Hither westward a youth went hunting rabbits. Then night came. Somewhere there was light. Then he spoke, "I shall go there. I shall lie down there." Then he arrived. "Inside!" he said. "Heh," said two Yellow Women, "Come in," they said to him. Then he entered. "Sit down!" said the two. Two Yellow Women were there. "Eat!" they said, and gave him to eat. Then the Yellow Women spoke thus, "Our father is not here. He went to Cochiti. He will come and arrive soon. Don't be afraid," they said. Then their father arrived. He entered. At once he knew. "What have you two been doing here?" said their father to them. "My elder sister made him come in." "Indeed, my younger sister made him come in." "Where did he go?" they were told. "Indeed, he is inside underneath there." "Take him out from there." Then they took him out. Then their father said this to him, "Now eat! I brought lunch from Cochiti." Then he ate. He had eaten enough. Now he wanted to go. Then he spoke thus, "I will go," said the youth. "Go along!" said their father to him. "Go along, you will go now. When you arrive you will plant corn. Then when my daughters have given birth they will go together with their children. They will go and eat sweet corn." Then they went. They arrived below where he had his corn fields. They were eating. The Youth went from here. He went to look and found two bears. Little ones accompanied both. He came back to tell here in Cochiti. Then the people went to kill the little bears. Then the two old ones went back to where they dwelt. They told their father. He became angry. The man went hunting again. Then somewhere he met the bear man. Then he said this to him, "Why did you allow them to kill your children? Now you also will die." Then he killed him also.
Arrow Boy was a great hunter, and brought much venison for his father and mother. He hunted every day. One night it grew dark while he was still in the mountains, and he slept there. Next
day he came home. By evening he had reached White Banks, and he saw a light in the cliffs. "There must be somebody living here," he said. "I will stay here to-night. I will go over and see what light it is." He came close and saw two girls passing back and forth before the fire. The two girls saw him down below. "Who is that down below?" "Arrow Boy," the younger said to the elder, "Ask him to come in." She called to Arrow Boy and he came into the house. The elder girl said, "Where did you come from?" "I was hunting near by and I saw the light of your fire here. I came to find whose it was." "We live alone." The eldest said, "sit down," and she brought him a stool and gave him food. The two girls were bear's daughters. They had taken off their cloaks and they were human girls. The girls asked, "What have you killed to-day? How hard a time have you had?" They talked kindly. They told him that their father and mother had gone to Cochiti because in Cochiti it was corn harvest time. They wanted corn for their family. They said, "Don't be afraid when they come in. They will not harm you."
Early before the first signs of daybreak, the bears started home from the Cochiti fields. Those who lived far off (to the north where the bears come from) started for their homes, and the father and mother of the two girls started for their home. The girls heard their father and mother coming, and they recognized their voices. They put Arrow Boy in a skin and wrapped him up and laid him to one side. Soon they heard their father and mother stop at the, bottom of the ladder outside. They dropped the loads they were carrying. The girls were standing ready with their soap-weed fibre ropes waiting for their father and mother 28 The bear father came in first. His hair was standing up. The bear mother came in and her hair was standing up too. They did not stop in the outer room but went on into the inner room and came back in human form. Their father said to the daughters, "You must have done something wrong." The elder would not tell. The younger began to cry, "I didn't do it. It was my sister." The father said, "What is it she did?" The younger sister said, "My sister let Arrow Boy into our house." "Where is he?" The younger answered, "Wrapped in that skin in the corner of the room." The father told the girls to take him out of the skin. They obeyed. The father said, "Deer hunter, are you hunting around here yet?" "Yes." "You are welcome to my home. You are welcome to have supper with us." The girls set out wafer bread and all sorts of meat and corn. So he was invited, and ate supper with them. When it was over, the father told Arrow Boy, [paragraph continues]
"Whenever you are delayed on the hunt you are welcome here." The mother also said, "Any time you are delayed on the hunt, you are welcome here."
Next day Arrow Boy went home but he did not stay long. He was thinking of the girls in the cave. He went hunting again. After be had killed deer he went back to the girls' cave. Every day he did this; he went after game and then stayed at night with the girls. Soon the girls were about to have children. He, always hunted for them now and took all his game to the bear girls. Arrow Boy did not tell of his experiences in the pueblo, but he never brought game there any more.
The bear girls both had children. The bear father told Arrow Boy, "If you are willing to make, your home with us, you are welcome." Arrow Boy was glad of this, for he did not love his own home any more. He stayed with the bears. At last he said to the bear father and mother, "I will go back to the pueblo to plant corn for my children." So in the spring he went back and started a field of corn for the bears. His father told him, "Provide for your children; call us when the corn is ready in the fall."
Arrow Boy did not come back to the bears' cave after he had planted the field; he stayed with his own father and mother in the pueblo. The bears did not like this, and the bear grandfather said to his grandchildren, "When you go down to Cochiti to get the corn, you must bring your father back with you."
In Cochiti the field of corn was ready for the bears. Arrow Boy thought to himself, "When the bears come, I will call the people of the pueblo and tell them I have found bears in my field of corn and in this way I shall be rid of the bears." So when the corn was ripe he went to the bears' cave and told his children, "The corn is ripe. Come over and get the corn I have planted for you." He told them just which corner of the field was meant for them.
Next night when the bears had come down to get their corn, Arrow Boy went down to the field and found the bears there in the corn where he had told them to gather it. He went back to the pueblo and roused the people; he said, "I have found bears eating in my field." The people all came out and chased the bears toward the mountains. As they got close they heard one of the little bears say, "I shall be overtaken. I am too tired to go on," Then the grandfather bear took the little cubs on his back and carried them. The people came on behind, and Arrow Boy was ahead of all the others. The grandfather bear turned upon him and caught him in his arms and killed him. He ripped his body with his claws and took out his heart and carried it back to his home. So Arrow Boy was taken back by his children. Everybody wondered what they
ought to do, but they did not know. So the bear children kept their father with them, and he never returned again to the pueblo.
111:7 Recorded in text by Franz Boas. Informant 8. Notes, p. 229.
111:27 Informants 1 and 2, the former telling the story of an unnamed hero. Also Dumarest, 234.
112:28 To help draw up the corn they had brought.