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Saturday, May 9, 2015

Lodge-Boy And Thrown-Away's Father



Blackfoot


A man was living with his wife, who was pregnant. He had a large supply of dry meat. Once, before starting on a hunt, he said to his wife, "If you should hear someone calling you, don't listen to him. He will call you four times, but don't look at him." When he was gone, the woman heard someone calling her. The person calling finally asked, "Where is the door of your lodge?" She answered, "You know where it is." Then the man entered. She offered him food. The stranger said, "That is not the way I am used to eating. Put the food on your belly." She obeyed, and he ate from her belly. Then he cut open her belly, pulled out two children from it, then ran around every lodge-post with the woman, went to the fireplace, and thence descended underground with her.

When the hunter returned, he found his twin sons crying. He called the wolves, set up a good lodge for them and bade them guard his children while he went in pursuit of his wife. Then he ran around every lodge-post and descended through the fireplace. After a while, he went above ground and saw lots of people camping by a lake. His wife's lodge was also there. He went to an old woman's tent and asked, "Where is my wife's lodge?" "Your wife is here, but these people are bad, they will not give her up to you. While you are sleeping, they will try to kill you by the aid of their manitous." They tried, but they could not kill him. The hunter said, "Grandmother, tell those people to let me alone." The old woman went to them and returned, saying, "These people want you to swim in the lake." They stuck a big post in the middle of the lake and told him to dive in, shake the post and return to shore. He went in, did what he was told, and returned in safety. They bade him try again. He dove and did not come back to the surface all day. The people thought he was drowned, but in the night he returned to the old woman's lodge. She told him the people were going to cook him. He said, "When I am cooked, take all my bones with some hair, pile them up, cover them with a blanket and cry, 'Wake up!' Then I'll wake up again." His enemies cooked him. The old woman followed his instructions. When the bones were piled up, she cried, "Grandson, you are sleeping a long time, wake up!" He stood up and said, "I will tell you something. When the sun shines into the lodge, you and my wife shall hold my clothes." Then he went to his enemies' lodge. The sun shone in. The old woman and his wife held his clothes. He pulled down the sun, it grew hotter, and all his enemies were killed. He took his wife home. Their twins were beginning to run about. The woman raised them.


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