# In the Reign of Coyote/Old Deer and Old Grizzly

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OLD DEER AND OLD GRIZZLY
One day the ranch was excited over a fine deer that a herder had brought in. In the late afternoon the children visited the blacksmith shop.
In talking over the way deer lose their lives, Wantasson said, "It has always been that way ever since the day Old Grizzly killed Old Deer."
"When was that, Wantasson? Won't you tell us about it?"
Never reluctant to rest, Wantasson sat down in the doorway and began the story.
In the days of the ancients Old Deer and Old Grizzly were good friends and lived together in one lodge. They each had two children. Every morning they took their baskets and went out together to dig roots.
​Before leaving home Old Grizzly always said to her cubs, "Do not skip down from the house, or your hearts will get loose in you. Do not jump over logs, or tree sticks will run into you. Do not dive into the water, or it will rise and smother you."
The cubs always answered, "We will obey our mother's orders."
Old Deer never warned her children of anything. She just said, "Good-by, children."
One morning, while they were gathering roots, Old Deer filled her basket first. Old Grizzly had been eating as she dug. Old Deer said, "I 'm ready to go home now"; and started on. Old Grizzly grumbled, but she went home with Old Deer, and they each gave their roots to their children.
The next morning Old Grizzly again ate the roots, instead of putting them into her basket. Old Deer worked steadily and soon had her basket full. When she started to go home, Old Grizzly in jealous anger sprang upon her neck and killed her. She hung Old Deer's body in a tree. Then she put into her own basket the roots Old Deer had gathered and returned home.
When she reached the lodge, she gave some roots to her own cubs and some to Old Deer's children. As the younger Deer child smelled the roots, he cried, "That smells like our mother." ​But the older Deer child nudged him and whispered, "Be silent. Don't say that."
They put away the roots and lay awake all night watching for their mother.
In the morning Old Grizzly said to the young deer: "I must go and search for your mother. I don't see why she has not come back. She must have made a fire in the woods and have fallen asleep there." Then after telling her own children what they must not do while she was away, she set out into the woods.
When she was out of sight, the young deer said to the cubs, "Shall we play skipping down from the house?"
"Oh, no," the cubs answered, "our mother told us not to skip down from the house. It will make our hearts loose in us."
Then the young deer said, "Let 's jump over logs."
"Oh, no," the cubs answered, "our mother made us promise not to jump over logs, for the tree sticks will run into our legs."
"If you will not jump," said the young deer, "let 's play plunging into the water."
"Oh, no," answered the cubs, "our mother told us not to dive into the water. It will rise up and smother us."
​"Well, then," said the young deer, "let 's play 'Smoke Out.'"
"Our mother has not told us about that. By and by we will play it."
The young deer put rotten wood on the lodge fire. Then they said to the cubs: "We will go into the lodge. You must put the cover on, and when we call out, take it off."
"All right," said the cubs, "go in."
The young deer went in, and the cubs covered the smoke hole. After a while the deer called out,
The cubs uncovered the smoke hole, and the deer came out.
Then the cubs went into the lodge, and the deer covered the hole. In a short time the cubs cried,
The deer uncovered the hole, and the cubs came out. After the deer had been in a second time, it was the cubs' turn again.
​They went in, and the deer again covered the hole. When the cubs called,
the deer sat on the cover and would not let them out.
When the cubs were smothered to death, the young deer drew them up. They took some red paint, which Old Grizzly had stolen from the Indians, and lined the cubs' faces. The older one they propped up on the top of the lodge, with a stick under his mouth to keep it closed. The younger cub they tied to the ladder and put a stick under his mouth to keep it closed.
Then they went into the lodge and said to the fireplace: "Fireplace, do not tell Old Grizzly which way we have gone. She killed our mother and so we have killed her children. The fireplace promised that it would not tell. And so they bound every thing in the lodge not to tell, everything but the bone awl. They did not notice this because it was sticking in the ceiling. Then they started away.
When Old Grizzly approached her home again, she saw her cubs on the roof and ladder. She noticed the red paint on their faces. She became ​angry. "I 'll punish you well for wasting my red paint," she cried. "I 'll teach you not to play with such things."
As she came nearer, she saw that her children were dead. She dropped her basket and wailed, "Oh! the children of Old Deer have punished me."
Then she cried, "Oh, children, where are you?"
She went into the lodge and asked, "Fireplace, which way did Old Deer's children go?" The fireplace was silent.
She questioned each article in the lodge, but received no answer until she came to the bone awl. It said, "The children of Old Deer went to the east."
Old Grizzly started after them. As the evening star climbed up the sky, she came to a cave blockaded with stones. She knew the young deer were in it. She called out loud: "To-morrow when it is light, I shall play a game with you children. Then I shall be able to see."
The older child was awakened. It shook the younger and whispered: "She has overtaken us. We must plan what to do."
They watched Old Grizzly build a fire and lie down beside it. After a while she snored. The deer children threw little sticks near her. She did not stir. They threw larger sticks. She did not stir. They threw small stones and large stones. ​Still she did not stir. Then they stole out of the cave and ran away through the woods.
When they came to the river, they called out to Old Crane: "Cross us over very fast, O Uncle, else Old Grizzly will overtake us."
Old Crane hurried across to them. They told him the story of Old Grizzly's killing their mother, and of their revenge and flight. Old Crane was very fond of Old Deer, so he lifted up his voice and wailed, "É-ush tchiwa, é-ush tchiwa."
Crane's children also wept aloud, "É-ush tchí tchû tchí tchû."
Then Old Crane crossed them over the river and blew upon them. They stiffened out upon the ground and looked like two whistle sticks.
When Old Grizzly was awakened by the morning star, she growled, "Now, at last, I shall play a game with you children." She rushed to the cave. The children were gone. She followed their tracks to the river. There she hallooed to Old Crane, "Come and cross me over the river."
Old Crane came slowly.
"Hurry, Old Crane. I want to overtake Old Deer's children. Have you seen them? Are they on your side of the river."
"There are no deer children on my side," answered Old Crane.
​"You are deceiving me," growled Old Grizzly. "You are trying to conceal them. Here are their tracks. Now cross me over fast."
"I have no canoe," objected Old Crane.
"You need no canoe. Cross me over fast," insisted Old Grizzly.
Old Crane spread out his legs across the river, making a bridge from one side to the other. Old Grizzly stepped on his legs and began walking over. When she was halfway across, she felt thirsty. She seized Old Crane's skullcap and drank from the river. Then, to empty the cap, she gave it a hit against Old Crane's leg. This angered Old Crane. He drew down his leg and doused Old Grizzly in the river.
Then he blew upon the whistle sticks, and they turned into Old Deer's children. They took the bows of Old Crane's children and shot Old Grizzly dead.
While Wantasson had been telling his story, Klayukat had come to the shop, his punch in his hand. When the story was finished, he said, "A very good tale that, Wantasson. My people have one something like it, only it is of the robin and the salmon berry, and it goes farther and tells how the trees got their uses."
​"Oh, tell that story to us, Klayukat. Oh, please!" cried the children.
"Not now, little ones. You have had your story and a good one, too. Now Wantasson will fix my punch for me, and you go to your play."