152 THE SIA. 



about something, aucl lie said to the ka'wate, " What shall vre do uow ?" 

 and she answered; "I do not know," then the coyote said, "We will 

 work together for something pretty; we will run a race and the one 

 who wins will have all the hares." " Oh," said the ka'wate, "how could 

 I beat you? your feet are so much larger thau mine." " Well," said the 

 coyote, "I will allow you the start of me." The coyote made a torch of 

 the inner shreds of the cedar bark and wrai^ped it with yucca thread 

 and lighting it tied this torch to the end of his tail. The fire was 

 attached to his tail to light the grass that he might see everywhere 

 about him to watch the ka'wate that she might not escape him. He 

 then said, " Woman, I know you can not run fast, you must go first 

 and I will wait until you have gone a certain distance." The ka'wate 

 started oft', but when out of sight of the coyote she slipped into 

 the house of the badger. At the proper time the coyote started with 

 the fire attached to his tail. Wherever he touched the grass he set 

 fire to it. The ka'wate waited for him to pass and then came out of 

 the house of the badger and hastening back to the rock she carried all 

 the hares to a high ledge, leaving but four tiny little ones below. The 

 coyote was surprised in his run not to overtake the ka'wate. " She 

 must be very quick," thought he. " How could she run so fast," and 

 after passing around the mountain, all the time expecting to see the 

 ka'wate ahead of him, he returned to the rock surely expecting to find 

 her there. Not seeing her, he cried, "Where can the ka'wate be?" 



He was tired and sat down in the shade of the rock. "Why does 

 she not come," thought the coyote; "perhaps she will not return before 

 night, her feet are so small; perhaps she will not come at all. Strange 

 I have not seen her; she must be far off." The Ka'wate, who was just 

 above him, heard all that he said. She watched him and .saw him take 

 a stick and look into the mound for the hares. (They had covered the 

 hares before leaving the place.) He pulled out a very small one which 

 he threw away. He then drew a second one, still smaller than the first, 

 and this he also threw oft', and again a third, and a fourth, each one 

 smaller than the other. "I do not care for the little ones," he said, "I 

 have many here, I will not eat the smaller ones," and he hunted and 

 hirnted in the mound for the hares, but found no more; all were gone, 

 and he looked about him and said, "That woman has robbed me," and 

 he was glad to collect the four he had cast away and eat them, for he 

 was very hungry. After his meal he looked about him and found the 

 ka'wate's footprints on the rocks. He hunted everywhere for her, but 

 he did not think to look above, and after searching a long time he be- 

 came weary and laid down to rest. As he looked upward, he saw the 

 woman sitting on the ledge of the rock with the hares piled beside her. 

 The coyote was hungry for the hares, and he begged the ka'wate to 

 bring him some, and she threw him down a very small one, and the 

 coyote was angry with her and still more angry with himself, because 

 he could not climb the rock ; she had gone where he could not go. The 



