American Indian Trickster Tales (Myths and Legends) (30 page)

“Yes! I shall be very careful and walk steadily,” said Ni‘hancan.

So these young men gave him the burden and he carried it. One day, while they were going fast, Ni‘hancan struck his foot against a stick or rock and stumbled, dropping his burden and breaking it in the center into two equal parts. Ni’hancan got a scolding from the party and went off to another direction.

He came to a camp circle. When the women saw him coming, they started to catch him in a race. When they finally caught him, he told them that he was going to the painted tipi in the center, toward the west of the camp circle. “Leave me alone, for I am going over to the tipi that suits me best!” said he to the women. This tipi was beautiful and there was a pipe of peace hung outside of it above the door. Ni‘hancan went in and found a woman all by herself. This woman wanted him to remain as her husband, for there were no men in the camp circle.

Still, Ni‘hancan ran away and went back and reached the young men with whom he had recently journeyed. “When I stumbled and broke it into two parts you men scolded me for it. Now I have come over to tell you that I have found a camp circle consisting entirely of women. Now is your chance to be happy and become husbands. Because you men put the blame on me for breaking that object, and so putting an end to your fun, I came to tell you the truth, that there is not a single man in sight in that camp,” said he.

“Well, then, Ni‘hancan, we will have a race for wives. The one who runs the fastest gets the prettiest,” said the young men.

“All right! That will do, but you must understand that I have already selected a tipi, which stands in the center of the circle and has a pipe of peace hanging over the door. You folks might outrun me and take a liking to that tipi. It belongs to me by right, because I got to this camp circle first,” said he.

“Oh, pshaw! We can’t beat you, for we know that you can run very swift. You can easily get to the tipi that you mentioned first,” said the young men. So they all stood in a row and started. Ni‘hancan was in the race.

Before starting, they agreed that all should slacken their speed to allow Ni‘hancan to get in the lead. Consequently, he was in the lead just after they began the race after the women for wives.

“Oh, say, Ni‘hancan, stop! You are too fast; this is not fair. We think that you ought to bear weights at your ankles and at your wrists, to give us some chance,” said the young men. So these young men went out and searched for stones, which they took and fastened to his ankles and wrists.

Then the young men and Ni‘hancan stood in a row again. Again they started on the race. These young men agreed not to run fast, but to give the chance to Ni’hancan. Ni‘hancan was in the lead again. “Oh, say, stop, Ni’hancan! You are too swift for us. We think that you are giving us a poor chance for the women. Had you not better put a heavier weight on your ankles and wrists?” said the young men.

“All right! You may fasten on the weights if you desire,” said Ni‘hancan.

“Oh, Ni‘hancan is light and very swift, therefore he can surely outrun all of us,” said the young men in earnest voices. So finally they began the race again to the camp, the young men taking the lead, while Ni’hancan stopped and began to untie the stones and rocks.

“Oh, partners, remember my tipi stands in the center and bears the painting outside of a pipe of peace, but you can run for the other places,” said he in a loud voice. The young men, running as fast as they could, did not pay any attention to him.

When the young men had reached the tipis and selected every one, Ni‘hancan came in panting. He went to the painted tipi and peeped in and saw the woman with a man. Ni’hancan told the man in the tipi that he once had been in the tipi but that he had run away. Then the owner of the tipi ordered Ni‘hancan away. He was greatly disappointed and walked away to the east part of the camp and came to a well-tanned tipi, which was owned by an old woman. He went in and found the old woman sitting alone. “Well, grandson, where are you going?” said the old woman.

“Old woman,” said Ni‘hancan, “you have a nice tipi. You have much meat in your big pot. I am not going anywhere.”

So, not getting his first choice for a wife, Ni‘hancan married this old woman.

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Ta-vwots, the Little Rabbit, was sleeping with his back to the sun. He got burned. His children saw that his back was smoking and cried: “Father, what is happening to your back?”

Little Rabbit woke up with a start. “Children,” he rumbled, “why do you wake me up?”

“Father, your back is covered with sores. It has holes in it,” cried his children.

Then Little Rabbit knew that it was Ta-vi, Sun, who had burned him. He got very angry. “My children,” he said, “I must go and fight Sun.” He left right away.

On his way to fight Sun, Little Rabbit came into a beautiful valley and in its middle stood a cornfield with the ears ready for roasting. Little ‘ Rabbit had never seen corn before. He looked at the ears of corn and saw that they were covered with beautiful, silky hair. He opened one husk and inside found white grains covering the cobs in rows. Then he knew that this was corn and that it was good to eat. He roasted an armful of ears over a fire and ate until his belly was full. Then it occurred to him that the cornfield might belong to somebody and that he had been stealing. So he dug a hole in which to hide himself.

Now, Cin-au-av, the owner of the cornfield, noticed that his corn had been stolen and right away guessed who had been the guilty one. The owner got very angry and cried: “I will kill this thieving Rabbit, I will kill him!” He called all his warriors together and began looking for the thief, but could not find him, because Little Rabbit had gone underground. At last they found Rabbit’s hole and shot arrows into it. But Little Rabbit blew them back. Cin-au-av’s people were enraged and shot more arrows at Little Rabbit, but with his mighty breath he blew them all back against them.

Then they ran to grab him with their hands, but he nimbly side-stepped them so that they only caught each other’s fists. Then they said: “Let’s dig him out!” And they dug in a frenzy, but Little Rabbit had an escape hole through which he slipped out. From the top of a rock he watched Cin-au-av’s people dig deeper and deeper until they almost vanished from sight. Then Little Rabbit hurled a magic ball, which he always carried with him, at the ground above the diggers. It made the earth cave in on top of them, and they were buried.

Little Rabbit said: “Why did these foolish people get in my way? I am in a killing mood; I am going to fight the Sun. I’ll make an end of anyone trying to stop me!”

Then he saw two men making arrowheads out of hot rocks. He watched them for a while from behind a tree. Then he went up to them, saying: “Let me help you.” He looked at the rocks, which were glowing red-hot, and said: “These rocks will not burn me.”

They laughed at him, calling him a fool, saying: “Maybe you are some kind of a ghost?”

“I am not a ghost,” said Little Rabbit, “but I am more powerful than you. Put me on these red-glowing rocks and if I do not burn you must let me do the same to you.”

“This fellow is really a fool,” thought the two men. Aloud they said: “We agree.” They put Little Rabbit on the sizzling rocks, but he cooled them with his magic breath and did not burn.

Little Rabbit said: “Brothers, now it’s your turn.” He seized them and held them down on the red-hot stones, and they were consumed by heat and fire until only their ashes remained. “Lie there,” said Little Rabbit, “until you can get up again!” He laughed, saying: “This is good practice for fighting Sun!” He went on, uttering fierce war cries.

Next day he came upon two women gathering berries in baskets. He sat down and the women brought him a basket of berries to eat. He saw that there were many thorns among the berries, and told the women: “Blow these thorns into my eyes, because it will make them feel good!” They did as told, thinking to blind him, but he blew the thorns away with his magic breath.

Then the women asked: “Are you a ghost?”

“I am not a ghost,” he answered. “I am just an ordinary, everyday fellow. I guess you know that thorns cannot hurt your eyes. Let me show you.” They agreed and he made them blind. “That will teach you offering a guest berries mixed with thorns,” said Little Rabbit, and knocked them dead. “Aha,” he said, “I am learning how to kill. This is good practice. I am going to kill Sun.” He went on, whooping and hollering.

The next day he saw some women standing on the top of a high cliff. They saw him coming. “It is Little Rabbit,” they said to each other. “Let us kill him by hurling rocks at his head as he passes.” He heard them. He stopped a little short of them, took some dried meat mixed with chokecherries. He ate some of it with great relish.

The women on the cliff became curious. “What have you got there?” they asked him.

“Something very sweet and good-tasting. Come to the edge and I will throw some of it up to you.”