The children were playing and shouting, but the child paid no attention to them. His aunt carried him around; she liked him, she wanted to keep him in her arms all the time.
The mother didn’t feel happy. She knew what was happening at her father-in-law’s house. She wanted her husband to [[225]]take care of the child himself, as she had told him. When she heard the children whooping and running, she got frightened and started off to save her child.
The young sister began to play with the children. She put the boy down, and he ran around, too, but he began to run the way a bear runs. He slapped one child, then another. He pushed them down and drove them around. The children screamed, they thought he was a real bear.
When the mother was half-way, she began to cry. She knew harm would come to the boy before she could get to him.
There was a great noise among the children. Tusasás screamed. “People! People! A bear is eating your children!” The boy was just playing as a little bear plays. Tusasás got his bow and arrow and shot the child under the arm. That minute he was a little boy again. The father thought his sister had the child in her arms. When he heard the noise he knew what had happened. He called to the people: “That is my child! That is my child!” but he was too late; the boy was dead.
The mother came with a terrible roar. The earth trembled. When she shook herself, it was as if the earth was turning over. She tore up the ground, pulled up trees; tore big rocks from under the earth and threw them around like little stones. When she got near, she shook herself; the earth moved and the houses fell. A terrible storm of dirt and wind came with her. She was in the middle of the whirlwind. It was dark and nobody could see her.[1]
There were two orphans, a boy and girl, in the village. They were little people; they didn’t grow any, but the girl was strong and she knew things. She always carried a long stick, sharp at both ends. When the people thought they were going to be killed, the girl told her grandmother to paint her stick red. Then she painted red lines across her forehead, breast, and stomach, and on the top of her arms, and went and sat down in front of where Lok Snewédjas was coming, twisting and tearing up the earth. Lok Snewédjas turned and [[226]]passed on the right side. Just then the girl punched her stick into the middle of the whirlwind. The storm stopped that minute, and there on the ground lay a beautiful young woman in a dress covered with beads and porcupine quills.
The young man cried. He knew that he had killed his wife and child by not doing as she had told him to. He got Gäk’s medicine basket and put it on the boy, then he stepped over him and the child came to life. But he couldn’t bring Lok Snewédjas to life in that way. Everybody felt sorry. They didn’t know who lived in the world that could make the woman alive again.
The young man said: “If we can bring her to life, she will never be a bear again.”
Blaiwas said: “I will give nice things, deerskins, shells, and porcupine quills to anybody who will bring this woman to life.”