77. The Tcactcini

Long ago they lived at Tseyakînehî where everything grew. Then they started to war eastward on the plains. From there, they brought home an enemy's scalp. They danced the victory dance. They dug a hole for cooking corn. They built a big fire in the pit and placed corn in it to cook. They danced in the evening and made tc'actcînî, who drove all the girls to the dancing place. After they had danced, one girl was still found at the fireplace. They tried in vain to drive her to the dance. One of the tc'actcînî jumped into the pit and was burned. The other tc'actcînî looked everywhere for him in vain.

A man ran off toward the east looking for him, others to the south, west, and north. They all came back to the dancing place without having found him. They called on all the supernatural ones on the earth to help them. The man went again to the east. They dug a hole for the girl, put her in it, and put a flat stone on top, covering it with ashes. The messenger came back from under the sunrise accompanied by XastcînyaLkîdn, the talking god. From the south came back XastcînyaLgayî, the white god. The messenger went again and came back from under the sunset with XastcînîLtsôyî, the yellow god. The messenger went to the north and came back with Xastcîndîsôsî, the variegated god.

They commenced to look for the lost brother. Eagle down was placed on the top of a stick. With this they went around looking everywhere. When they came above the fire pit all the feathers pointed toward it. "Your brother-in-law is right here," said one of the gods. They all turned their ears to the ground. "Here is our brother-in-law," they said. They could hear the one who had been burned laughing.

Then they commenced to look for the girl. They looked in vain until they came near her and then the feathers all pointed toward her. "There she is," said the leader. Then XastcînyaLkîdn stood with his flint sword facing in four directions in turn. When he faced the direction in which the girl was, he made motions as if to strike her four times. Then when he drew back his sword from the top of her head, he pulled her out from the ground also.