🧚 The Girl Who Was the Ring [1] · page 2

After a little while the Coyote pretended that he felt better, and he got up and went over to where the young Bulls were sitting, looking on at the game, and sat down with them, and watched the play with the others.99 Every now and then two of the young Bulls would begin to dispute over the game, each saying that his stick was the nearer to the ring, and sometimes they would wrangle for a long time.100 Once, while they were doing this, the Coyote went up to them and said: “Here!101 You men need not quarrel about this.102 Let me look.103 I know all about this game.104 I can tell which stick is the nearer.”105 The Bulls stopped talking and looked at him, and then said: “Yes, let him look.106 Let us hear what he says.”107 Then the Coyote went up to the ring and looked, and said, pointing: “That stick is nearest.108 That man has won.”109 The Bulls looked at each other, and nodded their heads and said: “He knows.110 He is right.”111 The next time they had a dispute, he decided it again, and all were satisfied.112

At length two of the young Bulls had a very fierce dispute, and almost came to fighting over it.113 The Coyote came up and looked, and said: “This is very close.114 I must look carefully, but I cannot see well if you are all crowding around me in this way.115 I must have room.116 You would all better go over to that hill, and sit down there and wait for me to decide.”117 The Bulls all went over to the hill and sat down, and then the Coyote began to look.118 First he would go to one stick and look carefully, and then he would go to the other and look.119 The sticks were about the same distance from the ring, and for a long time it seemed that he could not make up his mind which was the nearer.120 He went backward and forward, looking at the sticks, and stooping down and putting his hands on his knees and squinting, and at last, when once his face was close to the ground, he suddenly snatched up the ring in his mouth, and started, running as hard as he could, for the place where he had left the Badger.121

As soon as he had started, all the Bulls on the hill saw what he was doing—that he was taking the ring away from them—and they started after him.122 They did not want to lose the ring, for it was very useful to them, and they played with it all the time.123 When the Buffalo in the camp saw that the young Bulls had started, they all followed, so that soon all the Buffalo were rushing after the Coyote.124 He ran fast, and for a long time he kept ahead of the Buffalo, but they followed, a great mass of Buffalo crowding and pushing, running as hard as they could run.125 At last the Coyote was beginning to get tired, and was running more slowly, and the Buffalo were beginning to catch up to him, but he was getting near to where the Badger was.126 After a time the Buffalo were getting nearer to the Coyote.127 He was very tired, and it seemed to him as if he could not run any farther.128 If he did not soon get to where he had left the Badger, the Buffalo would run over him and trample him to death, and get back the ring.129 At length, when they were close behind him, he ran over the top of a little hill, and down in the valley below saw the Badger sitting at the mouth of his hole.130 The Coyote raced down the hill as fast as he could, and when he got to the hole he gave the ring to the Badger, and just as the herd of Buffalo got to the place, they both dived down into the hole.131

The Buffalo crowded about the Badger’s hole, and began to paw the ground, to dig it up so as to get the Coyote and the ring, but the Badger had dug a hole a long way under the ground, and while the Buffalo were digging he ran along through this hole and came out far off, and ran as hard as he could towards the brothers’ lodge.132 Before he had gone very far, some of the Buffalo on the outside of the herd saw him, and called out to the others: “There he is!133 There he goes!”134 Then all the Buffalo started again and ran after the Badger.135 When they had come pretty close to him, he would stop running and dig another hole, and while the Buffalo were crowding around the hole, trying to dig him out, he would dig along under the ground, until he had got far beyond them, and would then come to the top of the ground, and run as fast as he could towards the lodge.136 Then the Buffalo would see him and follow him.137

In this way he went a long distance, but at length he got tired and felt that he could not run or dig much farther.138 He was almost spent.139 At last, when he dug out of the ground, he saw not far off the Kit Fox, lying curled upon a rock, asleep in the sun. He called out: “Oh, my brother, I am almost tired out!140 Help me!”141 The Kit Fox jumped up and ran to him and took the ring in his mouth and started running, and the Badger dug a deep hole, and stayed there.142 The little Fox ran fast, gliding along like a bird; and the Buffalo, when they saw him running, chased him and ran hard.143

The Kit Fox is a swift animal, and for a long time he kept ahead of the Buffalo.144 When he was almost tired out, he came to where the Rabbit was, and gave him the ring, and ran into a hole, and the Rabbit ran on.145 The Buffalo followed the Rabbit, but he ran fast and kept ahead of them for a long time.146 When they had almost caught him, he came to where the Hawk was sitting.147 The Hawk took the ring in his claws and flew off with it, and the Rabbit ran off to one side and hid in the long grass.148 The Buffalo followed the Hawk, and ran after him.149 They seemed never to get tired.150 The Hawk, after he had been flying a long time, began to feel very weary.151 He would sail down low over the Buffalo’s backs, and was only just able to keep above them.152 At last he got near to where the Blackbird was.153

When the Blackbird heard the pounding of many hoofs and knew that the Buffalo were coming, he flew up on a sunflower stalk and waited.154 When the Buffalo came to the place where he was, he flew up over them to the Hawk, and took the ring on his neck, and flew along over the Buffalo.155 The ring was heavy for so small a bird, and he would alight on the backs of the Buffalo and fly from one to another.156 The Buffalo would toss their heads and try to hit him with their horns, but he kept flying from one to another, and the Buffalo behind were always pushing forward to get near the ring, and they pushed the other Buffalo ahead of them.157 Pretty soon the herd passed over a hill and were rushing down to the place on the river where the brothers’ lodge stood.158

Ever since their sister had been lost, the brothers had been making arrows, and now they had piles of them stacked up about the lodge.159 When they saw the Buffalo coming they got their bows and took their arrows in their hands, and shot and shot until they had killed many, many Buffalo, and the rest were frightened and ran away.160

The Blackbird had flown into the lodge with the ring, and after the brothers had finished killing, they went into the lodge.161 And there, sitting by the fire and smiling at them as they came in, they saw their sister.162