boldly. He said to
the people, "It is solid. It is ripe." Then he pulled apart the husks,
and said, "It is red."

He took a few of the grains and showed them to the people. He ate
some. He did not die. So the people knew Wahkoda had sent this plant
to them for food.

Now in the fall, when the prairie grass turned brown, the leaves of
this plant turned brown also. Then the fruit was plucked, and put
away. After the winter was over, the kernels were divided. There were
four to each family.

Then the people moved the lodges to the place where the plant had
grown. When the hills became green, they planted the seed of the
strange plant. But first they built little mounds like the one out of
which it grew. So the fruit grew and ripened. It had many colors; red,
and yellow, and white, and blue.

Then the next year there were many plants and many ears of corn. So
they sent to other tribes. They invited them to visit them and gave
them of the new food. Thus the Omahas came to have corn.

TRADITION OF THE FINDING OF HORSES

_Ponca_

Long ago, the people followed the Missouri River northward to a place
where they could step over the water. Then they turned, and were going
across the land. Then they met the Padouca [Comanche].

At that time the Ponca had no animals but dogs to help them carry
burdens. Wherever they went they had to go on foot, but the people
were strong and fleet. They could run a great distance and not be
weary. One day when they were hunting buffalo, they met the Padouca.
Then they had many battles with them. The Padouca were mounted on
strange animals. At first the Ponca thought it was all one animal. The
Padouca had bows made from elk horn. They were not very long, nor were
they very strong. They boiled the horn until it was soft; then they
scraped it, and bound it together with sinews and glue. Their arrows
were tipped with bone. They fought also with a stone battle-ax. The
handle was a sapling; a grooved stone ax head, pointed at both ends,
was fastened to this with rawhides. So the Padouca were terrible
fighters. They protected their horses with a covering of thick rawhide
cut in round pieces, and put together like fish scales. They spread
glue over the outside and then sand. So when the Comanches fought, the
arrows of their enemies glanced off the horses' armor. Then the
Padouca made breastplates for themselves like those of the horses.

When the Ponca met these terrible warriors, they w