The Blind One and the Lame One

THE BLIND ONE AND THE LAME ONE ⁵

There, somewhere above in the southwest, lived two brothers--men. They went hunting rats. The one could not see and the other could not walk. The one who could not walk was carried on the back of the one who could not see. He was the one who carried him on his back. But this one who could not see told (the other one) where to go. He was the one who told him. One day they went hunting rats. This one who could see was the one to find the rats. When he found them, he told the other one who could not see, and he was the one who took them out. One day they killed many. They built a fire. Now the fire had burnt out. Then he told him to put the rats on and to cook them. Then the one who could not see put them on the fire, but this one who was sitting down gave him a stick to turn them over with it. There was very much coal. Then the rats made a noise of bursting, but this one was scared. The one who could not walk got up and ran away, but the one who could not see opened his eyes and also ran away. Then he was told, "Please, do not shut your eyes and do not sit down again," they were told. Thus they became well. That is all.

p. 167

VARIANT ²

Two men were living together in the west. One was blind, and the other was lame. The blind one carried the lame one and when they came to the nests of the wood rats, the blind man put the lame one down and he trapped the rats. This is the way they got their living--one to carry, one to catch the wood rats. The lame man got the meals ready for both. Sometimes they played tricks on each other. Sometimes the lame man told the blind man to go in the wrong direction, and he would bump his head against a fir tree, or fall into an arroyo. Then the lame man would call, "Come back, brother. I sent you off in the wrong direction." In this way they spent time. The blind man would tell the other, "Get up, walk." He would place his brother in such a way that he could come over to his brother. (The lame one had shortened leg tendons; he had cramps.)

One day they went out again. When they found a wood rat's nest, the blind man set the lame man down and tried to tell the blind man just where to get the wood rats. The blind man said, "Get up and help me." In this way they passed the day again and got wood rats for food. They always talked of getting cured and the blind one said, "Some day I'll get my sight back, and you'll get your legs."

The next day they went out hunting again. The blind man said, "What would you do if you got well!" "Yes; if you had your sight, we would live well together." They killed big rats and were happy because they would have a big meal again. They thought they got on very well, one of them blind and one of them lame.

The next day they went hunting again, the blind man carrying the lame one. They came, to the wood rat's nest and it happened that the rat was the biggest they had ever killed. They pulled out the rat and threw it on the coals. All the time they were saying, "Well, my brother, what would it be like if you should get your sight!" "And you your legs!" The rat was roasting when it suddenly burst. They were scared. The lame man ran, the blind one opened his eyes; the bursting cured them. The blind one told the lame one, "Don't sit down, you'll get cramps again." The lame one said, "Don't shut your eyes. Keep them open, you'll get blind again." So they were cured. The blind man said, "Oh brother, I can see." The lame man said, "Oh brother, I can walk." They lived together.

Footnotes

166:5 Recorded in text by Franz Boas. Informant 8. Notes, p. 244.

167:2 Informant 1.