Early in the morning Turtle crawled on a big rock that stood in the water, and by and by the people heard him singing his war-song, "Niwawa tigatiwa!"

("My legs are half crooked!")

The mother of the two girls he had killed took her comb and went out to dress their hair; but when she arrived at their lodge, she found them murdered, with the heads lying one on each side of the door. She dropped the door-covering, and rushed home to tell her husband. "And that's the one who did it, [the one] who is singing over there!" she cried.

Then all the Indians got together a big war-party, and went down to the river, where they could see Turtle sitting defiantly on the rock and singing. It happened that Otter was then married into the tribe, and he volunteered to go and avenge the girls. So he led all the people to the brink, took off all his clothes, and dived in and swam. SnappingTurtle saw what was happening, so he flapped into the water and swam to meet Otter. When Otter swam by over him, he reached up and bit his testicles. At once Otter screamed, "Heuh-e! SnappingTurtle is biting me!" - "Where?" shouted the crowd. "Niyan!” yelled Otter. He should have shouted "Ninakan, my testicles!" but he was ashamed, because some of his wife's relatives were in the multitude. "Oh, where did you say?"-"Oh, it's ninakan (ninago")!" he shrieked at last. "He won't let me go till the Thunderers come." 1 The Indians tried to deceive Turtle. They got a tambourine drum, and began to beat it in imitation of the Thunderers. "Oh, no!" cried Turtle, "you can't fool me, that's only a drum." So the Indians were obliged to get some one to run and call the Thunderers; and as soon as Snapping-Turtle heard them, he let go. Poor Otter was badly hurt: so, when he got out of the water, he wrapped himself in a blanket, and called his wife's sister to sew him up.

6. VAGINA DENTATA.

There was once a pretty girl who got married, but her husband soon died. After an interval she married again; but again her spouse, and after him another man, died. The brother of the third man began to wonder how this could be: so he asked the girl what the trouble was, but she was unable to tell him. At last the youth married

1 This identical incident is found in the Menominee version. Do we owe to the Indians the popular superstition that the snapping-tortoise will never release anything it has bitten until it thunders? See also the note in Jones, PAES 7 (pt. 2): 346.

The

I have reason to believe that a portion of the story has here been omitted. Menominee version makes the Indians try three times unsuccessfully before calling the Thunderers; and in Bûngi stories, as well as those of the Menominee, things go by fours. See Jones, PAES 7 (pt. 2): 347.

VOL. 32. NO. 124.-20.

her to see if he could find out. He did not embrace her for quite a while, for he was afraid; but he lay awake thinking about it. One night, however, he dreamed of his dead brother, who told him that if he embraced the girl he would die. Next day, when the youth was hunting, he found a long, thin, black stone, which he took home and hid. That night he pretended that he was going to embrace his wife, but instead he thrust the stone into her. At once he heard a gritting, scratching noise, and his wife straightway refused his attentions.

The next day, when it became light, he looked at the stone, and found some teeth upon it. Upon examination, they turned out to be snakes' teeth. He told the old people, who killed the girl, and found a large snake inside of her.

7. WAR-CLUB OWNER (WÄMISKOPOGÄMAGÛN).

(Collected at Manitowoc, Wis.)

There were two brothers. The elder one was named War-Club Owner (wämiskopogämagûn). They lived not far from a powerful witch, who killed all children as fast as they were born. War-Club Owner smuggled away his younger brother as soon as he was born, in order to give him a chance to grow up; for the witch had killed their parents. The lad soon grew up to be a man, and hunted all the time. The elder brother staid behind to watch the camp and prepare the game. Meantime the young man began to wish he was married, and wondered if there were any Indians near by. It was summer; and as he hunted, he daily passed a certain little lake by which his trail ran. Each day he heard two young girls laugh, "Ti hi! There goes War-Club Owner's little brother!" Each time he tried to see them, but failed, for these girls were really two little frogs. One day he sneaked up to them, and caught both. He put them under his shirt, and carried them all day on his hunt. Every evening WarClub Owner used to wait on him when he returned. The younger brother had his own wooden bowl from which he ate. War-Club Owner would fill this with food and offer it to his younger brother. Then the younger brother would take off his moccasins, and WarClub Owner would hang them out to dry.

The youth hid his two girls secretly; and when night fell, they went to bed, and the younger brother put one frog by each ear, as though he had two wives. He then listened to them. They both spoke to him softly, as he lay there. The elder sister would say one thing, the other another, and he was terribly puzzled whom to obey. The elder one lay next the wall; the younger one, on the outside; and it was the latter whom he loved most and to whom he listened. This made the elder sister jealous. She said, "What do you wish.

our husband to bring home from his hunt to-night? Let us tell him now!"-"Yes! What do you want?"-"Oh, a deer's shoulder for roasting. And you?" "Oh, I should like the side of a fawn!" cried the other. "Oh, that is very hard for me to do," said the youth. "I cannot do it, for the reason that this cook here, my elder brother, is to have what I bring; and when I get a deer, I dress it and take it whole to him. He butchers it, and all I get from him is what he puts in my dish.". "Unless you can get it from him, it will be of no use." — "I think I can manage it, though, by asking him to cook those parts and put them in my dish for me."-"All right!" said the younger girl; "you know I like it, because I like to get fat from the bones."

In the morning the younger brother asked his elder brother for these parts. After breakfast the youth gathered up robes, and hid his two little wives in the midst of his bedding. When he ate, the girls ate too, but they were hidden. In the evening the younger brother came back, and War-Club Owner gave him supper. After supper they all went to bed. The two women talked again to WarClub Owner's brother, and he paid more attention to the younger one. Therefore the elder sister became very jealous; and all at once she crawled over her husband, and wanted to fight her little sister. She also beat her husband; and when she was once across, she pulled her sister's hair. "What is the matter with you, that you talk so much to my sister and never to me? I'll whip both of you!" "Why, I cannot pay attention to both of you at once, for you both talk at once; and, anyway, your sister has a sweeter voice, and I love her most."

At last they were fighting dreadfully, hopping over him back and forth. "Keep still!" said the husband, "or my brother will hear you and throw you out."

In the morning they had breakfast, and the youth wrapped up his two little wives in his blankets. Then War-Club Owner swept up, and began to shake the robes: out fell the two little frogs. "Haa! the dirty little frogs that are in my brother's blankets! How nasty! I suppose they have been soiling his blankets!" He grabbed both by the legs to throw them out. As he threw the one, she cried, "Stop! brother-in-law." War-Club Owner understood her, and said, "Oh, is it you who would be sister-in-law to me? Never! I hate you little frogs who have urinated on my little brother's blankets." He threw them away down the hunting-trail which his brother followed. They lay there dead.

When the young man returned, he found them, and said, "Oh, my! why should he do that to me, - kill both of my wives?" He went in and threw down his game. War-Club Owner acted in the same

manner as usual. The youth took off his moccasins, and War-Club Owner dished up the food, and hung up his moccasins. The youth refused to eat, and lay down and covered face and head, weeping and mourning over his two wives. The cook, his brother, heard him sob, and noticed that he did not eat.

"Brother, why don't you eat?" There was no answer. WarClub Owner returned again. "Rise, brother, and eat! It cannot be that you are weeping for those two dirty little frogs that I threw away because they were soiling your blankets! Rise! Be a man! O brother! aren't you ashamed to have had those two frogs for wives? Nobody does that! That's why I got rid of them. But if you really want a wife, I'll help you get a human one. Rise and eat! There is a good woman over yonder, where some people live, and I will help you if you will obey me. It will take quite a while to get there."

So the younger brother rose and ate, and War-Club Owner told him to hunt diligently to get meat, and skin for courting-clothes. The next morning War-Club Owner began to scrape and tan three deerskins, and soon finished them. He dyed them black, and made a suit and leggings for his little brother, and three pairs of moccasins. The brother then prepared meat enough for three days. He gave all to his brother, and said, "Go! Your trip will take three days, and you will find a village of Indians in which your bride dwells." Then War-Club Owner further advised his younger brother, "You will sleep out two nights, and on the third day you will arrive. When you get to the edge of the village, you will see four men grinding corn with mortars and pestles. When you come up, they will say, 'Stop and have a mouthful of our flour!' Pay no attention to them, do not take a grain of it, or they will overcome you and exchange their power for yours, and you will be overcome."

All this came to pass, and the youth saw that the four men were hunch-backs. One of them offered him a little meal. He disregarded his brother's warning, and took it. Instantly the hunch-back seized him by the neck, slapped him, and broke his back. "Here, you! take my place!" he cried.

The hunch-back was now the image of the youth, and started out. War-Club Owner, who was observing all this from his home through his magic power, started right out on a run, and soon arrived at the place. He saw the four hunch-backs. "Oh, it is too bad! It is awful!" he cried. "You know I warned you, and yet you did it." He scolded his brother; and as he did so, another hunch-back offered him meal. War-Club Owner pushed away the proffered meal, and spilled it. "You hunch-backs have ruined my brother!" he roared. War-Club Owner started off and caught the false brother, and carried him back to the four hunch-backs. "Take your own place right there!"

he cried. Then he took his own brother, laid him face down, jumped on his back, and walked up and down until he had straightened him out. "Go, now, where I sent you before, and do as I told you. I warn you again, be more careful in obeying me! I took you away into the wilderness when you were tiny, in order to keep you away from these evil powers, and now you were caught! Now look out!"

The youth set out again, and, while going, he noticed a stump cut off. When he saw it, he knew it to be human work, and felt anxious. He kicked it over to see how long it had been cut. "Oh, I am near to them, and I will hurry!" he thought. In the afternoon he arrived at the village. He saw many round lodges. He went up quietly and went in, but he found no one there. He went to several lodges, and found them all empty. All had been inhabited, but were now deserted. At last he found a little log-house elevated on stakes above ground. Its door was tied securely. It looked fresh; so he gathered logs and piled them up until he could climb up far enough to reach the door. He could not undo the door; therefore he took his knife and cut the strings. There he saw a beautiful girl seated inside. He looked at her, and she was dead, and arrayed in a beautiful dress covered with silver brooches. The youth stared and stared, and finally spoke to her for some time; but she neither moved nor answered. So he took her in his arms and carried her down.

He took her to the nearest lodge, and placed her as though sitting on the bed-scaffold. He built a fire, and used part of the lodge for fuel. He cooked a delicious meal with broth. Having finished, he offered her food as though she were living, and then he ate; but the woman neither moved nor spoke. At night he laid her down and covered her tenderly, and slept beside her. On the next morning he arose and set up the woman, cooked, and offered her food. Then he carried her off towards home. His brother War-Club Owner was now at home. He saw the youth in his sleep, and observed what he was doing with the corpse. "Paxpiniswûg! He is in love with a corpse!" he cried. Her relatives will find that the girl's body has been stolen, and they will follow him and make trouble." Then War-Club Owner beat his drum, and sang all night, trying to restore the girl to life. The second night the youth made camp, and offered food to the girl. To his great delight, when he held food before her face, she bit off a tiny piece. During the night she suddenly spoke to him: "Why, you have restored me to life!" The youth was almost transported with joy. "Oh, how happy I am now! and how glad I am that I no longer am married to those two little frogs!" In the morning the woman said, "Let us try hard to get to your home!"-"Are you able to go?" "Why, yes, I am alive now, and can easily do so." They hurried, and finally reached home before sunset.