IX. Coyote and Rabbit Gamble

Yana Texts, by Edward Sapir, [1910], at sacred-texts.com

IX. COYOTE AND RABBIT GAMBLE.

Coyote wanted to gamble with Cottontail Rabbit. "We must have fun," he said. Rabbit said, "How shall we have fun?" Coyote said, "I'll show you how." Coyote made five sticks for each side about two feet long of a small sized wood, and got some

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mā'du grass. Coyote made a small stick four inches long (djū'p!ayauna) and put it in with the five long ones. He rolled these up in the grass and laid them down. He rolled up the other five and put in the short one. This bundle he placed beside the other. The guessers clap hands and with one or the other hand designate which bundle the short stick is in. If they fail to locate it, they lose. If they guess right, they have the sticks passed over to them and themselves roll. Coyote said, "Do not use this game in summer, use it in the fall and winter. Stop when the leaves come out on the oaks, stop playing this game. If you use it all summer, there will be no acorns."