THE HOUND OF THE PLAINS. 369 



break it in, and the old beldames rushed out to drive him away. This 

 was the coyote's opportunity. As the hags dashed out at one door, 

 the cunning thief seized a flaming brand in his teeth and leaped 

 through the other. He almost flew over the ground, but the hags saw 

 the sparks and gave chase, gaining on him fast. By the time he was 

 out of breath he reached the puma, who took the brand and ran with 

 it to the next animal, and so on. Last of all was the frog, who caught 

 the fire in his mouth, swallowed it, and dived, the hags catching his 

 tail (he was a tadpole then) and twitching it off in the act. The frog 

 swam under water a long distance, then came up and spat the fire into 

 a log of drift-wood, and there it has stayed ever since, so that when an 

 Indian rubs two pieces of wood together the fire comes forth. Another 

 cognate myth (Gallinomero) says dry wood was first invested with this 

 perpetual spark after the coyote had rubbed two pieces together until 

 they ignited. The Navajos recount a similar fable. They, too, lacked 

 fire, and were in distress, so the coyote, the bat, and the squirrel prom- 

 ised to get it for them, the fire seeming to be in the possession of the 

 animals in general at a distance. The coyote fastened pine splinters 

 in his tail, went to the place where the article was to be had, dashed 

 through the flames and started homeward at full gallop. When out 

 of breath the bat relieved him and flew till he was ready to drop, when 

 the squirrel caught the torch and carried it into the camp of the Nava- 

 jos. This recalls the Nishinam fable, though the two tribes belong 

 to different linguistic stocks, and live a thousand miles apart. The 

 Shastikas account for the origin of fire by saying that a long time ago 

 there was a fire-stone in the East, white and glistening like pure 

 crystal, which the coyote brought and gave to the Indians. 



After Kareya had made him so amusing, the coyote grew ambitious 

 and tried many feats which Kareya had never intended for him. 

 The Karoks explain meteors, and especially those that seem to burst, 

 by a story of these failures on the part of the adventurous animal who 

 waited on a mountain-top and tried to dance with the stars. The star 

 took him up, but would not stop when the novice grew tired, because 

 Kareya had made it to keep moving. Thus he was compelled to go 

 on dancing and dangling until he fell to pieces. Among the Navajos 

 one hears that after the sun and moon had been made in the heavenly 

 workshop, the " old men " set about embroidering the sky with stars 

 in beautiful patterns ; but, just as they had made a beginning, the 

 coyote rushed in and contemptuotisly scattei'ed the pile of stars broad- 

 cast over the floor of heaven, just as they now lie. The Kern River 

 (California) tribes (related to the Pi-Utes) recite a complicated myth 

 of how the coyote once made a trip through the sky in company 

 with the sun. Another Calif ornian race, the Tatus, believe the coyote 

 to have been the original of human kind, and one of their legends ac- 

 counts for Clear Lake, near which they dwelt. Many hundred snows 

 ago, while men were yet in the form of coyotes, an exceedingly great 

 vol. xxx. — 2-i 



