Coyote for assistance. After they had returned to land and Coyote had restored the sight of Yellow Coyote the two brothers went to dwell in the land lying between the Pima country and the Mohave territory, near the mouth of the Grand Canyon. There they built a house with the doorway toward the east, as is the Pima custom. When it was finished Sandy Coyote said, "Go in and take your choice of sides. You need only half the house, and I will take the other half."
Yellow Coyote said, "You take your choice and I will take what is left."
And so they continued telling each other to go in and take the first choice until the house grew old and fell down. They built a second house, and again their dispute lasted until it fell. The same result was reached with the third house, but when the fourth was built the elder brother went in and chose the south side of the house, leaving the north side for the younger.
When they went to gather the screw bean the elder brother took the beans on the south side of the trees and the younger brother took those on the north side. One day the elder said to the younger, "How do the beans taste on that side of the tree."
"They are very good," replied the younger, but when they returned home in the evening he was taken sick.
"It is caused by the beans you ate," said Sandy Coyote. "The beans on the north side are not ripened by the sun as are those on the south side. To-morrow you shall see the difference." And so the next day they went again and found the screw beans sweeter on the south side of the trees.
Every evening they sat and split sticks with which to build bins, log cabin fashion, for the screw beans that they gathered. One day the elder brother said, "Let us play some kind of a game and bet our screw beans, and then we will not sleep too soon." So they made some kintskût.[1] The younger lost all his screw beans that night and the next day the elder said, "We will not go for beans to-day." So that day the younger went hungry, and for many days thereafter, for the game of kints continued until the beans were rotten and not fit to eat. Then they wagered their arrows and other property. Sandy Coyote won the arrows, bow, sinew, and feathers belonging to Yellow Coyote and then went out and brought in all the large and fierce animals, but Yellow Coyote without a weapon could get nothing but the small creatures which were of little use to him.
In these straits Yellow Coyote sought the aid of Finish, who lived in the West. "I need your help, for I am losing a great deal," said he. Finish accompanied Yellow Coyote to the latter's home. When they reached the house Yellow Coyote went in first, but when the stranger tried to enter he was caught by sticks and held fast in the doorway.
- ↑ See p. 175.
