THE WONDERFUL BOY WHO KILLED HIS FATHER. 305 
The two went to the fields where they came to a creek, and the boy told 
his mother to bathe. She went into the water and bathed. While she 
was bathing she heard the noise of aswan. She looked around and saw 
only her boy. The boy did some tricks that surprised hismother. He 
performed these tricks to let her know that he had some wonderful power. 
They left the creek and went into the field. They found the two squashes 
and took them home. 
When they reached home the boy told his mother to enclose a place 
_ near the entrance in the medicine-lodge, so that people might not see him 
do things that he was about to do. The enclosure was made. The boy 
told his mother to bring in the squashes. The boy took his knife and 
cut both of them in two. He told his mother to take out all the seeds 
and to clean the inside nicely. As soon as the squashes were cleaned the 
boy placed in them soft downy swan feathers. He madesome mysterious 
movements and put the squashes together so that they were solid. He 
then told his mother to take the seeds and bury them west of the village. 
The boy left the squashes in the enclosure and went away. In thenight, 
when everybody had gone to witness the performances of the medicine- 
men, the boy and his mother performed several wonderful tricks in their 
own lodge. The mother saw her boy do these things and thought to her- 
self, ‘‘When my husband sees these performances he will embrace his 
boy and will be glad.”’ 
The boy said, ‘‘Mother, we will now go to the medicine-lodge and do 
these things.’’ They each took a squash and went to the medicine-lodge. 
Those who were looking on at the performances gave way to them and they 
entered the medicine-lodge. The boy stood up and said, ‘‘Medicine-men, 
help me; I want to perform a little.’”” Everybody was glad, even the 
boy’s father, though he thought the boy would fail, for he had not given 
him any power. The medicine-men arose and stood around the boy and 
his mother. The boy began to sing. He ran to the crowd of spectators 
andinvited anyone who would, to assist him. Two young men came for- 
ward. They were given knives, and with these knives cut the squashes in 
two. When the squashes were opened they found soft downy feathers in 
them instead of seeds. The boy then took the squashes, put them together, 
and they were solid again. He thanked the two young men and said, ‘* Help 
me once more.’’ The mother went and brought in a bowl of water. The 
boy began to sing. His mother placed the squashes upon the ground. 
As he sang he ran around the fireplace, took a mouthful of water from 
the bowl, then went where the squashes lay and sprinkled them. He 
continued to do this until there was a pool of water. The boy now ran 
around and started off, and the two squashes began to make a noise like 
