BOAS] KUTENAI TALES 173 
blanket of the other girl. Early the other | girl arose. The plank 
was with her. | Then the girls said to each other: ‘Oh, you must 
have eaten all the food that was left!” | They said: ‘‘We did not eat 
it. How doesit happen?” | Coyote thought: ‘Oh, say: ‘May you not 
be Coyote? | Throw (the dish) into the water!’ Then the girls said: 
“Oh, may you not be || Coyote?” and they threw it into the water. 
Coyote swam on and | drifted along. | 
(d) COYOTE LIBERATES SALMON 
He saw two girls picking berries. Coyote went ashore | and trans- 
formed himself into a baby. He went there. | A small child fell 
from his body, and a girl saw him. || The girl said: ‘There is a child. | 
It is nice. Let us run for it, and the one who gets there first shall 
have it for her child!” | Then the friends ran for it. One was 
named Night Hawk, | the other was named Snipe.t’ Night Hawk 
reached there first | and took the child. She said: ‘‘We will both 
own it.” || Then she carried the child back. She was glad | to have 
the child. She was going to raise the boy; | and when he was big, he 
was to hunt. Then they got home and | staid there. Inthe morning |! 
she did not pick berries, and also the following day | she did not pick 
berries. She was prevented by her child. | It was heavy. She 
could not carry him on her back, and | he could not stay alone. 
Therefore she could not pick berries. | Coyote saw what the one was 
doing. She put her hands behind | the tent and knocked down 
salmon. Then she ate with him. | In the evening the other one put 
her hand back behind the tent. She knocked at it, || and she took out 
a fawn. He ate with her. | That was a nice way. For many days 
the two girls | did not go to pick berries on account of that child. | 
When it was dark, he staid with the one; | and when it was dark 
again, he staid with the other one. (The girls) said to each other: | 
“There are not many berries left for us to eat. Let us | see whether 
the boy can put out a fire if our home should be on fire.” | The one 
then started a fire, and said | to the child: ‘Now put out the fire.” 
The child | took astick and put out the fire. Then the two girls said:| 
“He is clever. He may stay here. | Let us go and pick berries.”’ 
Then they started to pick berries. Coyote looked | there at the back 
of the tent, and he saw a lake | there which was filled with salmon. 
He went to the other side and looked | behind the tent, and he saw 
that it was fullof fawns. Then || he thought: ‘Let me steal them.” | 
He dug a ditch along toward the river. In the evening | his mother 
1 The species is uncertain. It was described as a bird smaller than a snipe, whose call is ‘‘ Hust!’ 
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