“You moved! You moved! I saw you move!” shouted Brother Bear.
“No, I didn’t move. Come and see for yourself,” answered the rabbit.
Brother bear couldn't find any foot marks and had to agree that the
little rabbit had not moved at all.
Little Rabbit said to Brother Bear, “Now you must sit in this circle as
I did in yours.” The rabbit drew a circle, and Brother Bear sat in it.
Leaving Brother Bear sitting in the circle, the rabbit headed into the
woods. He just put the old horse bell around his neck and headed toward
the place where Brother Bear was waiting.
After he had hopped a few steps, the little rabbit stopped, rang the
horse bell, and sang:
Ah nana-na—Ah nana-na—
1s cha-nay—Cha nana-ne—
Coo ha ya
Where are you sitting, uy bear friend?
When Brother Bear heard this, he thought, “That’s not my friend
Little Rabbit. This is something else altogether.”
Coming closer to the circle where Brother Bear was sitting, the little
rabbit rang his horse bell louder and sang his song once more.
Brother Bear, growing really frightened, stood up and ran. The little
rabbit jumped out and called, “You've lost! Let me have your necklace!”
As the story goes, the little rabbit defeated Brother Bear. And today
if you see a rabbit around the Tewa country, and if he has a red ring
around his neck, you can be sure that the rabbit is descended from the
little rabbit who won Brother Bear's pretty red necklace.
—Translated from the Tewa by Alfonso Ortiz:
:
COYOTE STEALS SUN’S TOBACCO
:
[Wars MOUNTAIN APACHE]
ZTE
One day Slim Coyote started out to Sun’s house. When he got there
Sun was not home, but his wife was. “Where is my cousin Sun?” heasked. Sun’s wife said that he had gone out and was not home yet.
Coyote saw Sun's tobacco bag hanging up on the side of the house. “I
came to smoke and talk with my cousin,” said Slim Coyote, “so give me
a smoke while I'm waiting. He won't mind, he’s my cousin.” Coyote was
talking to Sun’s wife as if she were his mother-in-law. She handed him
the tobacco bag, and he used it to fill his own little buckskin bag. Then
he quickly hid his bag and rolled a cigarette, so that he actually got off
with a lot of Sun’s tobacco without her noticing. “Since my cousin hasn’t
come back yet, 1 guess 1 won’t|wait after all,” Coyote told her, and
started home.
Pretty soon Sun arrived. “Who's been here and gone again?” he asked,
looking at his depleted tobacco bag. “Somebody who said he was your
cousin,” answered his wife. She told him what had happened, and Sun
was very angry. “I'll get that fellow,” he said, He went out front where
he had Black Wind Horse tied,| and saddled him up and set off after
Coyote. Black Wind Horse could fly, and when he traveled he made a
noise like lightning. A light rain| started to fall and covered up Coyote’s
tracks, but Sun could still follow the thief by the ashes from his cigarette.
It kept raining, and pretty soon the tobacco Coyote had with him started
to grow. Soon it was putting out leaves, then flowers. At last it ripened
and dried, and the wind scattered the seeds everywhere. When Sun
saw this, he gave up chasing Coyote and went home.
When Coyote got back to the Apache camp where he was living, he
kept his tobacco for himself and wouldn't give any away. ‘The people
kept asking him for a little smoke, but he said no. The Apache held a
council on how to get Coyote’s| tobacco away from him, and they de-
cided to pretend to give him a wife.
“We're going to give you a wife,” they told him, and Coyote said,
“You're trying to fool me.” “No we'ze not,” they said, “we're really
going to give you a wife.” They set up a new wickiup for Coyote,
dressed a young boy as a gitl, and told the boy not to let Coyote touch
him till just before dawn. They made a bed in the new wickiup, an
Coyote felt so good that he gave them all his tobacco.
Just about dusk the boy dressed as a girl went over and sat down be-
side Coyote in his new wickiup. Slim Coyote was so excited he could
not stand up but just crawled around on the ground. “Why don't you
come to bed2” he said to his bride. “Let's hurry and go to bed.” But the
boy just sat there. After a while, when Coyote was more and more
impatient, the boy lay down by him but not close to him. “I want you to
Tie close,” Coyote said, and tried to touch the boy. But the boy said,
“Don't!” and pushed Coyote’s hand away.
This kept up all night, until just before dawn Coyote made a grab
378and caught hold of the boy's penis. He let go right away and jumped
back. “Get away from me; get back from me; you're a boy, not a girl,”
he said. Then Coyote got up and called the people. “You lied to me,”
he said. “You didn’t give me a wife at all. Give me my tobacco back!”
But no matter how loudly he yelled, they wouldn’t do it. This is the
way the people first got tobacco.
—Based on a legend reported by Grenville Goodwin in 1939.
a
DOING A TRICK WITH EYEBALLS
.
[NoRTHERN CHEYENNE]
UTTER
Veeho is like some tourists who come into an Indian village not knowing
how to behave or what to do, trying to impress everybody.
One day Veeho met a medicine man with great powers. This man
thought to amuse Veeho—and himself—with a little trick. “Eyeballs,”
he shouted, “I command you to fly out of my head and hang on that
tree over there.” At once his eyeballs shot out of his head and in a flash
were hanging from a tree branch. Vecho watched open-mouthed. “Ho!
Eyeballs!” cried the medicine man, “now come back where you belong!”
And quick as lightning, the eyeballs were back where they ought to be.
“Uncle,” said Veeho, “please give me a little of your power so that I
too can do this wonderful trick.” To himself Veeho was thinking, “Then
I can set up as a medicine man; then people will look up to me,
especially goodtooking girls; then people will give me many gifts!”
“Why not?” said the medicine man. “Why not give you a little power
to please you? But, listen, Veeho, don’t do this trick more than four
times a day, or your eyeballs won't come back.”
“T won't,” said Veeho.
Veeho could hardly wait to get away and try out this stunning trick.
As soon as he was alone, he ordered: “Eyeballs, hop on that ledge over
there. Jump to it!” And the eyeballs did.
Veeho couldn't see a thing. “Quickly, eyeballs, back into your sockets!”
‘The eyeballs obeyed. “Boy, oh boy,” Veeho said to himself, “what a
big man I am. Powerful, really powerful.” Soon he saw another tree.
379