Atondido Stories
thing, but I am going to tame you." And the girl wept again and
sulked and stamped her feet in her temper.
At last the girl became very hungry, for there was little to eat
except the food that Owl-man brought home for himself. He
gathered a few berries for her, but even these did not satisfy her
hunger. So she thought out a plan of escape. One day when Owl-
man was away, she took some oil she found in the house and
rubbed it all over her face and hair. When Owl-man came home
in the evening, he said, "You are very pretty to-night. What have
you done to make yourself look so sleek and shiny?" And she
answered, "I have put on my face and hair gum which I picked
from the trees last night when I went walking with you." And he
said, "I should like to put some on too, for perhaps it would
make me beautiful." The girl told him that if he would go out
and gather some gum she would put it on his face and hair for
him. So he went out and gathered a great store of gum from the
trees and brought it back to her. She melted it on a hot stove un-
til it was balsam again and would pour easily out. Then she said,
"Shut your eyes so that it will not harm your sight, and I will
make your face and hair beautiful and shining like mine." Owl-
man shut his eyes, and the girl soon covered his face and head
with the soft gum. She put it on very thick, and she said, "Keep
your eyes shut until it dries or it may blind you." Owl-man did
as he was told, but when the gum dried he could not open his
eyes, and while he was trying to rub it off, the girl slipped out
the door and ran back to her parents, far away by the Great Wa-
ter.
Owl-man scraped the gum from his face and head as best he
could, and when he could open his eyes again and could see
pretty well, he went out into the night in search of his wife. And
as he went along he cried, "Oh, oh, oh, where is my wife? Where
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