no words came out of their mouths,--only a great foam. Then
the Raven gave it to others that he did not love; they were twisted an'
died. At last there was no more of the powder of the whirlwind; the
Raven must wait till Sublette came up the Big-Muddy again an' brought him
more.
"'There was a man, the Gray Elk, who was of the Raven's people. The Gray
Elk was a _Choo-ayk-eed_, a great prophet. And the Gray Elk had a wife;
she was wise an' beautiful, an' her name was Squaw-who-has-dreams. But
Gray Elk called her _Kee-nee-moo-sha_, the Sweetheart.
"'While the Raven waited for Sublette to bring him more powder of the
whirlwind, a star with a long tail came into the sky. This star with the
tail made the Raven heap cur'ous. He asked Gray Elk to tell him about
it, for he was a prophet. The Raven asked many questions; they fell from
him like leaves from a tree in the month of the first ice. So the Gray
Elk called _Chee-bee_, the Spirit; an' the Spirit told the Gray Elk.
Then the Gray Elk told the Raven.'
"'It was not a tail, it was blood--star blood; an' the star had been bit
an' was wounded, but would get well. The Sun was the father of the
stars, an' the Moon was their mother. The Sun, _Gheezis_, tried ever to
pursue an' capture an' eat his children, the stars. So the stars all ran
an' hid when the Sun was about. But the stars loved their mother who was
good an' never hurt them; an' when the Sun went to sleep at night an'
_Coush-ee-wan_, the Darkness, shut his eyes, the Moon an' her children
came together to see each other. But the star that bled had been caught
by the Sun; it got out of his mouth but was wounded. Now it was
frightened, so it always kept its face to where the Sun was sleeping over
in the west. The bleeding star, _Sch-coo-dah_, would get well an' its
wound would heal.
"'Then the Raven wanted to know how the Gray Elk knew all this. An' the
Gray Elk had the Raven into the medicine lodge that night; an' the Raven
heard the spirits come about an' heard their voices; but he could not
understand. Also, the Raven saw a wolf all fire, with wings like the
eagle which flew overhead. Also he heard the Thunder, _Boom-wa-wa_,
talking with the Gray Elk; but the Raven couldn't understand. The Gray
Elk told the Raven to draw his knife an' stab with it in the air outside
the medicine lodge. An' when he did, the Raven's blade an' hand came
back covered with blood. Still, the Raven was cur'ous an' k
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