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Once the river rose very high and spread over the land. An Indian woman was going along with tortillas in a basket on her head, and she waded in the water up to her waist.

Coyote was afraid of the water, so he was up in a cottonwood tree. When he saw the woman he said, "Oh, come to this tree and give me some of those nice tortillas."

"No," said the woman, "I can not give them to you; they are for somebody else."

"If you do not come here I will shoot you," said Coyote, for he was supposed to have a bow. So she came to the tree and said, "You must come down and get them, for I can not climb trees." Coyote came down as far as he dared, but he was afraid of the water. Then the woman said, "Just see how shallow it is, only up to my ankles." But she was standing on a big stump. Coyote looked and thought it was shallow, so he jumped down and was drowned. And the woman went on.

An old woman once lived with her grandson. The boy's father had been killed by the Apaches and his mother taken captive. They had treated the woman very badly and burned her arms with hot ashes and coals and made big scars. The boy had heard these stories about his mother.

The boy and the old woman had a very hard time getting along, and he used to go where certain persons were grinding corn and brush a few grains as they fell from the metate into his blanket and carry them home and the grandmother would make soup of them, and that was the way they lived. But by and by these people went away and when the boy went to get some corn there was none there and he had nothing to take home. The grandmother scolded him and told him to go back; and when he refused she whipped him. Then he said, "I know where my mother is, and I am going to her." The old woman said, "No, you must not; the Apaches will kill you." But he said, "I am going; my mother will not let them harm me." So he went. His grandmother trailed him to the mountains, and finally from the very highest peak she saw him going along toward the camp. She also saw his mother, her daughter-in-law, out alone gathering seeds. She recognized her at a distance by the shining of her scars. The old woman ran after the boy, but when she caught up with him he stepped aside and turned into a saguaro. Then after she had turned around and gone back he resumed his form and went on to his mother.

When she saw him she cried out, "Don't come near me, the Apaches will kill you; you know what they did to me, and they will kill you."

"What can I do?" he said, "What do the Apaches like?"