Traditions of the Arikara

by George A. Dorsey

49. THE COYOTE AND THE MICE SUN DANCE.[50]

While the Coyote was wandering in the evening he heard dancing, but he could not see the dance anywhere. He went on walking around and hunting for the dance. He was about to give up, when he found that the noise of the dancing came from an elk skull in the bushes.

The Mice ran away as soon as the Coyote came up, but the Coyote begged to see them dance. He addressed them thus, “Uncles, I want to see you dance.” The Mice said: “We are afraid of you, for you may eat us. We would like to see you, but you are very tricky, and you might eat us.” The Coyote begged so hard, saying he had not seen his uncles for many months, and he wanted to see them; so the Mice agreed to let him into the dance. They let the Coyote peep into the back part of the skull, so that he could see the dance. As soon as the Coyote had run his head through the skull the Mice ran away, and the Coyote was held fast with his head in the skull. The Coyote begged the Mice to take the skull off, but the Mice would not listen to him. They told him to go away. So the Coyote went on his way, with the skull on his head.

The Coyote could not see very well, on account of the skull being over his eyes. He heard some noises at a distance. He went straight to a camp. He came to the edge of some water. The people saw the animal coming on the other side of the water, and some of them hallooed, “A wonderful animal coming on the other side of the water!” When the Coyote saw that the people were scared he commenced to make funny noises. Some of the people said, “Make way, so that we may be spared and live.” The Coyote said, “Give me the chief’s daughter and you shall all live.” The people gave him the chief’s daughter. The Coyote swam across the water and the people made a tipi for him. The girl took the Coyote by the horns and led him to the tipi. The Coyote stayed with the girl all night. In the morning the Coyote and the girl were sent for to come and eat. The Coyote was still close to the girl, and some boy saw that it was a Coyote. The boy yelled, “This being that is in the tipi with the girl is nothing but a Coyote!” The people rushed there and the Coyote was forced out beyond the tipi. As he could not see very well he ran into people and dogs. The people struck the skull until they broke it to pieces. They caught the Coyote and brought him home. They tied his legs with strings, drove some pegs into the ground, and tied him fast to the pegs. As the people went out they would go to the Coyote and urinate and defecate on him. One old woman went out to defecate on the Coyote, and as she lifted her dress she wanted to know how she was to do it. The Coyote told the woman that the first thing to be done was to pull the pegs, then pull up her dress, then defecate on him. The Coyote took a long stick, and as the woman lifted her dress and tried to defecate on him he ran the stick into her rectum, then stuck the stick in the ground. He then ran away and defecated as he went. For this reason the Coyote defecates easily and is always running from the people.

FOOTNOTES:

[50] Told by Joe Reed.

50. THE COYOTE BECOMES A BUFFALO.[51]

The Coyote was going along when he saw an old bull sitting down on the side of a hill. The Coyote went up to him, and said, “Well, my grandfather, are you sitting here sunning yourself?” The bull said, “Yes.” The Coyote said that he was hungry; that he would like the Buffalo to give him something to eat. The Buffalo said, “Why are you not like myself, a big Buffalo, eating grass.” The Coyote said, “Well, grandfather, I wish that you would make a Buffalo out of me.” So the Buffalo said: “All right. You will then have to break up your bow and arrows, for you will need them no more.” So the Buffalo placed the Coyote, and said, “Now you must keep a strong heart; do not get scared.” The Buffalo rushed at the Coyote, and just as he was about to hook the Coyote, the Coyote jumped sidewise. Then the Buffalo said: “Why did you get scared? Now stay right at this place, and I will come and make a Buffalo out of you.” But every time the Buffalo ran toward him the Coyote would jump away. The last time the Coyote stayed, and as the Buffalo went up against him there were two Buffalo bulls. They locked horns, then the Buffalo told the Coyote-Buffalo to eat grass. The Coyote-Buffalo obeyed and ate until he was filled. Then the Buffalo said, “We must go to the Buffalo herd, for there is one bull there who has control of all the female Buffalo, and we will fight him, and when we have killed him we can have all the female Buffalo.” So they went to the Buffalo herd. The Buffalo bull was going around among the Buffalo. They were waiting to fight him when it should come time. They fought, and they killed the Buffalo bull.

Now each bull took many cows to look after. When they all came together they lay down in a hollow for the night. The next night the Buffalo all jumped and traveled toward the western country. When the Coyote-Buffalo got up he saw that he had been left behind, all alone. He arose, but did not follow the other people. The Coyote-Buffalo came across a Coyote, and said: “Why are you not as I am? I was a Coyote once, but now I am a Buffalo.” The Coyote-Buffalo told the Coyote to throw his bow and arrows away, for he was going to make him into a Buffalo. He set the Coyote in a certain place and made a rush at him. The Coyote jumped sidewise. Three times did the Coyote-Buffalo try to run into the Coyote, but every time the Coyote jumped sidewise. The last time, the Coyote-Buffalo said, “Now you must close your eyes and let me run over you.” The Coyote obeyed and the Coyote-Buffalo ran into him, and there were two Coyotes instead of the Coyote-Buffalo and the Coyote. So the Coyote-Buffalo turned back into a Coyote.