Road Runner Girls Grind

ROAD RUNNER GIRLS GRIND ^3a

Road Runner girls were all grinding blue corn together. Each of them had her grinding stone. They had ground great heaps of meal. [paragraph continues]

p. 150

Coyote Woman came along and said, "Hello, girls, are you all grinding?" "Yes, old Coyote." "Will you let me grind too? I'll go home and get my grain." "Yes, go get it." She hurried home and came back as fast as could be. While she was gone the girls made a plan. They said, "When she comes back we'll make a high bank where we are grinding." Coyote Woman came back. She had a great sifting basket full of acorns. She started to grind. "Oh I can't break these acorns," she said. "What shall I grind?" The Road Runner girls answered her, "Grind what you brought, Coyote." "What shall I sing?" They gave her a song:

Coyote girls, Coyote girls,
Grinding, grinding;
Meal rolls down, down,
He oo-- He oo.

The Road Runner girls started to excuse themselves. Coyote Woman kept on grinding. Each one said, "We are going out." Three went out, one after the other. When nobody came back for a long time Coyote Woman said too, "I want to be excused." She went out from her grinding stone, and when she stepped out of the door she fell over the high bank, and right there she died.

Crow came, along and lit on top of old Coyote. She was trying to get her eyes. Crow called out, "Animals, whoever uses fur for nests, come and take his from old Coyote who has done mischief." So wood rats and mice and chipmunks and squirrels came and took the fur from Coyote for their nests. Crow said, "All the kinds of birds that eat meat, come and eat Coyote, for she has done mischief." The eagle and the vulture and the chicken hawk and hawk came, and they all ate her up. There was nothing left but her bones.

Along came an old, old man with a carrying basket. He walked with a cane and he could hardly get along. He wore fringed leggings. When he came to the place where Coyote had died he saw the bones. He put them in his basket and said, "These will make a nice soup for grandmother." He put the basket on his back and took the bones home to his wife.

Footnotes

149:3 Informant 2. Notes, p. 240.

149:3a Informant 2. Notes, pp. 240, 241.