IX. NEZ PERCE TALES, BY HERBERT J. SPINDEN.
IX. NEZ PERCE TALES, BY HERBERT J. SPINDEN.
I. COYOTE'S WARS.1 COYOTE was travelling up the river. He heard some one calling to him from far off. A woman's voice said to him, "Come here and finish killing him for me!" He looked, and saw a girl standing at the top of a cliff. She had bow and arrows, but could not use them; and she was trying to kill Mountain-Sheep. So Coyote went up to help her. Besides the bow and arrows, she had a forked stick. She asked Coyote to look over the cliff and see how best they could get at Mountain-Sheep; and while he was doing this, she caught his neck with the forked stick and pushed him over the cliff. Then she went down where he had landed; and when she saw that her victim was only Coyote, she threw the body into the river.
Coyote floated down the river a bend and a half, and stranded. Magpie came flying up the river; and when he saw Coyote, he thought to himself, "I wonder if there is matter in his eyes!" When Magpie began pecking at the eyes of Coyote, however, the latter came to, and said to Magpie, "Why are you flying around here? I myself have just been to battle, capturing women." Magpie replied, "You were in no battle; you were pushed over the cliff and killed by Mountain-Sheep Girl." Then Magpie told Coyote what to do to play even.
So Coyote travelled upstream a second time, and again he heard her call. He went up to her; and when she asked him to do the same thing, he replied, "Now, let me take the stick, and then you show me just where I have to stand in order to see Mountain-Sheep plainly." When she went to show him, Coyote caught her with the forked stick, pushed her over the cliff, and killed her.
Then Coyote resumed his journey up river; and by and by he heard another woman,2 who called to him to come and lie with her. He arrived where the woman was. Then he embraced her and began to copulate. His penis was cut off, and he died. When the woman saw that it was only Coyote she had killed, she threw the body into the water, and it drifted down the river.
Again Magpie saw the body, and came to feed on the matter in the eyes. Coyote came to, and said, "Why did you wake me up? I have been to war, capturing women." Then Magpie answered, "No, you were over there with Mussel-Shell Woman (sewisyeye), who cut off your penis and killed you." So again Magpie told him what to do to kill her in turn. He went up the river, and at the same place the woman called to him again; but now Coyote had a bone which he used instead of his penis. So he killed her, and said, "You will be only a mussel-shell, and Indians will eat you, but you will not be able to hurt any one."
One of Coyote's daughters had married an Elk, one a Mountain Sheep, one an Otter (kelasx), and one a Fish-Hawk (saxsax). Moreover, Coyote had a little boy. He said to his little boy in the evening, "My son, let us go and see your oldest sister to-morrow!" Next morning they started, and went to see Coyote's oldest daughter.
When Coyote got to the house, they went in and sat there for a while. Soon Coyote saw Elk step outside. Elk had gone to cut off a stick about as big as an arm and as long as two arms. Elk brought the stick into the tent and built a big fire. Then Coyote saw the green stick roasting in the fire. Soon Elk took the stick out, and turned the ends together so that it formed a hoop. Then Elk dug a hole in the ashes and buried the bent stick. Pretty soon the stick was cooked; and when Elk took it out, it had turned into the marrow gut of an elk.
Elk gave Coyote a flint knife, and told him to begin eating. Coyote said to himself, "Well, I never eat stick," so he gave the knife to his boy. Pretty soon Coyote turned his head, and saw the boy eating the stick; and it seemed so very rich, that he took it away from him. When they had eaten as much as they could, they had used up only half. After they had finished this meal, Elk said to his wife, "Give me a winnowing-basket." Then Elk went outside with the basket and knife, and Coyote ran to the door and peeked out through a hole in the door. He saw Elk squat over the basket and stick the knife up his anus. When Elk brought in the basket and set it down, Coyote would not eat, because he had seen how Elk had obtained this food: so he gave it to the boy, saying he would eat after nobody. When the boy liked the food, however, Coyote also began to eat. It was camas.
Then the boy and Coyote went home. But before leaving Elk's camp, Coyote told Elk to be sure and return the visit the next day: so next morning Elk dressed himself up and went over to Coyote's camp. He entered and sat down. Coyote jumped up and ran outside to look for a good green stick. He brought in his green stick and built up a big fire. After the stick had become hot, Coyote bent it and tied the ends together with a withe. He dug a hole in the ashes, as he had seen Elk do, and buried the stick. Then Coyote waited; but when the withe burnt through, the stick straightened out and threw the fire out of the fireplace and all over the tent. Coyote's wife was sitting near the door, and the stick hit her in the back and killed her. Coyote brought his wife back to life, and told his boy to get him a winnowing-basket.
1 See p. 151.
2 See p. 152.
3 See pp. 6, 164; RBAE 31 : 694; BBAE 59 : 294 (note 8).
