first laughed and then
became comically sober. H.G.L.)

"She said, 'Poor me, where shall I hide! What am I going to do!'

"She was so frightened she could not think where to go; but now she saw
a crevice under the rock where she was leaning, so she crawled in and
put the rack of wood in front of her.

"From behind the wood she could still see the bear coming and hear his
great voice. Soon he reached the rock and tore the wood away with his
great paws. Then he reached in and pulled the woman out and ripped her
open with his terrible claws and tore her heart out and ate it up.

"By this time the sun was nearly down; it was soon dark and the poor
children were still waiting for their mother just where she had left
them, but she never returned. Some one came to them and asked, 'What are
you doing here?'

"'We are watching for our mother, who went for wood, and we are waiting
for her,' they said.

"'But why does she not come when it is so late?' they said. Then they
said, 'Let's all go home; something must have happened.' So they took
the children home with them and sent some others to look for the mother.

"They followed her tracks and found the place, the mother dead, and her
heart gone. So they came back home in the dark night.

"Next day, they returned to the place and followed the bear tracks to
the woods where his home was, but never found the bear. So they went
home.

"The poor little children were very lonely and not treated very well by
the neighbors, and both children died, first the younger, and then the
older; and this is a true story." (Note: One could well imagine from the
faces of the young listeners that something like a resolution to stay
pretty close around home was passing unanimously. H.G.L.)

* * * * *

Don Talayesva of Upper Oraibi was the only one of my story-tellers who
spoke without the aid of an interpreter. He is a tall, good-looking man
of less than forty, with an expressive face and a pair of merry dark
eyes that hold a prophesy of the rich sense of humor one soon discovers
in both his conversation and his stories.

This particular tale rather gives away some state secrets as to how Hopi
children are persuaded to be good, and Don chuckled and paused to lower
his voice and see that his own small son was out of hearing, when
explaining certain parts of the story.

=The Giant and the Twin War Gods,= as told by Don Talayesva

"Well, once upon a time