182 THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE WICHITA. 
that if he made any movement in dodging it he would be hit by the 
explosion of the thing that was hid under tthe pole that the child was 
hung on; that he should take his four arrows and shoot one toward 
the east, one toward the west, one toward the south, and the last one 
toward the north, so as to destroy the people by fire. When the Coyote 
came to the first dangerous man he noticed that it was a Headless- 
Man (Chearppeschaux), who tried to chase him back; but the Coyote 
continued his journey, and when he reached the place where Headless- 
Man was he at once went around him, set his face to the north and 
stuck his feet to the ground. Headless-Man then said: “Spider-Man, 
you have made up your mind to go after the lost child, have you? You 
are on the right road now.” So the Coyote continued his journey until 
he came to the next Headless-Man, who was the same as the one the 
Coyote had met before; but the Coyote kept on until he came up to 
him, and he said the same thing to him that the first one had said. The 
Coyote went around him once, faced him north, and stuck his feet 
tight to the ground, and he said: “Spider-Man, you have great 
powers, but you want to look out, for they will get you instead of your 
getting the child, if you do not.” The Coyote went on until he came 
to another Headless-Man, and he faced him. The Headless-Man asked 
the Coyote why he had come to that place, for that was his land. When 
the Coyote approached him he threw up his hands, saying: “Spider- 
Man, this is you, and you have made up your mind to recover the lost 
child. The child was carried by here, and if you get him you will 
have to sneak around.” The Coyote then went around the Head- 
less-Man, faced him toward the north, stuck this feet fast to the ground, 
then continued his journey, for he was told that he must get there before 
the child was scorched to death, so he had to go fast. The Coyote ran 
on to the last Headless-Man, and did with him as he had done with 
the others. The four Headless-Men were a sort of guard for the 
people who thad the child, and since the little old woman had such 
guards, it was certain that she was famous. If anybody beside the 
Coyote had found her trail these four Headless-Men would have done 
the fighting before any one ever could have reached the place where 
the child was. When the Coyote came to the last Headless-Man he was 
abused with all sorts of talk in order that he might be turned back, but 
the Coyote had full power to go by, for he had already passed the other 
Headless-Men. Drawing near to him, he said to the Coyote: “Oh! 
That is Spider-Man. You surely are going to pass through here, are 
you?” ‘Then the Coyote went around him once, faced him toward the 
north, stuck his feet tight to the ground and continued his journey. 
