Iktomi and the Fawn · page 21 2101“Oh!102I am myself.103My old self!” cried Iktomi, pinching himself and plucking imaginary pieces out of his jacket.104“Hin-hin-hin!105I wanted to fly!”106The real arrow now returned to the earth.107He alighted very near Iktomi.108From the high sky he had seen the fawns playing on the green.109He had seen Iktomi make his one leap, and the charm was broken.110Iktomi became his former self.111“Arrow, my friend, change me once more!” begged Iktomi.112“No, no more,” replied the arrow.113Then away he shot through the air in the direction his comrades had flown.114By this time the fawns gathered close around Iktomi.115They poked their noses at him trying to know who he was.checked by a teacher116Iktomi's tears were like a spring shower.117A new desire dried them quickly away.118Stepping boldly to the largest fawn, he looked closely at the little brown spots all over the furry face.119“Oh, fawn!120What beautiful brown spots on your face!121Fawn, dear little fawn, can you tell me how those brown spots were made on your face?”122“Yes,” said the fawn.123“When I was very, very small, my mother marked them on my face with a red hot fire.124She dug a large hole in the ground and made a soft bed of grass and twigs in it.125Then she placed me gently there.126She covered me over with dry sweet grass and piled dry cedars on top.127From a neighbor's fire she brought hither a red, red ember.128This she tucked carefully in at my head.129This is how the brown spots were made on my face.”130“Now, fawn, my friend, will you do the same for me?131Won't you mark my face with brown, brown spots just like yours?” asked Iktomi, always eager to be like other people.132“Yes.133I can dig the ground and fill it with dry grass and sticks.134If you will jump into the pit, I'll cover you with sweet smelling grass and cedar wood,” answered the fawn.135“Say,” interrupted Ikto, “will you be sure to cover me with a great deal of dry grass and twigs?136You will make sure that the spots will be as brown as those you wear.”137“Oh, yes.138I'll pile up grass and willows once oftener than my mother did.”139“Now let us dig the hole, pull the grass, and gather sticks,” cried Iktomi in glee.140Thus with his own hands he aids in making his grave.141After the hole was dug and cushioned with grass, Iktomi, muttering something about brown spots, leaped down into it.142Lengthwise, flat on his back, he lay.143While the fawn covered him over with cedars, a far-away voice came up through them, “Brown, brown spots to wear forever!”144A red ember was tucked under the dry grass.145Off scampered the fawns after their mothers; and when a great distance away they looked backward.146They saw a blue smoke rising, writhing upward till it vanished in the blue ether.147“Is that Iktomi's spirit?” asked one fawn of another.148“No!149I think he would jump out before he could burn into smoke and cinders,” answered his comrade.1 2← previousIktomi and the Coyotenext →The Badger and the Bear↑ back to Old Indian LegendsThis page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg338/6/page/2/