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Boas]
Kutenai Tales
131

what she thought was bloody, but it was a stump. | She stopped and ahnost fainted from hunger. It was so because she was hungry. | She saw that it was a pile of shrews. | Coyote looked at her. Then Coy- ote rubbed [it on] his hair. || She was told: "Why are you standing 70 about there? You ought to have put down | the child. Eat with them those that are spread out there. They will be | for you and the children. This will be mine." Dog took what she carried | and threw it down. She took it walking about. | She put it on her back. Shesaidtohim: "There is another disappointment. I was || hungry." | 75

Then she started. She left Misqolo'wum crying. | Then father and son, Misqolo'wum, were left behind. | Qlota'ptsek land his mother left him. Misqolo'wum was a boy, | therefore he was given to Coyote. II Qlota'ptsek! was a girl, therefore | she was taken by her gO mother. Then Misqolo'wum could not help crying. | He knew that he was left by his mother. Coyote took his son j and said to him "Don't cry! As your mother is going along there, | if she does not find anything to eat, she will come back." She had nothing || to eat, 85 therefore he said so. What should she have to eat ? Then | he and his son ate shrews. They finished eating together. He put the boy on his back | and started. He went along. |

(c) Coyote and the Beavers

There were some Beavers. He put down his son. tie said to him: | "I'll take them out of the water, and we shall eat them." Then he broke || the dens of the Beavers and the beaver dams, j Then there 90 was no more water. He broke open the dens | and took a young Beaver out of the water. He took another j young Beaver out of the water. He tied them on his child as ear ornaments, j Beaver saw him. He was going to get the best of him. He knew || it was Coyote. 95 They said to one another: "He will kill us all. | Let us pretend to be dead." When the Beavers were taken out of the water, they bled from the mouth. | Then Coyote was glad. He had taken j many Beavers out of the water. Then he stopped. | He looked for fuel. Then he went away. The Beavers saw || Coyote going away, and they 100 told one another: "Let us go back | into the water!" Then all the Beavers went into the water. All jumped back quickly into the water. | They were not dead. It only looked like blood. | Misqo- lo'wum's ear ornaments also went into the water. | They dived into their holes. They dragged Misqolo'wum in. || They dragged him in. 105 There were two holes, one on each side, and one dived into each. | Then he called his father. Coyote heard his son | saying: "Father, father!" There was a turn | in the tunnel (into which they had gone). Coyote knew from far away that his | son was calHug him. He ran