They lay in wait and
caught the children, and even the grown-up people, as the wild beasts now
catch their prey. Then they kindled up great fires and roasted them and ate
them.
"Often, when the parents went to look for their children, they also were
caught and eaten.
"The people were rendered very miserable not only by these great monsters
in human form, but also by the attacks of the enormous animals that then
lived. Indeed they began to fear that they would all soon be killed, unless
help came to them.
"These people were worshipers of the sun, whom they called the great Sun
Father, and some tribes still have their sun dances in his honor. When he
saw that the people were in such great trouble and were likely to be all
killed by their cruel enemies he resolved to deliver them from their foes.
So he disguised himself and came down to the earth and married a beautiful
woman of the Northland. They had lovely twin boys, whose names were
Sesigizit, the older, and Ooseemeeid, the younger. They grew so rapidly
that they were able to walk when only a few days old. Their sun father
disappeared as soon as they were born, going to the far Eastland.
"Strange to say, although these two boys grew so rapidly at first, they as
suddenly ceased growing, and so remained quite small. But they were very
intelligent, and were ever asking questions.
"'Who is our father?'" they inquired of their mother one day.
[Illustration: Sun dance lodge of the Blood Indians.
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