2IO Field Columbian Museum — Anthropology, Vol. VIII. 



77. THE COYOTE AND THE KOKONTU MAIDENS.' 



Haliksai! At Mundovi the Kdkontu'' (Sing. K6na) were living. 

 But they were all maidens and were constantly grinding com. There 

 was a long row of them, and they were singing as they ground the com. 

 One time the Coyote came around and was going up and down there. 

 "There," he said, "there is somebody here singing." So he went 

 up and saw a number of maidens grinding com. When he came to 

 the house he looked through the window where they were grinding 

 corn. They sang the following song: 



Talaw n6n6nga, Early we go out, 

 Nononga, ma! We go out, see! 



(Referring to the custom of going out early in the morning [ktii- 

 vato] and sprinkling meal towards the east.) 



The Coyote listened to them and looked at them. By this time 

 the K6kontu noticed the Coyote. "Come in," they said to him. 

 "How shall I get in, you have such a small house,'-'' he said. "All 

 right, you talk to us from outside," they said. And then they said 

 to one another: "Let us go out and do something." So they came 

 out and went to a steep bluff south of where they lived, where there 

 was a large pinon-tree growing at the edge of the bluff. The Coyote 

 went with them and here they now played, running up the tree on 

 one side and jumping down the tree and from the bluff on some sand 

 that had piled up at the foot of the bluff. As they could run up 

 steep bluffs they would repeat this constantly, jumping down, com- 

 ing up again, jumping down, coming up again, and so on. The 

 Coyote looked on and envied them because they could do this. "You 

 are enjoying yourselves," the Coyote said to them, "I shall join 

 you." "All right," they replied, "you come and play with us." 

 "But when I shall jump down there I shall hurt myself," he said. 

 "No," they replied, "that will not hurt you at all." 



Hereupon he joined them, ran and played with them, and finally 

 climbed up the tree, too. When he saw the K6kontu constantly 

 jump down he also jumped down, but before he had reached the 

 bottom he was circling around in the air and landed forcibly on the 

 ground, and of course was killed. The K6kontu laughed at him, 

 saying: "You fool, that you did as we did. We are not heavy, and 

 nothing happened to us, but you are too heavy for that. " So when 

 they had laughed at him they went home again, leaving him there dead. 



' Told by Kwdyeshva (Or^bi). 



^ Small brownish animal with a short tail, and having white stripes running over its snout and 

 head and along the back, living in rocks. 



