288 THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE WICHITA. 
you, for you did me wrong in the first place.” The Bear begged the 
Coyote’s pardon, and the Coyote then rode on the Bear’s back toward 
his home. Before arriving home he ordered the Bear to go out hunting, 
saying that he must not try to make his escape, for he could easily get 
him back, no matter what kind of a good talk he put up. The Bear 
then went on to hunt for the Coyote, saying to himself: “I surely made 
a mistake by trying to kill him. If I had not put up such a good talk 
he surely would have killed me.” The Bear went on until he came to 
a deer. He killed him, then he turned toward the Coyote’s place with 
the meat. On his arrival he heard the Coyote telling his wife that he 
had captured a very large Bear, and that he would have killed him if 
he had not made a good promise; that from that time on he would live 
with them and do all the work for them, and hunt for them, too, and so 
he did not kill the Bear. Just then the Bear came in, bringing the deer 
meat, and the Coyote ordered his wife not to have anything to do with 
the cooking, but to let the Bear do all the work. The Bear sat down to 
rest, and the Coyote jumped up and took a burning stick and ‘burned 
him and ordered him to make haste to do the cooking, for his wife and 
children were hungry. He told the Bear he was slow in hunting; that 
it did not take him that long to hunt. The Bear then commenced to 
roast the meat for them, and after cooking the meat he gave it to the 
Coyote’s family to eat. This is the way the Bear’s life began in living 
with the Coyote’s family. His work was to support this family for a 
long while. The young ones treated him as their father had done. 
If he did not do his work in a hurry they scorched him. The children 
would ride him around whenever he was not doing anything. 
Once upon a time when the Bear went out hunting he met some- 
body who told him that he was a big fool for living with the Coyote and 
supporting his family, for the Coyote was not a child of the Sun, and 
had no powers. The Bear was told that he was just following a hard 
life by living with them, and that when he arrived at the place he should 
kill off all the young ones, and the old ones too, for they could not do © 
him any harm. The Bear returned without anything, and upon his 
arrival the young ones tried to do to him the same as they had always 
done, but the great Bear rushed forth and killed the whole family. 
After killing them he went back to his home. 
