The Deer Stealer (Death Valley, California. Shoshoni)

THE DEER STEALER

(Death Valley, California. Shoshoni)

Many people had houses at a camp where they were hunting deer and all kinds of animals. All the animals were people at that time. There were Eagle, Bullet Hawk (Kini’ⁱ), Red Tail Hawk (kwiyo’^o), Crow, Coyote, and all kinds of birds and animals.

The people were hunting deer. Each night they brought home meat. When they brought it home they saw that a small kind of fly (Pakü̃'wund) ³² stole it. They went hunting again and brought home a whole, unbutchered deer. Pakü͆wund came back. He flew along, lit on the deer, and flew away with the whole thing. The

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next morning they went hunting again. When they came home, they tied two deer together by their legs and laid them side by side, Pakü̃'wund returned, lit on the deer and carried both of them away. The people went hunting again the following morning. That night they tied three deer together by their legs. Again Pakü̃'wund came, lit on them, then carried away all three.

Coyote spoke. He said, "Some of you had better watch that thing and see where it goes." Hawk (tuhun:) started to follow it. He walked over the hill and when he was out of sight pursued Pakü̃'wund. He saw him go toward the South and followed him to some clay hills. Pakü̃'wund went into a hill. Hawk knew then where his home was. He started back home. He lit on the other side of the hill from his people's camp, so that they would not see him, and walked into the village. He told them that he had followed Pakü̃'wund into the clay hills. The people said, "That is all right."

Coyote, who was chief, started to talk. He said, "We'll see about this in the morning." In the morning, all the people went south to the clay hills. They stopped there. There was a little hole in the top of the hill. The Pakü̃'wund was inside, but the people were not sure of this. They decided to smoke him out and began to gather wood. They built a fire and blew the smoke to drive it into his house. They did this all day. Coyote said, "Let me try." He blew, ran out of breath, and fell down the hill. After a while he blew again, ran out of breath, and fell down the hill. He did this again and again. After this the people began to dig. They thought they had killed Pakü̃'wund. When they had dug deep enough, they reached in to their deer meat and began to pull it out. Some of them said, "We had better leave it alone. He might not be dead. He might come and kill us." They came back from the place and left Coyote there alone.

Coyote said, "I shall go in and see him myself." Coyote started to dig. He reached in to the house and found that Pakü̃'wund's children were all dead. Pakü̃'wund came out carrying a stone pestle (paku’u) in his hand. He came out to where Coyote had reached into the hole. Coyote jumped to the top of the hill, where they had started to dig. Pakü̃'wund jumped after Coyote and struck at him, but Coyote dodged and he missed. Pakü̃'wund swung again, and Coyote said, "I am not going to dodge the same way every time. I will jump the other way." Pakü̃'wund knocked Coyote down and killed him. He chased the other people. First he caught Lizards and Snakes and the others that were running slowly. He killed them. He killed each of them as he came along. The birds were faster, but

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he caught and killed them. He killed Crow, Panzaya [some kind of hawk that catches ducks] and Kwiyo’^o (?). Then he killed Eagle. There were only two persons left. They said, "We had better go faster to our house." Pakü̃'wund chased them. Hawk (Kini’ⁱ) said, "I cannot go much farther. I am tired." Pakü̃'wund killed him. There was only one person left, also Hawk (Tuhun:). He started to sing. He was on the other side of the Sierra Nevada mountains, west of Lone Pine. He said, "I am going to where my pond is." He headed for the water, darted into it, and then out again. Pakü̃'wund did the same thing, close behind him. Hawk made a turn, dove into the water again and came out. Pakü̃'wund dove in after him and out close behind him. Hawk said, "I am going to my house." He started toward his house, which was in a rock. This rock was Mt. Whitney. He went through his house and out the other side. When Pakü̃'wund could not get through the rock, he struck it with his pestle, broke it, and continued to follow Hawk. Hawk made a turn, then pulled a short feather from the upper part of his wing, near his shoulder. He put it in front of his house, then passed through and looked back. He could not see Pakü̃'wund, who had been caught between the feather and the rock.

Hawk went up on top of Mt. Whitney and spread his wings to rest. He was very tired.

Hawk had sung his song while Pakü̃'wund was chasing him.

Footnotes

285:32 "Something like a small animal."