232 THE PIMA INDIANS [eth. ann. 2«5 



He saw that the house was divided into two parts before him; even 

 the fireplace was divided, and no one said a word to indicate which 

 side he should enter. For a loner time he was silent. Then he said: 

 "What kind of people are you that you do not speak to me I It is 

 the custom to ask a stranger 'Where are you fromr or, if they come 

 at night, ' Where were you when the sun went down?' Why are you 

 not thus courteous? Am I a thief, a murderer, or a ghost that iriakes 

 you speechless with fright?" 



After the stranger had spoken, Mountain Lion got up, took his 

 tobacco, rolled and lighted a cigarette. 



"Ha, you are here also,'' said the stranger, "and have said nothing 

 to me." But Mountain Lion put away his tobacco without ofl'ering 

 any to the other, who exclaimed: "Do you think I have no tobacco? 

 Don't you see that I am caught here in the door because I have so 

 much tobacco in m}^ bundle that it will not go through?" Then 

 Yellow Coyote invited him to come to the south side of the house. 



F'or many nights they played different games, but Yellow Coyote 

 continued to lose at all of them. At last he told Finish that he had 

 hit upon a game that he believed they could win with. So he called 

 Tco'kokoi, or Black Beetle, and told him that they wanted him to 

 run a football race with Vap'kai-iki, Duck. When Black Beetle 

 heard that the south division of the house wanted him to run a race 

 he said, "While j^ou people were planning for this I had a dream. I 

 dreamed that I had in my right hand a green ball, which 1 tlirew or 

 kicked with my right foot toward the east. After I Jiad kicked four 

 times I reached the place where the sun comes up. When I turned 

 around the darkness came behind me, but I kicked the ball four 

 times and reached the place where the sim goes down, and the dark- 

 ness did not catch me." 



All his party were glad to hear of Black Beetle's dream, saying that 

 it was a sign of good luck. So the next day Yellow Coyote said to 

 his brother, "We will di'aw a line here for the starting place. If 

 your man kicks his ball back over this line first he will be the winner 

 and if my man kicks his ball first over the line I shall be the winner." 

 They agreed that whoever won should have the privilege of marrjang 

 at the end of four days. 



Duck and Black Beetle started off and ran for miles, and after a 

 long time the latter came in, kicking his l)all iirst over the line, 

 thus winning the race for Yellow Coyote. At the end of the four 

 days Sandy Coyote acted in bad faith, for he went away in the evening 

 and toward midnight returned with a wife whom he had taken among 

 the Va-aki A-ap, who lived northwest of the Coyote home. Her name 

 was Itany Of'i." Yellow Coyote said, "I am going to build a fire 

 and see what kind of looking woman my elder brother's wife is." 



"Itany is the nama given a saltbush, Atriplex ap., the seed o£ which is eaten by the Pimas. 



