swoon, and was rolled up in a blanket by the witch

and placed beside his brother at the opposite side of the room.
When the second brother failed to return, the third went in search

of the two missing ones. He fared no better than the second one,
as he met the old witch who served him in a similar manner as she

had his two brothers.
"Ha! Ha!" she laughed, when she caught the third, "I have only one

more of them to catch, and when I get them I will keep them all
here a year, and then I will turn them into horses and sell them

back to their sister. I hate her, for I was going to
try and keep house for them and marry the oldest one, but she got

ahead of me and became their sister, so now I will get my revenge
on her. Next year she will be riding and driving her brothers and

she won't know it."
When the third brother failed to return, the sister cried and

begged the last one not to venture out in search of them. But go
he must, and go he did, only to do as his three brothers had done.

Now the poor sister was nearly distracted. Day and night she
wandered over hills and through woods in hopes she might find or

hear of some trace of them. Her wanderings were in vain. The
hawks had not seen them after they had crossed the little stream.

The wolves and coyotes told her that they had seen nothing of her
brothers out on the broad plains, and she had given them up for

dead.
One day, as she was sitting by the little stream that flowed past

their hut, throwing pebbles into the water and wondering what she
should do, she picked up a pure white pebble, smooth and round, and

after looking at it for a long time, threw it into the water. No
sooner had it hit the water than she saw it grow larger. She took

it out and looked at it and threw it in again. This time it had
assumed the form of a baby. She took it out and threw it in the

third time and the form took life and began to cry: "Ina, ina"
(mother, mother). She took the baby home and fed it soup, and it

being an unnatural baby, quickly grew up to a good sized boy. At
the end of three months he was a good big, stout youth. One day he

said: "Mother, why are you living here alone? To whom do all these
fine clothes and moccasins belong?" She then told him the story of

her lost brothers. "Oh, I know now where they are. You make me
lots of arrows. I am going to find my uncles." She tried to

dissuade him from going, but he was determined and said: "My father
sent me to you so that I could find my uncles for you, and nothing

can harm me, because I am stone and my name is "Stone Boy."
The mother, seeing that he was determined to go, made a whole

quiver full of arrows for him, and off he started. When he came to
the old witch's hut, she was nowhere to be seen, so he pushed the

door in and entered. The witch was busily engaged cooking dinner.
"Why, my dear grandchild, you are just in time for dinner. Sit

down and we will eat before you continue your journey." Stone boy
sat down and ate dinner with the old witch. She watched him very

closely, but when she would be drinking her soup he would glance
hastily around the room. Finally he saw the four bundles on the

opposite side of the room, and he guessed at once that there lay
his four uncles. When he had finished eating he took out his

little pipe and filled it with "kini-kinic," and commenced to
smoke, wondering how the old woman had managed to fool his smart

uncles. He couldn't study it out, so when he had finished his
smoke he arose to pretend to go. When the old woman saw him

preparing to leave, she said: "Grandson, will you kick me on the
left side of my backbone. I am nearly dead with pain and if you

kick me good and hard it will cure me." "All right, grandma," said
the boy. The old witch lay down on the floor and the boy started

in to kick. At the first kick he barely touched her. "Kick as
hard as you can, grandson; don't be afraid you will hurt me,

because you can't." With that Stone Boy let drive and broke two
ribs. She commenced to yell and beg him to stop, but he kept on

kicking until he had kicked both sides of her ribs loose from the
backbone. Then he jumped on her backbone and broke it and killed

the old witch.
He built a big fire outside and dragged her body to it, and threw

her into the fire. Thus ended the old woman who was going to turn
his uncles into horses.

Next he cut willows and stuck them into the ground in a circle.
The tops he pulled together, making a wickieup. He then took the

old woman's robes and blankets and covered the wickieup so that no
air could get inside. He then gathered sage brush and covered the

floor with a good thick bed of sage; got nice round stones and got
them red hot in the fire, and placed them in the wickieup and

proceeded to carry his uncles out of the hut and lay them down on
the soft bed of sage. Having completed carrying and depositing

them around the pile of rocks, he got a bucket of water and poured
it on the hot rocks, which caused a great vapor in the little

wickieup. He waited a little while and then listened and
heard some breathing inside, so he got another bucket and poured

that on also. After awhile he could hear noises inside as though
some one were moving about. He went again and got the third bucket

and after he had poured that on the rocks, one of the men inside
said: "Whoever you are, good friend, don't bring us to life only to

scald us to death again." Stone boy then said: "Are all of you
alive?" "Yes," said the voice. "Well, come out," said the boy.

And with that he threw off the robes and blankets, and a great
cloud of vapor arose and settled around the top of the highest peak

on the long range, and from that did Smoky Range derive its name.
The uncles, when they heard who the boy was, were very happy, and

they all returned together to the anxiouslywaiting sister. As
soon as they got home, the brothers worked hard to gather enough

wood to last them all winter. Game they could get at all times of
the year, but the heavy fall of snow covered most of the dry wood

and also made it very difficult to drag wood through the deep snow.
So they took advantage of the nice fall weather and by the time the

snow commenced falling they had enough wood gathered to last them
throughout the winter. After the snow fell a party of boys swiftly

coasted down the big hill west of the brothers' hut. The Stone boy
used to stand and watch them for hours at a time. His youngest

uncle said: "Why don't you go up and coast with them?" The boy
said: "They may be afraid of me, but I guess I will try once,

anyway." So the next morning when the crowd came coasting, Stone
boy started for the hill. When he had nearly reached the bottom of

the coasting hill all of the boys ran off excepting two little
fellows who had a large coaster painted in different colors and had

little bells tied around the edges, so when the coaster was in
motion the bells made a cheerful tinkling sound. As Stone boy

started up the hill the two little fellows started down and went
past him as though shot from a hickory bow.

When they got to the end of their slide, they got off and started
back up the hill. It being pretty steep, Stone boy waited for

them, so as to lend a hand to pull the big coaster up the hill. As
the two little fellows came up with him he knew at once that they

were twins, as they looked so much alike that the only way one
could be distinguished from the other was by the scarfs they wore.

One wore red, the other black. He at once offered to help them
drag their coaster to the top of the hill. When they got to the

top the twins offered their coaster to him to try a ride. At first
he refused, but they insisted on his taking it, as they said they

would sooner rest until he came back. So he got on the coaster and
flew down the hill, only he was such an expert he made a zigzag

course going down and also jumped the coaster off a bank about four
feet high, which none of the other coasters dared to tackle. Being

very heavy, however, he nearly smashed the coaster. Upon seeing
this wonderful jump, and the zigzag course he had taken going down,

the twins went wild with excitement and decided that they would
have him take them down when he got back. So upon his arrival at

the starting point, they both asked him at once to give them the
pleasure of the same kind of a ride he had taken. He refused,

saying: "We will break your coaster. I alone nearly smashed it,
and if we all get on and make the same kind of a jump, I am afraid

you will have to go home without your coaster."
"Well, take us down anyway, and if we break it our father will make

us another one." So he finally consented. When they were all
seated ready to start, he told them that when the coaster made the

jump they must look straight ahead. "By no means look down,
because if you do we will go over the cut bank and land in a heap

at the bottom of the gulch."
They said they would obey what he said, so off they started swifter

than ever, on account of the extra weight, and so swiftly did the
sleigh glide over the packed, frozen snow, that it nearly took the

twins' breath away. Like an arrow they approached the
jump. The twins began to get a little nervous. "Sit steady and

look straight ahead," yelled Stone boy. The twin next to Stone
boy, who was steering behind, sat upright and looked far ahead, but

the one in front crouched down and looked into the coulee. Of
course, Stone boy, being behind, fell on top of the twins, and

being so heavy, killed both of them instantly, crushing them to a
jelly.

The rest of the boys, seeing what had happened, hastened to the
edge of the bank, and looking down, saw the twins laying dead, and

Stone boy himself knocked senseless, lying quite a little distance
from the twins. The boys, thinking that all three were

killed, and that Stone boy had purposely steered the sleigh over
the bank in such a way that it would tip and kill the twins,

returned to the village with this report. Now, these twins were
the sons of the head chief of the Buffalo Nation. So at once the

chief and his scouts went over to the hill to see if the boys had
told the truth.

When they arrived at the bank they saw the twins lying dead, but
where was Stone boy? They looked high and low through the gulch,

but not a sign of him could they find. Tenderly they picked up the
dead twins and carried them home, then held a big council and put

away the bodies of the dead in Buffalo custom.
A few days after this the uncles were returning from a long

journey. When they drew near their home they noticed large droves
of buffalo gathered on their side of the range. Hardly any buffalo

ever ranged on this east side of the range before, and the brothers
thought it strange that so many should so suddenly appear there

now.
When they arrived at home their sister told them what had happened

to the chief's twins, as her son had told her the whole story upon
his arrival at home after the accident.

"Well, probably all the buffalo we saw were here for the council
and funeral," said the older brother. "But where is my nephew?"

(Stone boy) he asked his sister. "He said he had noticed a great
many buffalo around lately and he was going to learn, if possible,

what their object was," said the sister. "Well, we will
wait until his return."

When Stone boy left on his trip that morning, before the return of
his uncles, he was determined to ascertain what might be the

meaning of so many buffalo so near the home of himself and uncles.
He approached several bunches of young buffalo, but upon

seeing him approaching they would scamper over the hills. Thus he
wandered from bunch to bunch, scattering them all. Finally he grew

tired of their cowardice and started for home. When he had come to
within a half mile or so of home he saw an old shaggybuffalo

standing by a large boulder, rubbing on it first one horn and then
the other. On coming up close to him, the boy saw that the bull

was so old he could hardly see, and his horns so blunt that he
could have rubbed them for a year on that boulder and not sharpened

them so as to hurt anyone.
"What are you doing here, grandfather?" asked the boy.

"I am sharpening my horns for the war," said the bull.
"What war?" asked the boy.

"Haven't you heard," said the old bull, who was so near sighted he
did not recognize Stone boy. "The chief's twins were killed by

• missing [´misiŋ] a.缺掉的；失踪的 (初中英语单词)
• venture [´ventʃə] n.投机 v.冒险；敢于 (初中英语单词)
• stream [stri:m] n.河 vi.流出；飘扬 (初中英语单词)
• pretend [pri´tend] v.假装；借口；妄求 (初中英语单词)
• barely [´beəli] ad.公开地；仅仅 (初中英语单词)
• awhile [ə´wail] ad.少顷；片刻 (初中英语单词)
• derive [di´raiv] v.得出；衍生 (初中英语单词)
• waiting [´weitiŋ] n.等候；伺候 (初中英语单词)
• advantage [əd´vɑ:ntidʒ] n.优势；利益 (初中英语单词)
• cheerful [´tʃiəful] a.快乐的；高兴的 (初中英语单词)
• expert [´ekspə:t] n.&a.专家；内行 (初中英语单词)
• excitement [ik´saitmənt] n.兴奋；骚动；煽动 (初中英语单词)
• arrival [ə´raivəl] n.到达；到达的人(物) (初中英语单词)
• account [ə´kaunt] vi.说明 vt.认为 n.帐目 (初中英语单词)
• swiftly [´swiftli] ad.迅速地，敏捷地 (初中英语单词)
• frozen [´frəuzn] freeze 的过去分词 (初中英语单词)
• breath [breθ] n.呼吸；气息 (初中英语单词)
• nervous [´nə:vəs] a.神经的；神经过敏的 (初中英语单词)
• instantly [´instəntli] ad.立即，立刻 (初中英语单词)
• lately [´leitli] ad.近来，不久前 (初中英语单词)
• pebble [´pebəl] n.卵石 v.(用卵石)铺 (高中英语单词)
• seeing [si:iŋ] see的现在分词 n.视觉 (高中英语单词)
• nowhere [´nəuweə] n.无处；不知道 (高中英语单词)
• bucket [´bʌkit] n.水桶 (高中英语单词)
• anxiously [´æŋkʃəsli] ad.挂念地；渴望地 (高中英语单词)
• distinguished [di´stiŋgwiʃt] a.卓越的，著名的 (高中英语单词)
• tackle [´tækəl] n.用具；装置 vt.处理 (高中英语单词)
• decided [di´saidid] a.明显的；决定的 (高中英语单词)
• upright [´ʌprait] a.直立的 ad.直立地 (高中英语单词)
• buffalo [´bʌfələu] n.水牛；野牛 (高中英语单词)
• tenderly [´tendəli] ad.娇嫩地；柔和地 (高中英语单词)
• ascertain [,æsə´tein] vt.探查；查明 (高中英语单词)
• unnatural [,ʌn´nætʃərəl] a.不自然的 (英语四级单词)
• busily [´bizili] ad.忙碌地 (英语四级单词)
• backbone [´bækbəun] n.脊骨；骨干；支柱 (英语四级单词)
• grandson [´grænsʌn] n.孙子；外孙子 (英语四级单词)
• zigzag [´zigzæg] n.锯齿形 a.工字形(的) (英语四级单词)
• senseless [´sensləs] a.无知觉的；愚蠢的 (英语四级单词)
• sleigh [slei] n.雪橇 vi.坐雪橇 (英语四级单词)
• scamper [´skæmpə] vi.浏览；涉猎 n.蹦跳 (英语四级单词)
• shaggy [´ʃægi] a.蓬乱的；多粗毛的 (英语四级单词)
• boulder [´bəuldə] n.大石头，卵石；巨砾 (英语四级单词)
• hickory [´hikəri] n.山核桃(属) (英语六级单词)
• taking [´teikiŋ] a.迷人的 n.捕获物 (英语六级单词)
• cowardice [´kauədis] n.懦弱，胆怯 (英语六级单词)