BOAS] KUTENAI TALES 191 
hunting. I will change the Deer, and it will not bite you; | but the 
Deer is wild.”’ | 
Now I have told what Coyote did long ago | to the Deer. | 
64. CoryoTE AND TREE CHIEF! 
Well, I will tell you about Tree Chief. | 
(a) COYOTE BECOMES TREE CHIEF’S FRIEND 
There was Coyote. He heard about a youth. | There was a youth. 
He thought: “Tl go, | and the youth shall be my friend, because it is 
said || that he is clever.” The name of this youth was Tree Chief.| 5 
Coyote started. He went along. He met | a mule. Coyote took him 
and rode him. Because his legs were lean, | he took moss and stuffed 
his legs. Then | he had big calves. Tree Chief’s tent was on a river. | 
Coyote came riding along on the mule | opposite (the tent). When 10 
Tree Chief’s mother saw him, the old woman said: | ‘‘Oh, I wish the 
passer-by would be my son’s friend!” | Coyote heard her talking. | 
He went past. He left his mule and came || to the old woman. He 15 
entered, and said to her: ‘‘What did you say | when I passed there 
on the other side?”’ The old woman saw that | he was a youth. 
She was pleased with him. She said | to Coyote: “TI said this: ‘I 
wish you would be my son’s friend.’”’ | She did not know that. it 
was Coyote. Therefore || she took him to be her son’s friend. She 20 
knew that | her son was to be a chief. There was Coyote | in his 
friend’s tent. | 
(6) COYOTE TRIES TO KILL TREE CHIEF 
After several days he said to his friend: ‘‘Let us go to the town!”’ | 
He knew that it was true that || the youth was going to do something. 25 
He had heard there in the town | while he was there [he was told] that 
the chief would give | his daughter to that youth. Therefore he 
thought | he would make him his friend. He wanted to kill him 
and take the | chief’s daughter for himself. They went along a trail. || 
The youth did not want to leave his mother’s tent. He would never 39 
go | tothe big town. When Coyote had become his friend, | he took 
him along. Coyote saw a pit. It was|a trap of Wolf. Coyote 
thought: “Here | I shall kill my friend.”’ Then they arrived there. 
* Literally, ‘‘ different kind of tree.’’ 
