k her brother on her back, and went
out and gathered a big pile of wood, and brought it to the lodge before the
old woman was awake. When she got up, she called to the girl, "Go to the
river and get a bucket of water." The girl put her brother on her back, and
took the bucket to go. The old woman said to her: "Why do you carry that
child everywhere? Leave him here." The girl said: "Not so. He is always
with me, and if I leave him he will cry and make a great noise, and you
will not like that." The old woman grumbled, but the girl went on down to
the river.

When she got there, just as she was going to fill her bucket, she saw
standing by her a great bull. It was a mountain buffalo, one of those who
live in the timber; and the long hair of its head was all full of pine
needles and sticks and branches, and matted together. (It was a
_Su'ye-st[)u]'mik_, a water bull.) When the girl saw him, she prayed him to
take her across the river, and so to save her and her little brother from
the bad old woman. The bull said, "I will take you across, but first you
must take some of the sticks out of my head." The girl begged him to start
at once; but the bull said, "No, first take the sticks out of my head." The
girl began to do it, but before she had done much, she heard the old woman
calling to her to bring the water. The girl called back, "I am trying to
get the water clear," and went on fixing the buffalo's head. The old woman
called again, saying, "Hurry, hurry with that water." The girl answered,
"Wait, I am washing my little brother." Pretty soon the old woman called
out, "If you don't bring that water, I will kill you and your brother." By
this time the girl had most of the sticks out of the bull's head, and he
told her to get on his back, and went into the water and swam with her
across the river. As he reached the other bank, the girl could see the old
woman coming from her lodge down to the river with a big stick in her hand.

When the bull reached the bank, the girl jumped off his back and started
off on the trail of the camp. The bull swam back again to the other side of
the river, and there stood the old woman. This bull was a sort of servant
of the old woman. She said to him: "Why did you take those children across
the river? Take me on your back now and carry me across quickly, so that I
can catch them." The bull said, "First take these sticks out of my head."
"No," said the old woman; "first take me across, then I will