the boy who freed the other boy (Tale 21)

Role: the boy who rescues the other boy and remains his brother · First appears: Tale 21 · The Boy Who Befriended the Thunderbirds, and the Serpent · Part 3

On the fourth day, when the wild boy jumped before the fourth serpent reached the bank and was swallowed, the other boy waited until it landed. He reached into the serpent’s mouth and dragged him out; the boy had become the Serpent.

On the fourth morning, the other boy carried the Serpent to the Wonderful River and released him. He said, “I will stay with you,” and the Serpent called him “My brother.” Before leaving the old woman who had hosted them, he said, “Grandfather, I am about to leave you.”

Relationship record

Life events

• The fourth serpent carried both boys across the water; the wild boy jumped before the bank and was swallowed, while the other boy waited until the serpent landed.(Tale 21 · The Boy Who Befriended the Thunderbirds, and the Serpent · Part 2)
  • With: the boy who became the Serpent (Tale 21) the fourth serpent (Tale 21)
  • “The wild boy jumped before the serpent came to the bank, and was swallowed by the serpent.”
• The boy who freed the other boy dragged him out of the serpent's mouth.(Tale 21 · The Boy Who Befriended the Thunderbirds, and the Serpent · Part 3)
  • With: the boy who became the Serpent (Tale 21)
  • “He then reached in the serpent’s mouth and dragged out the other boy.”
• The boy who became the Serpent transformed fully, and the other boy carried him to the river and released him.(Tale 21 · The Boy Who Befriended the Thunderbirds, and the Serpent · Part 3 · 📍 Wonderful (Missouri) River)
  • With: the boy who became the Serpent (Tale 21)
  • “The fourth morning the boy was a Serpent. The other boy packed the Serpent boy to the river and turned him loose in the river.”

Tale 21 · The Boy Who Befriended the Thunderbirds, and the Serpent · Part 3

• siblings with the boy who became the Serpent (Tale 21) (They are explicitly addressed as brothers.) “The other boy talked to the part-serpent boy, and said, “I will stay with you.” The serpent boy then said: “My brother, carry me to the Wonderful (Missouri) River and put me in the water.”
• elder kin: the old woman who hosted the boys (Tale 21) (The boy refers to his grandmother; this passage does not identify her by name.) “Grandfather, I am about to leave you. Grandmother said that I was to feed you with your own lice”

Also listed in Other Figures — Minor Figures

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Extracted from the original text of Traditions of the Arikara. Made with Rho MD.