*^°s^] COYOTE MYTH TRANSLATION. 103 



After they reached liome Coyote went to gather spruce roots. The 

 suake accompanied him. Coyote dug up the ground and the snake 

 crawled about at the same place. They went home. Coyote split the 

 spruce roots. " Go on ; work," he spoke to the snake ; " you let me wait." 

 The snake replied: "Quick, quick; work! you let me wait." Kow 

 Coyote tied his net to the buoys and laid it down flat on a large mat. 

 Then he tied it to the buoys. The snake crawled about at the same 

 place. Coyote finished his net and hung it up outside. Earlj^ the next 

 morning he stepped out of the house, and there hung already the net 

 of the snake. "Oh, brother," he said, "you got the better of me." 

 Coyote was ashamed. The snake had won over him. Coyote said: 

 " When a person makes a net, he shall get tired before he finishes it. 

 It would not be well if he would not get tired." The snake said to him : 

 "I told you that you would let me wait." 



It got day. Then they went to catch salmon in their net. They laid 

 the net and caught two in it. Coyote jumped over the net. Now tbey 

 intended to catch more salmon, but the flood-tide set in. They had 

 caught only two before the flood-tide set in. Now they went home. 

 Coyote said that he was hungry, and he split the salmon at once. They 

 roasted them. When they were done they ate. The frog and the newt 

 were their cousins. The next morning they went fishing with their net. 

 The newt looked after the rope, the snake stood at the upper end of 

 the net, Coyote at the lower end. They intended to catch salmon, but 

 they did not get anything until the flood-tide set in. They went home. 

 Coyote was angry. He defecated and spoke to his excrements: " You 

 are a liar." They said to him : ''You with your bandy-legs. When peoi)le 

 kill a salmon they do not jump over the net. You must not step over 

 your net. When the first salmon are killed, they are not cut until the 

 afternoon." "Oh," said Coyote, "Y^ou told me enough." On the next 

 morning they went fishing. When they had killed a salmon they did 

 not jump over the net. They laid their net twice. Enough salmon 

 were in the net. Then he ordered the newt: "Bail out the canoe, it 

 is full of water." She bailed it out. Then they intended to fish again, 

 but the flood-tide set in. They went home and put down what they 

 had caught in the house. In the afternoon Coyote split the salmon. 

 He split them in the same way as the silver-side salmon. He placed 

 the head, the back, the body, and the roe in sei^arate places and on 

 separate double spits. They were done. The next morning they went 

 fishing. They did not kill anything. Coyote became angry and defe 

 cated. He said to his excrements : " Tell me, why have these salmon 

 disappeared?" His excrements scolded him: "Do you think their 

 taboo is the same as that of the silver-side salmon ? It is different. 

 When you go fishing salmon and they go into your net, you may lay it 

 three times. No more salmon will go into it. It is enough then. Never 

 bail out your canoe. When you come home and cut the salmon, you 

 must split it at the sides and roast belly and back on separate double 



