88 THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE WICHITA. 
12. THE DEEDS OF AFTER-BIRTH-BOY.* 
Once upon a time there were two villages. There were a good 
many people living there. The two villages were connected by a street- 
like way, though they were two different villages, each controlled by a 
chief. The space that divided the two villages was a place where all 
sorts of games were played every evening. There were a good many 
young men and young women who amused themselves here by playing 
these games. Once in a while there would be some one who would 
send out a war-party, and on its return there would be so much the 
more fun for the people living here, because every one danced all kinds 
of dances. Men and women both had their fun. 
Each of the two chiefs had a child; the one on the north side had 
a girl, the one on the south side had a boy. The boy and the girl were 
unknown to each other, and the boy, when he had become a young man, 
refused to marry any one who wished to marry him. When women 
came around him he would drive them away, and this is the way he 
refused women. When the chief’s daughter on the north side was 
grown to be a young woman, about the same as the chief’s son on the 
south side, she rejected men, and remained single. Once upon a time 
the chief’s son on the south side, after hearing many things about the 
young woman on the north side, and how she was rejecting men, 
thought to himself: “Now, suppose I were to go there. She it is whom 
I would want for my wife—but suppose she should reject me. I would 
like to see whether or not she would have me.” ‘The young man had 
this in mind. At the same time the chief’s daughter got to thinking 
about the chief’s son, of whom she had heard so much, and she wished 
for a way by which she might get 'to see him some time, for she thought 
that he would be her choice. She had heard of his rejecting women 
and thought that she also might be rejected. The notion once in her 
head, she could not get it out; it seemed to trouble her, and she was 
anxious to see the chief’s son. One night the chief’s daughter thought 
to herself: “Now, if I should stand over there some time to-night, after 
everybody has gone to sleep, I suppose I could get to see the chief’s 
son all right.” The chief’s son was getting anxious to see the chief’s 
daughter, and so on. The same night he took a notion to go and visit 
the chief’s daughter. About the same time, the chief’s daughter thought 
she had better go that night and see if she could find the chief’s son. 
She arose from her bed and went toward his village. The two were 
on the way to each other’s home, each to see the other and to ask the 
*Told by Ahahe (Waco). 
