Crane and Geese

CRANE AND GEESE ³

The Geese were living at Goose Village (up north). The Cranes lived lower down the river. When the Geese flew down the river they would meet the Crane at his house. One of the Goose Girls said to herself, "I wonder what this Crane always does. I'd like to live here, too." She flew down and met the Crane. "Hello!" "Hello!" "What are you doing down here?" "I am fishing." "So you always stay here?" "Yes." "All right. Would you like to marry me?" "Of course." (Goose:) "All right. When we get married I will take you to my home." "I don't know your home." "That won't matter. I'll take you there." (Crane:) "Let's stay four days here and when those days are up you can take me to your home." So they were married.

The Crane fished and he got great big fish out of the river and they had lots for breakfast, dinner, and supper. The Goose Girl said, "I never did like fish. But now we are married I'm getting used to eating them." "What is the food you eat?" "When we go down the river we fly to Cochiti and in their fields we pick up the scattered corn. But sometimes we have trouble. Some of our people get killed down in that pueblo."

The four days were up and the Goose took the Crane to her house. It was way to the north where all geese come from. As they saw them coming one of the goose women went running to the goose mother's and father's house. "Come out and see! Your daughter is bringing somebody home. He has the longest legs and the longest neck and the longest bill you ever saw." The Goose Girl brought him to her house. She said, "There's my house." She went in first, and said to her father and mother, "I am bringing you a son-in-law,

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for I am married. Please receive him with all your hearts." Crane went in. They greeted him and gave him a stool to sit on. Goose Mother said to her daughter, "What can we do? We can't do anything for you any more for you are married. You didn't even let us know." "As I went down past where Crane lives I got acquainted with him and I married him and we had a good time. We never have seen Cranes like him around here." His mother-in-law said, "Whatever you used to do down there, here he is to go out and hunt." Crane said, "All right, I shall go hunting. The river is far away, but I can be back soon." Next morning Crane said, "I'll go hunting now." Goose Girl said, "I'll go with you." They both went. The people began to make fun of her; "What a long-leg, long-neck, long-bill she has going along with her. What a long-leg, long-neck, long-bill, but a little tiny belly!"

In the afternoon they came home. As they got to the top of the roof they threw down lots of fish. The Goose people came out to watch and see the great feast they had brought. They all began to sing, "What ugly creatures they did bring." They had not known fish before. They took them in and gave the fish to her mother, and the Goose Girl said, "This is the food I eat when I'm down below at the river." As she put them down her mother was frightened. "Horrors! How would I ever eat such stuff as this!" Her daughter said, "Don't say that, mother. I'll do the work to get them ready." Crane began to cut off the fishes' heads. As he cut them up, Goose Girl put the big pot over the fire, and poured water in, and when it was boiling she dropped in the fish. When it was cooked she poured them into four bowls and set them on the floor. She called her father and mother and they began to eat. Her mother said: "Oh, my, how they smell!" Her daughter said. "Don't say that, just keep on eating." Her father held up the skin of a fish and looked and looked at it. He couldn't make out what it was. He took all the skin off and then the mother began to eat the white meat of the fish. She liked it. She said to her husband, "Just keep on eating, old man, you'll soon get to like them. It tastes quite good and it's very tender meat." So they both got to like the fish meat. The mother-in-law said to her son-in-law, "You must go out hunting to-morrow again." The Goose Girl said, "We'll both go hunting along the river again. We'll bring more yet next time." (Mother) "But how does he kill them?" (Goose Girl) "He goes into the river and all day he stays there fishing."

They came home with more fish than the day before. The Geese said, "I wonder what creatures they are that they bring home such lots of." Whenever they boiled or broiled them in the coals the Goose Village smelled them cooking, Crane said, "All right, father

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and mother. We better go back to my home. This is so far from the river. If you will come down there I'll wait there for you." "All right," said the father and mother. "You are both married now. Go to your home and stay there in your house. Perhaps sometimes we'll go down and see you both."

They went back to the river where the Crane lived. They had a little crane baby. When it had grown to be bigger his father said, "You must go to your grandfather and grandmother and take them some fish." His father went to the river and got a great many fish. He put them on his little crane son's back. "Fly off until you come to your grandfather's and grandmother's. "When you get to their house, tell them, 'I am your grandson'." So he came to the house, peeped in through the door, and called, "Grandmother!" "Who is that calling in for me?" He went in and said, "I brought you fish, my father and mother sent me over. I am their child." His grandmother said, "Oh, are you their child? Thank you that you have grown up." "Yes; I am your Goose daughter's child. Grandmother, I am going home this evening." "All right. You must be very careful on the way." He came back to his father and mother and lived with them always.

Footnotes

137:3 Informant 2. Notes, pp. 236-237.