Man-Who-Kills-Game-Easily

Family: Arikara · Role: successful hunter and javelin-game player · First appears: Tale 29 · The Buffalo-Wife and the Javelin Game · Part 1

In Tale 29, after finding the ring he had dreamed of, Man-Who-Kills-Game-Easily went home. The old woman who became his wife declared herself and clung to his back; the poor boy shot her with arrows and freed him. That night he slept with the woman, and the next morning she revealed herself as a Buffalo and the boy as a Buffalo calf. The calf came to him and asked, “Father, do you want to drink?”

He travelled with his wife and calf to the Buffalo village, where they drove off Buffalo. When the Buffalo told his wife to have him wait on a hill while they decided his fate, he later recognized her among the cows and picked her out. After the Buffalo gave up trying to kill him, he became a Buffalo too; the next morning, the three took human form and walked into the village, then turned back into Buffalo after receiving presents.

The people killed Buffalo four times, until the whole drove came to the village. The Buffalo leader gave him sticks for the people’s game, saying, “This day I give you sticks to play with.” The man went home and lived a long life.