9. The Killing of the Bear

When some children were playing one of them said, "I will be a bear." He made a pile of dirt which the other children carried away in their hands until it was all gone. In their absence, he made claws for himself of hide fleshers and muscles of the larger hide dresser. With these, he dug a deep hole into which he went so far that he could not be seen. When he came out, he was covered with hair to his elbows and knees. He went in again and came out with hair to his shoulders and hips. When he came out the third time, his body was nearly covered, and the fourth time completely covered with hair.

He went among the people, running in and out, and killing the children. He went off to the Navajo country and hid his heart near some oak trees

p. 204

at a place called, "open-mouth-bear". He then came back and again began to kill the people. Although they shot arrows at him, they could not hurt him.

Naiyenesgani went to the Navajo country carrying his war club. The bear, seeing the danger, started to run to the place where his heart lay. Naiyenesgani ran after him and came to the heart first. As he came near it be heard the oak leaves lying over it, making a noise like "ca a ca a". It was the beating of the heart that made them move. Naiyenesgani, making motions four times, struck the heart, and the bear, running close behind, fell dead.

Footnotes

203:4 The story given by Russell, (a), p. 262, agrees very well except that Fox (Coyote) is the hero; but the bears referred to by Mooney (a, p. 208) seem not the same in any particular. Matthews has the incident of the gradual transformation of a girl into a bear and that of the detached vitals but not in connection with Naiyenesgani, pp. 99-101. Naiyenesgani does kill the bear that pursues one of the monsters, but the account is abbreviated, p. 124. The same motive with different details appears in Gros Ventre, Kroeber, (a), p. 105.