🧚 The Revenge of the Fawns

“DON CARLOS,” said Vitorino, throwing another log upon the fire, which caught his tall shadow and twisted it and set it dancing against the rocky walls of the cañon in which we were camped for the night, “did you ever hear why the Wolf and the Deer are enemies?”1 And as he spoke he stretched out near me, looking up into my face to see if I were going to be interested.2

A few years ago it would have frightened me very seriously to find my self thus--alone in one of the remotest corners of New Mexico save for that swarthy face peering up into mine by the weird light of the camp-fire.3 A stern, quiet but manly face it seems to me now; but once I would have thought it a very savage one, with its frame of long, jet hair, its piercing eyes, and the broad streak of red paint across its cheeks.4 By this time, however, having lived long among the kindly Pueblos, I had shaken off that strange, ignorant prejudice against all that is unknown--which seems to be inborn in all of us--and wondered that I could ever have believed in that brutal maxim, worthy only of worse than savages, that “A good Indian is a dead Indian.”5 For Indians are men, after all, and astonishingly like the rest of us when one really comes to know them.6

I pricked up my ears--very glad at his hint of another of these folk-stories.7

“No,” I answered.8 “I have noticed that the Wolf and the Deer are not on good terms, but never knew the reason.”9

“_Si, señor_,” said he,--for Vitorino knows no English, and most of our talk was in Spanish, which is easier to me than the Tée-wahn language,--“that was very long ago, and now all is changed.10 But once the Wolf and the Deer were like brothers; and it is only because the Wolf did very wickedly that they are enemies.11 _Con su licencia, señor.12 _”[92]13

[92] “With your permission, sir.”14

“_Bueno; anda!15 _”[93]16

[93] “All right; go ahead!”17

So Vitorino leaned his shoulders against a convenient rock and began.18

Once upon a time, when the Wolf and the Deer were friends, there were two neighbors in the country beyond the Rio Puerco, not far from where the pueblo of Laguna (a Quères town) now is.19 One was a Deer-mother who had two fawns, and the other a Wolf-mother with two cubs.20 They had very good houses of adobe, just such as we live in now, and lived like real people in every way.21 The two were great friends, and neither thought of going to the mountain for firewood or to dig _amole_[94] without calling for the other to accompany her.22

[94] The root of the palmilla, generally used for soap throughout the Southwest.23

One day the Wolf came to the house of the Deer and said:24

“Friend Peé-hlee-oh [Deer-woman], let us go to-day for wood and _amole_, for I must wash to-morrow.”25

“It is well, friend Káhr-hlee-oh,” replied the Deer.26 “I have nothing to do, and there is food in the house for the children while I am gone.27 _Toó-kwai!28 _ [Let us go].”29

So they went together across the plain and into the hills till they came to their customary spot.30 They gathered wood and tied it in bundles to bring home on their backs, and dug _amole_, which they put in their shawls to carry.31 Then the Wolf sat down under a cedar-tree and said:32

“_Ai!33 _ But I am tired!34 Sit down, friend Deer-woman, and lay your head in my lap, that we may rest.”35

“No, I am not tired,” replied the Deer.36

“But just to rest a little,” urged the Wolf.37 The Deer good-naturedly lay down with her head in the lap of her friend.38 But soon the Wolf bent down and caught the trusting Deer by the throat, and killed her.39 That was the first time in the world that any one betrayed a friend, and from that deed comes all the treachery that is.40

The false Wolf took off the hide of the Deer, and cut off some of the meat and carried it home on her load of _amole_ and wood.41 She stopped at the house of the Deer, and gave the Fawns some of the accursed meat, saying:42

“Friends, Deer-babies, do not fear, but eat; your mother met relatives and went to their house, and she will not come to-night.”43

The Fawns were very hungry, and as soon as the Wolf had gone home they built a big fire in the fireplace and set the meat to cook.44 But at once it began to sputter and to hiss, and the Fawn who was tending it heard it cry, “Look out! look out! for this is your mother!”45

He was greatly frightened, and called his brother to listen, and again the same words came from the meat.46

“The wicked old Wolf has killed our _nana_!47 [mama],” they cried, and, pulling the meat from the fire, they laid it gently away and sobbed themselves to sleep.48

Next morning the Wolf went away to the mountain to bring the rest of the deer-meat; and when she was gone her Cubs came over to play with the Fawns, as they were used to doing.49 When they had played awhile, the Cubs said:50

“_Pee-oo-weé-deh_ [little Deer], why are you so prettily spotted, and why do you have your eyelids red, while we are so ugly?”51

“Oh,” said the Fawns, “that is because when we were little, like you, our mother put us in a room and smoked us, and made us spotted.”52

“Oh, Fawn-friends, can’t you spot us, too, so that we may be pretty?”53

So the Fawns, anxious to avenge the death of their mother, built a big fire of corn-cobs in the fireplace, and threw coyote-grass on it to make a great smoke.54 Then, shutting the Cubs into the room, they plastered up the door and windows with mud, and laid a flat rock on top of the chimney and sealed it around with mud; and climbing down from the roof, they took each other’s hands and ran away to the south as fast as ever they could.55

After they had gone a long way, they came to a Coyote.56 He was walking back and forth with one paw to his face, howling dreadfully with the toothache.57 The Fawns said to him very politely:58

“_Ah-bóo!59 _ [poor thing].60 Old-man friend, we are sorry your tooth hurts.61 But an old Wolf is chasing us, and we cannot stay.62 If she comes this way, asking about us, do not tell her, will you?”63

“_Een-dah.64 _ Little-Deer-friends, I will not tell her”--and he began to howl again with pain, while the Fawns ran on.65

When the Wolf came to her home with the rest of the meat, the Cubs were not there; and she went over to the house of the Deer.66 It was all sealed and still; and when she pushed in the door, there were her Cubs dead in the smoke!67 When she saw that, the old Wolf was wild with rage, and vowed to follow the Fawns and eat them without mercy.68 She soon found their tracks leading away to the south, and began to run very swiftly in pursuit.69

In a little while she came to the Coyote, who was still walking up and down, howling so that one could hear him a mile away.70 But not pitying his pain, she snarled at him roughly:71

“Say, old man! have you seen two Fawns running away?”72

The Coyote paid no attention to her, but kept walking with his hand to his mouth, groaning, “_Mm-m-páh!73 Mm-m-páh!74