INTRODUCTION. It 
performances of the Wolf sent by the Wolf-Star, who, in attempting to 
steal people from Lightning, introduces mortality on earth, and through 
Lightning’s failure to sacrifice Wolf the earth becomes subject to war- 
fare and death. Thus the original wolf is a transformer of far-reaching 
consequences and at the same time a veritable trickster. This latter 
element appears throughout all the Coyote tales. The transformer ele- 
ment, as already noted, is as a rule much less prominent. ae 
It has not been possible to obtain, up to the present time, any lengthy _ 
connected story of creation suchas has been recorded from the Navaho. 
It seems probable, however, that such tales as the one just referred to 
represent a studied effort on the part of the narrator or observer to com- 
bine many elements in a continuous story. The Pawnee know of no such 
tale. It now seems quite certain to me, however, that a complete knowl- 
edge of the rituals associated with the sacred bundles of the Skidi would 
furnish us with a fairly well-connected tale of origin of unusual interest. 
This, however, it will never be possible to obtain, as many chapters or 
sections of such a tale disappeared with the village and its bundle. 
Many sections of the story are still available, a few of which have already 
been given in popular form in the ‘‘Traditions of the Skidi Pawnee.”’ 
The comment there made may be here repeated, namely, that as a rule 
myths which seem to be explanatory of rituals do not represent the official 
version. This is embodied in the ritual itself, which is chanted or sung 
during the ceremony. The meaning of the words of the ritual is generally 
obscure, often unintelligible even to the priest himself. In this connec- 
tion it may be interesting to note that not for thirty years have the 
bundle ceremonies been held or their rituals chanted. Itis all the more | 
surprising that the priests remember as much about them as they do./ 
Nearly one-half of the stories are accompanied by music and song, 
but only a free translation of the songs is given in the body of the stories. 
The music and text of the songs will be found in Part II. It is known 
that formerly songs existed with many of the other tales, but their words 
or music or both have been lost. The music and words of many songs 
have also been obtained from the narrators of many of the medicine 
stories. These songs, however, form an intrinsic part of the medicine- 
man’s ceremonies, and consideration of them is reserved for a more 
appropriate place. 
Accompanying the title of each tale is a note which bears the name 
of the informant and band. With a large number of tales there is also 
a brief explanatory note, in which is set forth the reason, as given by the 
informant, why the tale is told, and which supplements the general state- 
ment given at the beginning of each group of tales. This information, 
