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Kutenai Tales
267

73. The Kuyo′ᵤkᵘe

Now, I'll tell how an old woman killed all the | Kuyo'kwe.

They were camping about. One day they camped at | Smoky Place, as it is called. Gn the following day they moved on. || Only 6 one old woman remained on the village site. She was pounding (bones). | Therefore she did not go. On the following day she was going to leave | in the direction where the others had gone. Then at night she boiled | the bones. She was going to take the fat along. She thought : " I'll | boil all of them to-night. Early to-morrow morn- ing I || shall start." | 10

Then the Kuyo'kwe followed the tracks of the people. It was winter | and good traveUng. The Kuyo'kwe arrived at Smoky Place. When they arrived | at the village site, they saw a fire burning. They came there, and | the warriors looked into the tent. They saw || one 15 old woman. They said to one another: '^Lot us go in. | We are cold. Let us stay here over night in her tent. | It is cold." They entered. They sat down. The old woman saw | the Kuyo'kwe enter. She saw that there were many | warriors. She was afraid. They took off their clothes, || their moccasins, their leggings, and their shirts, 20 and dried them. The old woman arose. | She went out and brought in fuel. She put it on the fire, j Then there was a great fire. The Kuyo'kwe said: j ^^The old woman is good. She knows that we are cold, and she makes a fire for us." j The old woman went there. She untied a parflfechc and took out lard. || She took two sticks and 25 put I the fat on the fixe. Then the fire blazed up. Then it melted. | The Kuyo'kwe laughed, and said: "That is a good | old woman. She knows we are cold. She makes a fixe for us. She sees | that we are hungry, and she prepares food for us." Then || the old woman saw 30 that the fat was really melted. | She just stirred it. All the Ku- yo'kwe were without clothing. | They were drying it. The old woman moved it about, and then all the grease caught fire. | The Kuyo'kwe jumped back. When | the old woman saw what they were doing, she ran out quickly. || She started to run. She took the fat 35 of the bones that she was boiling. | She did not know how to hold the light. She was holding a torch. | She put it on her head to serve as a light. | When she ran out, she ran. She noticed | that the Kuyo'kwe said: "Pursue her! Strike her on the head!" || The old 40 woman went out. She knew which way she was going. | The Ku- yo'kwe went along. It was very dark. They saw which way she went. I They began to know it, because she had a light. They knew that she had just | put a fire on her head. She did not take it off