took hold of what they were carrying. It was he who could throw farthest. When the pursuers were almost | about to overtake them, he threw it. There on the prairie on the hill | the strong one was standing. He worked his manitou power | and turned into a Grizzly Bear. He caught it because he was strong. || The thing that contained it was strong. He tore it. | There was wind. It was not long before there was no more snow, and it was spring. | Therefore spring has six months, and there are six | months winter. The old woman did it when there was no food. |
Now I have told you how || the world was long ago.[1] |
62. Coyote Juggles with His Eyes
Well, I'll tell you what Coyote did with | eyes long ago. | Coyote went along. He saw a man | running along and stopping. Coyote went there. He saw || the man running along and stopping again. He saw | that he was looking up. He went on and arrived there. | The man did not see him. He saw that he stopped again and that he was taking out | his eyes to throw them up. | Then he ran to the place where the eyes were going. The man stopped || and looked up. His eyes came back down, and | he had his eyes again. |
Coyote thought: "Well, I'll take his eyes." | Then he went behind him. (The man) did not see him. He stopped again. | He took them out and threw them up. He started to run. || Coyote also ran after them and caught the eyes. | Then the man looked up, but his eyes did not come down again. | He was without eyes. He went on. The one without eyes was named Snipe. | Now Snipe had no eyes. | He went on. Coyote went ahead there and started. || He stretched out his fingers and just put them into Snipe's orbits. | Snipe almost fell down. Then he went on, | and Coyote did the same again, and he almost put his fingers again | into his orbits. Snipe thought:
"It is just as though | somebody was doing this. If it should happen again, || even if it hurts, I shall not mind it. I shall just stretch my hands out." | Coyote did so again. Even though it hurt him, | Snipe just stretched out his hands. He felt that there was a man, | and he took hold of him. When Coyote knew that he was caught, he said: "Oh, | don't do anything to me! I will give you your eyes." || Snipe would not listen. Coyote was caught. | His eyes were taken out, and
- ↑ The young man who stole the bag containing the spring was Lynx.
