94 TRADITIONS OF THE ARIKARA. 
29. THE BUFFALO WIFE AND THE JAVELIN GAME.* 
A long time ago there was a village upon the Missouri River. 
In this village was a young man who was well-to-do. He was hand- 
some, but did not care for women. He seemed to be successful in 
all his undertakings. In hunting he killed many deer and antelope. 
He dug holes upon high hills and covered them with willows and 
placed carcasses of rabbits or some fresh meat on them. Magpies 
would come there and eat of the meat, then eagles would light there, 
so that he dragged them in. People got to calling him “Man-Who- 
Kills-Game-Fiasily.” 
One day he went hunting, and as he climbed up on a high hill 
he saw somebody coming. The boy lay down upon the hill and went 
to sleep. When he awoke the sun had gone down, and it was night. 
. He lay down again and went to sleep. He saw a buffalo cow sitting 
upon a prairie and two bulls were standing back of her, and each 
bull was saying, “I will ring her.” The boy thought that he was 
standing by looking on. When the bulls ran to where the buffalo 
cow was sitting they turned into sticks and the boy also saw that 
the cow had turned to a ring. The boy, in his dream, picked up each 
stick and examined it, so that he knew just how they were made. 
He also thought he picked up the ring and examined it. The next 
morning he woke up. He looked where he had seen a person the 
day before and he saw something there. This time it was not a per- 
son, but a buffalo cow. The cow came and stopped on a prairie. 
She sat down. The boy went down from the hill, for the cow was 
by it. The boy could see no other cow. Bovi appropinquavit 
quacum, cum benigna videretur, concubuit. When he stood back 
the cow disappeared. The boy looked into the grass and there was 
the ring he had dreamed of. He picked up the ring and went home. 
He wore it upon his wrist. Every night he dreamed about the 
sticks, so he went out one day and cut ash timber and made the sticks. 
Every morning the young man used to go outside the village and call 
out, “T have sticks here to play with!” The young men of the village 
came out and played the game. Some of them would rather play 
the game than eat. This particular man was skillful in playing the 
game. He seemed to be the only one who could catch the ring. He 
won many things, such as eagle feathers, wampum, beads and many 
other things. The game became very popular. Men came from 
their homes and played all day with the sticks. 
*Told by Hawk. 
