COYOTE WAS GOING ALONG one morning when he saw a good-looking young man out on the prairie.
“Hey, young man, where are you going?” called Coyote.
“I am going out on the war path.”
“I am a strong warrior, known by all the people. I can come along and help you.”
“You can come along if you are brave.”
“Oh, when we meet our enemies you will see. I am the bravest man there is. They will run away when they see me! We will have a good time. We will capture their horses and take whatever they leave behind.”
The young man thought this might be Coyote talking but he couldn’t be sure. He said, “Come on. You can come.”
The warrior told Coyote as they went along that they would camp that night at a place called Scalped Man by the Fire. Coyote didn’t like that name.
That afternoon they killed a buffalo and made camp. Coyote made the other man do all the cooking and then Coyote took the best piece of meat for himself, telling the other man that the bravest warriors were always treated like this. Before he went to bed Coyote took all the meat that was left over and packed it around the place where he was sleeping. In case he got hungry he would have the meat right there. He took the liver and spread it out on his chest and put the heart on his knee and fell asleep.
In the middle of the night Coyote heard a noise and raised himself up to look around. Right there in front of him was Scalped Man. Without making a sound Coyote raised his club and brought it down as hard as he could on Scalped Man’s head. But it was not Scalped Man, only Coyote’s knee with the meat on it and when the club landed Coyote let out a yell. Immediately the other man jumped up.
“What is the matter?”
“It was just Scalped Man. Nothing to worry about now. He came around here but I sent him off.”
The other man went back to sleep and Coyote rolled around on the ground holding his knee and trying not to make any noise.
The next morning when they left, the warrior told Coyote they would camp that night at a place called Cooked Meat Flying All Around. Coyote didn’t know what to make of that name. As they went along the man saw Coyote’s knee was bothering him, causing him to fall behind. Coyote said it would be all right, that he had just hurt it in that fight with Scalped Man.
When they got to camp that night they sat down and waited. When it was dark, meat began flying around them. They caught what they wanted and when they had enough meat the pieces stopped flying around. The warrior said they would camp the next night at the place Where the Arrows Fly Around. Coyote didn’t like the name of that place. “I don’t know if I can go that far tomorrow. My knee is getting pretty bad you know.”
The next day Coyote’s knee was really bothering him and he suggested they camp some other place. But the warrior went on. They made camp in a draw where there were some willows and small cottonwoods and made a fire and ate dinner. When it got dark, arrows began flying through the air around them. The warrior stood very still and began to catch the arrows as they came by. Coyote jumped all over trying to dodge them. The more he dodged the closer the arrows came. Finally Coyote got down next to the ground and tried to squeeze into an old badger tunnel. An arrow finally hit him in the arm. He screamed out that he had been killed and rolled over.
The other man came over and kicked his feet and told him to get up. Coyote jumped up and rubbed his eyes.
“What’s going on here?” said Coyote. “I must have fallen asleep. This knee is making me very tired.”
When they went to bed Coyote said, “You know, you’re lucky that Scalped Man didn’t go after you when he came into camp. He might have killed you, where he could only wound me.”
The warrior told Coyote the next day’s camp would be Where the Women Visit the Men. Coyote liked the sound of that place. He said his knee would be much better in the morning and that he could travel very fast the next day if the man wanted to get an early start.
The next morning Coyote did all the cooking and was the first one out on the trail. He kept getting far ahead and he would turn back and yell out, “Hey, can’t you keep up? What kind of warrior are you? When we find the enemy I’ll have to do all the fighting myself! I have a bad wound and still you can’t keep up.”
Finally they made camp. After dark two women came into camp. One came over to Coyote but he couldn’t tell whether she was young or old. He gave her a piece of meat to eat and he thought by the sound she made that she was very old. He thought younger women would be coming into camp later in the evening so he told her to go away.
When she got up to leave Coyote saw in the firelight that she was a very good-looking young woman and he called out for her to sit down again. But she didn’t. Coyote got up and began talking very smoothly, saying she really was very good-looking and that some ghost must have been calling out and telling her to leave. But she just walked off.
At first Coyote thought she might come back or that some other woman would come. But no one came. Coyote then got very angry with himself. He knew the other woman might have spent the night with him. Now he had nothing. It made him so angry he couldn’t get to sleep. He could hear the other woman and the warrior talking softly but they weren’t making love. He thought for a while that the other man might call out and tell him to come over and make love with this woman. But he didn’t call out. Coyote waited until dawn thinking that the other woman might come back, but she never did.
While they were eating breakfast the next morning the other man told Coyote they were going to make camp that night at a place called War Clubs Flying Around. Coyote didn’t like the sound of that place so he lagged behind all day saying his knee hurt so much they wouldn’t make that camp. But they got there anyway.
When darkness came in Coyote heard the war clubs begin to fly around. The man told Coyote not to dodge them or he would get hit for sure. Coyote dodged them anyway and one hit him on the head and knocked him out. The other man caught two clubs, one for himself and one for Coyote, and then the other clubs stopped flying around. He kicked Coyote and Coyote jumped up and said he must have fallen asleep again. The man told him that they would need these clubs to fight the enemy and gave Coyote one.
While they were eating he said the place they were going the next day was called Vulvas Flying Around. Coyote said right away that his leg was better, that they should leave early and make an early camp. Coyote asked the man whether these were the best kind of vulvas that flew around, very young, just what a man would want. The other man said they were. Coyote asked the man to tell him all about these vulvas but the man went to sleep. Coyote was awake all night thinking about vulvas, what they would be like flying around with no women attached. He wondered how easy they would be to carry around.
Coyote was up early and fixed breakfast and left the man far behind on the trail that day. Coyote kept looking back and shaking his head at how slow the other man was. Coyote thought maybe the man was tired from such a long journey and just couldn’t keep up.
After dinner that night it got dark and things began flying around in the camp. Coyote knew what they were and he ran after them trying to grab one, but they stayed just out of his reach, only brushing his fingertips. Coyote ran around until he was almost falling down from exhaustion and then he had an idea. He emptied all the arrows out of his quiver and opened it up like a bag and swung it around trying to catch one of those vulvas. The vulvas all made sweet sounds and Coyote was going crazy with desire. When he came close to grabbing one he could feel that they were just what he wanted. Finally with a tremendous leap Coyote was able to catch one of the flying vulvas in his quiver. He jerked it out and lay down on top of it with a yell as fast as he could—but he couldn’t get his member to work at all. The other man was sitting under some trees laughing quietly.
When they went to bed that night the warrior said that the next day they were going to the real place, the place Where the Enemy Attacks.
All the next day Coyote said his knee was bothering him and held back. But the man waited for him. Whenever the man got ahead of him, he would stop and wait for Coyote to catch up. They made camp and went to bed. Coyote’s knee hurt all night because he knew they would be attacking in the morning. At dawn when they started off they were surrounded by the enemy right away. Coyote took one look around and ran off, but one of the enemies came after him, killed him and took his scalp. The warrior fought all the other enemies off with his arrows and war club and then went looking for Coyote.
When he found him he kicked him and told him to get up. Coyote jumped up and started running immediately. But he stopped after a short while when he realized no one was chasing him and turned around. “This battle has made me very tired,” he cried out to the warrior. “I am going home. Remember, the next time you might have to do this alone. You’re lucky I came along.” Then Coyote left.
The other man, whose name was White Hawk, went back to his village.