Bluejay to accompany him and to have contests with these people. In the first town they have a diving-contest, in which Duck is matched against Beaver. According to Coyote's instruction, Duck hides under a canoe and breathes through a knot hole. After Beaver has come up, Duck comes up too. In the second town they have a wrestling-match. Flicker wrestles with Kneecap and is almost defeated. Hawk sends his supernatural power to help Flicker. When Kneecap is almost overcome, Flicker finishes the contest alone. In a third town they have an eating-match, which is won by Bluejay. Then Coyote and his friends begin to quarrel, each wanting to go to a different place. Coyote wants to go to swamps, Duck to lakes, Flicker to dry trees, Woodpecker to thick woods. Hawk to scattered trees. They separate accordingly.
24. Coyote and Dog (2 versions: No. 56 and VAEU 23:167).—Coyote's wife, Dog, and her two children, cut fuel. When the tree falls, a deer jumps out, which Dog holds. The children call Coyote to kill it. When they call him, he spills the rose hips on which they are living, makes a bow, and goes to shoot the deer. He tramps down the snow and tells Dog to let go of the deer. His first arrow passes over the deer, which breaks through the snow. The second one passes under it. The deer escapes. Coyote travels along on his snowshoes, and finds that they are full of shrews, which he roasts. Dog is carrying her daughter on her back. She sees the fire, and thinks that Coyote has killed the deer. Dog and her daughter leave Coyote and his son. Coyote reaches a lake and catches young beavers, which he ties to his son as ear ornaments. While he is away, the beavers revive, and drag the boy into the water. Coyote returns to save the boy, and kills the beavers. He gives the beaver fat to his son, while he eats the meat, but afterwards he exchanges meat and fat. Coyote plays sliding down a hill. While he is doing so, his son freezes to death.[1] On going on, he comes to a town in which he finds a woman and her child. The child knows his thoughts. He discovers that the child is his grandson. He rejoins his wife, the Dog. When the hunters return in the evening with venison, Coyote enters the tent; but they pretend not to see him, and soil his blanket. When he returns, his wife tells him that only hunters are allowed to take part in the evening meal. On the following day he joins them, and says he will kill two bucks and a grizzly bear with seven young ones. When they are out, Coyote sits down at the head of the line of hunters. The people claim that this is improper, because he has not obtained any game. The chief of the hunters, Sun, carries pitchwood for starting a fire. Coyote puts flicker feathers in his moccasin, and when he runs fire starts. He surrounds the deer with fire and kills them. The hunters say that every hunter must carry his own game. Coyote calls his manitous, who tell him that the hunters blow on their game to make it small. He does the same, and carries home seven bears and two bucks. When he kicks the game into the tent, it assumes its natural size. In the evening he does not join the feasters until his wife tells him that he may go. In the Sun's tent he sees a shield (drying-frame?), which he steals. After walking a long distance, he lies down to sleep, and on the following morning finds that he is back in the Sun's tent. This is repeated until the Sun tells him that he must walk a whole day and a whole night before lying down.[2]
Second Version (VAEU 23).—Coyote's wife, Dog, goes gathering wood and catches a deer. She sends her daughter to Coyote to kill it. Coyote has no arrows, and makes two. He travels slowly because the snow is deep. He tells his wife to let go of the deer. He misses it. He tells his wife that they will pursue the deer, and asks her to follow. The woman packs up the tent and follows. Coyote feels that his snowshoes are heavy, and finds that they are full of mice, which he fries. He gives one
