Long ago.--Ehe.--Somewhere then lived their mother. Oh my! the poor old woman had three children, boys. Oh my! the poor ones had nothing to eat. They were poor. Then the eldest one spoke thus, "Mother," said he, "we must go and search for some thing, we brothers," said the eldest one. Then their mother spoke thus, "It is good, my children," said she. Then, "Make lunch for us. Tortillas will be our lunch. We might search for something," said the eldest one. They were three brothers. Then their mother made tortillas and early they went thither to search, if they might find some work. They were going to support their poor mother who was very poor. Early their mother made tortillas for each one as their lunch. Then they went south. The eldest one said to their mother, "Goodbye, mother," said he to her. Then the next brother also said goodbye to his mother and then the youngest one also said goodbye to his mother. Then their mother spoke thus, "My
children," said she, "Be men, make an effort!" said she, "My children," said their mother. "Now you may go and search for something, my poor children," said she. Then they went southward and they arrived somewhere in the south at a trail. There were three trails. The eldest one spoke thus, "I shall go southeastward," said he. "You go to the middle south," said he to the middle brother and then also he said thus to the other one, "You, youngest one, you will go to the southwest," said he to him.
Then he went south for a while. The eldest one walked along the east side. Then a Coyote came from somewhere. The Coyote reached him and said thus to him, "Where are you going, young man?" said he to him. "Yes, I am searching, if I might find some work," said he. Then Coyote spoke thus, "Have you no lunch?" said Coyote to him. The young man spoke. thus, "Yes," said he. "I have tortillas for my lunch," said he. Then Coyote spoke thus, "Indeed, if you give me tortillas, I will take you along," said Coyote to him, "to a place, where you will work," said Coyote to him. "If you give me tortillas I will take you," said Coyote to him. "If you give me tortillas I will take you there," said Coyote. Then the young man spoke thus, "I will not give you any," said he to him. "Southwest from here one of my brothers is walking. He has lunch," said he, "maybe he will give you some," said the eldest one. Then Coyote went away from there. He was not given any tortillas. He went southward again and met the middle brother who was walking south. Then Coyote arrived there. He said thus to him, "Where are you going, young man?" said he. "Yes, I am searching where I might find some work," said the young man. He said thus to Coyote. Then Coyote said, "Have you no lunch?" "Give me some," said Coyote. "Then I will take. you where you will work. I will search for it for you," said Coyote. Then the young man spoke thus, "Yes, I have tortillas for my lunch," said he, "but I shall eat my lunch (myself)," said he. Then the young man spoke, thus, "There in the southwest another one of my brothers is walking, the youngest one. He also has lunch," said he. "Maybe he will give you some," said he. Then Coyote went away from there and he overtook the youngest one, in the south. Coyote arrived and said thus to him, "Where are you going?" said Coyote to him. He said thus, "Yes, I am searching where I may find some work," said the youngest one. Then Coyote spoke thus, "Have you no lunch?" said he to him. "Give me some and I will take you where you will work," said Coyote to him. "If you give me some tortillas, I will take you there," said he to him. Then the youngest one spoke thus, "Yes," said he. "I have tortillas for my lunch," said he, and he gave some 'tortillas to Coyote. Coyote only smelled of them. He did not eat
any. Then the youngest one spoke thus, "Oh my! you did not eat any," said he. "All right," said he. Then he took back the tortillas. He took them back. Then Coyote spoke thus, "Let us go!" said he. "Now I will take you along," said he to him. Then they arrived there somewhere in the south. "Come on," said Coyote, "I'll walk on one side," said Coyote. "You will go on the trail," said Coyote to him. Then they went southward. He took him there. Somewhere in the south was water. They reached it. Then he sat down also. Then Coyote spoke thus, "You will sit down here," said he to him. Then he sat on the river bank. He was eating tortillas. Then Coyote said to him, "Here on top of the cottonwood tree are three pigeons," said Coyote. "They always take a bath here," said he. "Down here the pigeons leave their clothing," said Coyote. Then he spoke thus, "When the eldest one takes off her shirt, she will drop it," said Coyote. "Do not take it!" said he. "Then her sister will also drop her shirt. She will undress and she will also drop her shirt," said he. "Do not take it," said Coyote to him. "Then the youngest one also will take off her shirt. Then, when the youngest one drops her shirt, you will take it," said Coyote to him. He told him. Then the youngest of the young men was sitting there. He was eating tortillas. Fish were in the water below. Then the Pigeon Girls were bathing. Then that youth who was sitting there gave the fish tortillas to eat. Then Coyote had told him, "You will sit down here," he had said to him. "The Pigeon Girls will come very soon," he had said to him. "The Pigeon Girls are the daughters of the king. The king has only those three children. They come to bathe below in this water." Then Coyote went away. He said thus to him, "The king's daughters themselves will take you along," said Coyote to him. "You will go to work there," said Coyote to him. "Now then," said he, "I shall go," said Coyote. Then he was sitting on the river bank. The pigeons arrived, the king's daughters. All three of them were girls. On the river bank, on top of a cottonwood tree, the pigeons were sitting. They were going to bathe. The eldest one took off her shirt first. The eldest one dropped her shirt and the second one also took off her shirt and also dropped it. Then the two went to bathe in the water. Then the youngest one also took off her shirt. She also dropped her shirt. The young man saw it. Then he went there. The young man took the shirt of the youngest one. Then the sisters were bathing together and afterwards they went out together. The eldest one took her shirt and put it on; and her sister also put on her shirt. Then they came out from there as pigeons. Then the youngest one did not find her shirt. She had lost her shirt. "Some one took it," said the youngest pigeon. Then she was sitting there. The young man had taken
away the shirt of the pigeon. Then she said, "Give me my shirt!" said she. "I will take you home, if you give me my shirt," said the pigeon. Then "Take this kerchief!" said she to him. "If you give me my shirt then I will take you home," said the pigeon. Then he gave her the shirt. Then the eldest sister spoke thus, "If," said she, "you find," said she to him, "my ring, I will give it to you," said she to him. "It may have dropped into the river here while I was bathing," said the eldest pigeon. Then the young man spoke thus, "Very well! let me search for the ring," said he. Then he went north from there where the young man was sitting. He took out a tortilla and he fed the fish. He gave tortillas to the fish to eat. Then many fish came. He broke the tortillas in pieces and the fish ate them. Then the young man spoke thus: "Please, fish," said he, "somewhere below is a ring. Please search for it, please!" said he. He told the fish that the king's daughter had lost the ring, said he. Then all the fish went down. Then the fish came back there and the fish spoke thus: "Already some time ago when you came here," said the fish, "that poor one gave us tortillas," said they. "Let us go!" said the fish. "Oh, my! the poor one! let us search for the ring!" said the fish. Then they went down. The fish searched for the ring. The fish came back from there and one held the ring of the eldest daughter of the king in its mouth. He gave it to the young man who was sitting on the bank of the river. Then the young man spoke thus: "Thank you," said he; "you found the ring for her," said he. Then he went away southward. He arrived at the place where the Pigeon Girls were. Then he spoke thus: "Here," said he, "I found the ring," said he. "Maybe this is it," said he. Then the eldest pigeon said, "Yes, that is it," said she. The young man gave it to her. "Here it is," said he to her. "When we take you to my house, we shall be married together," said the eldest one. "Here it is! I give you this ring," said she to the youth. Then the middle sister spoke thus, "I give you my rosary," said she. "When we take you home," said she, "we shall be married together," said she. Then the youngest one also gave him her kerchief. They all gave something to him. "On account of this our father will believe you," said the eldest one. Then they went to their house together with the youth. The Pigeon Girls took him there. Then the eldest one spoke thus, "You," said she to the youth, "shall go there and we shall go afterwards," said she. "When we arrive at our house," said the eldest pigeon, "then we shall sit on a cottonwood tree outside," said she. "We shall be seated on top of the cotton wood tree," said the pigeon. "You, when you arrive there, our father and our mother will be there," said she. "You will arrive there," the youth was told. "Then you will enter the room," said
she. He was told by the eldest pigeon, "and afterwards we shall enter," said she. Then the youth arrived at the king's house. He entered inside. The king said to him, "How are things?" said the king. "Maybe you came here to look for work," said he. Then the king spoke thus, "It is good," said he to him. Then the Pigeon Girls came in. They all came out as people. They were the king's daughters who entered. Then the eldest one spoke thus, "This is the one," said she. "There at the river I and my sisters were bathing," said she. "Then I lost a ring," said she. "This youth found it," said the eldest one. She told her father. "This is the one whom I shall marry," said she. "I," said the youngest one, "I lost my shirt. This one found it. This one gave it back to me," said the youngest pigeon. "I gave him my kerchief. This one I will marry," said the youngest one. Then the middle one also spoke thus, "To this one I gave my rosary. This one will marry us sisters," said the middle one. Then the eldest one spoke thus, "This one gave back to me the ring. There in the river we were bathing and I lost the ring. This one found it," said the eldest one. "Then he gave me my ring," said the eldest one. "This one will marry us together," said the eldest one. She told her father the king. Then the king spoke thus, "Let us see," said he. He spoke thus to the youth. "Is it true that everything was given to you, the belongings of my daughters?" said the king, "Let us see whether it is true that you have those things. Then I shall believe it," said their father, the king. Then he spoke thus, "Here," said he, "maybe these are the belongings of your daughters," said he. Then he took out the ring and the rosary and the kerchief. Then he showed them to the king, their father. Then the king spoke thus. He called his daughters. Then he spoke thus, "It is true," said the king. "You, my children, gave these things to him," said he. "It is true; there are the belongings of my daughters," said the king. Then he spoke thus, "Tomorrow, we shall do something immediately. At once you will be married," said the king to him. Then he spoke thus, "If you can separate them," said he to him: "Behold! there are in that room peas and beans and wheat all mixed. If you can separate them, you shall marry my daughters at once," said the king. Then the youth spoke thus. He went north and there he said, "Please, ants," said he, "separate the peas, wheat, and beans here tonight and put them apart separately. The king will see them tomorrow," said he. He told the ants. They were going to separate everything. Early he went to tell the king. "There it is," said he to the king. "I separated all the peas, beans, and wheat," said he. "Early at once I shall be married," said he to the king. Then the king saw that the wheat and peas and beans were
by themselves, all separated. The ants had helped, oh my! the poor youth! Then the king spoke thus, "Now then," said he, "tomorrow you will marry the youngest one," said he. Early he was married to the youngest one. Then there was a great feast. They feasted after he had married the king's daughter. Then his wife spoke thus, "Let us go!" said his wife, "Let us go to the place where your home is," said she. "I shall go where your home is," she said to her husband. "Let us go!" said she. Then his wife had a buggy and they went with it to his house. They were coming from the south to where the youth dwelt. There a rabbit was walking along. Then his wife spoke thus. She said thus to her husband, "Catch that rabbit, said his wife. Then her husband said, "How shall I catch it?" said he. "Indeed that rabbit can not run," said she. Then she spoke thus, "Come here, rabbit!" said his wife. Then her husband caught it. The rabbit was there. He took the rabbit and his wife wrote a letter. Then she gave it to the rabbit, which was to tell his mother that her youngest son was coming. She sent his mother a letter (saying) that he was bringing along his wife and that her son was married. Then she gave the letter to the rabbit to take to his mother's house. He was bringing along his wife and he took her to his house. He went to tell his mother to wait for him, for he was coming home. Then the rabbit carried the letter. The rabbit arrived at his house. The letter was attached to the rabbit's ear. Then his mother saw it. The rabbit was sitting about outside and the letter was attached to the rabbit's ear. Then his mother caught the rabbit. She took the letter. She took it off from the rabbit's ear to which the letter was fastened. Then his mother saw the letter. She said, "My son is coming," said she. "The poor one, he is married. He is bringing his wife," said his mother. Thus she told the eldest one. Two of her sons had already arrived. They had not found any work for which the brothers had gone in search. "The youngest one has won, the one who has given tortillas to the coyote. Therefore he took him there and therefore he was married," said the eldest brother. Then his mother spoke thus, "Here the poor youngest boy is coming," said his mother. "The poor one is bringing his wife," said she. They arrived. He arrived in the buggy, the youngest one with his wife. Then his mother spoke thus, "My poor child, have you arrived here?" said his mother to him. Then his wife went in also. "How are things?" said his wife. "Poor one, this here is your house," said his wife. Oh my! the poor ones! they were very poor. Their house was small. Then his wife spoke thus. His wife had some stick. She took it out and she made a request of it. "Tonight," said she to it, "put at once a house here," said she to the stick and
she asked that everything should be put inside into the house and outside was to be a cottonwood tree and on top of it there were to be birds. At night it put down the house. On the following day they saw it together. It was very large and many things were below inside. Then his mother was glad. Oh my! the poor ones, they had been very poor. Now it was good and outside a cottonwood tree was standing and birds were singing on it. Then she had many chickens and all lived together.
That long is the bald tail.
170:6 Recorded in text by Franz Boas. Informant 7. Also Benedict, informant 1 (omitted). Notes, p. 246.