“You yourself are to blame,” said Gray Fox. “Be silent and listen to me. You brought the trouble on yourself as you lay down in the place where the white man came with his load of goods.”
“Oh, younger brother, you tell the truth,” said Coyote. But Gray Fox had tempted him.
ICTINIKE AND THE TURTLE
Omaha
Ictinike was journeying. When he came in sight at a bend of a stream, Big Turtle was sitting there in a sheltered place warmed by the sun. Ictinike drew himself back out of sight, crouching at intervals as he retraced his steps, and ran down the hill to where Big Turtle was.
“Why! How is it that you continue to pay no attention to what is going on? It has been said that yonder stream is to dry up so that all the four-footed animals that frequent the water have kept close to the deep water,” said Ictinike.
Big Turtle said, “Why! I have been coming here regularly, but I have not heard anything at all. I usually come and sit in this place when the sun gets as high as it is at present.”
“Hurry!” said Ictinike, “for some of the young men died very soon for want of water. The young otters died, so did the young muskrats, the young beavers, and the young raccoons.”