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Source: Dorsey and Kroeber, from
"Anthropological Papers of the Field Museum", v 153, No. 81
There was a camp-circle. A party of women went out after some wood for
the fire. One of them saw a porcupine near a cottonwood tree and informed
her companions of the fact.
The porcupine ran around the tree ,
finally climbing it, whereupon the woman tried to hit the animal, but he
dodged from one side of the trunk of the tree to the other, for
protection. At length one of the women started to climb the tree to
catch the porcupine, but it ever stopped just beyond her reach. She even
tried to reach it with a stick, but with each effort it went a little
higher.
"Well!" said she, "I am climbing to
catch the porcupine, for I want those quills, and if necessary I will go
to the top."
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When porcupine had reached the top of
the tree the woman was
still climbing, although the cottonwood was
dangerous and the branches were waving to and fro; but as she approached
the top and was about to lay hands upon the porcupine, the tree suddenly
lengthened, when the porcupine resumed his climbing.
Looking down, she saw her friends
looking up at her, and beckoning her to come down; but having passed
under the influence of the porcupine and fearful for the great distance
between herself and the ground, she continued to climb, until she became
the merest speck to those looking up from below, and with the porcupine
she finally reached the sky.
The
porcupine took the woman into the camp-circle where his father and
mother lived. The folks welcomed her arrival and furnished her with the
very best kind of accommodation. The lodge was then put up for them to
live in. The porcupine was very industrious and of course the old folks
were well supplied with hides and food.
One day she decided to save all the
sinew from the buffalo, at the same time doing work on buffalo robes and
other things with it, in order to avoid all suspicion on the part of her
husband and the old folks, as to why she was saving the sinew. Thus she
continued to save a portion of the sinew from each beef brought in by
her husband, until she had a supply suitable for her purpose.
One day her husband cautioned her
that while in search of roots, wild turnips and other herbs, she should
not dig and that should she use the digging stick, she should not dig
too deep, and that she should go home early when out for a walk.
The husband was constantly bringing
in the beef and hide, in order that he might keep his wife at work at
home all the time. But she was a good worker and soon finished what was
required for them.
Seeing that she had done considerable
work, one day she started out in search of hog potatoes, and carried
with her the digging stick. She ran to a thick patch and kept digging
away to fill her bag. She accidentally struck a hole which surprised her
very much, and so she stooped down and looked in and through the hole,
seeing below, a green earth with a camp-circle on it.
After questioning herself and
recognizing the camp-circle below, she carefully covered the spot and
marked it. She took the bag and went to her own tipi, giving the folks
some of the hog potatoes. The old folks were pleased and ate the hog
potatoes to satisfy their daughter-in-law. The husband returned home
too, bringing in beef and hides.
Early one morning the husband started
off for more beef and hides, telling his wife to be careful about
herself.
After he was gone, she took the
digging stick and the sinew she had to the place where she struck the
hole. When she got to the hole, she sat down and began tying string, so
as to make the sinew long enough to reach the bottom.
She then opened the hole and laid the
digging stick across the hole which she had dug, and tied one of the
sinew strings in the center of this stick, and then also fastened
herself to the end of the lariat. She gradually loosened the sinew
lariat as she let herself down, finally finding herself suspended above
the top of the tree which she had climbed, but not near enough so that
she could possibly reach it.
When the husband missed her, he
scolded the old people for not watching their daughter-in-law. He began
to look for her in the direction in which she usually started off, but
found no fresh tracks, though he kept traveling until he tracked her to
the digging stick which was lying across the hole.
The husband stooped down and looked
into this hole and saw his wife suspended from this stick by means of a
sinew lariat or string. "Well, the only way to do is to see her touch
the bottom," said he. So he looked around and found a circular stone two
or three inches thick, and brought it to the place.
Again he continued, "I want this
stone to light right on top of her head," and he dropped the stone
carefully along the sinew string, and it struck the top of her head and
broke her off and landed her safe on the ground. She took up the stone
and went to the camp-circle.
This is the way the woman returned.
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