But the fire would not burn, and he got angry, exclaiming, "What shall I do? Here is that dirty syphilitic woman. I know her. I have passed her house many times, and I never thought she was to be my brother's wife. When she came in I smelled her breath, and the odor filled the house. What a lunatic my brother is to bring such a woman into the house." Then he covered the embers of the smoldering fire and laid down to sleep.
After four days Yellow Coyote went away in the evening toward the southeast and came home with a wife at midnight. She belonged to the people living on the Gila river supposed to be the ancestors of the Pimas, and her name was Ho-ony Ofʼĭ,[1] Corn Woman. When they entered the house Sandy Coyote said, "I am going to build a fire and see what kind of looking woman my younger brother's wife is." But the fire would not burn, and he became angry, exclaiming, "What shall I do? Here is that dirty syphilitic woman. I know her. I have passed her house many times, and I never thought she was to be my brother's wife. When she came in I smelled her breath, and the odor filled the house. What a lunatic my brother is to bring such a woman into the house." Then he covered the embers of the fire and lay down to sleep.
After a time they began to play kints again, and Yellow Coyote lost as before. After he had lost all his property he wagered his body and soul, which Sandy Coyote won. Then the latter killed him and ate his flesh. Yellow Coyote's wife was pregnant at that time and later gave birth to a boy. When this boy was about nine years old he went out one day and met Sandy Coyote, who was bringing in a deer on his shoulders. A piece of the deer fat fell, and the boy picked it up, concealing it in his armpit. Sandy Coyote asked him if he had seen anything of the fat, but the boy said he had not. Sandy Coyote searched him and found the fat, which vexed him so that he thought to treat the lad as he had his father. "Let us play kints together," said he. The boy told his mother about it, and she cautioned him not to gamble, as that was the cause of his father's death. For fear that he might de so she took him that night away toward the east. It was raining, but she carried fire with her in a small olla. She took up her residence in the Superstition mountains, where they lived upon herbs and grass seed. One day while the mother was away gathering seed the boy killed a bird with his little bow and arrows. When she returned he declared that he had killed a bird, but she would not believe that he had done it. But they buried the bird in the ashes and ate it. After that the boy killed many birds, rats, cottontails, and large hares. From time to time his mother made larger arrows and a heavier bow for him. One day he came running to his mother asking for a yet larger bow that he might kill a mule deer. She told
- ↑ There is a conflict of opinion as to which of these two women was married by Sandy Coyote.
