Wichita

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A young man named Every-Direction went out on an expedition with twelve other men, and they did not return for a long time. An orphan boy named Of-Unknown-Parents, who lived with an old man and an old woman in the corner of the village, went to the center of the village and said that the thirteen people were no longer alive. They had gone into the ground, he said, and would not return, but people should go two days out and look for a place where many people would be coming out of the ground. That night, Of-Unknown-Parents heard someone calling him. That person told him that his prophecy was mistaken. He told Of-Unknown-Parents that his father had sent him, that his father would do something in a year, and that he, the visitor, would appear again.

Now the chief's wife, who had a son among the thirteen missing men, gave birth to four children shaped like dogs. They grew rapidly, so that after three days they played with other children. But they were mean and ran over the children. When they were grown, the chief had had enough of them and got people to carry them off to the west. But the dogs, now very large, swallowed the people who were taking them. As time went on, these monstrous creatures, who had long necks, would reach out and swallow any people who went near them. People would not go west for fear of them. The older people said that the Creator had made the monster to destroy everyone, and if things went on this way, more bad things would be done.

One night, the visitor appeared to Of-Unknown-Parents again, telling him to go to a certain place due north at noon. The boy went there and saw this person, who told the boy that his father did not like the way things were going and would destroy everything. Then the visitor told the boy to do certain things: He must tell the people of the village. He must get the twelve longest canes he could find, tie them together, give them to Spider-Woman, and tell her to get her servant (Mouse-Woman) to gather corn of all colors. When this is done, he must put the canes into the ground up to five joints; then look out for something to come from the north after four days. A certain thing in the water would destroy the monsters.

The boy returned to the village and told the chief what was to happen, but the chief would not believe him. Then he went to Spider-Woman and told her as he had been commanded. Spider-Woman got the twelve long canes, and her servant got seeds of corn, beans, pumpkins, and seeds of every kind. Spider-Woman filled the canes with all the seeds. Then Of-Unknown-Parents told her do dig a hole for the reeds with a buffalo rib. When that was done, he commanded a small whirlwind to blow. It raised the canes up, and they set them in the hole up to the fifth joint.

The time came for something to happen. At noon they looked north and saw something like the wind blowing, but it was birds heading south. Then came the animals, first the buffalo, then deer, and so on. A little later they saw a great flood coming, and they saw a great turtle, which headed to the monsters and stopped under their feet. Spider-Woman climbed to the top of the canes and let down a rope for her husband, the boy, and Mouse-Woman. She made a shelter there which the water would not leak through.

By the evening, the water covered all the village. The monsters could hardly stand, it was so slippery. At last, one at at time, they grew too tired to stand. They fell north, east, south, and west, first calling out the name by which the direction would be known.

It was twelve more days before the flood passed. There was no wind, but a certain person came from above, named Man-Going-All-Around, who had the power to dry all slime. Coming from the northeast, he saw a shadow on the ground and went to look. It was something shaped like a woman. He left and went all around, and when he came to the place again, he saw that the upper half of the woman was alive, and the lower half was still mud. The woman (Shadow-Woman) had given birth to a child, Standing-Sweet-Grass. He went on his journey again. A dove came there; it had a piece of grass in its mouth. The woman then was sitting up with the child in her lap.

When Man-Going-All-Around returned a third time, he told the woman to accompany him, and he took her to a place where, in his travels, he had heard drums. This was a room like a beaver's lodge. Many people were sitting about there. Shadow-Woman and a young man there agreed to live together.

After five days, Standing-Sweet-Grass was a boy who could talk. He went out and reached the spot where the people were on the top of the canes. He told Spider-Woman to let down the rope with Of-Unknown-Parents on it. When he was down, he was told to command the wind to blow the north, east, south, and west, into the ground. Then the canes went down to the west. They all went to Beaver's-Lodge, taking the canes with them, and gave the seeds to Shadow-Woman, for the use of all people.

Standing-Sweet-Grass started on a journey. He commanded the trees to grow and the water to flow. He changed muddy forms left by the flood into hills and mountains. He commanded the wild animals to roam. Then, with the birds around him, he announced that he would not return to his mother, but would go to his father, the Man-Above. He put the birds into a trance, and when they came to they saw only a little bunch of standing sweet-grass where he had been.

George A. Dorsey, "Wichita Tales," Journal of American Folk-Lore 15 (1902): 223-228.