102 TRADITIONS OF THE ARIKARA. 
that if he did what they asked they would take him out. As each 
basket received the spittle the girl would pull it out and lick the 
spittle. After each girl had got the boy’s spittle and licked it, they 
said, “You must give us your loin-cloth.’ This he gave to them. 
They tore it in seven pieces,)so that each had one piece. JIamque 
puer nudus erat. Deinde puellze dixerunt si sibi glandem penis os- 
tenderet eique limum aspergeret, se eum sublaturas.. Hoc puer abnuit. 
Tum dixerunt puelle. “Si vis nos omnes in matrimonium ducere polli- 
ceri, te tollere volumus.” Puer pollicitus est. But all the girls spoke 
out, and said: ‘You have always been mean; you have had a dislike 
for us; we will leave you in this hole and let you die; we are not 
going to take you out.” So the girls went away and the boy com- 
menced to cry. 
Soon after the girls had gone away a gray Wolf looked down 
upon the boy, and said, “I am sorry for you, and I will help you.” 
The Wolf went away, and while he was gone a Bear came to the 
hole. ‘The Wolf came back and a dispute arose over the ownership of 
the boy. The Bear claimed that the boy belonged to him; but the 
Wolf said, “He is mine.” ‘The Bear said: ‘He is mine, too. I shall 
eat him up.” So the Bear and the Wolf began to quarrel to see who 
should have the boy. The Wolf whispered to the boy, and said: 
“T shall dig with this Bear, and you must dig on this side; for if 
he digs through first he will eat you; but if IJ dig through first and 
reach you before he does I shall save you, and you shall be my son.” 
So it was agreed between the Bear and the Wolf that they each 
should dig through the earth, and whosoever should first dig through 
to where the boy was should claim him. 
The Bear and the Wolf began to dig. Where the Wolf and 
the boy were digging there was nothing but sand, while on the side 
where the Bear was digging it was hard dirt, mixed with stones and 
gravel; so the Wolf was the first to dig through. When the Bear 
came through, he found out that the Wolf had already dug through. 
The Bear stood up, and said, “You have beaten me, but this- young 
man shall be my son, and I shall help him whenever he calls upon me.” 
The Wolf took the boy among the Wolves. The boy soon 
ceased to care to walk, and began to crawl upon his hands and knees, 
and to eat raw meat, just as the Wolves did. He came to act like a 
Wolf. The skin upon his haunches was now so thick that he could 
slide on them. 
In the village, the boy’s father mourned for him for many years. 
But in a chase for buffalo somebody saw a drove of Wolves with 
