The Frog Wife

THE FROG WIFE ³

When the people first came to live in Cochiti a girl went down to the river to get water in her water jar. She saw a handsome man sitting by the other bank. He asked her, "Did you come for water?" "Yes, I came for water." "Come across the river, and I will take you home with me." "How can I cross the river? There is lots of

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water." "Take off your moccasins and put them in your manta and bring them with you." She took them off and went across the river. As soon as she got across, and came close to the boy, she put on her moccasins again. "Are you ready?" "Yes." They went a long way through the arroyo. The girl began to be very tired. She said, "Perhaps your home is very faraway. I am very tired." "We are almost there. It is just up at the top of this high bank and on the level ground above." As soon as they got up he said, "Look over there. That is the village where I live. We'll go straight into the plaza. On the east side on the second story, in two rooms is my house." They went up. They came, to the hatchway, and he called, "Grandmother, here comes in a daughter-in-law. Will you welcome her?" "With all my heart I will welcome her." They told the girl to sit down and the grandmother gave her food. Night came and they went to bed. After they were, in bed, the grandmother said, "I'll get up again and shell some corn for my daughter-in-law, so that she can grind early in the morning." Afterwards she said, "Daughter-in-law, I have shelled corn for you to grind early in the morning."

The daughter-in-law rose early in the morning and began to grind. She broke off the husks and took the corn out of the grinding stone and parched it. She put it back in the grinding stone and ground it till it was fine. As she was grinding the boy went out to hunt. The girl put the big bowl on the fire, and poured water in, and stirred in the flour till it was thick and she made hard mush. The boy brought in rabbits. She roasted them on the fire. The grandmother was very happy and she said, "Granddaughter, what a good breakfast you can make. This tastes very good." In the evening the grandmother shelled more corn ready for the girl to grind early in the morning. Early in the morning she rose and ground the corn as she had the day before. The boy went out hunting and they continued four days. The grandmother shelled more corn and said, "Here is more corn for you to grind early in the morning." Early again, she got up and began to grind. As she ground, it seemed to her that the corn was as hard as stone. She could not break one kernel of it. She began to cry. The grandmother heard her and said, "What a beautiful song my daughter-in-law is singing this morning!"

Wa! wa! (the frog's call)
Down at the river are many lovers,
For that I am homesick,
Wa! wa!

[paragraph continues] She remembered the village where she had lived so happily, and she said to herself, "I am homesick for the river again where them are so many lovers. Before daylight I shall go back there."

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In the morning before her grandmother was awake she went to get her moccasins, and as she went past her grandmother she lifted her leg and urinated over her. She went out. Presently the grandmother called her daughter-in-law, but there, was no answer. She got up to look but she had gone. She had gone back to the river, and she lived there forever (as a frog, or toad).

Footnotes

140:3 Informant 2. Notes, p. 237.