C WAS TRAVELING UP around Milk River when he heard the sound of the Sun Dance. He stopped and looked all around. He couldn’t see anything. “But there must be a camp here,” he thought. He wanted very much to dance, but he didn’t know where those people were. He stood up on an old elk skull to get a better look around the country, trying to find the place where the sound of dancing was coming from. Suddenly he realized the noise was coming from under his feet.
Coyote got down on the ground and looked through a hole into the skull. He could see some Mouse People holding a Sun Dance. Coyote said to the hole he was looking through, “Get larger!” It grew bigger. As often as he told it to get larger, it did. Finally he was able to get his head inside the skull. The Mouse People ran out as soon as they saw this.
Now Coyote’s head was stuck in that elk skull, and he began to cry because he didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t see where he was going. He yelled at the hole and tried to pull the skull off but it was no use. Finally he wandered off.
Coyote bumped into something with his foot. “Who are you?” he asked.
“I am a cherry tree.”
“Good. I must be near the river.”
Coyote went on slowly like that, feeling ahead with his feet. If he could find the river he would know which way to go.
He bumped into something again. “Who are you?”
“I am a Cottonwood,” the tree said to him.
“I must be very near the river now.”
Again he felt something with his foot. “Who are you?”
“I am a willow.”
“Indeed! I must be right at the river.”
Coyote was stepping very carefully now but still he was falling over things. Finally he tripped and fell in the river and the current took him away.
Coyote floated down to where there was a camp and everyone was in swimming. When they saw what was coming they all screamed, “Look out! Look out for that water monster! Get up on the bank!”
When Coyote floated up to where they were he said, “I will give blue beads to the ones who pull me ashore, but they must be young girls. I only allow young girls to touch me.”
Two girls went into the river, one on each side, to take hold of his antlers and pull him out. When they got up on the bank Coyote grabbed one of the women and pushed her down and had intercourse with her. When the others saw this they ran back to the village.
“That water monster has violated this woman’s virginity!” they all yelled. The mother of the girl ran down to the river with a big stick. Coyote was still having sex with the girl. The mother began beating him with the stick as hard as she could.
Coyote rolled off the girl and said, “Oh, your punishment needs a better stick than this one old woman! Besides, if you want to kill me, the place to hit is not on my back but right here in the middle of my head. The woman got a bigger stick and hit Coyote right in the head and the elk skull broke in two pieces.
When they saw it was Coyote they knew what had happened. Coyote ran off but the women were right behind him.
After a while he got ahead a little and ran behind a hill. He rubbed himself all over with white clay and put on some feathers and laid a white stick across his arm.
When the women came up, he asked what they were doing. When they told him he said, “I saw that Old Man Coyote go by. You should have pounded him to pieces while you had the chance. He’s gone now.”
Those women were really angry. They wanted to get Coyote.
“Old man,” they said, “do you think we can still catch him?”
“No, he’s too far ahead now. You should have got him. You know, he’s the worst. You should have beaten him up good.”
They said, yes, next time they’d do that, and went back to the village.