1-KACHTENBERG] ALSEA TEXTS AND MYTHS 191 



waited for him where he left me. He told me when he left me, 'Thou 

 shalt stay right here; I am going upstream for a little while.' Thus 

 he told me when he left me. A bear, indeed, seized him ! I did not see 

 it well." Then the two old people began to cry. Then his father said 

 there, ' 'The next day I wiU go to see from where he left thee." So (the 

 next day) they went, perhaps three people and the boy. They just had 

 (bows and) arrows. Then they came to where he had left (his younger 

 brother). "From here (it was) that he left me." So they started 

 out from there. They were now following his footprints. His foot- 

 prints were showing just a little on several places. So one man said? 

 "(Do you believe that) just without reason did he do this here?" 

 (Such was) their talk. "How are we going to track him anyv^here?" 

 Now^, verily, thus they talked. Then they went home. They were 

 also afraid to follow the bear, because (it was known that) a bear 

 ahvays takes away the people. Then they went home (from) there, 

 and then they came back into the house. The people were beginning 

 to assemble there. "His tracks were not found at all anywhere." 

 Thus the}' kept on speaking after they came back to the house. Now 

 the man whose son had disappeared was told. "What, indeed, can 

 we do for him? We shall always thmk of him in our inner minds." 



Now thus only (it ends). 



17. Coyote in a Hollow Tree 



One day it snowed exceedingly hard. (Co^^ote) could not go any- 

 where at all. Then he saw a cedar tree which had a hole below. So 

 he went (into that hole) there and stayed there. He was not inside 

 very long when the snow simply began to fill up gradually (the hole). 

 Then (Coyote) said to the cedar tree, "Turn thyself around!" And 

 then, verily, it turned around; however, the wind blew again from 

 there as before, and once more the snow gradually filled up (the 

 hole). So he said to the cedar tree again, "Pray, close up!" There- 

 upon it closed up, indeed. Nowhere was there another hole at all. 

 Tiien (Coyote) began to laugh. "Ha ha! the wind will never beat 

 me. Pray, open up again!" Then, verily, (the tree) became open. 

 "Pray, close up again!" And (the tree) would close once more. 



