When the boys got home again they were very tired and hungry and asked
their mother for something to eat. "There is no meat," said Selu,
"but wait a little while and I'll get you something." So she took a
basket and started out to the storehouse. This storehouse was built
upon poles high up from the ground, to keep it out of the reach of
animals, and there was a ladder to climb up by, and one door, but no
other opening. Every day when Selu got ready to cook the dinner she
would go out to the storehouse with a basket and bring it back full
of corn and beans. The boys had never been inside the storehouse,
so wondered where all the corn and beans could come from, as the
house was not a very large one; so as soon as Selu went out of the
door the Wild Boy said to his brother, "Let's go and see what she
does." They ran around and climbed up at the back of the storehouse
and pulled out a piece of clay from between the logs, so that they
could look in. There they saw Selu standing in the middle of the
room with the basket in front of her on the floor. Leaning over the
basket, she rubbed her stomach--so--and the basket was half full
of corn. Then she rubbed under her armpits--so--and the basket was
full to the top with beans. The boys looked at each other and said,
"This will never do; our mother is a witch. If we eat any of that it
will poison us. We must kill her."
When the boys came back into the house, she knew their thoughts before
they spoke. "So you are going to kill me?" said Selu. "Yes," said the
boys, "you are a witch." "Well," said their mother, "when you have
killed me, clear a large piece of ground in front of the house and
drag my body seven times around the circle. Then drag me seven times
over the ground inside the circle, and stay up all night and watch,
and in the morning you will have plenty of corn." The boys killed her
with their clubs, and cut off her head and put it up on the roof of
the house with her face turned to the west, and told her to look for
her husband. Then they set to work to clear the ground in front of
the house, but instead of clearing the whole piece they cleared only
seven little spots. This is why corn now grows only in a few places
instead of over the whole world. They dragged the body of Selu around
the circle, and wherever her blood fell on the ground the corn sprang
up. But instead of dragging her body seven times across the ground
they dragged it over only twice, which is the reason the Indians still
work their crop but twice. The two brothers sat up and watched their
corn all night, and in the morning it was full grown and ripe.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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