L91. The Long Serpent. 46.

Two or four young men go camping or coming back. Their path is blocked by a long creature that cannot be avoided. They burn a passageway through it. One eats baked meat, turns into a snake, or dies. See motif L28.

Plains. Blackfooted (piegan) [four young men go to war, spend the night in a hut; in the morning, a hairy creature blocks the entrance; you can't cross it, you can't crawl under it; they burn it; one eats baked meat, dies; the next night a skeleton comes; one young man shoots at him; he turns over his head, leaves; the shooter dies; the other two see wolves and bears acting like humans; bear revives a dead bear cub; both young men become healers]: Josselin de Jong 1914:101-103; assiniboine; grovantre; hidatsa; crowe; mandan; arikara.