50 TRADITIONS OF THE ARIKARA. 
place was dangerous. After the old woman had gone into the field 
the boy went to the place where the old woman told him not to go, 
and there he went around looking for the dangerous place. He finally 
saw a mountain-lion coming towards him, ready to leap upon him, but 
he gave a command for the mountain-lion to stop, and the mountain- 
lion obeyed. The boy went and led the mountain-lion to the old 
woman’s lodge. He told the old woman to come out, that he had an 
animal for her which she could ride when she went off to her field. 
She told the boy she was glad he had brought the animal, but she whis- 
pered to herself, “Well, you must be a wonderful boy, but you shall 
be killed.” She then took the animal into the brush and told it to go 
away, for the boy was wonderful and might kill him. As the old 
woman was going towards the lodge she whispered to herself, “You 
must be a wonderful boy, but I will send you to a place where you can 
not kill my animals.” 
The old woman then told the boy that he must not go to a certain 
mountainous place, for the place was dangerous. The boy went, not- 
withstanding. There he found the cinnamon bear coming to attack 
him. He commanded the bear to stand still and do nothing. The bear 
obeyed. The boy then caught the bear by the ear and led it into the 
old woman’s lodge. He said: “Grandmother, I have an animal for 
you that is very tame. You can ride it, and you can have it to help 
you clear your field.” ‘The old woman appeared to be glad, but she was 
not. She took the bear, led it into the timber, and told it to go away, 
for the boy was wonderful and might kill it. 
The old woman then told the boy that he must not go into the 
southwest country; that there were four wonderful men there. ‘The 
boy went, though, and he saw the four wonderful men killing buffalo. 
These men looked up, and said: “Here comes Old-Woman’s-Grand- 
son. He is a wonderful boy.” ‘The boy got to where the men were 
skinning a buffalo cow, and, as the entrails were taken out, the boy saw 
that the cow had a calf in her and that the men were taking it out. 
The youngest man picked the calf up, and said, ““Old-Woman’s-Grand- 
son, take this to your grandmother.” The boy jumped away from it, 
for he was scared. When the youngest of the men found out that the 
boy was afraid of the calf he kept on trying to get it near him. Old- 
Woman’s-Grandson kept running from the calf, until he came to a 
- tree. He climbed the tree. The young man placed the calf on the forks 
of the tree, so that the boy could not get down. The men then went 
home with their meat. The boy stayed in the tree many days, and 
nearly starved, when one of the men came, and said, “Old-Woman’s- 
