g
Iktomi brood to the place where he had left the turtle, but it was
vacant. Nowhere was there any sign of Patkasa or the deer. Then the
babes did howl!

"Be still!" said father Iktomi to his children. "I know where Patkasa
lives. Follow me. I shall take you to the turtle's dwelling." He ran
along a narrow footpath toward the creek near by. Close upon his heels
came his children with tear-streaked faces.

"There!" said Iktomi in a loud whisper as he gathered his little ones on
the bank. "There is Patkasa broiling venison! There is his teepee, and
the savory fire is in his front yard!"

The young Iktomis stretched their necks and rolled their round black
eyes like newly hatched birds. They peered into the water.

"Now, I will cool Patkasa's fire. I shall bring you the broiled venison.
Watch closely. When you see the black coals rise to the surface of the
water, clap your hands and shout aloud, for soon after that sign I shall
return to you with some tender meat."

Thus saying Iktomi plunged into the creek. Splash! splash! the water
leaped upward into spray. Scarcely had it become leveled and smooth
than there bubbled up many black spots. The creek was seething with the
dancing of round black things.

"The cooled fire! The coals!" laughed the brood of Iktomis. Clapping
together their little hands, they chased one another along the edge of
the creek. They shouted and hooted with great glee.

"Ahas!" said a gruff voice across the water. It was Patkasa. In a large
willow tree leaning far over the water he sat upon a large limb. On the
very same branch was a bright burning fire over which Patkasa broiled
the venison. By this time the water was calm again. No more danced those
black spots on its surface, for they were the toes of old Iktomi. He was
drowned.

The Iktomi children hurried away from the creek, crying and calling for
their water-dead father.

DANCE IN A BUFFALO SKULL

IT was night upon the prairie. Overhead the stars were twinkling bright
their red and yellow lights. The moon was young. A silvery thread among
the stars, it soon drifted low beneath the horizon.

Upon the ground the land was pitchy black. There are night people on the
plain who love the dark. Amid the black level land they meet to frolic
under the stars. Then when their sharp ears hear any strange footfalls
nigh they scamper away into the deep shadows of night. There they are
safely hid from all dangers, they think.

Thus it w