STEVENSON.] COYOTE MYTH. 147 



THE COYOTE ENCOUNTERS DISAPPOINTjVIENTS. 



Oue day a shurtsuuna (coyote) was passing about and saw a hare 

 sitting before his house, and the coyote thought, "In a minute I will 

 catch you," and he sprang and caught the hare, who cried, "Man 

 coyote, do not eat me; wait just a minute, I have something to tell you, 

 something that you will be glad to hear, something you must hear." 

 "Well," said the coyote, '' I will wait." "Let me sit at the entrance of 

 my house and I can talk to you," and, standing near, he allowed the 

 hare to take his seat there. The hare said, "What are you thinking 

 of, coyote?" "Nothing," said the coyote. "Listen, then, to what I 

 have to say; I am a hare, and I am much afraid of people; when they 

 come carrying arrows I am very afraid of them, for when they see me 

 they aim their arrows at me and I am very afraid, and oh ! how I trem- 

 ble;" and suiting the action to his words the hare trembled violently, 

 until he saw the coyote was a little off his guard; at this instant the 

 hare started off at a run. It took a moment for the coyote to collect 

 his thoughts, when he followed the hare, but he was always a little 

 behind; after running some distance the hare entered the house of his 

 companion just in time to escape the coyote. The coyote upon reaching 

 the house found it was hard stone and he became very angry. " Alas ! " 

 cried he, "I was very stupid. Why did I allow this hare to fool me? 

 I was so anxious to kill him ; I must have him. How can 1 catch 

 him! Alas! this house is very strong, how can I open it?" and he 

 began to work, but after a while he cried, "The stone is so strong I can 

 not open it." Presently the hare called, "Man coyote, how are yoii 

 going to kill me'?" "I know how I am going to kill you," replied the 

 coyote, "I will kill you with fire." "Where is the wood?" cried the 

 hare, for there was no wood at the house of the hare. "I will bring 

 grass," said the coyote, "and set fire to it and the fire will enter your 

 house and go into your eyes, nose, and mouth, and kill you." "Oh," 

 said the hare, " the grass is mine, it is my food, it will not kill me; why 

 would my food kill me? It is my friend. No, grass will not kill me." 

 "Then," cried the coyote, "I will bring all the trees of the woods and 

 set fire to them," and the hare replied, "all the trees know me, they 

 too are my food, they will not kill me, they are my friends." The coy- 

 ote said, "I will bring the gum of the piiion and set fire to it," and the 

 hare cried, " Oh, now I am much afraid, I do not eat that and it is not 

 my friend," and the coyote rejoiced that he had discovered a plan for 

 getting the hare. He hurried and brought all the gum he could carry 

 and placed it at the door of the hare's house and set fire to it and in a 

 short time the gum boiled like hot grease, and the hare cried, "Now I 

 know I shall die, what shall I do?" and the coyote's heart was glad. 

 In a little while the hare called, "The fire is entering my house," and 

 the coyote cried to him, "Blow it out". At the same time, drawing near 

 to the fire, he blew with all his might to increase the flame. "Oh!'"' 



