the same medicine 
as when he poisoned the boy before. The young man knew what the old 
man was doing. He smoked the pipe, but would not swallow the smoke, 
but would blow it away. The old man became tired, but really was 
not tired, for the young man had had the pipe. The young man mixed 
up tobacco and some of the other roots and sumach leaves, so that on 
smoking from the young man’s pipe the old man became very sleepy. 
The old man was anxious to get rid of the boy, but the boy stayed all 
night. The next day in the afternoon the young man was invited by 
the chief to eat with him, and as the boy entered the lodge the chief 
came to meet him and passed his hands over him and said: ‘‘My son, I 
am glad you have come back. We all understand that you were in a 
bad condition. I give you these presents—a buffalo robe, feathers, and 
other things. I want you to return the poison that the old man gave 
you and kill the old man, for we are all afraid of him.’’ The young man 
said that he knew nothing of the different bad medicines. After the boy 
