28 TRADITIONS OF THE ARIKARA. 
been blinded. So it was decided by the animals that the Mole should 
always stay under ground and should never see the sun. The Mole 
was Satisfied, so he always stayed under the ground. 
The next to go through was the Fox. The rays of the sun now 
entered the hole, and the Fox could see, but he could not get through. 
So the Badger dug away until he dug through. The Fox went again, 
and crawled out of the ground. He made a loud shout, like a man. 
The Fox ran around through the country and returned tothe people 
and reported what he had seen outside on the earth. 
The animals were all satisfied. They all said, “We will lead these 
people out, so they can live upon the land, where they can see the sun, 
moon, stars and heavens.” The Bear was told by the long-nosed 
Mouse to make the hole larger. The Bear went to digging. The people 
followed. The people did not have any clothing on, neither did they 
have anything to eat. They did not know how they lived under ground. 
The Bear made the hole larger, so that there was light where the 
people were. The long-nosed Mouse went out first, then the other 
animals followed, then the people followed out. 
The people were now standing upon the ground. They did not 
know which way to go. But there was a woman who seemed to know. 
She did not speak to the people. She told a man that she was not a 
real woman, that she was a grain of corn, and that she had understand- 
ing of what they were todo. She told the man that they were upon an 
island in big waters, that they were put there so that they could dig 
through the earth and could get out. 
These people who were taken under the ground by Mice were 
grains of corn. Now they had turned to people. The long-nosed 
Mouse now spoke to the woman, and said, “Some of the people will 
have to remain in this water, for we can not cross this big water unless 
some do.” ‘The Mouse then told a man to get into the water. When 
the man got into the water he turned into a long gar-pike. It now 
swam across the big water, but failed to reach the land. So the 
Mouse commanded one of the women to get into the water and to 
swim and join the gar-pike in the water. Now, there was a bridge 
across the big water. The two fish became tired and gave way, so 
that some of the people fell into the big water, and turned into fish. 
The others went on. 
After they had gone upon the mainland the people began to pick 
up flint stones and use them to cut with. But another thing happened: 
There was darkness upon the earth. Some of the people could see 
plainly in the dark. These people did not know what to do, but the 
