accomplish the task assigned to them. Year after year they returned without success. At last Coyote was sent to liberate the inhabitants of the cave, who exclaimed as they saw him coming, "Now, we have a visitor who will do us harm." They thought to appease his appetite by offering a piece of meat in the hope that he would eat it and go away. When Coyote had roasted the meat in the fire and looked about him, he saw the gate of the cave and this is what happened: "Where shall I put this meat? It is hot. Where shall I put it? It is hot," he said, and then ran straight to the door of the cave. Before the occupants could recover from their alarm he threw open the door and out swarmed the deer and other game animals as pour forth the bees from a newly opened hive.
Coyote ran for his life and the people pursued him, but he escaped and went to live in the water in the west.
When A-anhitŭpakĭ Si’vany, Feather-breathing Si’vany, was a boy he was mischievous and troubled his grandmother. He went to the cave of the Winds and saw the bow. He made one like it and showed it to his fellows, but they handled it and so took away its power. He made several bows, but the people ruined them by looking at them or handling them. At last they ceased troubling him and he was able to kill rabbits and give them away.
Seeing that he was a good shot, the people told him to take his stand at the two hills and close the gap. He went as directed, but instead of shooting the deer as they were driven past he paid no attention to them, but occupied himself in building a fence of brush from one hill to the other.
Again they told him to perch in a tree above a game trail and watch for anything that might pass under him. He did so and saw the game running, but did not shoot.
A third time they drove the animals toward him and instructed him to shoot the pregnant ones, as they would be fat. He took his place and shot a pregnant woman instead of a doe.
The fourth time they told him to shoot an old one (meaning a deer with large antlers), and he killed an old man.
Then he showed that he had magic power, for he was able to go out and bring in deer without taking days of time like other hunters. He built a house (Va’-aki, now one of the ruins of Salt river), married, and settled down. Väntre was a thief, gambler, liar, and profligate who came to the house of A-anhitŭpakĭ Siʼvany, who, knowing his character, did not wish to see him. Väntre brought four reeds filled with tobacco, lighted one, and smoked it. A-anhitŭpakĭ Si’vany would not speak to him and Väntre finally went away. This happened three nights, but not a word was spoken until the fourth night, when A-anhitŭpakĭ told Väntre he would be his friend if Väntre would stop lying, stealing, and the like. He would make the sticks called
