234 THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE WICHITA. 
35. TROUBLE AMONG THE CHIEF’S CHILDREN.* 
Once upon a time there was a village, and in the village lived a 
chief who was the head of his tribe. The chief had a son and daughter, 
both of whom had always refused to marry, this being the way that 
children in chiefs’ families did. It was customary for chiefs always to 
-have company every night and every day. The older men were always 
sitting up at night, talking about times in their early days. The young 
woman, of course, had to do the cooking for these men. ‘These were 
times when young men would ask the chief’s son if he could let them 
marry his sister. But when the young woman was asked she always 
refused, and she was single for a long time. 
It happened that Man-fond-of-Deer-Meat (Taaniksiats) came to 
her. She thought to herself that he was the man she had been waiting 
to see for a long time, and so she accepted him. The next morning, her 
people noticed that she was not getting up as early as usual. They sent 
her brother to see what was the matter. When he reached the place 
where she was he noticed some one was with her in bed. He asked them 
to get out of the bed and come down and get their breakfast. After he 
had told them this he went to the main lodge and told his parents that 
there was some one in bed with his sister. He and his parents were 
very proud of this, and they were anxious to see who this man was who 
had married the girl. Finally the woman and her man entered the 
lodge, and they saw the young man. They knew him as soon as they 
saw him. When they were eating breakfast, the girl’s father told her 
that she must either leave and go somewhere else and live with this 
man, or have him sent away, for Man-fond-of-Deer-Meat was known 
to be of no account for anything but hunting. They thought she should 
have some one who was man enough to go out on any kind of an expedi- 
tion, especially on the war-path; that it was extraordinary among the 
people of those times if a woman such as she should marry a man who 
was of no account as a warrior and could not make the family more 
prominent by bringing them scalps. But the woman thought to herself 
that it was right for her to have her home and live all to herself and 
her man, so they could have everything to themselves, and have no one 
to say anything to them. 
The following day, the woman got together her things that she 
thought she would need to build their new home with. After having 
everything ready, that same night they started on their way to some far 
distant place. They traveled all night and about daybreak rested and - 
*Told by Istor (Woman) (Towakoni). 
