第28章

Stone Boy opened the door and his ten uncles came forth in the flesh,thanking him and blessing him for restoring them to life.Only the little finger of the youngest uncle was missing.Stone Boy now heartlessly broke the four remaining eggs,and took the little finger of the largest boy to supply the missing bone.

"They all returned to earth again and Stone Boy conducted his uncles to his mother's lodge.

She had never slept during his entire absence,but watched incessantly the pillow upon which her boy was wont to rest his head,and by which she was to know of his safety.Going a little in advance of the others,he suddenly rushed forward into her teepee,exclaiming:'Mother,your ten brothers are coming--prepare a feast!'

"For some time after this they all lived happily together.Stone Boy occupied himself with soli-tary hunting.He was particularly fond of hunt-ing the fiercer wild animals.He killed them wan-tonly and brought home only the ears,teeth and claws as his spoil,and with these he played as he laughingly recounted his exploits.His mother and uncles protested,and begged him at least to spare the lives of those animals held sacred by the Da-kotas,but Stone Boy relied upon his supernatural powers to protect him from harm.

"One evening,however,he was noticeably silent and upon being pressed to give the reason,replied as follows:

"'For some days past I have heard the animals talking of a conspiracy against us.I was going west the other morning when I heard a crier an-nouncing a general war upon Stone Boy and his people.The crier was a Buffalo,going at full speed from west to east.Again,I heard the Beaver conversing with the Musk-rat,and both said that their services were already promised to overflow the lakes and rivers and cause a destructive flood.

I heard,also,the little Swallow holding a secret council with all the birds of the air.He said that he had been appointed a messenger to the Thunder Birds,and that at a certain signal the doors of the sky would be opened and rains descend to drown Stone Boy.Old Badger and the Grizzly Bear are appointed to burrow underneath our fortifica-tions.

"'However,I am not at all afraid for myself,but I am anxious for you,Mother,and for my uncles.'

"'Ugh!'grunted all the uncles,'we told you that you would get into trouble by killing so many of our sacred animals for your own amuse-ment.

"'But,'continued Stone Boy,'I shall make a good resistance,and I expect you all to help me.'

"Accordingly they all worked under his direc-tion in preparing for the defence.First of all,he threw a pebble into the air,and behold a great rocky wall around their teepee.A second,third,fourth and fifth pebble became other walls with-out the first.From the sixth and seventh were formed two stone lodges,one upon the other.

The uncles.meantime,made numbers of bows and quivers full of arrows,which were ranged at con-venient distances along the tops of the walls.His mother prepared great quantities of food and made many moccasins for her boy,who declared that he would defend the fortress alone.

"At last they saw the army of beasts advancing,each tribe by itself and commanded by a leader of extraordinary size.The onset was terrific.They flung themselves against the high walls with sav-age cries,while the badgers and other burrowing animals ceaselessly worked to undermine them.

Stone Boy aimed his sharp arrows with such deadly effect that his enemies fell by thousands.

So great was their loss that the dead bodies of the animals formed a barrier higher than the first,and the armies retired in confusion.

"But reinforcements were at hand.The rain fell in torrents;the beavers had dammed all the rivers and there was a great flood.The besieged all retreated into the innermost lodge,but the water poured in through the burrows made by the badgers and gophers,and rose until Stone Boy's mother and his ten uncles were all drowned.

Stone Boy himself could not be entirely destroyed,but he was overcome by his enemies and left half buried in the earth,condemned never to walk again,and there we find him to this day.

"This was because he abused his strength,and destroyed for mere amusement the lives of the creatures given him for use only."