The Witch Wife Transforms Her Husband

THE WITCH WIFE TRANSFORMS HER HUSBAND ²³

One night the witch wife asked her husband to go to the corral with her, and she turned him into a dog. She said, "Now you are a dog. Go wherever you please." He would not go; he dogged her steps wherever she went. She threw stones at him and starved him, but he never left her. Finally he went out to look for something to eat. He was so weak he could hardly walk. He got to some houses where he could smell food. It made him weaker than before. The smell came out through a hole in the ground. He went up

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to the hatchway and peeped in. He saw a pile of bones and paper bread in the room. He was so weak that he lost his balance and fell in. The people in the room heard him. "Who fell in?" they said. "Why, it's Bloodclot Boy!" The father of the house said, "Poor boy, give him something to eat, whatever is left!" They were sorry for him. They asked, "Are you through eating?" "Yes." "Come into the inner room." There were lots of people in there. They made him sit down in front. "Poor boy, don't worry," they said. The leader said, "We are not the people who transformed you into a dog. They are the, people of the other side (witches). Your wife did that on the advice of the bad witches. She was angry that she had to be late for meetings because you brought home so many deer for her to prepare." They covered him with a white manta and they sang their songs to the accompaniment of rattles. Presently the object under the manta grew larger. At last it was as large as a man. They removed the manta and the man stood up. When they sent him back to his wife they gave him a magic crystal. They said, "Your wife will say, 'Give it to me.' Tell her, 'I will roll it to you. If you catch it, it will be yours.' When she picks it up she will be a snake." He did as they directed. As soon as she picked up the stone she became a snake. Her husband looked at her. She looked as if she were angry, and there were marks of tears under her eyes. He said, "Now you are a snake forever. You turned me into a dog and let me go hungry and thirsty. Now I have turned you into a snake forever. Nobody can turn you back. Your only food will be sacred meal and corn pollen. Go wherever you please."

VARIANT ¹⁷

In Cochiti there were four sisters. They lived all together. The eldest was married. Her husband slept with his wife one night. Next night he slept with her sister. The third night with the third, the fourth with the fourth. When the fourth night was over he had slept with the four sisters. They were all pregnant. People talked about it. They said, "Wonder who lay with those girls?" Even his wife did not know who had made her sisters pregnant.

When their babies were born, all four were born at the same time. They were all very small babies and they looked just like the brother-in-law. People talked about this. They said, "The husband of the eldest sister lay with these girls." His wife heard this. "I didn't know my husband lay with all my sisters. He hasn't any sense." She was angry. "I shall do something to him." She had a medicine stone (honiatacu). She didn't tell anyone what she was going to do.

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She went out with her husband, and they came to an arroyo bank. "Look, I found something pretty." "Let me see." "I found it." He liked it. She said, "Stand over there. You may have it if you catch it." She rolled it to him. He ran after it and caught it. As soon as he touched it he turned into a snake. She said, "Go off now! See if you come across any good luck. I didn't know you were treating me the way you did. Now all you can eat is corn meal and pollen." The wife came back to her house. She left her sisters. Nobody knew which way she went. ²⁴

Footnotes

95:23 Informant 1, as also preceding story. Notes, pp. 223, 232.

96:17 Informant 1. Notes, p. 223.

97:24 This story is longer, but the informant does not know the rest.