36 KAROK FABLES. 
longest bow, and so have the greatest power, and have all animals for 
his meat. He determined to stay awake all night, while the others slept, 
and so go forth first in the morning and get the longest bow. This he 
devised within his cunning mind, and then he laughed to himself, and 
stretched out his snout on his fore-paws, and pretended to sleep, like the 
others. But about midnight he began to get sleepy, and he had to walk 
around camp and scratch his eyes a considerable time to keep them open. 
But still he grew more sleepy, and he had to skip and jump about like a 
good one to keep awake. He made so much noise this way that he woke 
up some of the other animals, and he had to think of another plan. About 
the time the morning star came up, he was so sleepy that he couldn’t keep 
his eyes open any longer. Then he took two little sticks and sharpened 
them at the ends, and propped open his eyelids, whereupon he thought he 
was safe, and he concluded he would take just a little nap, with his eyes 
open, watching the morning star. But in a few minutes he was sound 
asleep, and the sharp sticks pierced through his eyelids, and pinned them 
fast together. 
So the morning star mounted up very swiftly, and then there came a 
peep of daybreak, and the birds began to sing, and the animals began to 
rise and stretch themselves, but still the coyote lay fast asleep. At last it 
was broad daylight, and then the sun rose, and all the animals went forth 
to meet The Man. He gave the longest bow to the cougar, so he had the 
greatest power of all; and the second longest to the bear; and so on, giv- 
ing the next to the last to the poor frog. But he still had the shortest one 
left, and he-cried out, ““What animal have I missed?” Then the animals 
began to look about, and they soon spied the coyote lying fast asleep, with 
the sharp sticks pinning his eyelids together. Upon that all the animals 
set up a great laugh, and they jumped on the coyote and danced upon 
him. Then they led him to The Man—tor he could see nothing because of 
the sticks—and The Man-pulled out the sticks, and gave him the shortest 
bow of all, which would shoot an arrow hardly more than a foot. And all 
the animals laughed very much. 
But The Man took pity on the coyote, because he was now the weakest of 
all animals, weaker even than the frog, and he prayed to Kareya for him, 
