, "if you will only jump off into the piskun I
will marry one of you." She did not mean this, but said it just in
fun, and as soon as she had said it, she wondered greatly when she
saw the buffalo come jumping over the edge, falling down the cliff.

A moment later a big bull jumped high over the wall of the piskun
and came toward her, and now truly she was frightened.

"Come," he said, taking hold of her arm.

"No, no," she answered, trying to pull herself away.

"But you said if the buffalo would only jump over, you would marry
one of them. Look, the piskun is full."

She did not answer, and without saying anything more he led her up
over the bluff and out on the prairie.

After the people had finished killing the buffalo and cutting up the
meat, they missed this young woman. No one knew where she had gone,
and her relations were frightened and very sad because they could
not find her. So her father took his bow and quiver and put them on
his back and said, "I will go and find her"; and he climbed the
bluff and set out over the prairie.

He travelled some distance, but saw nothing of his daughter. The sun
was hot, and at length he came to a buffalo wallow in which some
water was standing, and drank and sat down to rest. A little way off
on the prairie he saw a herd of buffalo. As the man sat there by the
wallow, trying to think what he might do to find his daughter, a
magpie came up and alighted on the ground near him. The man spoke to
it, saying, "M[)a]m-[=i]-[)a]t's[=i]-k[)i]m[)i]--Magpie--you are a
beautiful bird; help me, for I am very unhappy. As you travel about
over the prairie, look everywhere, and if you see my daughter say to
her, 'Your father is waiting by the wallow.'"

Soon the magpie flew away, and as he passed near the herd of buffalo
he saw the young woman there, and alighting on the ground near her,
he began to pick at things, turning his head this way and that, and
seeming to look for food. When he was close to the girl he said to
her, "Your father is waiting by the wallow."

"Sh-h-h! Sh-h-h!" replied the girl in a whisper, looking about her
very much frightened, for her bull husband was sleeping close by.
"Do not speak so loud. Go back and tell him to wait."

"Your daughter is over there with the buffalo. She says 'Wait,'"
said the magpie when he had flown back to the poor father.

After a little time the bull awoke and said to his wife, "Go and
bring me some water." Then the woman was g