THE THUNDERBIRD-WOMAN. 121 
Once upon a time as the Libertine was going out hunting, a small 
piece of grass fell on his back and he could not get up, for somehow 
or other he could not lift little things. This small grass was a heavy 
load for him, and so he called for Little-Big-Belly-Boy to help him, 
but Lattle-Big-Belly-Boy wished to have some fun with him, and so he 
let the grass stay on his back until he was so tired that he gave out. 
Then Little-Big-Belly-Boy took the grass off his back and he returned 
home instead of going hunting. In order to cure his soreness, the 
Libertine took out a cottonwood tree by the root and stood it on his 
back and got the boy to bring some more wood and place it all around 
the root, and set a fire on it until it got hot. Then he took it off of his 
back, and was pretty well healed. Next morning he went out hunting 
and did not come back until late in the night. On his return, he caught 
a buffalo and brought it to their home alive. Early next morning, when 
Little-Big-Belly-Boy got up and started to go out, he saw a buffalo 
standing at the door, mad as it could be. It drove Little-Big-Belly- 
Boy back into the grass-lodge. In order to tease the boy, the Libertine 
stayed in bed longer than usual, so that the boy could not go out of 
the lodge. The boy kept begging the Libertine to take the buffalo off 
to some other place. He asked him to kill the buffalo, take the hide 
and make a robe out of it for him. The Libertine stepped out and got 
the buffalo by the horns, shook it, and there was the robe for Little- 
Big-Belly-Boy. 
Some time after, Little-Big-Belly-Boy, expecting to get even with 
the Libertine, caught a mouse, tied it by the neck, and put it by the 
door. Next morning, the Libertine got up early to step out, and there 
he saw something outside. He came right back and was afraid of it, 
and asked Little-Big-Belly-Boy to release the mouse, so that he could 
step out, but the boy remained in bed and laughed at the Libertine. 
Finally Little-Big-Belly-Boy got out of bed, and the Libertine asked 
him to do the same as he himself had done and make him a robe out 
of the mouse. So Little-Big-Belly-Boy stepped out, got hold of the 
mouse, shook it, and there was a robe for the Libertine. The next 
night the Libertine got into his bed, but could not put on his mouse 
robe, because it was too heavy for him. He had to get the boy to put 
the robe on for him. Later in the night he could not turn over, for the 
robe was so heavy, and he asked the boy to pull it off. The boy pulled 
off the robe, then the Libertine finally went to sleep. Some time after 
this, Little-Big-Belly-Boy got to feeling sad over something, and went 
without eating for a time, and he would not play the same as he had 
done before, so the Libertine asked him to tell him just what was the 
