Coyote [itsaya yd] dwelt nearby. Mouse [laqatsaya' ya] was his wife, and they had a child, a boy. One day Coyote said to his son, "Boy-child, let us visit your uncle Elk [wawu' xya]." They went forth and arrived at Elk's lodge. "Brother, we just thought we would come to see you," Coyote explained. They began to talk about various things, and they told each other stories. Elk's wife was there at work, sewing. They had a child, too, a boy. Presently Elk went over to his wife and with a knife cut a piece of the dress off her back. Now he broiled this, and it became well cooked and delicious. 

Elk said to Coyote, "I just haven't a thing in the way of food, friend, only this. But eat it." 

"What is this? I should eat old worn clothing!" Coyote thought. Here the young Coyote began to eat, and he ate very much. Soon there was only a little bit of the food left, and Coyote decided, "I will just taste it then." Oh, it was very, very good, he found; and he ate, with a gulp, all that was left. Now he scolded his son, "You are showing the habits of eating you develop at home! My brother and I are still telling each other stories, and you eat up a the food!" After awhile Coyote said to Elk, "Yes, brother, it has been very good to tell each other stories, and sometime you must visit me at my lodge." 

Days passed by, and then Elk said to his son, "Coyote told us to come and see him sometime. Let us go now." Thus Elk and his son went to visit Coyote. They arrived at Coyote's rye grass lodge. 

Mouse said to herself, "Why does Coyote have them come? Without fail he will do something stupid again."

Elk and his son had arrived, and now Coyote said, "Brother, I am very glad that you have come. This is just the way I live." Coyote talked on. Then they told each other stories again. After awhile Coyote stood up and went over to his wife who was occupied there something or other. Coyote went up to her and with a knife ripped off a piece of her dress and broiled it. The piece of her dress shriveled at once. 

Mouse said to herself, "Imitator." 

"Mine never did anything like this before," Coyote exclaimed for Elk's benefit. 

But now Elk took pity on Coyote, and he cut a piece out of his own back covering and put it to broil. Then he said to his son, "Let us go now. We have caused Coyote to do things very poorly." Now they returned home while Coyote and his family ate well. Days passed. 

Now Coyote said to his son, "Let us go to visit your uncle Fish-hawk [sa' zsox]." Here they went visiting again. They arrived at Fish-hawk's lodge, and Coyote said, "Brother, I have come to visit you. How are you getting along from day to day?" They sat down and talked about many things for a long time. After awhile Fish-hawk got up and went outside. There he cut a wild cherry bush of about the thickness of a digging stick, and he took it into the lodge. Now he bent the stick into a circular form and tied the ends together. This imbedded in the coals. Coyote and Fish-hawk talked on.

At last Fish-hawk said, "We haven't anything; this is all." He uncovered that which had put in the coals. Ah, he took out a ring of intestine perfectly cooked and sizzling, a dripping of grease. Then he went outside where the boys were playing, for Fish-hawk had a son, too. He climbed up a big fir tree that stood near the lodge. He perched there on one the limbs for a few moments, gave his call ["sa-q, sa-q, sa-q"], then swooped straight down through a hole in the ice. He plunged through into the water. He emerged in a few moments holding a salmon. Now he proceeded to broil the salmon. "There isn't a thing eat, but here you are," he told Coyote. But Coyote only turned to his son and said, "You eat!

Am I supposed to eat wild cherry wood and winter salmon?" The young Coyote ate heartily, and Coyote talked on. When the young Coyote had consumed almost all of the food, Coyote thought, "Let me just taste it." He cut off a little piece of the intestine and tasted it. Oh, how good it was! He gulped down the rest of it and then scolded his son, "You are showing the habits of eating you develop at home! My brother and I are still talking, and you eat all the food."

Presently Coyote said to Fish-hawk, "Brother, you must come to see me at my lodge sometime." The guests returned home. Then days passed. At last Fish-hawk said to his son, "Coyote asked us to visit him; so let us go." 

They went to call on Coyote. They arrived. "Yes, brother, so you have come. This is how we live," Coyote greeted Fish-hawk. They began to talk. Presently Coyote got up and went outside. He cut down a wild cherry bush and brought it into the lodge. He bent it around, tied the ends, and put it into the coals to cook. 

Coyote's wife. Mouse, said to herself, "The imitator! Who did he see doing that? He is the doer of all foolhardy things." Coyote and his guests talked about various things when, suddenly, that piece of wild cherry wood hurled itself from the fire. The string that bound the two ends together had burned through, and the stick uncoiled and bounded forth. Ashes, coals, and fire were flung in every direction. The stick hurled itself across the room and struck Mouse squarely on the back. 

"Uh!" she yelled in sudden fright. 

Coyote exclaimed, "What can have happened? It is very strange. Nothing like this ever occurred before." Fish-hawk now took pity on Coyote. He went out and brought back a wild cherry stick which he bent, tied, and put into the coals. But here Coyote went outside. 

There stood a big fir tree near the river, and there was a hole in the ice directly below the branches. 

Coyote climbed up into the tree. 

The young Coyote, watching his father, shouted to his mother, "Oh, come and see! 

Father is climbing up the tree!" 

"Hush! As if it were the first time you saw me do this. You always say the most foolish things," Coyote shouted from above. Now he climbed up and perched on a limb. Here he gave the cry of a fish-hawk and suddenly hurled himself down. He dived for the hole in the ice, but he missed. He landed on the edge of the hole with a thud, and his breath was knocked out. He had almost killed himself. 

Now Fish-hawk took pity on him again, and he jumped up into the tree. He perched there for a moment, gave a few calls ["sa-q, sa-q, sa-q"], and he dove in. He plunged straight through the hole in the ice, suddenly to reappear holding a salmon. He handed it to Coyote and, turning to his son, said, "Let us go home now. We have already caused Coyote to do pitifully." And they returned home.

Here was all the good food now, the intestine and the salmon, but both Coyote and his wife, Mouse, were confined to bed. One was suffering from the effects of the fall, and the other was bruised from having been struck by the wild cherry stick.