Coyote Kills Wolf's Wives (Big Smoky Valley, Nevada. Shoshoni)

p. 291

COYOTE KILLS WOLF'S WIVES

(Big Smoky Valley, Nevada. Shoshoni)

Coyote hunted rabbits with the Indians. Coyote's brother, Wolf, had a wife. Coyote and Wolf hunted. When they returned home they found mush in baskets for them. Wolf's wife had left it for them, but Coyote could not see her. Coyote said, "What, is the matter? Where is my brother's wife?"

Wolf had a rabbit skin blanket. He slept under it. Coyote said, "Why does my brother leave that blanket there?" One day when Wolf and Coyote were hunting, Coyote sneaked back to the camp and saw a big Frog, Wolf's wife, under the blanket. It was she who had made the mush. Coyote said, "Oh, my, look what my brother has!" He killed her with a stick.

He went back to hunt. When Coyote and Wolf returned to camp, they found no mush in their baskets because Coyote had killed. Wolf's wife. Coyote said, "Oh, what are we going to eat, brother?"

Wolf and Coyote went hunting again. Wolf said, "We are going to move some place. Take everything. We will go to a place with water." They moved camp to a place where there was water. Coyote and Wolf hunted. When they returned home they found mush in baskets. Wolf's wife had made it, but Coyote, could see no woman. Coyote said, "What is the matter with my brother, talking to himself." Coyote sneaked back after they had started to hunt one day and saw the woman in the house. The woman went around the house and threw everything on top of it. Coyote said, "She is a pretty woman. I am going to catch her. She is my brother's wife." He seized her. There were tiny red ants [evidently the wife or wives] going around the house. Coyote pinched them with his fingers and killed them.

Coyote went back to hunt with Wolf. When they returned to camp they found no food. All the women had been killed. Coyote cried because he was hungry. He said, "Oh, what are we going to eat, brother?"