12 Field Columbian Museum — Anthropology, Vol. VII. 



6. — The Skunk and the Wolf. 



The Skunk and the Wolf once met by a creek. The Wolf said, 

 "Hello, brother." And the Skunk said, "Hello." They talked quite 

 a while. Finally, the Wolf said, "Brother, I want some of your 

 bullets to kill some buffalo with." The Skunk said, "All right." 

 They turned their rumps together, and the Skunk gave the Wolf 

 two loads. The Wolf went off and came to a hickory tree. He 

 tried his gun, and hit the tree in the center. He went on a good 

 way, and came to a grapevine. He shot it and knocked it down. 

 He ate the grapes and went on* 



While the Wolf was walking along, he saw about four Elk 

 coming toward him. He said to himself, "I will eat something." 

 So he waited until 1 the Elk arrived in a ditch, then he turned his 

 rump around toward the Elk, and, as they came up, he tried to 

 shoot, but he could not make it work. One of the Elk said, "There 

 is my friend Red-Rump." The Wolf said, "I was just cooling my 

 rump." 



7. — The Skunk and the Wolf. 



The Skunk and the Wolf met one another on a road, and they 

 said, " Hello, friend." And they stopped and had a long talk. After 

 a time, the Wolf said, "Friend, I want some of your bullets that 

 you shoot." So they turned back to back, and the Skunk gave the 

 Wolf about four shots, and that was all he could spare, and the 

 next time, the Wolf had to buy them from him. f 



So the Wolf went on, and tried his guru. He took a shot at a tree 

 and hit it right in the middle, and said to himself, "Well, I can 

 kill a deer." So he went to work and took a shot at a rock that 

 was up high, and he broke it into three pieces. This was the second 

 shot. Then he went on, and saw a big Turkey, waited for him until 

 he came about ten steps from him, took a shot at him, killed him 

 and ate him, in no time. 



The Wolf went on again, and saw a Buffalo. He waited for the 

 Buffalo, and shot at him, but the bullet did not take effect. Then 

 he said, "I ought to have killed him. Now I have missed some 

 good meat, but I will get the next one." So he went about two 

 miles, and saw some big Elk coming on a trail. He lay in wait for 

 them until they come right on to him, but he did not have any load. 

 He tried his best to shoot, but could not. The Elk said, "Why, 

 there is my friend Red-Rump." And the Wolf said, "I am just 

 cooling my rump." 



