Page:Kutenai Tales.djvu/314

Rh pile to his wife and daughter, and keeps another for himself and son. The dog and her daughter desert him. She goes to the Sun, who marries the daughter. Coyote consoles his son, saying that Dog will come bark when she has nothing to eat. He catches beavers, and uses two young beavers as ear ornaments for his son. He goes to get wood. The beavers revive and pull the boy into the water. Coyote rescues him. He goes with his son to a place where two lakes arc, connected by a small river. He cries, sitting on the shore of the lake. The Ducks ask him why he is crying. The Ducks offer to play with him. They dive and fly from one lake to the other. In this game Coyote is almost drowned. In order to take revenge, he splits a tree and spreads it. Thus he places it in the river. He tells the ducks to swim from one river to the other, and every day a few are caught in the trap. Coyote takes them to his tent and singes off the feathers. Lynx smells the burning feathers, causes Coyote to sleep, steals the ducks, and pulls out the nose and legs of Coyote and of his son, In return Coyote and his son kick in Lynx's face and break his tail. Lynx is frightened and runs away. Coyote goes to search for his wife, and finds her in the Sun*s house. His daughter is holding an ugly child, which hears his thoughts when he thinks that the child is ugly. He wishes to kick the child. The child moves, and thus produces a gale, which starts their fire. The hunters come back, and all the women must leave before they begin to eat. Coyote is also sent away because he has not been out hunting. When he does not go, the hunters soil his blanket and do not give him anything to eat. The woman feeds him. Sun is blind. Wolf tries to restore her eyesight, and after four attempts he succeeds. On the following day Coyote joins the hunters, who go out carrying torches. Coyote does not carry any fire. When he puts feathers into his snowshoes, he produces fire with every step. The chief tests the running-powers of men by letting two run in a circle in opposite directions. Coyote kills seven grizzly bears and two deer. The hunters shake the game in order to make it small, and leave him. Coyote learns from his dung advisers what to do with the animals. He blows on them, and they shrink. He puts them into his belt and runs home. He is allowed to eat with the hunters. One day he leaves in order to visit his son. He steals the Sun's torch. After walking some distance, he lies down to sleep; and when he awakes, he finds he is back in the Sun's house. After this has happened three times, the Sun tells him that he must run for three days and three nights without stopping, and then the Sun will not return to him.

25. (No. 58).—Coyote and Fox send their sons to obtain supernatural power. Coyote's son returns soon; Fox's son stays away the whole night. The one receives as his power moonlight; the other, darkness. The two boys go to a village in which the people play with a hoop. Young Coyote wants to steal it; Young Fox wants to wait until morning. When Young Fox is ready to start, Young Coyote is asleep. The hoop is in a tent in which two people stand watching the doorway, each holding a hammer. The two pass, take the hoop, which touches the doorway a little and makes a sound. The two old people awake and call the other people, who pursue the boys. Young Coyote carries the hoop. When he becomes tired, he gives it to Young Fox. Young Coyote is caught, and the people say they will not kill him. Young Fox rolls the hoop ahead and sings, saying that Young Coyote has been killed. Old Coyote understands that Young Fox has been killed. The hoop rolls into the tent, and falls down where Coyote is sitting. Then he knows that his own son has been captured. Old Coyote and Fox make war on the people