79a. Xo'lakwa'xa, or Aã’qux
(cont.)One night, when the people were asleep, she left the house to try her legs. When she walked gently, they made such small holes that her tracks were noticeable. When she stamped hard on clay, they went in to the knee. She tried them on a large tree, and they went in so far that they stuck, and it was almost daybreak before she was able to disengage herself. the following night, while the people were asleep, she arose and pierced all the adults through the neck and all the children through the belly, thus killing them. After cutting out and eating all their hearts, she wrapped dried grass and skin around the points of her legs, put on moccasins, and went to the nearest lodges, calling, "Aã'qux" as she went along.
It was now morning, and the people heard her coming. As she entered the house, they said, 'The old woman must want bait (ã´ qwan) 1;" and they offered her some; but she refused it. After leaving the house, she shouted again "Aã'qux" as before. The people said, ¨The old woman must be crazy! She calls for bait, but, when some is offered to her, she refuses to take it.¨
Xo'lakwa'xa went on, intending to reach a certain underground house, and to kill the people that night. Meanwhile Coyote, Fox, Wolf, and Lynx had discovered the murdered people, and started in pursuit of the old woman. They tracked her to where she had visited the lodges, and the people told them she had been there. When Xo'lakwa'xa knew that she was pursued, she took off her moccasins, and walked on the points of her legs. As they made little pricks only in the ground, she thought her pursuers would be unable to track her. But in this she was mistaken, for the men following her were among the best trackers of the ancients, and they soon gained on her. When she saw that she would be overtaken, she lay down on a flat rock, stuck her legs up in the air, and, exposing her privates, waited for her pursuers to come. When they drew near, she said to them, ¨ I want a man. Come here and have connection with me." She intended to kill them. They answered, ¨We will satisfy you. Have patience." Fox said, I do not like those awl-pointed legs of hers: she may pierce us with them.' Wolf said, I am not afraid: I will go first." Coyote said, 'That is' Xo'lakwa'xa ; she intends to kill us. The danger is not with her legs, but with her privates, which bite and are poisonous, like the head of a rattlesnake. `With them she intends to kill us. I will go first as I am the most knowing one." He sharpened a short stick at both ends, went up to the woman, and, when she tried to bite off his privates with hers, he placed the stick so that they could not shut. Now the others also had connection with her, and, when they were
1. "Bait for fishes." The people thought she said this.
