88 STORIES OF BIRDS AND BEASTS 



earth that kills, 1 and he shall likewise devise magic 

 wands to spring and hold you fast. 



" 4 You will wage war together, this man and you, 

 but he will conquer. And as a punishment for your 

 way of killing me, you shall fear to kill him, for your 

 real name is Coward ! ' 



"So after many years the white men came from over 

 seas and settled, though at first there were but few, 

 and the Wolves still roamed at will about the country 

 from the land where the snow never melts, down 

 through the woods and plains to where the Rio Grande 

 runs slantwise through the country and the prickly 

 Peccaries and cacti live. The northern Wolves were 

 large and grizzly ; but those in the hot south were 

 smaller and had thinner fur. Wolves wore handsome 

 robes in those days, and had as many names as Bobo- 

 links. They were called White Wolves and Black in 

 the northwest, Red Wolves in the cactus country, and 

 Gray Wolves everywhere. 



"There were some smaller Wolves, who were less 

 savage and less swift of foot than their brothers, more 

 doglike and talkative, who babbled the secrets of the 

 tribe and liked to hang about the homes of House 

 People, rather than live in woods or caves. The larger 

 Wolves disliked them, because they were afraid lest 

 they should tell tribe secrets ; so they turned these 

 small ones out to be a tribe apart, to feed on meaner 

 game, and snatch and steal in open places. 



" These small Wolves were given charge over sheep, 

 Jack Rabbits, and such timid things, and men called 

 them Coyotes (ground burro wers). But the Coyote is 



1 Strychnine. 



