WHITE] MYTHS AND TALES 165 



How KauBat Lost His Eyes 



Once, in the old days, when the Acoma people were stiU living at 

 the foot of the eastern end of the mesa of Ako (at Akohaitit"), they 

 were making baslvets to hold meat. The war chief decided to send 

 eveiy one out to get some reeds (ya''a) to make the baskets with. 

 Someone knew that lots of these reeds grew at a place north of Acoma, 

 so they all went there. 



There was a man named Kausat', who lived west of Ca-'kaiya 

 (a large mesa near Acoma). He knew that the Acoma people were 

 going out to get reeds, so he went along, too. He met a girl. He 

 gave her some reeds that were nicely colored for her baskets. He 

 asked her to come with him to his house. He said he had more of 

 the colored reeds there and that he would give her some more. Then 

 he showed her Ms mack'utc (this was a small hoop of reeds. It was 

 rolled on the ground with a stick, and perhaps used in a hoop-and- 

 javelin game. The pot rest that women wear on their heads to 

 support water jars is called a mackutc). Kausat' told the girl to 

 stand where she was and that he woidd roU the mackutc toward her. 

 If she could catch it, she could keep it. So he roUed it toward her 

 and she tried to catch it. But when she stooped over to get it, she 

 got caught in it and disappeared inside. Then Kausat' rolled the 

 mackutc along until he came to the north slope of Ca-'kaiya, where he 

 lived. Then he took the girl out of the mackutc and had intercourse 

 with her. When he had enough of her, he went off, leaving the girl 

 in the woods. 



The girl was scared and began to cry. She walked aimlessly 

 through the woods, crying, until evening. A badger heard her and 

 came to see who it was. "Sa ma'ak" (my daughter), the badger 

 called to her. "Yes, mother, where are you?" the girl answered. 

 "Here," the badger said, coming from beneath a pinon tree. "Why 

 are you crying?" "Because a man brought me here. He deceived 

 me." "It was KauBat', perhaps," the badger said. "Where do you 

 Uve?" "At Akohaitit"." "I don't laiow what direction that is from 

 here," the badger said. "Come on home with me." 



The girl followed the badger to her home. "Put your foot down 

 there and the door will get larger," the badger told her. The gh'l 

 did this and the door grew large enough to go through. "Make 

 yourself at home, dear," the nice old badger told the girl. "I don't 

 have much to eat what you like." "WTiat do you eat?" the girl 

 asked. "Oh, deer, rabbit, etc." 



The badger went out to get some food. She saw a rabbit rim in 

 a burrow. She dug it out and killed it. The girl did not know how 

 to build a fire, so the badger showed her how to make and use a fire 

 drill (atyutco'mi). The gh-1 did not want the fire to go out because 



