78 THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE WICHITA. 
they went out on the next day the oldest brother began to tell the 
rest how he had been with a woman for the first time in his life, and 
promised them that they would be delighted when it came their turn. 
When they arrived the next day the Coyote woman did most of the 
work in feeding the men, for she was now their wife. At night the 
next oldest took his turn sleeping with the Coyote woman, and he was 
shown how to work at night. Thereafter the men took turns sleeping 
with the Coyote woman. 
Some time afterwards the Coyote woman told her sister-in-law 
that she was pregnant, “for,” said she, “my mother thas told me that 
when a woman is in my condition she is pregnant and must not sleep 
with men any more. My mother and father no longer sleep together 
when a child is in my mother’s womb. Moreover, before any brothers 
and sisters are born, my father cuts twenty-four dogwood sprouts to 
make a cradle, and other material that is used in making a cradle.” 
The woman listened attentively to all that the Coyote woman had to 
say about the handling of a child after it was born, and it sounded 
strange to her. When the brothers came home she repeated all that she 
had heard ; how they were not to sleep any more with the Coyote woman, 
and how they were to cut dogwood sprouts to make a cradle for the 
child. She told them they could sleep with the Coyote woman once 
more, but after that the two women would sleep together. Some time 
afterward the men were out cutting the twenty-four dogwood sticks 
to make a cradle with for the child, and other materials that had to 
be used were the things that they always had. So everything went on 
the same as it had always gone. While the two women were to- 
gether the woman would feel around where the child was and wonder 
whether it was going to be a boy or a girl. Some time after, the 
Coyote woman told her sister-in-law that she was about to have a 
-child, and she would after that remain at home and let the other 
woman do the work. Sometimes the woman would say: “I wonder 
why your father does not come to see us.” ‘The Coyote woman would 
say: “Perhaps he has all he can do and has no time to come around.” 
Whatever the Coyote woman did she would relate what her father and 
mother told her, but she was the old man Coyote herself. Finally the 
Coyote woman became sick, and said she was going to have a child. 
So the child was born. 
The woman, not knowing anything about having children, asked 
the Coyote woman what to do, and she told the woman to cut the navel 
off. After doing this the woman took the robe of one of her brothers 
and wrapped up the child in it. After the child was born the Coyote 
