The Six Boys

THE SIX BOYS ⁵

Here somewhere in the west there were six boys. Now they were working, these six boys. They took turns in making (cooking)

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what they were going to eat. The first one took his turn. He made everything until it was done. Then he became sleepy. He lay down and slept. When he was asleep an old woman entered. She ate everything. Then the other boys arrived. They said to him, "You did not make anything. Maybe, you have just slept here." "Yes; I made it," said he, "but somebody ate everything." Again on the next morning another one took his turn. and the same also happened. Then another one also took his turn. This boy had great supernatural power. On one side he was a bear and on the other side he was a person. He made everything. He also became sleepy. He lay down and slept. The one Side that was a man was asleep, but the other side did not sleep. He had his eye open on one side. Then the old woman came in. She. also had great magic power. With the one side that did not sleep he saw her. He arose and took hold of the old woman. "I have caught you. Now I will kill you." "No, please let me go," said the old woman. "Over there, I have shut up six girls. You may marry the one whom you choose." "All right," said he. He let the old woman go. The other boys arrived. He told them, "This woman lives where that bush (abuts) is growing. There is a hole under it. I saw the old woman go in there." This boy told them that she had girls and that she, had told him to marry the one he chose. Then the boys took cowhide and cut it in long strips. They tied all of them together. They made them long. Then they went where the bush was growing. They pulled it out and the wind blew up from below. Then they tied the first one around his waist. He spoke thus, "If I do not reach the bottom I shall shake this with which I am tied. Then you will pull me up." Soon they pulled him up. Then another one, and in his turn soon they pulled him up also. He did not dare (to go down). Then came also the turn of this boy who had magic power. First he tied a large stone (to the rope). Then he sat on the stone. They let him down. He arrived below. There sharp thorns were growing. The stone, broke all of them and so the boy went in (and came to the place) where there was a door. He arrived at the door and there a mountain lion was watching. He said (to the boy) thus, "You can not go in." "Yes; I shall go in where this old woman is. I am looking for her." Over there inside another mountain lion was watching. (The mountain lion said), "You can not take her out." "Yes, I will take her out," said he (the boy). Then he blew strong medicine on him. He went in. When he arrived the lion lay down. They met and they fought and he killed the mountain lion. He took out the old woman. He asked her, "Where have you hidden the girls?" "Yes, here are the keys. If you can get them, take them out." Then he took out the girls. Then he took them up. They had

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taken up all of them, but they left him below, that boy. No one took him up. Then the other boys took the girls away. Each took one away for himself. From there they went south, but after three days this boy came out. He inquired everywhere which way all the boys had gone. They were branded. Therefore he knew them. He searched for them in the south, but he could not find them. They had taken all the girls from him and he did not get married to any of the girls.

VARIANT. SĂNO'SA ²

A man and his wife had no children. They both prayed that they might have a son. When they had prayed a long time the man went to the mountains to ask there. He met a bear. The bear said, "Are you coming?" "Yes, I am coming to ask for a child." The bear said to the man, "Come into my house. They won't hurt you." The man went to the bear's cave. The bear said, "You want a child?" "Yes, that is what I am asking for." "Stay and sleep here to-night. In the morning you may go home." He stayed in the cave, and as soon as he was asleep the bear went to this man's house. It was night, and the wife was sleeping alone. She said, "Are you coming?" and she started to set out food for him. The bear said, "I am not hungry. Do not set out supper for me." He slept with the woman. Toward morning he went back to his cave.

When the bear got back, he said to the husband, "To-day go to your home. Keep on asking for a child. Then your request will be answered soon." The bear kept on coming to the wife's house when the man was away. At last they had a child. It was half bear and half human, and they named it Săno'sa.

When the boy was grown, he asked his mother, "Who is my father?" When his father was in the house, he asked her. At last the father died. The boy kept on asking, and the mother finally said, "Some day I will tell you who your father is." "It was not my father who died. Somebody else was my father." At last the mother said, "I will tell you who your father is. He is not near here, he lives in the mountains." One day the boy said, "I will go to-morrow to search for my father." She let him go and showed him the direction and said, "Watch for bear tracks." The boy went up to the mountain. When he saw tracks he said to himself, "Soon I shall find my father." He followed the tracks to a cave. "I guess this is my father's home." When he had come close the bear came out and saw him down below. The bear said, "Here is my child. He has come looking for me." The bear went down to meet him and he asked, "How did you get here?" The boy answered, [paragraph continues]

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"I was looking for my father. My mother told me to watch for bear tracks. I saw some and followed them and I came to this cave." The bear said to the little boy, "Stay with me in my cave." He stayed with his father. At last the bear asked, "Would you like to go back to your mother?" "I would rather stay with my father." Finally the bear sent the boy home and gave him wafer bread to carry to his mother. He told him to come back in four days. Săno'sa went home to his mother, and she said to him, "Stay here and do not go back to the mountains." But the boy went back to his father. He said to him, "Stay in the cave and I will go out hunting." The boy stayed in the cave all day and the bear went hunting. At evening the bear came home. He began to ask his father, "What was that you brought in last night?" The bear would not tell. Next day the boy went home again to his mother. The bear gave him meal of already baked bread. The mother asked, "Where did you get this meal?" "Well, mother, I don't know where my father gets it."

Săno'sa wanted to go hunting with his father but his father would not let him. He told him, "You are too young yet." The boy returned to his mother and stayed with her and supported her.

One day he asked his mother if she would let him work for wages so that they might live better. The boy started out to look for work. At last he found a job at the king's palace. He was sent to the mountain to herd sheep. (Continues as in preceding version.)

Footnotes

167:5 Recorded in text by Franz Boas. Informant 8. Notes, p. 245.

169:2 Informant 1.