Kotharian Lightning

From Pawnee Folklore

A man and his niece lived alone far away from other people. The man was lame and could not move around very much because his feet and his knees were swollen. Notwithstanding his lameness he would disappear every day. The girl did not know where he went or how. Sometimes he never came back until late at night, and she grew provoked at him. She told him that he should stay at home, and that he should not go so far away; that if she got into trouble he could not run to help her. The uncle told the girl that he would be near to help her if she needed him.

One time while her uncle was gone a strange being came to the girl. Before she could cry for assistance, she was taken up by the wind and was carried to a far-away country. There she saw Spider-Woman, who told her that she had been brought there to play a game of twin balls with the people. The girl began to cry and the Spider-Woman went away. A little girl came to her and asked her why she was crying. The girl said, “I was taken away from my home and I am here all alone.” The little girl told her to stop crying, saying that she would take her to her home. The girl went with the child and when they entered the lodge the girl found that there an old woman with many children lived. The woman was Wood-Rat and the children were young Rats. They told the girl about Spider-Woman who was challenging everyone who came that way to play two balls. The girl told Rat-Woman that she did not understand the game; that she had never played it. Just before sunset the errand boy for Spider-Woman came and invited the girl to eat with Spider-Woman.

When the errand boy was gone, Rat-Woman told the girl that Spider-Woman was going to place something before her to eat. That the things which would be placed before her would look like black corn, but in reality were human eyes. She was told to say, when Spider-Woman told her to eat it, that she could not eat anything because she had already eaten enough and was not hungry. Rat-Woman also told the girl that she would challenge her to play the game of twin balls. The girl went to Spider-Woman’s home and found many human bones scattered around near her place. When she entered the lodge she heard Spider-Woman whispering to herself. “She is fine looking. Her head shall be placed before all of the other skulls which I have in my lodge.” Spider-Woman placed a wooden bowl filled with human eyes for the girl to eat, but the girl would not eat. She gave as an excuse that she had eaten at the other place; that she could not eat any more. She asked Spider-Woman to let her take the wooden bowl home, as the people at home would be glad to eat of it. Spider-Woman let her take the wooden bowl with her, hoping that she would eat some of its contents later.

The girl took the wooden bowl to the home of Mother-Rat, and when she received the wooden bowl she threw the stuff out and then gave the bowl to one of her children to take back to Spider-Woman. Mother-Rat then told the girl that many a young man had lost his life by playing twin balls with Spider-Woman. She said, “She will surely challenge you to play with her before daylight.” The girl went out in the night and cried upon the high hills and through the timber. She asked every bird that she saw to tell her uncle that she was taken far away, and that she was about to play a game known as the twin-ball game and that she needed his help. The birds did not seem to listen to her. Then she went back to Mother-Rat’s home, and there remained for the night. Before daylight the errand boy came and invited the girl to Spider-Woman’s lodge. The girl went, and when she entered the lodge Spider-Woman gave her a seat near her, and told her that she had a game known as twin balls and that she wanted her to play with her. The girl accepted the challenge, but told Spider-Woman that she would have to wait four days, as she was looking for her uncle. When the girl went back to Mother-Rat’s home, she told her what Spider-Woman had said. Mother-Rat cried and said, “She will surely kill you.” That made the girl sad, so she went out upon the hills and cried.

In the meantime the uncle of the girl had come back to his lodge. He found the girl missing. He took a bundle down that was hanging in the lodge, opened it, and from there he took out twin balls. He placed the twin balls upon the ground, and put his feet upon them. Then he hit his ankles with the stick that he carried. As he hit his ankles with the stick he would make a motion as if throwing the twin balls into the southern country looking for his niece, but he could not find her. Then he traveled in the same way in the western country, but could not find her. Then he traveled the same way in the northern country, but could not find her.

When he went back to the place where they had their lodge, a little bird was sitting upon a limb and was singing. The man could hear the bird singing, and listened. The bird sang: “I know where your niece is. She is about to play the twin-ball game with Spider-Woman, who will kill her if she defeats her.” The man said to the bird, “Lead me to the place where my niece is.” The bird flew towards the east. The man stood upon the balls and began to strike his ankles with the stick. Then he lifted the stick up into the sky and the balls arrived at the timber the bird began to sing, “Now you can hear the voice of your niece crying.” The man stopped and listened, and he heard her cry. This was in the evening. The man then ran to where she was crying and he found her. He told her that he had come to protect her; that she would kill Spider-Woman, for she should use her own twin balls. The man said to the girl” “On the day when you shall play with Spider-Woman, I shall be close by. I shall blow my breath upon the strings that hold the twin balls together and shall wear the string out so that it will break. You shall then say, ‘I will go and get my twin balls and we will play.’ ”

When the day that was set for the game came, her uncle told her to take his stick and to hit him several times upon his ankles where they were swollen. The girl did as she was told by her uncle; then she went to play the game of twin balls with Spider-Woman. Spider-Woman threw the twin balls up and the girl tried to catch them, but she could not. When the girl touched the string she noticed that it seemed to be giving out, and so she made up her mind to catch the balls with her stick. She did not get the best of the old woman, but she knew that the stick was cutting the string, for she remembered what her uncle had told her. When the old woman was about to win, the girl caught the balls and threw them, but the string parted and the balls separated. Old Spider-Woman then wanted to stop playing, so that she could fix her twin balls, but the girl insisted that they finish the game, as she, too, had twin balls. She told her uncle, and her uncle put out his feet and she began to beat his feet. After a while she noticed the twin balls coming out from under his feet. She took the balls and went out and began to play with the old woman again.

The girl won all the games they played and won all of Spider-Woman’s people, and at last she won Spider-Woman herself. The people who were the girl rushed on to the old Spider-Woman, killed her, and burned her. When the old woman was burned she was seen to jump from the fire into the grass in the form of a spider. The girl went home and told her uncle all that had happened. Her uncle told her to whip his ankles and to place the balls at his feet. By so doing the man took possession of the twin balls again. The man then said: “This is the way we get rid of Spider-Woman. We shall not have such persons among the people, but the people will have sickness such as I have, so that they will have to walk with a crooked stick for support.” And so that is why the people have rheumatism.

Source:

The Pawnee Mythology: Part 1, George A. Dorsey, 1906