March, 1905. The Traditions of the Hopi — Voth. 183 



will continue to live in my body and move about there." And so he 

 repeated his request, but this time changing his threat. "If you do 

 not sing," he said, "I am going to throw you in that water there." 

 "Don't do that, because if you do I shall drown." The Coyote did 

 not know that the little Turtle lived in the water, and that he was 

 being imposed upon. "All right," he said, "I shall not throw you 

 in the water, but I shall devour you," and thereupon he took hold 

 of the Turtle and ran towards the water. Arriving at the bank he 

 slung the little Turtle away into the midst of the water. 



"Aha! My house (Ali, Ikmingwu)," said the Turtle, and then dived 

 into the water, but immediately came out again, saying, "Aha! My 

 house. Thanks that you have brought me here (Ali, Ikiningwu! 

 kwakwd, um nui pak wiki)," and, swimming around on the water, 

 laughed at the Coyote. 



The Coyote was very angry and said: "Oh! that I did not devour 

 you ; but I am going to hunt your mother now, and if I find her some- 

 where, I shall certainly devour her," and thereupon ran away. Fol- 

 lowing the tracks of the Turtles, he met them on their way back to 

 the water. They had been away quite a distance, had eaten there to 

 their hearts' content, and were now returning. When the Coyote 

 met them he said to the first one, "I am going to devour you," and 

 tried to seize it. The Turtle immediately drew its head, feet and tail 

 into the shell, and thus the Coyote, although he was working around 

 it, throwing it over, pushing it backward and forward a long time, 

 could not hurt it. He got very angry and jumped towards another 

 one with the same result; so he tried others, but when he found that 

 he could not hurt them, nor break their shell, • he left them in 

 disgust. When the Turtles arrived home, the Turtle mother gave a 

 cactus to her child, saying: "This I brought for you," and the child 

 ate it in great delight. "When did you awake?" the mother asked. 

 "About half-way noon I woke up, and when I found that you were 

 all gone I cried." "Yes," the mother said, "you were sleeping so 

 nicely, and so I did not take you along." The little Turtle then re- 

 lated all about the Coyote, saying that the latter had threatened to 

 devour it, but when he had been told that he could just do so, and 

 that the little Turtle would then live in his body, he desisted. The 

 Turtle mother laughed at it. The child then continued to relate how 

 the Coyote had asked it to sing, and when refused he threatened to 

 throw it into the water, and that he had done so, although the child 

 had said that it would certainly drown; and the child 'continued, 

 "When he threw me into the water I laughed at him and told him, 

 'Here I am living'; and so I got back without even getting tired." 



