FOOTNOTES:
[53] Told by Antelope.
53. THE COYOTE RIDES THE BUFFALO.[54]
There was a village, and in the village lived one young girl who was very pretty. All the young men courted her, but she did not care to marry. A Buffalo came who wanted to marry her. Once in a while he would turn into a young man, nicely dressed and smelling very fine. The girl became very much attached to the Buffalo.
The Coyote came to visit the girl, and he talked to her. The girl said she did not care to talk to anybody now, because she had a young man, and that young man was the Buffalo. The Coyote said: “Why, that Buffalo is my horse. I ride him.” The girl said, “If you will ride that Buffalo here I will marry you.” The Coyote went home, took a club and hit himself very hard on the knee, so as to make it sore. The Buffalo came to the girl to talk with her. The girl told the Buffalo what the Coyote had said. The Buffalo was mad, and said, “I am going to bring the Coyote here and kill him.” The Buffalo pawed the ground and threw up the dirt. The Coyote saw the Buffalo coming. The Buffalo called to the Coyote to come out. He said: “I want you to go with me to the girl’s tipi; I am to kill you.” The Coyote said, “I am a cripple, I can not go.” “It is not true,” said the Buffalo. “Come out, uncle, can’t you? Come on.” Said the Coyote, “If you want me to go, and can carry me to the girl’s tipi, I will go.” The Buffalo agreed to carry the Coyote. The Buffalo got down on his knees and the Coyote got on top of him and sat upon him. The Coyote had a cane that he was to hit the Buffalo with.
The Coyote jumped up and ran back to the village and married the girl. The Buffalo was so ashamed that he never came back to the village. For this reason, the descendants of the Coyote are bad and tricky. By foul means, they marry.