Origin of the Cat

ORIGIN OF THE CAT ³

At Painted Cave there was a village and out of this village came a deer and bear and lion and lynx and wildcat. "Now we will go east and find our living the best we can." Before they went they said, "There is one thing we have not got and that is the cat. But how can we get the cat?" The lion stood in the middle of the circle and all the oldest animals were smoking around him. He said, "Now I'm ready." He sneezed and out came a female cat from the right

p. 155

nostril. He sneezed again, and out of the left nostril came a male cat. From these two came all the little cats and they came down to Cochiti. The lion said to the cats, "Now you are the offspring of the lion and have my face. When you have kittens, people will want them, and with these cats they won't have mice any more. They will be watchmen (goatcini) of the houses. The rest of the animals shall live in the mountains, but these two cats shall live in Cochiti."

Footnotes

154:3 Informant 2. Notes, p. 243.