Tied to the Cow's Tail

TIED TO THE COW'S TAIL ²

There were three men. Two of them were brothers, and one was a friend of theirs. They all went out hunting together in the mountains. "We are all three to go and hunt only deer." Next morning they started off, and came to the high mountains. When they were almost up, the elder brother said to the younger, "Go a little farther off. I will go in the middle and my friend will go a. little distance beyond me and we will begin to hunt." The elder brother got to the level mesa and there he saw a great big grasshopper. The grasshopper hopped over to his chest and sat there. His friend was watching. He waved to his friend and he stretched out his arms and said, "Maybe this is the deer. He has horns! Shoot him." So his friend shot the grasshopper. He fell dead. His friend came, running up and cried, "I have killed a deer!" He sat on top of him and then he saw it was his friend. He began to cry, "My dear friend, I have shot you. You shall not die alone. I will die with you." A cow was lying a little way off. He had a rope and he tied it around his own neck. The other end he tied to the cow's tail. He tied it tight and then he hit the cow a great blow. The cow was frightened and ran off. She dragged him until at last he was all in pieces.

Up came the younger brother. He said to himself, "I see a great cloud of dust. Perhaps it is the others chasing deer. I shall follow that track till I get to the great dust." He got where a leg was. "Oh yes, that is what it is, for here is the hind quarter. They're going on for more deer." He went on and he came to another leg. "Both hind quarters." He went on, and he found the two arms. "Fore quarters." At last he came, to the cow standing there all tired out. The head was still tied to her by the rope. "Oh! it is my brother!" And he said to the cow, "Why did you kill my brother?" The cow said, "I am not the one who killed him. He tied himself to me, and he hit me and told me to run off fast. A little way off he had killed another man. Perhaps that was your

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brother. I was lying down near where your brother was standing. He called to his friend and told him a deer was on his chest. His friend shot the deer and he killed him. You don't believe me," said the cow, "I'll take you to the place." "All right."

He took up the head and started off. On his way he, picked up the arms, legs, stomach, liver, heart and piled them all together. Got to the place where his brother was killed. He saw he was shot right in the, chest. "Look at him," said the cow. "This is where he shot him. I was lying right there. Go and see where it was. As he killed his friend he began to cry. Then he went back and got the rope and tied it around my tail. He hit me and told me to run as fast as the wind. That is the way he got killed."

Footnotes

176:2 Informant 1. Notes, p. 245.