380 ISLETA, NEW MEXICO rETH. ann. 47 



t'aikabede." He went into the hills and killed a rabbit. "This 

 rabbit," he thought, "I am goiag to take to my grandfather and, if 

 I kill another, I w-ill take it to my mother." This boy was about 12. 

 He killed another rabbit and he started back home. On the way it 

 began to rain, so he got all wet before he got home. He gave one 

 rabbit to his mother. He said, "I am going to take this rabbit to 

 t'aikabedHu (town chief wife or old woman) and this eagle to my 

 grandfather." "All right, they will thank you for it." When he was 

 near the house of the town chief he called out and they came out and 

 thanked him. So the town chief old woman gave him supper. At 

 that time the town chief said, "I am going to make a cage for my 

 eagle and feed him every day, a rabbit every day." So he made a 

 cage and put him in, inside the house. He fed him with crumbs. 

 That is the way they were living. At last the eagle grew up. The 

 old woman said, "Why don't you make a bigger cage and put it on 

 top of the roof? The eagle is nasty inside the house." So he made 

 a larger cage and put it on the roof, and he promised to get him a 

 rabbit every day. So the town chief started to himt. The old 

 woman got cranky, for the tov\ii chief brought a rabbit every day to 

 the eagle and never brought her any. So they quarreled. So the 

 years were passing. They had rain, and animals, horses, cattle, 

 sheep. Two years the eagle was Hving with him. One day he had 

 to be away, for a ceremony, and he said to his old woman, "I'll go 

 to-morrow morning for rabbits. I will kill two rabbits. I will give 

 the eagle one and leave the other for you to give him the following 

 morning." 



The town chief had to go at night and stay all day. They always 

 fed the eagle at simrise. The old woman went up to the cage. The 

 eagle w^as springing about. She said, "Here, puyede (glutton)! You 

 get a rabbit every daj^ and I get none because of you." The eagle 

 got mad. (You know animals can understand speech, especially 

 eagles.) He turned his head away. "Here, eat it!" He turned 

 away. So she threw it at him. So when the town chief came back 

 he asked about his eagle. "Did he eat the rabbit I got for him?" 

 "I do not know. He turned away, and I just left the rabbit in the 

 cage. Come in, and eat your supper." "No; I am going to see my 

 eagle first." ^Tien he spoke to the eagle, he turned away, turning 

 first one way, then the other way, and the rabbit was there just as the 

 old woman had left it. "Wliat is the matter, my son?" The eagle 

 turned one way, and then the other way. "I linow why you are 

 mad. Because I did not get you a fresh rabbit. But I'll go and get 

 you one in the morning." Next moniing he got a fresh rabbit and 

 took it up to the eagle. But the eagle turned away. So the old 

 cacicjue wondered why he was so angry and begged him to tell him 

 if anybody had done anything to him. Then the eagle said that he 



