Old Indian Legends | Page 7

a race to see who shall win this pot of fish. If I
win, I shall not need to share it with you. If you win, you shall have
half of it." Springing to his feet, Iktomi began at once to tighten the belt
about his waist.
"My friend Ikto, I cannot run a race with you! I am not a swift runner,
and you are nimble as a deer. We shall not run any race together,"
answered the hungry muskrat.
For a moment Iktomi stood with a hand on his long protruding chin.
His eyes were fixed upon something in the air. The muskrat looked out
of the corners of his eyes without moving his head. He watched the
wily Iktomi concocting a plot.
"Yes, yes," said Iktomi, suddenly turning his gaze upon the unwelcome
visitor;
"I shall carry a large stone on my back. That will slacken my usual
speed; and the race will be a fair one."
Saying this he laid a firm hand upon the muskrat's shoulder and started

off along the edge of the lake. When they reached the opposite side
Iktomi pried about in search of a heavy stone.
He found one half-buried in the shallow water. Pulling it out upon dry
land, he wrapped it in his blanket.
"Now, my friend, you shall run on the left side of the lake, I on the
other. The race is for the boiled fish in yonder kettle!" said Iktomi.
The muskrat helped to lift the heavy stone upon Iktomi's back. Then
they parted. Each took a narrow path through the tall reeds fringing the
shore. Iktomi found his load a heavy one. Perspiration hung like beads
on his brow. His chest heaved hard and fast.
He looked across the lake to see how far the muskrat had gone, but
nowhere did he see any sign of him. "Well, he is running low under the
wild rice!" said he. Yet as he scanned the tall grasses on the lake shore,
he saw not one stir as if to make way for the runner. "Ah, has he gone
so fast ahead that the disturbed grasses in his trail have quieted again?"
exclaimed Iktomi. With that thought he quickly dropped the heavy
stone. "No more of this!" said he, patting his chest with both hands.
Off with a springing bound, he ran swiftly toward the goal. Tufts of
reeds and grass fell flat under his feet. Hardly had they raised their
heads when Iktomi was many paces gone.
Soon he reached the heap of cold ashes. Iktomi halted stiff as if he had
struck an invisible cliff. His black eyes showed a ring of white about
them as he stared at the empty ground. There was no pot of boiled fish!
There was no water-man in sight! "Oh, if only I had shared my food
like a real Dakota, I would not have lost it all! Why did I not know the
muskrat would run through the water? He swims faster than I could
ever run! That is what he has done. He has laughed at me for carrying a
weight on my back while he shot hither like an arrow!"
Crying thus to himself, Iktomi stepped to the water's brink. He stooped
forward with a hand on each bent knee and peeped far into the deep
water.

"There!" he exclaimed, "I see you, my friend, sitting with your ankles
wound around my little pot of fish! My friend, I am hungry. Give me a
bone!"
"Ha! ha! ha!" laughed the water-man, the muskrat. The sound did not
rise up out of the lake, for it came down from overhead. With his hands
still on his knees, Iktomi turned his face upward into the great willow
tree. Opening wide his mouth he begged, "My friend, my friend, give
me a bone to gnaw!"
"Ha! ha!" laughed the muskrat, and leaning over the limb he sat upon,
he let fall a small sharp bone which dropped right into Iktomi's throat.
Iktomi almost choked to death before he could get it out. In the tree the
muskrat sat laughing loud. "Next time, say to a visiting friend, 'Be
seated beside me, my friend. Let me share with you my food.'"

IKTOMI AND THE COYOTE

IKTOMI AND THE COYOTE
AFAR off upon a large level land, a summer sun was shining bright.
Here and there over the rolling green were tall bunches of coarse gray
weeds. Iktomi in his fringed buckskins walked alone across the prairie
with a black bare head glossy in the sunlight. He walked through the
grass without following any well-worn footpath.
From one large bunch of coarse weeds to another he wound his way
about the great plain. He lifted his foot lightly and placed it gently