_Omaha_
There were some villages which were very populous. The chief's son and
his daughter were unmarried. There were two sons. They surrounded the
herds of buffaloes. They used to kill buffaloes.
One of the sons of this chief attacked a buffalo when far apart from
the rest. He shot it; but the buffalo had gone out of sight into the
ground. The man and his horse, too, went headlong; but the buffalo
went down first.
Now the father sent out criers. "He says that his son reached the
buffaloes, but he has not come home. He says that ye who have seen his
son will please tell it," shouted the criers.
One said he had seen him. "I saw him very distinctly. He went in
pursuit. Perhaps he went headlong into a sunken place, for when on
very level ground he vanished altogether. I did not see him again," he
said.
The father commanded the people to join him in seeking his son. When
the man who had seen him said, "It was just here," the people
scattered far and wide, seeking the chief's son. All the people sought
him. Behold, he had gone down the pit some time before. The buffalo
had gone down, having kicked off a piece of the soil. The horse, too,
had gone down, having kicked off a piece of the soil.
There was no trail beyond the pit. All the people went directly to it,
without hesitation.
The pit was very large and extended far downward. The chief spoke of
removing the village there, at once. So there they camped. They camped
around the pit.
Then the chief implored the young men and those who had been his
friends. If there was one man who was stout-hearted, one who had a
firm heart, the father wished him to enter the pit and go after the
young man. So he implored them.
At length one rode round and round the village. Then he promised to
enter the pit and go after the missing son.
"Tell his father. He must also collect cords," he said.
Having cut buffalo hides in strips, he collected the cords.
"Make a round piece of skin for me, and tie the long line of cord to
it," he said. So they finished it.
"Now it matters not to what place I go, I will put the body in the
skin bucket. I go to take hold of him. When I reach the ground at the
bottom, I will pull suddenly on the cord. When I pull on it many
times, you will draw it up." Thus he said.
At last he reached the ground inside the pit. It was very dark. When
he felt around in the dark, the buffalo was lying alone, being killed
by the fall. The horse, too, was lying by itself, having been killed
by the fall. And the man lay apart from them, having been killed by
the fall.
Picking up the body of the chief's son, he put it in the hollow skin.
Then he pulled many times on the cord.
But when the young man went down, strange to say, he did not ask
favors for himself. And they rejoiced because he had put the chief's
son in the hollow skin. Having brought up the dead man they forgot the
living one.
Though he sat waiting for the hollow skin to come down again, he was
not drawn up. So he sat wailing.
Now the chief had promised him his daughter to go down into the pit.
"If you bring my son back, you shall marry her," he had said.
The young man wandered about in the darkness. At length when walking
along the trail, he came suddenly upon an old woman.
"Venerable woman, though this land is very difficult to reach, I have
come hither. I came to the hole in the ground above. One person came
hither, having fallen into this pit. I came to take him back. They
have not drawn me up; and I have no way of going back. Venerable
woman, help me." So he spoke.
"There is nothing that I can do to help you," she said. "A person is
in that place, out of sight. Go there. He is the one who will do it
for you."
He went there. When he arrived, he knocked repeatedly on the door.
Though he stood hearing them speaking, they did not open the door for
him.