own and let me cover you up."

So the rabbits all lay down in the ashes, and Old Man covered them up, and
then he put the whole fire over them. One old rabbit got out, and Old Man
was about to put her back when she said, "Pity me, my children are about to
be born."

"All right," replied Old Man. "I will let you go, so there will be some
more rabbits; but I will roast these nicely and have a feast." And he put
more wood on the fire. When the rabbits were cooked, he cut some red willow
brush and laid them on it to cool. The grease soaked into these branches,
so, even to-day if you hold red willow over a fire, you will see the grease
on the bark. You can see, too, that ever since, the rabbits have a burnt
place on their backs, where the one that got away was singed.

Old Man sat down, and was waiting for the rabbits to cool a little, when a
coyote came along, limping very badly. "Pity me, Old Man," he said, "you
have lots of cooked rabbits; give me one of them."

"Go away," exclaimed Old Man. "If you are too lazy to catch your food, I
will not help you."

"My leg is broken," said the coyote. "I can't catch anything, and I am
starving. Just give me half a rabbit."

"I don't care if you die," replied Old Man. "I worked hard to cook all
these rabbits, and I will not give any away. But I will tell you what we
will do. We will run a race to that butte, way out there, and if you beat
me you can have a rabbit."

"All right," said the coyote. So they started. Old Man ran very fast, and
the coyote limped along behind, but close to him, until they got near to
the butte. Then the coyote turned round and ran back very fast, for he was
not lame at all. It took Old Man a long time to go back, and just before he
got to the fire, the coyote swallowed the last rabbit, and trotted off over
the prairie.

THE BAD WEAPONS

Once Old Man was fording a river, when the current carried him down stream,
and he lost his weapons. He was very hungry, so he took the first wood he
could find, and made a bow and arrows, and a handle for his knife and
spear. When he had finished them, he started up a mountain. Pretty soon he
saw a bear digging roots, and he thought he would have some fun, so he hid
behind a log and called out, "No-tail animal, what are you doing?" The
bear looked up, but, seeing no one, kept on digging.

Then Old Man called out again, "Hi! you dirt-eater!" and then he dodged
back out of sight. Then the bear sat up again, a