THE BOY WHO TURNED INTO A SNAKE. 79 
22. THE BOY WHO TURNED INTO A SNAKE.* 
A long time ago there was a young man in the village who was 
an idiot. All the boys plagued him except one whose father was a 
chief and who took a liking for the boy. This chief’s son used to 
take the boy to his lodge and feed him. One day the poor boy said 
to his friend: “Let us go on the war-path. Let us go alone, for we 
can do as well as the warriors.” ‘They started out and went south, 
crossing the Missouri River. After they had crossed the river they 
went west. For several days they continued their journey, but as 
they did not have much to eat they became exhausted and turned 
back. 
When they were going over the prairie they saw something in the 
distance that looked like a log. They came to it and saw that it was 
a water-serpent. This water-serpent seemed to have no end. The 
boys walked one way, then another, until they finally gave up trying 
to find the end, and there was no way to go around it. The foolish 
boy said: “I know what I will do. I will make a big fire upon the 
serpent, so that it will burn up and we can cross over.” This they 
did. ‘They gathered many dry limbs and placed them upon the ser- 
pent, then set it on fire. The serpent burned in two. Before crossing 
over, the idiot said, “My brother, that meat looks very nice, let us eat 
it.” “No,” said the other boy, “we must not eat it; the serpent is 
wonderful.” But the idiot was hungry and took some meat from the 
serpent and ate. He tried to get the other boy to do the same, but 
the boy would not eat of it, although he was very hungry. After 
the idiot had enough of the meat he went across the serpent. The 
other boy followed. 
The boys now traveled down the Missouri River until night 
overtook them, when they lay down. The next morning the boys 
woke up. The idiot looked at this feet and he saw that his feet were 
colored with red and blue stripes. “Took,” said the idiot, “I have 
colored feet. I will not have to paint my feet when we dance at home. 
People will like it.’ But the other boy did not say anything, for 
he knew there was something wrong. They went on until they 
reached another stream of water, where they lay down again and 
slept. This time, when they woke, the idiot looked at his legs and 
he found his legs also were colored. He was pleased, for he thought 
that he would not have to paint when dancing. The next night they 
lay down, and when they arose in the morning the idiot’s body also 
was colored. They kept on journeying. The fourth morning the 
*Told by Yellow-Bear, 
