“Well, now, you sit down right over there and watch me,” said the Coyote, “and I will show you all about it.”
So he laid his left leg over the rock, and then slily took an antelope bone and laid it by the side of it. Then he picked up a large stone and struck it as hard as ever he could against the bone. Whack! went the stone, and it split the bone into splinters; and the Coyote pretended that it was the bone of his own leg.
“Aye! Ah! Oh!” exclaimed he. “But then it will get well!” Still crying “Oh! Ah!” he splashed the leg with the medicine-water and rubbed it. “Didn’t I tell you?” said he, “it is all right now.” And then away he went and ran like lightning round and round on the plain below, and rushed back again. “Didn’t I tell you so?” said he.
“Fury! what a runner it makes out of you,” said the old Demon, and his eyes stuck out more than ever. “Let me try it now.”
“Hold on, hold on,” said the Coyote; “I have not half finished yet.”
So he repeated the experiment with his other leg, and made great ado, as if it hurt him more than ever. But, pretending to cure himself with the medicine-water, he ran round and round on the plain below so fast that he fairly left a streak of dust behind him.
“Why, indeed, you are one of the fastest runners I ever saw!” said the Demon, rubbing his eyes.
Then the Coyote repeated the experiment first with his left paw and then with his right; and the last time he ran more swiftly than before.
“Why, do you mean to say that if I do that I can run as fast as you do?” said the Demon.
“Certainly,” replied the Coyote. “But it will hurt you.”