_Teton_
A young man went alone on the warpath. At length he reached a wood.
One day, as he was going along, he heard a voice. He said, "I shall
have company." As he was approaching a forest, he heard some one
halloo. Behold, it was an owl.
By and by he drew near another wood, and as night was coming on he lay
down to rest. At the edge of the trees he lay down in the open air. At
midnight he was aroused by the voice of a woman. She was wailing, "My
son! my son!" Still he remained where he was, and put more wood on the
fire. He lay with his back to the fire. He tore a hole in his blanket
large enough to peep through.
Soon he heard twigs break under the feet of one approaching, so he
looked through his blanket without rising. Behold, a woman of the
olden days was coming. She wore a skin dress with long fringe. A
buffalo robe was fastened around her at the waist. Her necklace was
of very large beads, and her leggings were covered with beads or
porcupine work. Her robe was drawn over her head and she was snuffing
as she came.
The man lay with his legs stretched out, and she stood by him. She
took him by one foot, which she raised very slowly. When she let it
go, it fell with a thud as though he were dead. She raised it a second
time; then a third time. Still the man did not move. Then the woman
pulled a very rusty knife from the front of her belt, seized his foot
suddenly and was about to lift it and cut it, when up sprang the man.
He said, "What are you doing?" Then he shot at her suddenly. She ran
into the forest screaming, "_Yun! yun! yun! yun! yun! yun!_" She
plunged into the forest and was seen no more.
Again the man covered his head with his blanket but he did not sleep.
When day came, he raised his eyes. Behold, there was a burial
scaffold, with the blankets all ragged and dangling. He thought, "Was
this the ghost that came to me?"
Again he came to a wood where he had to remain for the night. He
started a fire. As he sat there, suddenly he heard someone singing. He
made the woods ring. The man shouted to the singer, but no answer was
paid. The man had a small quantity of _wasna_, which was grease mixed
with pounded buffalo meat, and wild cherry; he also had plenty of
tobacco.
So when the singer came and asked him for food, the man said, "I have
nothing." The ghost said, "Not so; I know you have some _wasna_."
Then the man gave some of it to the ghost and filled his pipe. After
the meal, when the stranger took the pipe and held it by the stem, the
traveler saw that it was nothing but bones. There was no flesh. Then
the stranger's robe dropped back from his shoulders. Behold, all his
ribs were visible. There was no flesh on them. The ghost did not open
his lips when he smoked. The smoke came pouring out through his ribs.
When he had finished smoking, the ghost said, "Ho! we must wrestle
together. If you can throw me, you shall kill the enemy without
hindrance and steal some horses."
The young man agreed. But first he threw an armful of brush on the
fire. He put plenty of brush near the fire.
Then the ghost rushed at the man. He seized him with his bony hands,
which was very painful; but this mattered not. The man tried to push
off the ghost, whose legs were very powerful. When the ghost was
pulled near the fire, he became weak; but when he pulled the young man
toward the darkness, he became strong. As the fire got low, the
strength of the ghost increased. Just as the man began to get weary,
the day broke. Then the struggle began again. As they drew near the
fire again, the man made a last effort; with his foot he pushed more
brush into the fire. The fire blazed up again suddenly. Then the ghost
fell, just as if he was coming to pieces.
So the man won in wrestling. Also he killed his enemy and stole some
horses. It came out just as the ghost said. That is why people believe
what ghosts say.