103. The Girl who sought her Brothers.
(cont.)

When she saw that her brothers did not return, she was sorry for what she had done, and cried much. She waited for them four years. and then went to seek them. She reached another country, where she came to a lodge inhabited by an old man. She told him her story, and he advised her to continue travelling until she came to a large tree with a branching top which reached the sky. He. told her to climb up and sit in the top, and not to speak for ten years, at the expiration of which time she would see her brothers.

She did as directed, and after four years a family camped near the tree, and a young man came out the next morning to chop it down. He saw the young woman sitting in the tree-top, and, returning to the camp, he asked his father to go out and bring her in. He took her down from the tree,
and she became the wife of his son ; but still she never spoke.

After six years. the father said. "It is useless having a daughter-in-law that is dumb. It will be better to get rid of her.' He made a huge pile of wood, and, after placing the girl on top of it, he set fhre to it. When he flames had reached  the girl, and she was about to burn, four thunder birds came out of the clouds with a loud noise, and rain and hail fell so heavily that the fire went out. Then the girl spoke, for the time in which she had to keep silence had expired. She talked to the thunder-birds, who were her brothers, and they took her back with them to the upper world.
 

104. Old-One : or Chief and the Aged Couple;
or, The Introduction of Corn.

Old-One¹ came down from above to finish putting the earth to rights.He travelled in the form of an old, decrepit man with long white hair, bent back, and face and body all wrinkles. He was dirty, and had a running nose and sore eyes. On his garments and body there were many lice. For this reason nobody cared to have him enter his house, nor would the people invite him to stay nor give him food, clothes, or shelter.

When he had about finished his work, and had travelled from one end of the earth to the other, he came to to house, where lived a poor and aged couple by themselves. They were barely able to get enough food to keep themselves alive. Only the woman was at home when Old-One came along, she pitied him, saying, "He is in about the same condition as we are." She invited him to enter, spread her blanket for him to sit on, and gave him water and foods² to eat. She was afraid that her husband would be angry with her for giving their last morsel to such a dirty old fellow; but, upon his arrival, he pitied him also, and commended her for treating the poor stranger so kindly.
 

1 Some say, the God of Whithes
2 Some say, mush of water and flour
 

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