ANŬŊG-ITE.
§ 233. Wonderful stories of beings with two faces are found among the Dakota as well as among the Omaha. Lynd[175] states the belief of the Dakota (i. e., those speaking the Santee dialect) that “women with child are but torturing sports for the vengeful Anog-ite.”
In the Omaha legend of Two Faces and the Twins[176] the pregnant mother of the Twins died as soon as she had gazed at Two Faces. In the Teton legend of He-who-Has-a-Sword and Ha-ke-la, the latter is said to have met a giant, Anuŋg-ite, or Two Faces, who pretended to be an Indian woman nursing an infant. The infant had been stolen from its parents by the Anuŋg-ite, who drew a rose brush across its face to make it cry. As soon as this was done the Two Faces said, in a woman’s voice, “A-wo! A-wo! A-wo!” that being the expression used by Teton women when they wish to soothe crying infants.
§ 234. The Indians used to hear an Anuŋg-ite or Two Faces pass along kicking the ground. When he kicked the ground with one foot bells used to ring and an owl hooted, and when he kicked with the other it seemed as if a buffalo bull was there, snorting as he does when about to charge. At the next step a chickadee was heard, and when he moved the other foot he made all kinds of animals cry out. The Indians had heard this Anuŋg-ite and were afraid of him. Now and then when a man who thought himself strong was alone when he met the Anuŋg-ite the latter surprised him by catching him and throwing him into one of his ears. These ears were so large that each could hold three men. No person knew where the Anuŋg-ite made his abode, and no one cared to follow him; no one dared to go out of doors at night. Now, there was an old man and his wife who had a lodge to themselves, and their only child was a willful boy. One night he was particularly ill-behaved, and when his mother told him to do something he disobeyed her. So she said: “I will put you out of the lodge and the Anuŋg-ite will toss you into his ear.” She did not believe this, and merely said it to frighten her son into obedience. Finding him heedless, she seized his arm and, though he began to cry, pushed him out of the lodge and fastened the entrance securely. The poor boy ran crying around the lodge, but soon there was silence. The mother in turn began to cry, and went to seek him, but she did not find him outside the lodge. The next morning she and her husband, weeping, went to seek him among the people in the neighboring camp, asking every one about him, but no one had seen him. So they returned to their lodge, and they wept many days for their son. One night the mother was weeping. Suddenly she heard some one say, “Hiⁿ! hiⁿ! You said to me: Ghost, take that one. Hiⁿ! hⁿ!” This was said often, and she noticed a rattling of small bells as the being walked along. Just then she said: “Husband, I think now that a ghost has taken my son.” The husband said: “Yes; you gave the boy to the ghost, and, of course, the ghost took him. Why should you complain? It serves you right.” Then the mother cried aloud, so that her voice might have been heard at a distance. Then said she: “Husband, to-morrow night I will lie hid by the wood-pile, and if the ghost comes I will have a knife in my hand, and after I catch it by the leg I will call to you. Be ready to come at once. You must aid me, and I will recover my son, because I know that he threw him into his ear.” So the next night she lay in wait for the monster. By and by something was coming, crying out “Hiⁿ!” and making all kinds of birds and animals cry out as it walked. She saw a very large being come and stand by the lodge. He was very tall, his head being above the smoke-hole, down which he peeped into the lodge. Suddenly the mother called to her husband, and seized one leg of the monster with both hands. Then she and her husband gashed the legs in many places, and, after tying a thong to one leg, they pulled down the monster and bound him securely. They guarded him till it was day. Then they beheld a hideous monster covered with thick hair, except on his faces. They split his ears with a knife, and within one they found their long-lost son, who was very lean and unable to speak. He had a thick coat of long hair on him from his legs up to his head, but his head and face were smooth. And he would have become an Anuŋg-ite had he not been rescued. He did not survive very long. After the parents had taken their son from the ear of the monster they put many sticks of wood on a fire, and on this they laid the monster. He soon was in flames, and they stood looking on. Many things were sent flying out of the fire in all directions, just like sparks. These were porcupine quills, bags, all kinds of feathers, arrows, pipes, birds, axes, war-clubs, flints, stones for sharpening knives, stone balls resembling billiard balls, necklaces of tuki shells, flints for striking tinder, flint hide-scrapers, whips, tobacco-pouches, all kinds of beads, etc.[177]