36. THE MAN WHO MARRIED COLD'S DAUGHTER.
(continued)After a while he did not get up from his bed, and did not care to speak. They asked him what ailed him, but he would not tell. They questioned him many times. At last the old woman asked him if he was in love or wanted a wife, and he acknowledged that he did. She said, "I will ask your elder brothers when they come home if they know about any women. They go very far over the earth in their travels, and may have seen women somewhere." She questioned them; and they said that at the middle of the earth there were women, but they were not nice. The only fine girls whom they had seen lived at the other end of the earth. They were the two daughters of the Cold, but no one could go there and return alive.
Then the young man said that these were the women of whom he was thinking, and that he desired to marry the younger one. His grandmother, who feared the dangers of this undertaking, tried to induce him to change his mind. She said, "Choose a wife among our relatives in the middle part of the earth," but he persisted. Then she said, "I will help you. When you get there, you will be asked to sit on a seat of ice; and if you are not prepared, you will die." She pulled out a golden staff from under her pillow, and gave it to him, saying; "I will give you my staff. When you sit down, put it under you. It will prevent you from freezing, and will keep you warm. If you live through all the trials that you have to endure, the staff will direct you home, --either to me or to your parents' house, whichever place you may wish. Do exactly as your wife advises you. If you do not do so, you will be killed." She called in her two Eagle servants from the mountains, who were watching the gold there, and told them to transport the young man to the house of the Cold, and to give him needful advice. She told her sons to accompany them part of the way. The man hid his grandmother's staff under his shirt, mounted on the Eagles, and left. When they had passed the middle of the earth, the Eagles soared up to the sky, and asked the man to look to the north. They said, "You see there four ranges of snowy mountains. We go beyond the farthest one. There is the home of the people of the Cold. They live in three houses, --Cold and his wife in one, their elder daughter in another, and their younger daughter in the third." Then they descended, and proceeded until they were very close to the houses of the Cold. They pointed out the house of the younger daughter. The young man walked up to it and entered. When he was inside, he said to the girl, " I have come a long way to marry you. I want you for my wife." She asked him to sit down on a block of ice. She expected only the top to melt, and the man to be frozen to death. When this did not happen, she knew he was not an ordinary man. He had put up his staff; and when she looked at him, it seemed that his seat was luminous, and had turned into gold. She said, "I choose you for my husband. If you will do exactly as I tell you, all will be well; but if you don't, you will die. My father will test you." He replied, " I shall do as you tell me." She continued, "You see that high mountain over there? There is a spring of water on the other side; and my father will ask you to carry it to the place in front of his house, where it shall run without freezing. Then he will ask you to make a large lake near his house, and to gather up all the ducks and put them on it. My father will produce a severe cold, and you must prevent the lake from freezing; for if it should freeze over, the ducks would leave. After this he will order you to make a large corral with stone walls, and to drive into it all the animals, --bears, deer, coyotes, foxes, and all the rest. During these tests you must think only of me. If you think of anything else, you cannot accomplish them. When you are about to start with these undertakings, you must call me up, saying, 'O my wife! I seek your help!' and I shall be there to help you, although unseen. Now, go to my father's house."
The man went to Cold's house and shook the door. Cold told his wife to open it. He asked the man what he wanted; and the latter answered, "I have come to marry your younger daughter." Cold said, "Very well. If you can accomplish the tasks that I shall give you, and show yourself powerful, you may have her. If you do perform these tasks, you must live with us in this country. If you cannot accomplish any one of them, you shall die." The man agreed to these terms. Cold sent him across the mountain to bring the spring. He dug a ditch by drawing a line along the ground ahead of him, beginning at the spring. The water followed close behind him; and in the morning, when Cold looked out, a small creek ran past the door. He produced severely cold weather, but the water did not freeze. It only steamed, and kept quite warm.
Cold then gave him the second feat to perform. At night the man went to the assigned place, spread out his arms, making the sign of a lake, and a large lake appeared on the flat in view of Cold's house. He described a wide circle with his arms, as if gathering in something; and great numbers of ducks appeared, and flew out on the waters of the lake. On the following morning Cold saw the lake, and tried to freeze it, but did not succeed. Then he set him the third task. The young man went at night, described a circle with his arms, and a large stone enclosure appeared. He described a wider circle, and all kinds of animals appeared. He drove them into the corral. He had acted according to the girl's advice.
