Traditions of the Arikara

the old woman (Tale 14)

Family: Arikara · Role: grandmother · First appears: Tale 14 · The Girl Who Married a Star · Part 2

In Part 2, the old woman caught the boy at the field, took him home, and called him her grandson, saying she had waited for him. When he killed the blackbirds eating her corn, she brought them back to life and sent them away. After he had gone, she mourned her husband, the serpent.

In Part 3, she consented to marry the four wonderful men, asking that they give the boy something in return; he received a bow and arrows, and the men came to her home and lay with her as with a wife. In Part 4, after the boy told her he had killed the Snakes, she became afraid of him. In Part 5, when he said he was leaving and she was free to do as she pleased, she disappeared before he went southeast to the village of the people.

Relationship record

Life events

  • The old woman caught the boy and took him home.(Tale 14 · The Girl Who Married a Star · Part 2 · 📍 the field)
  • The boy killed the blackbirds that had been eating the old woman’s corn.(Tale 14 · The Girl Who Married a Star · Part 2 · 📍 the lodge)
  • The old woman brought the blackbirds back to life and sent them away.(Tale 14 · The Girl Who Married a Star · Part 2)
    • “She brought them to life again, and said: ‘My blackbirds, fly away.’”
  • The old woman revealed that the serpent was her husband.(Tale 14 · The Girl Who Married a Star · Part 2)
    • With: the serpent (Tale 14)
    • “When the boy was gone the old woman cried and mourned for her husband, who was the serpent.”
  • The old woman consented to marry the four men, and the boy took a bow and arrows as payment.(Tale 14 · The Girl Who Married a Star · Part 3)
  • The four men came to the old woman’s home and lay with her as with a wife.(Tale 14 · The Girl Who Married a Star · Part 3)
  • Old-Woman’s-Grandson told the old woman that he had killed the Snakes, and she became afraid of him.(Tale 14 · The Girl Who Married a Star · Part 4)
    • With: the boy (Tale 14)
    • “Now the boy went out and went home, and he told the old woman that he had killed the Snakes. The old woman was then afraid of the boy.”
  • The boy told his grandmother he was going away; she disappeared before he went southeast to the village of the people.(Tale 14 · The Girl Who Married a Star · Part 5)
    • With: the boy (Tale 14)
    • “The boy told his grandmother that she was now free to do as she pleased, for he was going off; that the country was now free from wild animals. So the old woman disappeared, and the boy went southeast to the village of the people.”

Tale 14 · The Girl Who Married a Star · Part 2

  • younger kin: the boy (Tale 14) “She called him her grandson, and told him that she had been waiting for him for a long time.”
  • married with the serpent (Tale 14) “When the boy was gone the old woman cried and mourned for her husband, who was the serpent.”

Tale 14 · The Girl Who Married a Star · Part 3

Tale 14 · The Girl Who Married a Star · Part 4

  • younger kin: the boy (Tale 14) “the old woman had caught the boy and had taken him home and made him her grandson”
  • foster-child: the boy (Tale 14) “that the old woman had caught the boy and had taken him home and made him her grandson”

Tale 14 · The Girl Who Married a Star · Part 5

  • foster-child: the boy (Tale 14) “The boy then returned to his grandmother, who was glad to see him.”
  • younger kin: the boy (Tale 14) “The boy then returned to his grandmother, who was glad to see him.”

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