rope, but each responded: ‘‘No.

STORIES 425

THE FOLLY OF DEER

Once, long, long ago, Deer was standing beneath a thick, spreading
cedar which gave him complete protection from the weather. Snow
began to fall in slow, large flakes which came drifting down one or two at
atime. Idly he begantocountthem. At first it was easy, but the snow
began to fall faster until he could no longer carry out his self-appointed
task. Bitterly disappointed he cried for a long time.

DEER AND WOLVES*

Once upon a time, Deer took his son with him in his canoe to gather
firewood. At their destination he went into the forest to get sticks,
leaving Fawn behind. On his return with a load after a rather long
absence he asked the boy whether or not anyone had passed.

“Yes,” answered Fawn. “A canoe filled with people passed not long
ago.”

“What did they say?” asked Deer.

“They felt me all over and said what a fine meal I would make,”
replied the son.

“Oh, they are stupid and harmless,” said Deer. ‘They talk only
through their anuses.”’

Now these people were Wolves, who, as everybody knows, have won-
derfully acute ears. One of them caught Deer’s remark and said to his
companions:

“Deer is swearing at us. Let us go back and punish him.”

They all turned back. Meanwhile Deer had again gone into the
forest for wood, so that when the Wolves reached the canoe, Fawn was
alone in it. The Wolf who was paddling in the bow took a mouthful of
Fawn, the second took another bite, and by the time the captain in the
stern had had his share, nothing was left but blood. Then the Wolves
went away.

When Deer came back to find only blood he began to cry.

“Do you know who killed my son?’ he asked the canoe.

“No,” it replied.

Deer put the same question to the paddle, the baler, and the mooring-

Deer had been weeping so much that a long drop of mucus hung from
his nose, which he flipped off with his fingers and threw into the canoe.
The mucus suddenly spoke up:

*For another version of this story see Boas, p. 97.