Coyote And The Six Brothers - Caddo

An old woman lived alone with her seven sons. They were all good
hunters and
kept her busy preparing the game that they killed. One day the
oldest son
went out to hunt and did not return. After several days his dogs
came back,
but he did not come. The second son decided to go to search for his
brother,
and so he took the dogs and started out. After several days the dogs
came
back, but the second son did not come. The third son decided to go
after his
missing brothers. Again the dogs returned alone, and the brothers
did not
come. The fourth, the fifth, and the sixth sons in turn went to
search for
their missing brothers, but each time the dogs came back alone. The
youngest
son wanted to go, but his mother could not give him up, for she
feared that
he, too, would go, never to return. One day, after the brothers had
been
gone a long time, the little boy saw a raccoon in a tree. He asked
his
mother if he could not take his bow and arrow and kill it. She said
that he
could, and gave him his bow and arrow. He chased the raccoon from
one tree
to another until it had led him far into the thick timber. Finally
it ran
down a hollow tree and he climbed the tree to get it out. While he
was in
the tree he heard some one speak, and, turning around, he saw a
little old
woman standing by the tree. "Throw the raccoon down here, and I and
the dogs
will kill it," she said. He threw the raccoon down and the old woman
killed
it and one of the dogs. Then she said, "There is another raccoon in
the
tree." He pulled out another raccoon and threw it down. She killed
it and
another one of his dogs. He saw another raccoon in the tree and he
pulled it
out, and again she killed it and another dog. He continued to pull
raccoons
out of the tree until he had pulled six, and each time the old woman
killed
the raccoon and another dog. As the boy was about to pull the seventh
raccoon out, it spoke to him and said: "Boy, when you get me out,
throw me
just as far as you can. I will run away and the old woman will chase
me.
While she is chasing me, you must jump and run home as fast as
possible. She
has already killed all of your dogs, and she will kill you next. She
is a
witch, and is the one who has killed all of your brothers. You must
run from
her." The boy said that he would, and then he threw the raccoon just
as far
as he could. While the old woman was chasing it he jumped out of the
tree
and started to run home. The old woman killed the raccoon, then
returned to
the tree, and when she found the boy gone she was angry, and started
after
him as fast as she could run, but he was too far ahead, and she
could not
catch him. When the boy reached home he told his mother all that had
happened. That night he had a strange dream, in which he dreamed
that he met
Coyote, and Coyote told him that his brothers were not dead, but
were with
some bad people who made them work so hard that they would soon die
if they
did not get away, and Coyote promised to help him rescue his
brothers. The
next morning he told his mother his dream, and she told him that his
dream
would probably come true. That very afternoon the boy went out to
hunt, and
while he was walking along he met a man, and the man told him the
same thing
that the man in the dream had told him. The boy returned to his home
and the
man went on through the timber until he met Flying Squirrel. He was
one of
the bad people's slaves and had to work for them. Coyote, for he was
the
man, began to talk to Squirrel and asked him about the bad people.
Squirrel
told him that the bad people made slaves of all of the people that
they
could catch alive, and that they ate all that they killed. Coyote
asked
about the six brothers, and Squirrel told Coyote that they were
slaves like
himself and could not get away, but had to work. Coyote said that he
would
like to help them and that he thought he could, for he was very
cunning and
had a good deal of power. Squirrel told Coyote if he could only find
some
way to kill the wicked chief that there would be no more trouble.
Coyote
said that he thought he could plan to kill him if he could only get
to him,
but that he lived across the river and had no way of getting across.
Flying
Squirrel said that he would take him across if he thought he could
hold on
to his tail as he flew. Coyote said that he could, and so they
started. When
they were almost to the other bank Coyote let go Squirrel's tail and
fell
into the water. He hid in the tall grass until he thought of a plan.
When he
had made up his mind what he was going to do, he turned into a nice,
new
corn mill, and floated out on the water where he would be in plain
sight.
Soon a woman came down to the river to get some water. She saw the
mill and
tried to get it, but could not. She ran back and told the chief
about the
nice, new mill, and asked him to get it for her. He told her that he
was
afraid it was Coyote, or some one trying to play a trick on them,
but the
woman said that it could not be anything but a fine corn mill and
that she
wanted it. The chief sent some one to get it, and then all of the
women came
to pound their corn in the new mill. They used it for several days,
and all
thought it was the best mill they had ever had. One day some one put
some
fine sweet corn in it, and after she had ground a little while all
of her
corn was gone. She ran to the chief and told him. He said that the
corn mill
was Coyote, as he had feared, and he told the people to bring it to
him.
They brought it, and he placed it on the big log where he always
speared
people with his long, spiked nose. He raised his head high, then
dropped it,
and his nose stuck in the log so that he could not get loose. The
corn mill
had rolled off the log and turned into Coyote. He grabbed the chief
by the
head and held him there while he called all the slaves to come and
kill him.
With the others came the six brothers. After they had killed the
chief,
Coyote told all that they were free, and to go to their homes. The
six
brothers returned to their home, and ever after that whenever they
killed
any game they always left some for Coyote.

Traditions of the Caddo, By George A. Dorsey, collected 1903-1905,
under the
auspices of the Carnegie Institution of Washington