Atondido Stories
The Youth and the Dog-Dance
Once long ago, when the Indians dwelt in the country in the
north-west, a youth went far away from his native village to
catch birds. His people lived near a lake where only small birds
nested, and as he wanted large and bright-coloured feathers for
his arrows and his bonnet he had to go far into the forest, where
larger birds of brilliant plumage lived. When he reached the
Land of Many Feathers far in the north country, he dug a pit on
the top of a high hill. Then he covered the pit with poles and
over the poles he spread grass and leaves so that the place
looked like the earth around it. He put meat and corn on the
grass, and tied the food to the poles so that the birds could not
carry it away. Then he climbed down into the pit and waited for
the birds to come, when he could reach up and catch them by
the feet and kill them.
All day long and far into the night the youth waited for
birds, but no birds came. Towards morning he heard a distant
sound like that of a partridge drumming. But the sound did not
come nearer. The next night, as the youth watched and waited in
the pit, he heard the same sound, and he said, "I will see where
the noise comes from and I will discover the cause, for it is not a
partridge, and it is very strange." So he climbed out of the pit
and went in the direction of the sound. He walked along rapidly
through the forest until he came at dawn to the shore of a large
lake. The drumming came from somewhere in the lake, but as he
stood listening to it, the sound suddenly stopped. The next night
the youth heard the drumming louder than before. Again he
went to the lake. The sound was again distinct as it rose from the
water, and when he looked he saw great numbers of birds and
animals swimming in the lake in the moonlight. But there was
no explanation of the strange sound. As he sat watching the
78