gO TRADITIONS OF THE ARIKARA,. 
young man, and said, “I shall now go to my place.” But the young 
man said, “No, I shall only take my wife; you take the other women.” 
So the Elk took the other women, and they all turned into Elk. For 
this reason, when a male elk whistles, all the female elk run to him. 
2¢. THE BOY AND THE ELK.* 
There was a young man in the Arikara village who was very 
handsome. He tried to marry, but the girls all seemed to hate him. 
He went off to a hilly country where there was a lake. On the west 
side of the lake was a skull of an animal. He placed himself by the 
skull and began to cry. 
On the second night an Elk came to the boy, but soon disappeared. 
In a short time the boy heard the clear, beautiful notes of a flute. The 
- sound of the flute came nearer and nearer the boy, until it came to 
where he stood. There stood before him an Elk. The Elk now spoke 
to him, and said: “My brother, that is my skull before you. I know 
what you are crying for. The women do not like you, and you wish 
to be liked by them. I now take pity upon you. Take the teeth from 
this skull. Wear the large ones about your neck. Wear the others in 
your ears. I give you a flute. Go to the village of your people. Blow 
this flute, and you will see the young girls coming to you.” The young 
man received the flute and also pulled the teeth from the skull. He 
went home and did as he was told to do. 
He tried his flute, and the young girls came to him. This he tried 
several times, until he was married. Women also came to him. The 
men did not like this, so they gathered together and agreed to kill him. 
In the evening the men went out and sat around with their bows and 
arrows. The man came out from his tipi and walked outside the 
camp, blowing his flute. The women started to run to him. The war- 
cry was raised and the men closed in on the boy, killing him. One of 
the boy’s relatives took the teeth from his neck and ears, and also the 
flute. The relatives of the boy were afraid to bury the boy, so they 
left him where he was killed. The boy lay there for several days, but 
one night he came to the tipi of his mother. He woke her up and told 
her that he had returned. His mother did not believe it. But when 
she made a fire she saw her son sitting there. The son then said: 
“Mother, go to the society of Young-Dogs, and tell them to give me 
*Told by White-Bear, 
