106 MYTHOLOGIC TEXTS. 



NOTES. 



In preference to any other bea.st, the prairie-wolf, small wolf, or coyote (as he is 

 called in the West after an Aztec term meaninj^ ''digger, burrower") became con- 

 nected in the mind of the Indian with the creation of the moon and the origin of the 

 months or moons, bccanse in moonlit nights he is henrd howling from nightfall to 

 dawn; sometimes alone, sometimes in packs of several dozen at a time. His queiMilous, 

 whining howl is likened by the Indians with a "speaking to the moon". Our tale 

 above is based npon the double sense o( moon und month, in which the term shapash (the 

 "indicator," from shapa to tell, indicate) is used. The idea of the creation of twice 

 twelve moons originated in the delusion that in every jjeriod called 7iew moon, moons 

 were really made or nmnufactured new by the creator. The number twenty-foiii- was 

 perhaps suggested by the observation of lunar eclipses, or mock moons ajipearing in 

 hazy weather. The coyote as the creator of the moons (and tiie creator of the universe 

 among the Central Californians) naturally desired to have as many moons as possible, 

 while K'mukamtch, as the wolf's antagonist, thought it better for the benefit of his own 

 creation, the human beings, not to make tlie year too long. If the winter had to last 

 twelve months instead of six, how could they collect roots, bulbs, seed, fish, and game 

 enough to live througli such a length of time? 



105, 2. shipat/iikanka. Two moons being on the sky simultaneously would neces- 

 sarily often cover and thereby eclipse or hurt each other. 



105, 2. igg^-idshnank. The mother-coyote had hung up the twenty-four moons 

 made by herself around the walls and ceiling of her winter-lodge, which in this myth 

 signifies the sky. The suffix -idshua points to her walking trom one spot of the 

 lodge to another while busy in suspending the moons. 



105, ■'!. gfi'hli'. A great deal of shrewdness is ascribed to the principal deity of 

 the Klamath Lake people as well as to those of other hunting tribes. He manifests 

 his astuteness in entering. the coyote's lodge in her absence only, and to prepare a trick 

 for her there. 



105, 4. tiit' n6 for tdta uen. 



105, 5. Hitii tchia! is pronounced as if it was one word only: IiitAtchia. 



105, G. shu'shamka, distributive form of sh'u'mka, to hum, grunt, to make hii ha. 

 He grunted every time ho iJlanted another awl, sometimes in an interrogative tone 

 of voice, and did it to disguise their secret planting into the ground-. 



105, 7. wakaitch composed of wak haitch ; wAsha^weka composed of washam weaga ; 

 t;^6wag or t;f^waga, diminuti\e of t;^6 u first, first in order, eldest; cf. hfi'Utag. 



105, 7. tu'm haktch. This language has a term corresponding to our too much 

 (tu'm tchatchui), but none which renders our too with accuracy. Adjectives or adverbs 

 qualified by too are therefore pronounced with a higher pitch of voice and the quantity 

 of tiieir main vowel is increased wheu the Indian intends to express this adverb. 



105, 10. wakai, "why not," a combination of wak and ka i. 



105, 14. gati)anu'la gi'ta: ho has come here and has left again. 



105, 10. Kiti'ta. The coyote-wolf, while rolling forth and back on the ground, as 

 these animals are in the habit of doing, ran her belly into the bone-awls insidiously 

 planted there by K'mukamtch, so that the eutrails shed their contents on the lodge- 

 tloor. 



