asked the Navaho to himself. As he lay awake, thinking of the warning of the old man, he heard the latter snoring. He rose softly, took away the old man's moccasins, put his own in their place, and lay down to sleep with Deer Raiser's moccasins under his head. Later in the night the old man got up, pulled the moccasins from under the young man's head, and buried them in the hot embers. He was anxious to get home next morning before his son-in-law.
541. At dawn the old man aroused his companion with "It is time we were on our road." The young man woke, rubbed his eyes, yawned, and pretended to look for his moccasins. After searching a while he asked: "Where are my moccasins? Have I lost them?" "Huh!" said Deer Raiser. "You did not listen to what I told you last night. I said that this was the Ridge of the Burned Moccasins." In the mean time, on the other side of the fire, the old man was putting on his companion's moccasins, not noticing that they were not his own. "Look. You are putting on my moccasins instead of your own. Give me my moccasins," said the Navaho, reaching across the fire. He took them out of his companion's hands, sat down and put them on. "Now we must hurry back," he said. "I can't see what made you burn your moccasins, but I can not wait for you. I am going now."242
542. Before the young man left, his father-in-law gave him a message. "I cannot travel as fast as you on my bare feet. When you go home, tell my daughter to come out with a pair of moccasins and some food, and meet me on the trail." When the Navaho got home he said to his wife:" I camped with your father last night, and he burned his moccasins. He is limping home barefoot. He bids his wife to come out and meet him with moccasins and food." The daughter delivered the message to her mother, and the latter went out to meet her husband with moccasins, food, and a brand of burning cedar-bark. When the old man met her he was angry. "Why have you come? Why has not my daughter come?" he asked. "Your son-in-law said that I should come," the old woman replied. "Oh, what a fool my son-in-law is," cried Deer Raiser. "He never can remember what he is told to say." He ate his food, put on his moccasins, and hurried home with his wife.
543. When Deer Raiser visited his son-in-law on the following morning he said: "I warn you never to stray alone to the east of the lodge in which you dwell. There is a dangerous place there." The old man went home, and the Navaho pondered all day over what his father-in-law had said, and during the night he made up his mind to do just what the old man had told him not to do.
544. When Natĭ'nĕsthani had eaten in the morning he dressed himself for a journey, left the lodge, and travelled straight to the east.
