March, 1905. The Traditions of the Hopi — Voth. 205 



some. But the Badger, who has been digging towards it, always 

 turns around, and we shall not get there. You come and scratch a 

 hole for us and we shall give you a great deal of it." The Mole was 

 at once willing and said: "Very well, I shall come," and went along 

 with the Coyote. After entering the Coyote's house the Mole at once 

 commenced to dig a hole underground, which he did very rapidly. 

 The Badger followed him, enlarging the hole. The Coyote followed 

 the Badger and scratched out the loose dirt. 



They arrived at a place not far from the rock where the food had 

 been placed the day before. Here the Mole made a small opening 

 and looked out and saw that the people were just arriving, and that 

 the maidens again placed the food near the rock. So the Mole con- 

 tinued his digging to the place where the food was, and while the Hopi 

 were at work he reached all the food to his companions. The Mole 

 handed it to the Badger, the Badger to the Coyote, and the latter 

 carried it to his house. When the Hopi were through with their work 

 the chief again said to the maidens that they should now go and get 

 their food. They would eat and then go home. So the maidens 

 raced towards the rock where they had placed the food, but when 

 they arrived here they found all their food gone. They looked around 

 and found a hole in the ground, but only for a short distance, because 

 the Badger had tightly closed up the hole from the inside. "Well 

 now," the maidens said, "somebody has put our food in here." So 

 the men and the youths brought their hoes and followed the opening 

 in the ground, but they soon found that it was only open a short dis- 

 tance. Hereupon they abandoned it and went home hungry. 



In the Coyote's house the three now divided up the food and the 

 Badger and the Mole carried home their portions. On this they lived 

 for some time afterwards. Soon afterwards the Coyote again visited 

 the Badger. The Badger had cut up into small pieces some I6I60- 

 kongs and roasted them. They were very fat. This food he set 

 before his friend, the Coyote, and with it some comiviki. The Coyote 

 ate the food with relish. "But that tastes well," he said; "what is 

 it? where did you get it?" "Why, I opened my side," the Hondni 

 said. "My intestines are covered with much fat, and I took out some 

 of that fat and prepared this food from it." "Did it not hurt you," 

 the Coyote asked, "when you opened your body?" "No," the Badger 

 replied, "I opened it, took out the fat, and you see there is nothing 

 the matter with my body. With this knife here I opened my body," 

 showing the knife to the Coyote. "Very well," the Coyote said, "I 

 am going to take this knife along and I am going to do the same, so 

 to-morrow you must visit me, too." Hereupon he left and went home. 



