Page:Kutenai Tales.djvu/220

Rh At night, when Tree Chief slept, he knew | that the people in the town were starving. In the morning he said | to his wife: "Tell your father to look at the fortune-telling place." | Then she started. In the morning the woman said to her father: | "He says you shall look at your fortune-telling place." Then || Golden Eagle looked at his fortune-telling place. He saw many | tracks of buffalo cows. He went out and shouted. Then | the youths said: "Make the buffalo fence strong." Then | the buffalo fence was made strong. Tree Chief went along. | There was a large prairie. He began to pile up the manure of ǁ buffaloes, much of the same kind. After he had piled it up, | he shouted at it. He said to it: "Hu, hu, hu, ya!" Then | all the buffalo dung arose and became buffalo cows. | Then he rounded them up. Then he started. Just as soon as he arrived | at the buffalo fence, he saw many buffaloes coming. ǁ The people told one another: "The buffaloes are coming. Be careful! Don't | let them disperse!" The buffaloes arrived. They did not disperse, and they all | went over the precipice. They were piled up. Many buffaloes filled up | the buffalo drive. Then all the people took them. | They said: "Take everything. Take even ǁ the skin." Then they were all taken up the hillside. | Tree Chief came up the hill. | He sat down, and all were taken. Chief Golden Eagle | had taken the fat of the buffaloes. He saw his son-in-law, | who did not go down. He remained sitting on top. Then all the ǁ fat buffaloes had been taken. (The chief) said to his daughter: "Tree Chief is tired. | Therefore he did not come down. Here is a fat cow. | Take it. It also has good hair. That shall be your blanket." | When Tree Chief came back, one buffalo cow came along behind the others. | It was old, thin, and full of sores. It also ǁ slid down from above. It stopped up there. It was so old that it was not good to be eaten, | therefore it was not looked at. Tree Chief knew | what his father-in-law had said when he took | one fat cow. Then he went down. He went to | the lean buffalo, the sore one. He let it slide down. ǁ His wife came, and he said to her: "Why did you take that | buffalo? There are many people. They ought to take what slides down. | Let us go and skin it!" She went and | skinned it. Then Coyote laughed | at them because they skinned one sore one. Coyote spoke, ǁ and said to him: "Why do you do that? That kind is not eaten. | Leave this cow lying there. Eagle has taken | a fat one with good hair on it for a blanket for your wife." | They did not