284 THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE WICHITA. 
The Wood-pecker commenced to work from the bottom, up, and finally 
succeeded in reaching the Coyote, and he got him out. The Coyote 
thanked the Wood-pecker for helping him out, and he told him that 
he had the sharpest axe that he had ever seen. The Wood-pecker’s axe 
was its nose. Here the Coyote’s troubles ended. He went off to roam 
over the prairie, but he always had hard times to get something to eat. 
50. THE COYOTE, THE OPOSSUM, AND THE CROW.* 
Once upon a time the Coyote (Ketox) ; Opossum (Waitskada- 
daiyox), or Gray-Man; and the Crow (Waitscowwi), met. When they 
met they asked one another what their names meant. The Coyote 
first asked the Opossum what his name meant. Opossum gave the 
definition of his name. ‘Then the Crow said: “Yes, let us know what 
your name means.” So the Opossum said that the name he went by 
meant Man-Having-a-War-club (Waitskadaidaiyoks). ‘This club 
that I have,” said he, “I use in killing my enemies.” The two others 
then said to the Opossum: “Is that what your name means?” Next, 
the Crow was asked the meaning of his name. He replied that when- 
ever he attacked his enemies, after killing some of them, he always 
was ready to get into the home he lived in. The Coyote was then asked 
what his name meant. He had four names—Wetsikitox, Atatsyatskak, 
Hiquideskunniwai, and Kesawah. The Coyote replied that Wetsikitox 
meant that when anything happened he always wanted to go ahead 
before any one else was ready; or, sometimes in attacking the 
enemies, that he always went on and killed all the enemies first, before 
anybody did anything. He was then asked what the name Atatsya- 
tskuk meant. The Coyote said: “It is nothing for me to tell the mean- 
ing of my names. That means that I defecated on roads made by war- 
parties and nowhere else.” Then he was asked the meaning of Hiquides- 
kunniwai. He replied that this was greater than either of the first two; 
that it meant that while out on the war-path, whenever he went out 
spying, that he defecated on a bunch of grass, and not on the ground, 
for the enemies might see that some one was after them. Then again 
the Coyote was asked the meaning of Kesawah. He replied that it 
meant that whenever he was out on the war-path and was wounded, 
some parts of his bones were fractured. In that way some of his bones 
remained in his stomach, and when carried home by his followers and 
when defecating, his excrement was mixed with bones. 

*Told by Ignorant-Woman (Man) (Towakoni). 
