134 THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE WICHITA. 
something more dangerous than anything he had ever met before in 
his life. He was told to request aid of them and they would help him 
to come through all his troubles safe. He was told that when choosing 
a starting place they would come to a pole stuck into the ground, and 
that he must say that the place was not far enough for him yet; that 
he should again refuse at the second pole and the third, and that at 
the fourth he should make their starting place; and that that place 
would be further than anyone had ever gone when racing against the 
four brothers. He was also told that at the start, he (his brother-in- 
law) would first race against his four other brothers-in-law. 
From the advice given by these two women he knew that they had 
taken pity on him and were going to help him to survive all his trouble. 
He was given certain things to use whenever the wanted to leave them 
behind. The things that were given him were, a comb, a gourd, clay, 
a cockle burr, a bow-string, a looking-glass, power to command the sun 
to shine, and a soft, white feather. After he had used the first seven 
of these things they would be nearer to the village, but not quite there. 
Then ‘he was to use the white, soft feather, so that he would fall lightly. 
He was also told that before running with one of them he should tell 
the one he was running with to run his best and to hit him once on his 
back, and he was also to tell him to shut his eyes, for he himself, when 
running, had to shut his, in order to run his best; that after running 
the race he would not be seen by the crowd, but upon his arrival there 
would be one more thing for him to accomplish, which was that the 
other two women would try to get him to drink water out of their 
water gourds, and that that was as dangerous as the race against their 
husbands; but he must not drink out of their gourds, for they would 
help him until he should succeed in drinking the water from their own 
gourds; and that after drinking the water he should turn back where 
he had left his opponents and shoot them down; that even then he 
should have enemies who would try to do him harm in order to get even 
with him. This was the instruction and advice given him by these two 
other women who had been given him for his wives during the night. 
It was dark in the lodge, there being no fire, and while they were awake 
these two women came in with their four husbands. After coming, they 
started up a fire and began cooking. It was then long after midnight, 
and Child-of-a-Dog and his two wives were still awake, and saw the 
others eating and saw what sort of looking men the husbands were. 
The next morning Child-of-a-Dog. was called to come to see these 
men whose wives he had tried to obtain. He first went to the creek 
to take his early morning bath. He then went to the place where the 
