The Buffalo People


This tale in Lakota!

1.   It so happened, they say, that when as yet nobody lived upon this earth, there were recently camped at a certain place first man and his wife.

2.   And his name was Waziya;   and his wife was named Wakanka, it was those two, but they had now taken up their abode as men-on-earth.

3.   But Waziya did not think about the future, only contented with enjoying himself throughout the day, and then thinking only of sleep when night came.

4.   With his wife it was otherwise ... she always thought ahead and was longing for children.

5.   "Husband, what if we should have a child!" she said, so they made a child, and in due time it was born.

6.   A girl .. my, how beautiful indeed!   Hair and eyes black, hair long, always she smiled.

7.   And now at last, Waziya was pleased ... "Well, well, my daughter, my daughter, how pretty she is for me!" So saying, he would pet her.

8.   They were happy in their parenthood, so watching carefully over it, they worked to bring it up. And now when the little thing was past three years, and ran about of her own accord, then again the woman was yearning for she knew not what, and at last she said,

9.   "Husband, I wish we might again be parents of a child," so he said, "Very well;   it is you who say it!" he said. So they had another child, and again it was a girl, so exactly like her sister.

10.   Two girls equally beautiful, by now they should have been content, it would seem;   but alas, now again Wakanka was restless and irritable, not knowing what she yearned after;   and at last she again wanted to bear a child.

11.   So she bore her third child, and then at last she bore a man-child, solid, as if formed by compressing firmly, such he was.

12.   From then, time went on and next she had another girl, but this one was peculiar. Her hair and eyes were light, and even her face was light yellow, so she looked almost inhuman.

13.   A younger sister to her was next born. She also was a little ziwin, exactly like her sister ... now then, first two girls with black eyes and hair, and then a boy, now tall and well able to go about with strength;   and the two youngest were little light-tawny ones.

14.   That was their number then;   and now at last their mother was probably satisfied, for she sorrowed no more, now at last she had completed her work of creation.

15.   They lived in the bend on a pleasant level ground ... of course nobody else was about, people were yet lacking ...

16.   Animals, and fruits abounded, so thus they stayed, lacking nothing, and the children, unmolested, grew up, playing ...

17.   But whereas they supposed that was the way they would go on living always, a day came when their son, now a young man came to his father and said,

18.   "Father, over this way, I have an uncontrollable wish to go on a journey ... I want to go where the sun goes down," he said;   and his father suddenly encountered doubt in his mind, (his mind went double), and he forbade him.

19.   "Alas, alas, my son, for even though one might say, 'I go but for a little while,' there might be something to prevent his return." But the son, disregarding him, went off yonder on a journey.

20.   Since nobody had ever gone anywhere (before), after his departure his sisters were much concerned, and kept gazing into that direction for him.

21.   And then on a day, while all were at various tasks here and there, their father was sitting outside the doorway whittling on wood.

22.   And suddenly, "Daughters, your younger brother shall return this day!" he said. "We shall see!" they whispered together, and went on with their work;   and suddenly it was their turn to run to their father, saying,

23.   "Father, father, you were right!   You said our brother would return today;   why, over in the west he comes, but he comes not alone. A woman he brings home!" So saying, they ran hither and yon, (as though corralled).

24.   The sun was low, so they all gazed shading their eyes with their hands, and as the ones coming drew nearer, it was a woman with black eyes and hair, and very beautiful, which he was bringing. The eyes were large and round, and the hair shone on her.

25.   So her two elder sister-in-law ran to meet her ... Because she resembled them, they immediately claimed her as their special sister-in-law.

26.   They hooked arms with her on each side, and brought her courteously, "O, my!   Sister-in-law, Sister-in-law!" they kept saying happily, as they escorted her and brought her into the home.

27.   They thought her lovely, and so much so that they were a little foolish as they fluttered about her. They could not keep from giving her all the nice things they had, and now they were busy making up her couch yonder while she sat waiting;   when the younger sisters, the ziwinla came to the door and peeked in ... they too would have liked to glimpse their sister-in-law ...

28.   But their elder sisters ordered them off. "O go away, will you?" and then they said to each other in whispers, "Why must they insist on casting their eyes on our sister-in-law?" So poor things, the ziwinla resented this, and came no more near, but stayed out from the tipi as much as they could.

29.   From that day, several days passed and then the young man came again to where his father sat and said, "Father, right now I have the urge to go on a journey ... Next I want very much to go where the sun comes up!"

30.   "Alas, alas, my son, you have married, and now it had seemed likely that you would remain at home, and my grandsons would grow up ... dreadfully have you spoken ... For even though one might say, 'I go but for a little while,' there might be something to prevent his return," he said, but disregarding it, again he went off in yonder direction.

31.   His elder sisters were at the time (instead of caring about his absence) so proud of their having a sister-in-law that they did not have time to think so much as " my younger brother has gone somewhere," but his younger sisters continued looking always for his return.

32.   Several days went by, and then now the morning sun was coming when from that direction he was returning;   well, but again now he was not alone;   there was again a woman with him.

33.   As they neared, it was a woman with hair that was yellow and fine, and she herself too was yellow-white as the sunshine, supernaturally wonderful to behold, so she seemed. The two sisters-in-law which she resembled had their turn now to run and meet them coming, and linking arms with her, gazing into her face with great rapture, they escorted her and brought her home.

34.   Now there were six young women at home;   three with black eyes and hair, and three with golden yellow hair;   and no matter how taken, they were all handsome to see, surpassingly.

35.   And now at last the son had no further thought of traveling and lived happy with his two women he had brought home.

36.   Thus they lived;   and now his first wife was pregnant. So the two sisters-in-law whom she resembled were drunk with happiness, and were so eager they could not decide which garment first to beautify with quills. With infinite care, they did minutely beautiful quillwork on the tiniest of baby things.

37.   Soon after, rather soon, the second wife to be brought home was also with child, and grew large. So her ziwinla sisters-in-law both had their turn to fall avidly to porcupine quill work.

38.   This went on several moons, and then one day the old man was sitting outside the doorway whittling when he called to his son:

39.   "Son, over there to the west where the ridge runs along, and at the south end it juts towards the river, right there my daughter-in-law disappeared and it is not plain where she is, (she had not appeared again,)" he said. So at once the young man ran thither, and there were great crags with spaces between, so he peeped beyond.

40.   And, frightening sight! - there was a buffalo cow moving about grazing, and a newborn calf with his limbs still loose, following her.

41.   "Alas, what has happened to me! ... have I married a buffalo cow?" he thought, and at once he hurried home.

42.   Those back home must already have sensed what was the matter for his two elder sisters were coming, so they met and said to him, "Brother, Brother, what is it?" So, "Sisters, your sister-in-law has borne me a son," he said.

43.   Immediately, hand-in-hand they ran there, and as they were reaching the spot he had indicated to them, just then, through a space between crags, their sister-in-law came out, carrying a beautiful and perfectly formed man-child in her arms.

44.   "Sister-in-law ... me!" saying so, fighting over it, they took the child, and then, from that instant, as if temporarily at first, they always made him their special charge.

45.   Again perhaps two days or so, the old man was sitting outside the doorway whittling, when suddenly he said,

46.   "Son, yonder where the chokecherry bushes cluster together, my daughter-in-law diasppeared and has not come forth again." So again both were aware of the reason, and the young man ran hurrying there.

47.   Pushing the chokecherry bushes asunder for an opening, he looked through and past, and there stood a corn stalk, ripe and perfect, and grown tall;   and close by it a little one was also coming, but it had only just sprung up, and it was tender. (unfirm.)

48.   As a breeze suddenly swept past, the two bent and swayed like one, in unison, as they stood.

49.   So then he came home and reported it to his two younger sisters, and so they arrived there breathless.

50.   As they neared, already there was their sister-in-law carrying a perfect babe, and coming around the chokecherry clump.

51.   There was excuse for them, being still girls, that they jumped about struggling over the babe until it was uncertain which should hold him first;   and them came running home with it. "O, my nephew, my nephew!" they repeated, cooing to it as they took the little one along.

52.   From that hour, though it seemed temporary at first, they held their little nephew ver dear, and always guarding they carried him, and so much so that their sister-in-law had nothing to occupy her with as far as child-care went.

53.   It is ever true - where there are little ones, there is happiness;   so the entire household lived on happily, and then one day suddenly the old man who was sitting outdoors called,

54.   "Bring here my elder grandson to me!" So his two aunts, who always took care of him, brought and placed him on his grandfather's lap

55.   The minute they went out of sight, the old man siad this:

56.   "Now, Grandson, observe this day well ... See it is continuously blue, and beautiful ... intense, rousing men to action, such a day is this ... this is your day ... o such a day shall you step upon this earth.

57.   "I walk upon this earth;   but is is a holy earth ... therefore always walk upon it, reverently ...

58.   "You are to do the same ... now, Grandson, this foot, step with it ... that's it ... now next with the other ... that's it!"

59.   For a time he was instructing the child to walk, but the others were all busy in various ways, and nobody took notice of him.

60.   "Now then, Daughters, take your little nephew," he said, calling. So the child's aunts both came and took their own away.

61.   The following morning he did the same thing. "Bring my younger grandson to me!" he said, so his aunts next brought him, and placed him on his grandfather's lap.

62.   When he was alone with him, the old man said,

63.   "Now, Grandson, mark well this day ... overcast, easy on the eyes;   a gentle calm prevails;   this is your day ... on such a day you are to step on the earth ...

64.   "Consider me, my grandson. I tread this earth ... but it is a holy earth, and so always I tread it with awe.

65.   "You are to do the same ... now,Grandson, with this foot,step;   that's it ... now with the other, next ... so!"

66.   Thus for a time he instructed his grandson in walking, but the others were scattered at their tasks, and nobody thought, "here he is doing something." (Idiom for:   Nobody paid him the least attention.)

67.   "Now, Daughters, take your grandson, please," he called, so they came running and took up their little one, and again, to play with him as usual, they whisked him off somewhere.

68.   Next morning he said, "Now, bring my grandsons here and all of you come too ... you shall witness a show ..." so they all came and took their places near the doorway.

69.   The little boys were now very active, and they tried to get down out of the arms of their aunts who held them, and struggled to get loose, almost succeeding.

70.   "Now, set them down here," he said; they did so. And the two little boys took hands, and looking occasionally at each other, and then at their grandfather, they stepped very cautiously, the little ones.

71.   "That is right, my grandsons!" he encouraged them, so they took another step;   and gradually they grew braver, and advanced by stepping out more rapidly;   and at last, because their elders admired them, saying, "Hinun! " as they watched, they immediately started off, running and laughing.

72.   Immediately from that time, they walked.

73.   Then one more the old man said this:   "Wife, have you any teh^miso?   If you have, bring it out!" So she brught a good deal of it.

74.   Then, avoiding the holes made by the pins when it was staked down to be dressed, he cut strips into long thongs.

75.   From the wood, he brought home some ash, the kind with a blue bark, smooth, and supple, and he carefully bent it into a circle, and then with the thongs running across each other, in and out, he filled the inside tautly, leaving only a heart, an opening in the center.

76.   Now, they say that was the introduction of the hoop-and-stick game upon this upper earth.

77.   He beautified the hoop with red paint, and here and there he applied paint to indicate marks for counting, and then he said:

78.   "Now then, spectators, come back to assemble! ... go inside and sit down, and stake the doorway opened out wide."

79.   This they did;   and then he gave each boy a playing stick, and sent the hoop rolling, and taught them how to throw their stick into it correctly.

80.   They liked the game, and were always eager to play at it, so he always sat watching them, and teaching them ... thus in time they grew more skilled, also in counting their points, and they derived pleasure from it ...

81.   When it was morning and the sun came up, the boys both went outside with their grandfather and stood and claimed their day. Whenever it was continuous blue, it was the older boy's;   and when it was hazy and calm, the younger boy claimed it.

82.   And it happened once when it was a hazy day, they were playing at hoop-and-stick, and playing nicely, when something happened and their sticks were caught together suddenly, and as a result one of the boys tripped and fell down.

83.   Nobody was about, only their grandfather sat near by, so now as the boy fell and yelled, crying, all his aunts came running, all four of them;   and "Father, what happened to the little ones?   my nephews?" they asked.

84.   "O, it was nothing, Daughters. Your little nephew tripped accidentally, but he was not really hurt ... stand up, Grandson, it must be so that if one is man, he must grow up, crashing against ehe earth now and then," he said.

85.   Now it was the elder boy crying, so his two special aunts stayed to soothe him ... the ziwinla had already disappeared, satisfied it was not their special nephew wanting attention ...

86.   Now they had him restored in temper, and almost at once again the two boys, childlike they were playing, so his aunts went away.

87.   They had work to do, off far from the tipi, so they were returning to it, and there they had to pass their elder sister-in-law who was on her knees, sort of crawling about, fleshing a robe.

88.   She must have recognized her child's voice, for she looked up as they passed;   so they said, "It was nothing;   one of our little nephews tripped and fell, accidentally, Sister-in-law;   but he wasn't hurt ... already now there they are, laughing and playing again!" and so they passed on.

89.   And their sister-in-law seemed to accept that, for she smiled;   but her countenance had suddenly changed. Something displeased her ...

90.   Rather soon after that, when everyone was again scattered and at their respective tasks, suddenly, quite unobserved, the elder daughter-in-law was going homeward, leading her child by the hand.

91.   Her father-in-law, who habitually sat outdoors, saw her first and told his elder daughters.

92.   "Daughters, it is without doubt a fact that your sister-in-law is displeased over something, for yonder she is going. Look! ... it is midday and hot;   she will exhaust the child ... go you to her, and soothe her, Daughters," he said, most upset over it.

93.   At once the two young women forced themselves into a hard run, but they came nowhere near her;   already the sister-in-law was disappearing in a ravine that cut through the high ridge that flanked the west.

94.   Still they ran and they too disappeared into the exact spot;   so their father stood looking there, from home;  and soon again they emerged and hurried homeward.

95.   He went out to meet them, and said, "Whats's the matter, Daughters, why didn't you take pains to beguile your sister-in-law and restore her humor?" he said, but instead they burst into tears and said,

96.   "Father, you can't guess!   Why, that was no woman, it was a buffalo cow!   Such, across the plain beyond the ridge, with a calf at her side, she is loping westward, and no human being could ever catch up with her!" they said.

97.   At once, they all wept;   and because a son of his had been taken off, the young man was especially grieved.

98.   And lo, it was then that his younger wife came to him and comforted him. "Please do not be sad-hearted;   you know you are dear to me ... come let us go over yonder!" and she took him to the clump of chokecherry bushes.

99.   At once from their stalks, she cut four sticks, the best and straightest, and quickly she made him some arrows.

100.   And she said, "Go home and bring me that fan my father-in-law carries, the one from a crow's wing." He brought it, and from it she drew out a feather, and winged all the arrows with it, making them all alike;   and then she applied red paint to them, and gave them to him.

101.   (The crow, of all birds, flies straightest and goes farthest, and it is said that is why she did this.)

102.   She made him hold the arrows, and said, "Now, you are to go with these. Whenever you send forth one of them, it will go straight, and where it lands, it will be there that they whom you seek will be.

103.   "And take this along too ... when you stand before a trial, fasten it to yor bow, and spin it round and round, and call to me," she said;   and she gave him a yellow feather-ornament of peculiar type, in a cluster which she habitually wore at the very crown of her head, from the time she came. This she extracted from her head. (as if planted there, yuz'un.)

104.   (And they say it was of the kind which surmounts a ripened stalk of corn, and appears like a clustered plume.That is why to this day when Lakotas make their warbonnets of plumes, they always have one single central one, coming out from the crown, apart from the rest.)

105.   "Now then, send one forth," she commanded, and when he did so, he sent it with such power that it sang through the sundered air, so he and his wife stood watching its flight.

106.   So it went, and incredibly, although it went directly towards the ridge to the west where it should have struck the hillside and fallen, instead it suddenly rose and curved upwards, clearing the ridge and disappearing over it.

107.   That was because it was magic;   so now the man took leave of one wife to seek the other.

108.   Half of a day he traveled, and now as all the hills first cast a very edge of shadow, he arrived at a creek, and was about to ford it, when there on the bank was his arrow which he had sent off at noon;   it stood perpendicular, its head deep in the earth.

109.   Pulling it out, he carried it, and crossed the stream, and there on the open prairies beyond where it was very pleasant, a small tent was pitched.

110.   Outside it a child was at play;   and now he recognized him as his own boy. And he too, so keen to see him, recognized him and left his play to run to the doorway where he stopped outside it.

111.   Energetically he was gesticulating, talking with somebody inside, and then he came running.

112.   "My dear boy, my dear boy!" so exclaiming, he picked him up, but instead (of responding to the caress) the little thing talked frantically:

113.   "Father, just now when I said, 'My father is arriving now,' my mother was very angry. 'Well, of all things, how long must be the steps this mortal can take, that he should have come this far! ... it's his own fault, that he shall die far from home!' she said, Father.

114.   "Also she said, 'Tomorrow I must cross a stream, but as I do, I shall step into it, causing it to dry up;   does he think he will be safe there! ... No matter what he does, he must die of thirst!' she said, father.

115.   "But listen well:   As we leave our tracks behind us, look to my left track!" he said.

116.   Now they reached the tent, and the woman so recently raging was most agreeable.

117.   "Your poor thing, do you know you have traversed half the world in a single day! ... How tired you must be then ... Do come inside, you shall take your rest early." So she made his bed, and gave him food, and he lay down quite content.

118.   He, for his part, was exceedingly weary, so the instant he lay down he was asleep.

119.   When it was dawn, he wakened, and lo, there was nobody about;   just he alone on that prairie, with his leggings folded into a pillow under his head. The tent and even the robe he had slept on were gone ...

120.   He sprang into a sitting position and put on his leggings, and again he immeditely shot off an arrow and started after it.

121.   They had gone off, knocking off the dew from the grass with their feet - thereby he knew which way.

122.   Judging by their tracks, he decided they had gone off at a gallop so all he did was to run too, for a whole half-day, and when he was about dead for water, it being noon, he went along, trying to sight some water and way off yonder, far away, there was a wooded-dark (a timbered stream), so thinking he would get his drink there, he braced himself again to go.

123.   Now then when he got there, there was no water at all ... instead where it had once been water, there the earth was now cracked into cakes whose edges were curled upward in the sun's heat.

124.   But that was on the surface only where it was drying;   underneath it was still soft loam.

125.   That being so, they who had left their tracks behind left deep imprints into it. So he looked for his son's foot-marks, and there one stood, tiny and round, and water, good and cold and clear, filled it.

126.   Instantly he fell on his belly, and placing his lips to its surface, he drank the water by drawing it in ... so thirsty he was;   yet the little water vessel was so small, he despaired of drinking it dry before he should be satisfied ... but it was magic, so as he drank, more water welled up to fill it.

127.   So he filled up on cold water, and had some to rub on his head and chest to refresh himself.

128.   Then the water disappeared ... but it was enough;   now he was able to go on again.

129.   Again it was towards evening, the hills were just lining their borders with a rim of shadow, when he came upon the arrow he had shot off that morning. And beyond the river there stood a white tipi.

130.   The little boy must have kept watch for his father even as he played, for the moment he came into sight, the child threw aside his toys and ran to the tipi.

131.   Again he talked with his mother, and then with shouts and whoops, he came running to his father.

132.   Again he took him up, but the child was talking breathlessly. "Father, Father, again my mother scolded when I said 'My father is coming now.' 'Well, how stout must be the legs of this man-of-earth, indeed ... I don't care, it is his his own fault ... tomorrow I must cross a miry stretch which even I dread to attempt, indeed!

133.   "'Does he think he is going to be so brave there again!   May he stand with only his head visible!   Or, instead, may he go entirely under!   How can he come through that!' So she talked, Father, so try to think what you may do," he said.

134.   Now again they arrived at the white tipi, and the woman was sweetness itself.

135.   Greeting him with smiles, she said, "Poor thing, poor thing!   Do come back in (where you are welcome, you belong.) You have made yourself tired unto death by walking, so you shall retire at once;   this morning I gave up trying to rouse you and had to leave you behind. This time you shall rest at once!" With such sweet words she stroked him affectionately.

136.   It seemed she meant it, so now again she succeeded in persuading him, but he said, "All right;   but in that case, place the child beyond you, and you lie by my side." And she did so.

137.   When it appeared she was really asleep, he very gently took an end thong of his belt, which hung dangling, and tied it to his wife's belt.

138.   Having done so, then he took a handful of her beautiful, abundant hair and wrapped it several times around his arm, and held the ends in a tight grasp - and so he went to sleep.

139.   "By and by, this time when she prepares to leave, I shall be wakened by her preparations," he thought, as he did this.

140.   And lo, once more when he wakened at dawn, there he was, all alone lying in the midst of the bare prairie.

141.   "The rascal!" he now thought that of her;   and seeing the dew knocked off by their departing feet, he again shot off an arrow that way and started off after it.

142.   As he went along that way, he came upon it where it had landed, and drawing it out, he took it along, and there was a high bank. And below there lay like a big river, a perpetual mire, soft, impossible to step on.

143.   And about the middle of it was his wife, with the child on her back and she stood, visible only from the line below her arms. (even with the armpits.)

144.   She probably thought she was advancing on her way, but with such difficulty it looked as if she stood still.

145.   So the man took the sacredly bestowed plume which was his second wife's, and tied it to the tip of his bow, and held it aloft and spun it.

146.   "Now, woman, look at me!  Help me ... you yourself made me a promise when you gave this to me - accordingly do," he said.

147.   And as he spun the plume, a whirlwind was generated which was small but powerful.

148.   So it snatched him up and set him down on firm earth, over and past this miry stretch.

149.   The trees were giant-like, as in a vision, so there where an ancient oak (which seemed never to have had a beginning) stood, he sank at its base and sat leaning his back against the trunk to rest himself.

150.   And long afterwards, voices were sounding ... as they came nearer he could tell what they were saying ... and it was his wife who said:

151.   "It is bad, but Son, there is nothing to be done about it ... your father brought it upon himself ... why didn't he remain where mortals belong?   Why must he try to follow me?   Poor thing;   he couldn't do it. Therefore by now your father lies down there at the bottom of the mire!"

152.   But the boy said, "No, Mother, that is not so ... over yonder sits my father at the foot of that great oak!"

153.   Now at last was the buffalo woman really raging ... "The wretched one, the bad one, why does he insist upon maddening me! ... But now, how could he escape what lies ahead?

154.   "Right close now is my country, he is walking right into it, so pretty soon now when he gets there, this time he shall match wits with the tricky old woman! ... how does he think he can get past the magic doorway safely? ... When the old woman says, 'Lay your weapons on your wife's luggage,' how will he know which are mine?

155.   "And when she says, 'Sit by your wife,' where will he go, just?   We are four, but we are exactly alike;   just how is he (where others fail,) going to know me, does he think, indeed!   If he is fool enough and makes a blunder, certainly now he shall die." So saying, as one insane, she went on, talking.

156.   But the boy ran to his father. "Father, you heard her ... have a care, then. My grandmother had four daughters, and she will send them all to invite you.

157.   "Keep your wits about you, father;   all my mothers are exactly alike ... when one of them has you just about persuaded, first look towards the home ... I shall keep out of sight, and so long, you stay where you are.

158.   When it is my own mother who comes, I shall come into sight." Then he ran to join his mother and they went on into the great tribal circle of buffalo-land, down below.

159.   It was a trifle remote, but in plain sight, so he sat watching them go. And there where a very large tipi stood, there they entered in.

160.   Instantly the old woman who was their mother shrieked at her four daughters, all but taking a stick to them.

161.   "Dear me, dear me!   Are we not in existence to furnish food for men-of-earth?   Why should it be I, of all people, who must have daughters who are lazy unto death?

162.   "Get up and hurriedly make some food ... and go call my son-in-law," she commanded. So now one after the other came to invite him.

163.   But each time a new one approached, he thought it was his wife. They were almost freakish in their resemblance to each other, that was why.

164.   With fine words they invited him, and each time they all but had him. "Do come now, won't you, let's go home ... your mother-in-law says we are not honoring you, and is dealing with us almost with blows!   I dread to go back unsuccessful ... do pity me!" they said.

165.   When a woman uses humble language to gain her point, she deceives man;   so in this case too, they would about have him tricked, but then he would retract.

166.   Now at last the fourth one was coming, but by now he was so confused as to which he had had for a wife that he didn't even look at her, as he lay there on the ground;  and she came to a stop and she too used similar pleadings.

167.   Instead of listening to her, he happened casually to glance towards the home;   and just then his little son came out and was shooting off his play-arrows into the air, overhead;

168.   Seeing him, instantly he sprang to his feet, and now followed the departing woman, and arrived at the home.

169.   Now his mother-in-law came out to meet him, and being an aggressive old woman, she said, " Well now, it shall be I, personally, who shall open the door to my son-in-law." And she did so.

170.   So he entered;   and very suddenly she let the doorway fall again. It was made of rock, so her intention was to let it fall hard upon him.

171.   But once more his younger wife's gift of the magic feather, which he carried, was blown into the room on the air and took him along.

172.   Secretly the old woman was disturbed at her failure, but she feigned sweetness. "Now, Son-in-law, this is how we manage to live, such as it is ... place your weapons on your wife's luggage for you are to eat," she said. So he took a glance at the rear of the tent, towards the base, and saw that all the luggage belonging to them was exactly alike, fine and of one style only.

173.   There were four sisters, and they had belongings exactly alike;   so he stood looking as if frozen into inaction, when suddenly he saw there on the end, the things where his little buffalo calf son had already placed his tiny bow-and-arrows;   so he too placed his there.

174.   "Now then, Son-in-law, sit down by my daughter, for at all events, she is the one you married," she said. And again the boy had laid a blade of grass on his mother's head already, so he recognized her and crowded beside her, as though to crush her;   and the old woman laughed. "He-He-yo! ... even I who bore them confuse them sometimes ... well, but of course a man recognizes his own wife!" she said.

175.   Now they retired;   and at dawn the man went outside;   and stood surveying the scene.

176.   Everything about the camp seemed a bit strange - of course they were people, too;   but they were buffalo people, that was why.

177.   And now, the old woman was up and scolding, which he heard through the tent.

178.   "Get up, get up, we live to feed the men-on-earth, and you know it;   why do you lie there? ... and man rises with the day but to move his jaws ... get up, get up!

179.   "As for me, I am going to the feast of the elderly buffalo women, so give him food!"and she started off across the camp center, as if shaking and jarring with each step, (so vigorous the walk.)

180.   His sisters-in-law were very agreeable persons, so when their mother was gone, they served him with laughter and good cheer, and he ate with them;   and then they were without exception blessed with beautiful, abundant hair, so after he had combed and braided his wife's hair, he dressed that of the others too;   and they sat visiting.

181.   They were sitting pleasantly when once more she came upon the scene, returning, half-crying, and said, throwing a bit of gnarled chokecherry stick in their midst:

182.   "Daughters, how can you sit there!   Why, just now your mother has been mocked!   At the feast of the older buffalo women, one had many fine new tipi-front pins, so I said, 'Cousin, give me some, if you have no need for all of those,' and she said, 'Why should I! ... Of all the nerve. My son-in-law made me these, why should I give them away. You too have a son-in-law, why doesn't he get you some?' and with that she flung this warted stick at me, and all of them laughed at me!" And she cried, covering her face with her hands.

183.   Her son-in-law sprang to his feet and said, "Where are there some chokecherry trees?" and one sister-in-law told him:

184.   "Why, far off over there where that one especially tall tree stands;   all around that are many fine chokecherry trees," and she added, "but nobody ever returns alive from there, alas!"

185.   Nevertheless, the young man went off. And when he neared it, here and there around the trees were skeletons in varying degrees of decay.

186.   And at the base of each tree lay a snake coiled around it.

187.   So he went, though it was enough to make him run away;   directly he advanced and when he stopped near, he took out his corn wife's plume and again he spun it, and generated a whirlwind that broke all the trees and killed all the snakes.

188.   So, as he pleased, he selected suitable sticks, walking all around, and brought home cut-pieces for tipi-front and tipi-base pins.

189.   He thought to please his mother-in-law, but instead the old woman was nearly insane, as she howled,

190.   "Take them away!   Take them away!   Those came from the abode of the holy snakes, so they will surely come for their own!   I certainly will not have them coming to my tipi!   Throw them down the hill!" So screaming, as if somebody held her foot fast, she went runing away to the hills.

191.   So her youngest daughter collected all the sticks and took them down the hill, but the man told his wife to go and bring him four of the very best ones, and she did so.

192.   So the corn woman's method of making magic arrows being fresh in his memory, he made some exactly like them, four magic arrows for his boy;   and hung them up to dry.

193.   Next morning it was the same thing:   the old woman got up scolding her daughters to rouse them, and then went off to a feast of elderly buffalo women.

194.   And then when they were sitting agreeably visiting, she returned in tears, and said, "Daughters, just now I have been insulted and this has been thrown at me ... an elderly buffalo woman had some fine birdlings for her meal so I said, 'Cousin, give me one, so I can eat it too,' and she said, 'The idea, why should I?   Don't you have a son-in-law?' And this one was so poor and wrinkled that she had discarded it, but now she flung it at me!" And again she screeched as she wailed.

195.   "Well, where are there birdlings to be found?" again asked the man, and his sisters-in-law said, "Why, it is not that cliff appearing black, yonder;   but one beyond it," said one, and the others whispered among themselves, and she said, "Well, you tell him next then!" and went into the tipi, so they said,

196.   "Ah, but Brother-in-law, what is so bad about it is that nobody has ever returned from there alive!" But being son-in-law, he went anyway.

197.   As he neared he saw that skeletons in varying stages of decay lay here and there, and that the trees were excessively tall.

198.   Certainly not possible to climb, the lowest branches were far above his reach, so then without further ado, he again tied his magic plume to his bow and spun it, and a wind that whirled was started, and it lifted him bodily and raised him to the top of the tallesr tree, where it branched into four equal parts;   and in the very center of the fork they made, there was a huge nest, and he was placed in its midst.

199.   And in it sat four fine birdlings, large ones, and each sat facing one of the four directions.

200.   So, one after another, he struck them on the head and killed them, and was about to attack the fourth, when from a tiny cloud that stood low and round immediately above the tree, lightning came forth and struck the tree and split it into four parts, all its length, to the roots;   so the man slid down the crack, and landed on the ground.

201.   Instantly up there in the tiny cloud the thunders roared in anger, and then from somewhere a voice called out, saying,

202.   "Let be!  Never can you kill him:   He too has magic power. In vain do you with your own hands destroy the very tree where your young are reared!"

203.   And it was the Great Spirit Judge who called that out, it is said.

204.   At once the thunders, evidently heeding at last, that permanent little cloud passed on and faded out.

205.   So the man came home, bearing the four birdlings, and thought to gladden his mother-in-law with them on his arrival.

206.   But instead she was again insane. "Away with them!   The are the children of the thunder, and they are to be feared, never shall they lie in my tipi!   Or they will bring the lightning to my abode!" so she rean away, howling.

207.   One of the daughters being very obedient, took them away and left them, but the man sent his wife after one of the wings. When she brought it, he took out a feather and winged his son's arrows with them.

208.   Now it was the next morning, the third morning in his visit, and there was a dance. Again the boy came to his father and communicated something secretly to him.

209.   "Father, they are going to dance. All the buffalo boys are to assemble, and dance all day to make the pte-owaci (buffalo wallow).

210.   (To this day, out in the wilds, now and then these pte-owaci are found - circular depressions, with weeds growing tall there;   and it is said this was their first making.)

211.   "So, father, when it is over, if you do not claim me out of the group, my grandmother will kill you, she says. So look carefully. Of all the boys, I shall keep to the end, and when you look my way, I shall move my left ear," he said.

212.   Now they danced;   but it was terrific. Never again was such a sight to be seen anywhere;   in such a way, all the boys in the buffalo nation took part, so they took their places forming a giant circle, and with the first beating (of the drum), at once, all together, as if formerly rehearsed, they danced.

213.   Several thousands danced together, and with the earth rising like smoke, they were at it all day long, and they raised the dust reaching to the sky in a mass, a column that stood solid, unbent by the wind.

214.   Now it was evening, so they adjourned, and the old woman came to her son-in-law, saying, "Well, Son-in-law, take out my grandson, other fathers are all looking for their sons, at a great rate!" she said, so they, having finished dancing, now stood resting from fatigue, and he went in among them.

215.   Immediately a little tawny one stood there, obvious, wriggling his ear as though it were very loosely fitted, trying so hard to be noticed, shifting ever his position all the time;   but pretending not to notice the man moved about awhile, and when he had given his mother-in-law enough hope, he suddenly drew his son out and brought him from the masses.

216.   The old woman thought he would miss, and rejoiced inwardly, but he went directly and took him out, so she didn't know which way to look.

217.   And then, "He-he-yo!   He-he-yo!   Of course, but of course, a man should recognize his own child!" she said, smiling as she stood, but her voice failed her.

218.   "Father, you should have seen me at first:   Right there I stood, moving my ear, but you were like a blind man, I declare!" he said, so, "Ah, yes, my boy, because the crowd was so great!" he said. Meantime his thoughts were so far away, he wasn't thinking what they said.

219.   Now it was the fourth morning, and a gay hoop-and-stick game was on. So all the people were out on the newly made pte-owaci, and were looking on;   the man of earth was standing amidst the crowds with his little son.

220.   But meantime, without anybody aware of it, the tricky old woman was running away to the wilder parts.

221.   There, in the ravine, a solitary tipi stood, its tipi poles showing only the tips;   from the tribal camp there she went and called from outside,

222.   "Crazy Bull, are you at home?" and from within came the reply, "Yes!"

223.   "Why, say, sit you here, unaware of anything? ... They are saying that this man-of-earth was seen courting your youngest wife at the woodgathering last evening;   and all the people are in an uproar over it!"

224.   At once, growling, preparing apparently to dash out, the crazy bull could be heard, but without waiting for him, she ran like a streak to the center, and worming her way in the crowds, she sought out her son-in-law.

225.   Quite improperly, she nudged him on the arm, and said, "Son-in-law, go off!   Go off!   Right now, true to the habit of gossiping, which people have, somebody has again told the crazy bull that you courted his youngest wife, so he has allowed his tusks to grow out, and he is coming to attack you!   Off, go off, take my grandson, and run away!" she said.

226.   But, contrarily, he took out his magic arrows and stood ready to meet him, and now the crazy bull, grunting, pawing the ground, came at him, but he stood aiming at him.

227.   The people, like one, had fled and the space was clear, so he came directly at the man, but he sent an arrow at him between the eyes.

228.   At once the bull, shaking his head, ran in a circle, and came at him anew, but he shot him in the eye, and set him crazy, so he turned away.

229.   But he followed him, and when he went staggering along, he shot another arrow somewhere into him, and with that he fell, sliding to the ground, and rose no more.

230.   "Father! ... This side!" cried the boy, so he turned in time to see that fine mother-in-law, now a buffalo cow in form, charging him fiercely, but that too he shot into and killed with only one arrow.

231.   The man then looked all about, but long since the tribe had fled to a place out of sight, beyond the hill.

232.   And then it was clear that these two were the pests of the whole tribe, this crazy bull, and the buffalo cow which was his mother-in-law;   and it seemed that the people had always held them in great dread.

233.   "Now, Son, go and tell them to return ... they no longer will need to fear ... now I have killed for them their two arch enemies;   I did it because they bore me ill will, but the other people are kindly disposed, and I like them," he said.

234.   So the boy went beyond the hill with the news. And a shout that rose and hit the sky went up, and then the people came home.

235.   For a time, everyone was quiet, as they settled back in their home, and then without warning twelve men of eminence, the magistrates of the whole tribe, beautifully appareled, came out and walked single file towards the center.

236.   There was the new pte-owaci, and there they went and sat down in a crescent shape, all facing the east.

237.   Already with a something-is-going-to-happen air, the people seemed unsettled in their mood, and this the man had observed. And now these men came and then all the people narrowed down their circle to that focal point and stood round them, with the magistrates sitting in the midst.

238.   Everybody went there, so the man also went and stood, and they drew him inside the ring and placed him to one side by himself.

239.   And they said, "Now then, man-of-earth, on this day you have rendered a favor to a whole tribe as if to one man, and they in turn would reward you.

240.   "Discard the wife you have, who is a child of the late crazy buffalo cow, and choose you a wife from the many fine young daughters who stand about.

241.   "For you are to remain ... Between the men-on-earth and ourselves you are to be forever the interpreter," they said.

242.   So it was a hard thing indeed that they were decreeing for him, and he could not find the voice to reply, so he stood quiet a long while. At last he raised his head and looked about, but he saw all the buffalo people standing with lowered heads, waiting on his answer.

243.   And he thought this:   "O yes, so that's it, that I am to be cast as one who is of use;   well then, all right;   to be sure, how could I free myself from this, anyway?" and after a long time he said, "Ha o!"

244.   Immediately a full cry went up from that host of buffalo people, without a missing voice, the air hummed with a rumbling, "Ha-ye!   Ha-ye!   Ha-ye!  "

245.   And then the two (after ten, i.e. eleventh and twelfth) stood up and withdrew, out of the circle of onlookers;   nobody said a single word, so he too, "What is all this?" he thought, but stood quiet.

246.   Soon, rather soon after, they again returned ... and they led in an ancient buffalo man, very very aged, and sat him down there, in front of the twelve men of eminence, with his face also towards the east.

247.   He was old and full of years, but how majestic;   with the palms of his hands and his face too well anointed with red paint, and abalone disks in his ears - those are supernatural properties - and he wore his apparel well;   and he sat, braced against a staff painted red.

248.   And half of his head was unkempt, and it, the right half, was inextricably tangled with sandburs. Unspeakably holy he sat.

249.   Again they went out, and brought in a second ancient one;   and he was exactly like the first, and his dress was the same;   but this one's right half of head was tangled with sage.

250.   A third one was then brought in, and the right half of his head was tangled with buffalo-plant;   and the fourth with sunflower stalk.

251.   These four sat upright leaning on their scarlet canes, with eyes closed while they listened;   in a row, somewhat ahead of the men-of-eminence.

252.   Then, apparently that was all, for those who officiated now took their seats, and then one who was to be their spokesman stood and said of them:

253.  

a.   Ho, towards the east they shall walk.
b.   With ridged hoof nails on eight paths they shall walk,
c.   A good altar to make,
d.   A holy altar to make;
e.   Seeing those children beloved, they shall walk;
f.   Cutting through rivers lying at right angles, they shall walk;
g.   Through the day-heat they shall walk;
h.   With breath showing they shall walk.

254.  

i.   For a container, a vessel, there they shall go.
j.   To the Indians they shall go;
k.   To a scarlet water they shall go;
l.   To a scarlet they shall go;
m.   To an abalone-disk they shall go;
n.   To eagle-down they shall go.

255.  

o.   A pure girl they shall take.
p.   And bringing her with them they shall drink;
q.   A red cane they will have her accept;
r.   In the wind-direction that is their own on the earth, and without oversetting hers, they will turn her;
s.   And for her, locks of white at evening-tide they shall decree.

256.   "Well," thought the man. "They too, these probably get tired of their relentless errand, yet they are going out thus, for the sake of my people. Now then, I too, willingly I must surrender. What am I?   That my people should live, that is of supreme importance! " he was thinking.

257.   It is from there that the Buffalo ceremony comes, they do say. And as long as the buffalo were present, the Lakotas should thrive, they said, and it was true. So it is said that the Lakota people sprang from the buffalo boy.

258.   That too is why the Lakotas place buffalo meat as the highest kind of food.

259.   While all this excitement prevailed in the buffalo country below the earth, back home on earth there was wailing.

260.   Those who remained at home spent the days thinking, perhaps on this day they will return - and they waited for them, but there was no sign of them.

261.   And then one day the corn woman first knew something . She left the lodge and sat down far away and sat sorrowing, and first her two golden sisters-in-law came and kept inviting her to go home, but finally they gave up trying.

262.   "Sisters, go on home;   when I can I shall return too;   first I want to cure my heart," she said, so they left her.

263.   But their father, who honored his daughter-in-law, then sent his two elder daughters, but they had no more success than their sisters;   so they came back alone.

264.   After a good while, the old mother went out herself, and said, "Daughter-in-law, your father-in-law sends me, so I come ... do come home now!" but she said in reply:

265.   "Mother-in-law, do go home;   later, for a time, as long as it helps me, I shall stay here;   and later I will return. Doubtless you think I too might go off, pouting ... I shall go off nowhere, be sure of that!" So the old woman also returned alone.

266.   Now, at last, the old man went out. Pausing now and again, dreading his task but also so very anxious to bring her back, he went and stood a short distance apart, and because he held strict avoidance for her out of politeness, he talked, not looking her way:

267.   "Alas, my daughter-in-law, I do not come here thinking I am so very important that you should obey me .. the others even, you did not heed ... alas, my daughter-in-law";   so saying he wept, now old he was and easily provoked to tears.

268.   Now, but the woman too honored her father-in-law, so she gave him a kindly reply. "Father-in-law, go home now, do;   later when you have gone inside, then I too will come, it is because you have come for me that I am coming in now," she said.

269.   (From that day forth it is said, the precedent was made for children in law and parents-in-law to love and defer to and avoid each other out of courtesy.)

270.   When the old man reentered his home and sat down, the corn woman rose and came homeward;   so meantime her sisters-in-law hurriedly got food ready, for all day she had eaten nothing.

271.   As she entered, they gave her food which she ate slowly;   and when she finished, she said this: "Father-in-law, mother-in-law, sisters-in-law, listen well, I have something to say to you ... that somebody we all loved has this day abandoned us and given himself up forever to live with the buffalo people.

272.   "By that act he has gone from us, and that is why I have been weeping ... he feels no pull back to us, even this child of his he has not remembered ... " she said, so at once the others wailed next, and for a time like a great roar, the weeping went on.

273.   As if he had died, they mourned him, and then when at last they were all satiated in weeping, at that period when only deep long sighs are possible, the corn woman said,

274.   "It is enough ... hold back your grief now, I have something to say." So because they loved her they listened quietly, having stopped weeping, and she said,

275.   "I love you all:   so never shall I leave you, that is certain;   there is a man who has of his own free will given himself away, and so never again can we live here happily with him.

276.   "That being so, let us remove from here, and migrate eastward toward my country.

277.   "There, at some pleasant spot let us remake our home and as long as we live, however long that is to be, there let us try to be happy;   it may be we might succeed, who knows!   It is too unbearably desolate here now!"

278.   It was the same with them all;   no matter where they looked, they recalled something, and so they thought it advisable to move away;   and now they had packed and were traveling eastward.

279.   For several days they went, camping on the way;   and at last they found a place to settle near a river, heavy with timber, through which here and there the beautiful water sparkled.

280.   The timberline curved gently, forming a sheltering bend, and there they settled in the best sort of way.

281.   Back of their location, towards the hills, there was a fine level ground, and there one day the corn woman took the whole family, inviting them to accompany her.

282.   She told them all to take places, side by side, facing eastward in a straight line. They did this, leaving spaces between each one.

283.   So now to each she handed four small yellow hard objects, quite small ones, and said,

284.   "In front of you as you stand, dig into the ground and there drop these;   and then cover them up again with the earth;   and then trample the earth down firmly over them, and all step ahead one pace." They did accordingly.

285.   The ground was long, in its stretch ahead, but they went its entire length in this way;   and at the end they all stepped to the next section, in the same positions, and returned as she instructed them.

286.   There was the father and mother-in-law;   the four sisters-in-law, then she and her son, so they made eight rows each time, and now the whole place was finished, a field with tiny hillocks, as it were, in even rows, forming straight pathways.

287.   Then a little more towards the water from this was a smaller plot, and there she gave them some different kinds of objects, flat, long, and yellow;   and those they buried in the earth.

288.   So when they finished this, they came home, and from that time for many days they were engaged in various tasks, and then after a reasonable time she invited them to visit those places, and they went.

289.   The larger plot, where they had buried tiny things in fours and left little hill-like bits of dirt, showed in the very middle of each such hill a small greenish stalk, still tender and yielding, which had sprung out of the ground.

290.   And they looked to the smaller plot, and there they saw some short tender stalks that were holding up some very large round leaves.

291.   They came home, and after a time again they went to see, and at the first ground, the stalks were taller and almost sending out a top;   and in the other the stems were creeping along the ground.

292.   The third visit showed the stalks well formed and tall, with a plume surmounting the top like the ornament the corn woman used to wear, which her husband had taken with him.

293.   These all stood evenly in rows over the whole level land, and with every breeze they all swayed and bent together and then all together righted themselves again, creating a beautiful motion.

294.   In the other plot certain green things, spherical and bare to the sun, were attached.

295.   The fourth visit showed corn, long beautiful ears, all ripened, several borne on each stalk making a heavy burden for it;   and at the other field were great pumpkins.

296.   Well, well, how wonderful!   It was their first knowledge of food out of the earth, so it seemed extra marvelous and good to them.

297.   All, nobody withholding himself, went to the field and brought home the first fruits of the soil, in great blanket loads, and they worked with it, rejoicing.

298.   Some of the corn they cooked, and ate;   and some they dried;   some they parched or roasted, and some they ground up and made the first corn wasna;   and they took the ripest ears and husked them, and braided them in long ropes by their husks, and the corn in prosperous abundance and beauty, like great ropes, hung drying.

299.   The parents-in-law, now at the stage when they moved about more slowly, sat all day long each day cutting pumpkins into long strips.

300.   When they finished, the corn woman said, "Father-in-law, go to the wood and bring some of that blue-bark ash";   when he did, she taught him to make the first drying rack in use.

301.   On top they spread a robe, and there they spread out corn kernels and bits of pumpkin to dry in the heat of the sun.

302.   Next she had her father-in-law dig the ground, downward, circularly, and when he finished, a man standing upright in it would not even show the top of the head;   that deep it was.

303.   The base they spread with willow boughs with their leaves on;   and there they put food, corn and pumpkins, whatever they were saving to use during the winter to come;   these they buried there, and thus they made the first cache.

304.   Now winter came on, it snowed and there were blizzards, but comfortably with plenty of firewood also on hand, and with no lack, all winter they sat cozy within;   and whenever food was needed they drew on their reserves in the cache as they pleased, so they were happy.

305.   And so spring came on. Now everything, birds, and even the leaves, everything returned to life and was astir;   and then from some unknown people, a young man with golden hair, very handsome, came and said he was the corn woman's brother [had the corn woman for an older sister]. She and he resembled each other, that was the reason.

306.   And she called in her sisters-in-law and said, "My younger brother has come to be with one of you," and instantly the very youngest first, like a little girl, jumped up and down, "Let it be me!" she said;   so now she was married to him.

307.   And when they went to bed, he talked with her. "A friend of mine says he too is coming here," he said.

308.   Several days later he came;   a young man, just as handsome with black eyes and hair that shone. At once the younger of the two dark girls preempted him and took him for her husband.

309.   Now she lay down with him, and, "A friend of mine says he too is coming here," he told her. And now, a morning or so later, again a youth appeared with golden hair and eyes that sparkled, and again he resembled the corn woman.

310.   So he too seemed appropriate for the other ziwinla, and she took him for her husband.

311.   And when she lay down with him, and they lay talking, he said, "By the way, I have a friend who says he too is coming."

312.   So a while later again a young man arrived from somewhere, it was not known where. His hair was black and thick, and his eyes were like coals of fire;   and he seemed more handsome than all.

313.   So of course the eldest sister, who had been left so far, took him for her husband.

314.   Meantime the corn woman's son, now also turning his thoughts toward women apparently, went off somewhere southward and returned with a very beautiful girl. Only the corn woman was unmated.

315.   The young men who had come, because they married those she called sisters-in-law, became her respect-relations, brothers, etc. She felt kindly toward them, and they in turn thought highly of her, and always showed her great respect.

316.   Whatever she indicated as her wish, they crowded each other to do for her;   so now again, "Brothers, I wish a house might be made accordig to my plan," she said;   and at once they all cooperated on it, and built it of great logs, and it was the first circular house of logs.

317.   Carefully, without open spaces, planned to keep the cold out, she had them make it, and when it was done she placed her parents-in-law there, now so old.

318.   "There, lacking nothing, they shall live," she said. Again she wanted one exactly like it but slightly larger;   and they made it, and there she placed her two balck-haired sisters-in-law and their husbands;   and then a third was completed, and there she placed her two golden sisters-in-law and their husbands.

319.   "Now, my brothers, next I want a house for my son," and they said, "Of course;   had you not said so, yet we were already agreed to make it," and because they really liked their young nephew, they built him a little smaller but very nicely constructed house.

320.   Now there were four of those circular houses standing up, splendidly built;   and then although she said nothing, of their own accord they built their elder sister a house, and it was the finest of them all.

321.   "Our sister is wise, and thereby we live in a good way;   so her home shall be the finest," they said.

322.   So she was very happy. "O, my younger brothers, how grateful you make me!   I did not expect this!" she exclaimed now and again, as she removed into it and settled her belongings there.

323.   And then one day in the evening she was all alone over at the timber's edge tanning a skin, when a man from some unknown quarter, whose beauty surpassed them all, came and stood talking with her where those at home could see.

324.   But they respected her so much that nobody mentioned it to her. "Later when she wishes she will tell," they said. She came home, but they went about as though they knew nothing.

325.   And then now, as it was bound to be in time, she invited all her sisters-in-law to her home and said, "Sisters-in-law, a brother of yours left me behind and went away, but even so I was bound to you with ties of attraction and could not leave you;   moreover your nephew is yours as well as mine, and for me to take him away never entered my thoughts ... right here with his relatives I have wished him to live always. Now he is nicely married, so I had thought to live on alone like this, but now an elder brother to you has come and says he and I are to be together," she said.

326.   So her sisters-in-law were all very happy in accord with her news. For always she had labored for them and put on a happy exterior, but underneath she was often lonely, as they had observed.

327.   So now all the women had husbands and all the men had wives, and that was as it should be, in the right way.

328.   And from them came the sturdy, fine, healthy Palani, it is said.

329.   So even today the Ree corn and the Ree squash are the sweetest foods there are.

330.   The buffalo people decreed for the Lakotas that they should always migrate, following their food;   and in that same way the corn woman decreed for the Rees, so that they always remained in permanent homes to till the soil, and even now their old home sites are to be found here and there.

From "Buffalo People" "Lakota Tales in Colloquial Style," Ella Deloria, 1937