TI TRAVELS OF COYOTE: A KAROK MYTH William Bright Whun a Karok Indian of northwestern California is asked to tll or. Indian story, ho is likely to toll one about pihno*fi or Coyote, the combination culturo-hero, trickster and dupe of the native mythology.(1. Of all the Coyote stories, the one which seons best remembered and most injoyed by the Karok is the, one beginning, "Coyoto thought he'd go to Klamath Lakes to got money...."(2) The story goes on to tell how Coyot. travelled far to the north on this errand, but was plagued by thirst, tried to drink from the river, and fell in. Floating down with the cur- rent, back to "the middle of the world" (as the Karok call their own ter- ritory), Coyote performed various kinds of' mischief, and in most vorsionk of the myth eventually returned, in company with a band of ducks, to his home at pananniek, the modorn town of Orleans. But this, like nost Karok tales, is told by different informants ill widely diverse ways. Indoed, Karok mythology in its present state altiost seOOs to be merely an inventory of short incidents, from which a froe so lection is made by each individual storyteleor. Even the characters as- signed to incidents vary. Thus "How Salmon Was Given to Mankind" has an anonymous hero' in a version recorded by de Angulo and Freoland (3), but Coyote is the benefactor in versions recorded by Kroeber and Gifford (4) and by myself.(5) Old Man Turtle dances through the sky with the star girls in another of de Angulo and Freeland's tales (6), but Coyote does this in texts recordod by me. A look at published myths from the neigh- boring Yurok and Hupa tribes shows that although many plots and incidentu are shared with the Karok, Coyote is never a protagonist among the Hupa, and much less often among the Yurok than among the Karok. It seons, th.n. that Coyote may have not only usurped the places of Old Man Turtle and of the anonymous salmon-giver, probably in recent times; -ut also, in the nore distant past, may have replaced such personages as Across-the-Water Widower, who is extremely important to the Yurok, but seldon figures in Karok myths. However, the story of the abortive trip to Klaath Lakes is as likely as any to be peculiarly Coyoto's. Although incidents occurring in it ar,. found in Yurok and Hupa myths, the central thene--a trickster' s journey to get monoy--has not boon recorded from the neighboring tribes. Furthermort, the greed, lechery, improvidenco and mirth-provoking stupidity, alternat- ing with cunning ingenuity, all very characteristic of Coyote, are not- ably present in this story---as thuy aro not, for instance, in the story of the salmon-giving. But to this central character and plot theme, var- ious informants add widely assorted supplementary elements. Incidents introduced by soeie informants, such as Coyoto's inprognation of a girl at a dance, and'the subsequent chase, probably bolong to an originally entirely different Coyote story. 3ut Coyote' s Journey is a myth which has doubt.los boon grcwing, accumula.tlng incidents fron many sourcos, for a long time. It is irpoqshiblfo iow to gives an accurate ida of the 1 original, unombroiderod plot--assuming that there evor was one. Thei goal of this paper is thereforo to corpare all the incidents rocordeod by Denny (7), Olden (8), Harrington (9), and mysolf, and occasionally to discuss ramifications of theso incidents in othor parts of Karok mythology. At the ond of the papor, a chart sumarizos the variations. My. informants for this story, indicated in this paper by their in- itials, woro Nettio Reuben, Chester Popper, Julia Starritt, and ManiL Offield. All quotations fron thoen are in the form of my own free trans- lation of tho Karok original. The published sources are abbreviated as follows: D for Denny, 1907; 0 for Olden, 1923; H3 for Harrington, 1930, text number 3; and H5 for Harrington, 1930, text number 5. First .pisod~e. The bogimnning of Coyote's Journoy is described 9. follows by the various sources. (NR) There wore some people living there who had lots of muoney. Coyote saw then measuring their money and said, "Where do you get your money?" "At Klamath Lakos," they said.. So Coy- oto went home, and he thought, "I' d. bottor makle oorn twine [ to string money on]. I'm going to Klanath Lakes. I'= going to got money; I like it so." Then ho made a lot of twine, and bundled it up. Then he thought., "I'd better get going." So he hurried upriver with tho twine in a pack, tho little twine to string the money. He loadod tho twine on his back and carried it up- river. (CP) This is what Coyoto did [a comon opening and clos- ing sentonceo for Coyote stories]. Ho was raised at Orleans, that was his country. And he thought he'd go to Klamath Lakes to get money. So ho made little twino, he made twine all win- ter. Finally he nade a whole load. So ho wont up along the riveor. Everyono ho saw, he'd say, "You're a bunch of nobodius'. I'n going to Klmamth Lakes'." (JS) Coyote wanted to get money. So he said., "I'm going Ro Klanath Lakes to get money." Ho went upriver singing, "I'LL going to Klamath Lakes to get money." (MO) Coyote thought he'd. go to Klnzth Lakes to got rlon- vy. So ho went off. (H3) They were all living thure. Thon later on they a.id: are going to go to Klamath Lakess." All they were doing was that they were swoating themselves. "We are going to go." they were telling each other, "wo are going to go to Klanath Lakes." Then one night thuy said: "Tonorrow we are going to go, early. Whouvor goes to sleep wo aro going to leave here. WJ arc not going to wait for hi=." Then Coyote thought, 'mT not going to sLop." Then ho thought, "I'm going to go. I m going to snuak out, whArn t~h-< ~re i a1L1zsop. T ni., going to get there first, to Kl.maLth Lakes, m going to suck djntlia first. I ma going to go." He did not go to sleep. Then ht sneaked out. He thought, "I'm going to go alone, first." (H5) They wore living there. Then Coyote said _all thfi timu, "I An going to go to the; Klanath Lakes to suck out don- talia." Then Coyote wont. Coyote wont to Klanath Lakes. (0) Ono day Coyoto went on a long journey as far as K1l- math Falls, to got sone Indian money, or snail shells. Ho was busy at least a month before he started, making string or put- ting it together, and carried a pack of it on his back. (D) The Coyote sat in his sweat-house, making twine. For days he did nothing but make twine. All the animals began to gossip about it. They came one by one and looked in. "What are you doing?" they would ask. "Only naking twine," the Coyott would answer. "Only making twine, twine, twine." So they got tired asking him, and he sat thore twisting it with his fingers and rolling it on his thighs, making piles and piles of twine. Ho didn' t oven take tine to eat, and., when no one was around to listen, ho sang about what he was going to do: "To the ocean, to get money'. Travelling, travelling'." At last he took notice how hungry ho was, for ho had not oaten for days. Ho made all the twine into a big money-bag and throw it across his shoulder. Than ho started out from Orleans in the direction of the ocean. All of the above accounts have been given in their entirety in order to show the differences which have been discussed. It is clear at this point, and even cloarer further on, as tho versions become more unlike, that Karok mythology, at least in its present state, is not something memorized verbatim and handed down uniformly throughout the tribe. It soems likely, moreover, that this was the case even before the intrusion of tho white man. All ny informants for this story wore niddle-aged to elderly; their grandparents, and perhaps their parents, were learning myths before the whites arrived. Yet each informant was quite certain that his version was the correct one. Very little of the variation seems attributable to forgetfulness, since on the whole those stories wore told with readiness and with scarcely any difficulty in remembering. Probably, then, each family or village in aboriginal tines had its individual ver- sion of this and other mnyths--substantially the sane individual versions that are told today. It should be stressed that this paper does not come near to showing a11 the variant forms of this story among the Karok. In aboriginal days there must have been dozens of versions in circulation, and oven now one could probably collect quite a few besides the ones so far recorded. But the voreions presented 1vtzo at Tst show the nature, and suggest the cx- t.Iit,, of th-t vtriation. 3 In the succeuding ipisodes I have not giv.n a11 rucordings. in full, as was dono above, but rather one full rocording with notes on the othtro. Second episode. The following incident was included here only by JS and MO; it is given by Olden (p. 125) a5 a coparate story. JS tolls it as follows: Hu went a long ways upriver. Then he looked up, and there stood a tree. Thire sat ton raccoons (ton is the Karok magic number). So he said, "Good'. I'll get socm% new pants, and a shirt, und a quiver, and shoos." So ho ripped off his clothes, tore thorn in- to bits, threw thea downhill, and stood naked. "Now I'll shoot one," ho said--but ho miessd, mad the coon 1 the one he had shot at] jumped down. He shot at another ono, and it Jumped down too. Ho misead every one of then. Then ho felt bad. Ho crawled down- hill, gathered up all his torn clothues, and mended them--ho had beon carrying twinm to string his money with. In MO' s talling, Coyote puts his torn garnonts together -by sticking twigs through than. 0 speaks of five fishers, rather than ten raccoons. A noto ray be added heiro on tho sontence, "He went a long ways up- r ivr." A referonce to this direction of travel recurs throughout the first part of this myth, in ev;ry rocordod version except D''s. (10) To bQ surc it is nocessary to travel uprivor to reach KLn~ath Lakos froL; Karok territory, but it is probably no coincidence that the heroos of several other myths have their adrventures while travelling uprivur. Coy- ote hinmetlf is travolling in that direction when, in another story, hc, trades his favorite song away to a stranger, and later is overcome with chagrin when ho tires of the stranger' s song and cannot call his own to mneory again. Across-tho-Water Widower travels upriver in the text about him recorded by Harrington (11), and in another recorded by nm. Waskl' s tr-avuls, in which ho rids the world of monsters, are in a constant up- river direction. Third jpisod0;. This incident, concerning Coyote' s theft from Lizard, is given the fourth position by MO and JS, and is orLittod by NR, 0, and H5. Howover, CP, D, and H3 have it in this position. The following ver- sion is JS'o: Hi walkAd for a long tine, and got verry thirsty; his tongue was very dry. Then h; saw a swuathouse standing thr". Sorijone [Lizard] was sweating hiLlslf [inside] and singin6. Coyotk. was awfully thirsty, and hej saw two bowls of goosebjrry juice sit- ting there. So ha said, "Good'. I'm going to drink Nephew' s Juico. [Coyoto is given to calling people 'nephew,' or more specifically, 'child of deceasod sibling.'] I'll just taste a little." Then ho said, "I'll just drink a little nore." So he drank up both bowls. Thin he said, "Nephew, don't got mad at rio, and went on uprivar. Thin his nephew jumped out, thirking he' d have a drink. Ther- were thU bowls lying- epty. "I bet tt' s Coyot, that stoli it fromL r," ki. sd. "I hop, h,, di0 of thirst'. May ho not se any water'. May all the wattir dry up'." H13 id(ntifios tht, victim of the thuft as Moadow Mouse rather than Lizard. CP' s version proceeds in the following variant Liannur, aftejr Coyot,. has tastod the juice: "Finally he drank it all, and chowed up th~j bowls. Then he wont on, saying [to scare Lizard, inside thu house], 'Thcre's monster out here that' s going to cat you'.' When Lizard came out of th_ swoathouse, Coyoto had gono. And ho thought, 'Say, I bet Coyote's been around here. He's drunk up ray juice. May hc got thirsty'.' And he thought, 'He likos roastod grasshoppers.' So he said, 'May there bu a forcst fire ahoad of hir'.' " The significance of this second wish of Lizard's is shown in thk..nxt 3pi sodo. Fourth 0 o * This prece:ds the above. incid .nt in th, versions of MO and JS, but follows it in this version by CF: He wont upriver. There was bJig forest fir.. H,, looked around, and saw a lot of roastA.d grasshoppors [cooke;d by the firce]. But he said, "I won't :at any." Finally hei went on a little further, and he thought, "I'll pick up a fow of the roasted grasshoppers." So ho kopt picking thin up [a>.nd eating the;m]. And he thought, "Why is it I'n not getting full?" Then he realized they wero com- ing out behind him as ho ate. So he decided to seal up his anus. He fixed some pitch and sealud up his anus with it. Then he thought, "Well, now I'11 get eonough; I've senaled up ry anus." So ho startod to oat. There was [still] a big forest fire. Ho kept sticking his buttocks around thoro. And he thought, "I think I'L about to arrive at Klialth Lakos"--he heard the roaring [as hei thought, of the falls there]. This is how ho heard it, it sort of went huhuhuhuhu. He thought, "I' n about to arrive at Klonth Lakes"--he heard nothing but the. huhuhuhuhu. But it was his anus burning [and the roar of tho flames that he heard]. It was the pitch ho soalod it up with that was burning. Hu didn't know what to do, he rolled around on the ground, in the dirt. He couldn' t say anything but "Atuhtuhtuhtuhtuh." Finally his anus wa!s ex- tinguishod. Ho thought, "Now I won' t eat any roastod grasshoppers, I'll quit aating them." In JS's version, Coyote identifies thki roaring as thunder, rather than rushing water; MO does not mention the noise. The whole episode is nissing fromc the versions of NR and H5. In 0, D, and H3, Coyote -)ats roasted grasshoppors, but the only fjffoct is the, thirst he e:xperiences in the succeeding opisodo.(12) Fifth Opisodo. All versions uxcopt H5 now pr.nt thu r(.sults of 1.1. z'ard' s clurc a Thi follcwsiz is f"ro NR: 5 Finally ho walked a long ways upriver. And he got thirsty, hu just walked on. Finally ho walked. a long ways upriver. He was really thirsty. And ho thought, "Now I' 11 drink when I see a creek." Finally he walked a long ways. Ho was in bad shape, ho was so thirsty. Thon there was water, a crock sounding. He thought, "I'll drink when I got there." But when he arrived., the crook dried up. "Oh, how thirsty I I'." he thought. "I can't stand it." Ho was so thirsty. Then he heard wator sound- ing as he sneaked up. Ho saw tho wator running. He got just close, thon ran to it, got there-- and it had dried up. "How thirsty I am'." he thought. He was in bad shape. He kept walk- ing, far upriver. He looked downhill; down there the river was flowing. He thought, "I wish I could drink that." Then he kept walking; ho was really in bad shape. Ho was about to reach Kla- math Lakes, walking far upriver. And there again the water sounded. there was a crook. Again ho thought, "I can't make it", he was so thirsty. Again he sneaked up on the crock; it was big, a big crook. Ho thought ho'd crawl up to it. And ho waddod up his blanket. He looked at the crook; thorO was a let of water, just close. Then he ran to it and threw his blanket in it.,- Just dust puffed up; the water had dried up. And. ho thought, "Oh, I'll nover make it, I'n so thirsty." And he looked downhill; down there the river was flowing. He thought, "I'm going to drink from the river." So he rushed downhill. And he thought, "How evilly I do, being about to drink water. Why, I'n going to got money at Klath Falls." Then he cane to the bank and looked out. Ho thought, "I won't drink right by the bank." Ho said, "Lot a fir fall down," and ono did. So he walkod out on it and arrived at the middle of the river. He stooped down to the water. He stooped down a long tine and drank a lot. When-ho got up he had drunk so such that he fell off, ho fell off backward into the wa- ter. At least one taboo is involved here; the breaking of it is probably the cause of Coyote' s bad luck in falling into the river and. "drowning" (as several versions put it). The most obvious taboo involvod is ox- prossed very explicitly in H3: "People never drank water when they wont to suck dentalia, for a long tine they do not drink water." Possibly al- so operative is a taboo against drinking river water, probably on any oc- casion.(l3) This is implied both in NE's version given above, and in CP's, where, after each unsuccessful attempt to drink from creeks, Coyoto res- olutely says, "I won't drink river water." However, "Thero was a big forest fire, and troes were falling into the river. And hi thought, 'Oh well, I'll drink the river water. But I won't drink close to shore: I'll drink in the middle of the river.' Finally he saw a fir sticking clear across the river, and he thought, 'Right here I'll drink water.' Then hj walked out, and put his face down in the niddle of the river. But when he put his face down, ho fell in, and he drowned.' O s version gives a niero comzprehonsive taboo: "As he wont along, t1} diff'woust ones l-l rlact on the road. told him not tdoeat anything, nLass 6 r.. nippynd to pick up . fiw acorns; if h, wr... l~-starvAd n., would be very lucky Sand find lots of monuy or shells to string." Other variants are as follows: in JS's version, CoyotU onc. triy to g&t croek water by climbing a tree and dropping his blanket from nbove. In the versions of JS and MO, and in H3, Coyote actually reaches Klanaath Lakes, and it is there that he falls in. In H5 and 0, tho entire part a- bout the crocks is omitted. Sixth episode. Tho following is common to NE, CP, JS, MO, and H5. The tolling is NR's: Then he floated downriver. Finally he floated down n long ways, h,. floatud hero to tho conter of the world. Thon hh looked downriver; he saw girls leaching acorn meal on the shore. And. he said, "Lot no boconm a pretty piece of driftwood," and h. becamo a pretty piecce of driftwood and floated down. Nearby he watched then leach- ing neal. And ho said, "Lot rue float to shore, lot ne float to shore: I must float around just downhill fron them." Then one girl looked downhill into the water. She said., "Look; oh, what a pretty piece of driftwood down there'." The other said, "Where?" "Look, down there'." she said. The other said., "Oh, let's pull th, driftwood out'." "All right." Thun they ran downhill and watched it floating around. They said, "Cone on, whero's a little stick? We'll pull it out with that." Then they pulled it out. They liked it; it was so pretty, and they liked it. Thoy throw it to each oth- er and playod with the driftwood., the pretty driftwood. Then one girl said, "Oh," she said, "oh, maybe it's Coyote. They said he was drowned upriver." And they throw the driftwood back in the water. They took up their acorn soup, what they were leaching. Sure enough, in a little while both were pregnant. Sovonth opisode, first alternant. The story is now ended by NR with the following episode, which has boon recorded only from her. When they throw hin back in the water, he floated ashore at Roqua [at the mouth of the rivor]. There he lay on the shore. Soon the yellowjackets were eating him, but he just lay there. Then the flies ate him too, and presently the ants ate him too, but he just lay there. Then he was just a skeleton; just a skeleton lay there, all eaten up. Ho just lay there. His bestid!cs wore the only flesh left there. And. theo yellowjacket thought, "Let no aat that." So he ate the flesh there. But when ho bit there, Coyoto jumped up and said, "Atuhtuhtuhtuhtuh'." He grabbod a stick and hit Yellowjacket. He clubbed him flat [in his mid-section) . That' s why yollowjackets all have such small waists. The ternr "yellcywJaoket" is used here in Imitation of local English usage; the rcf-,ronce to the small waist suggists that a specios of wasp is intEindr) . 7 Sevtnth zpisode, second alturnant. Hero MOE introduces a serles of jvnts not associated with this story by any other infornant: Then Coyote went on; he turned into a person, he turned into hin- self. And ho saw thon having a puberty dance here. So ho went to the puberty dance, and carried the pubescent girl around, and he inpregnated her. Then Coyote ran away. And people chased hil, saying, "He' 8 a rischief-raker." He ran away, but they were about to catch hini. So ho pulled back his foreskin in a hollow troe, and said, "Cone out, cono out'." And ants canc out, with wings. That' s what they call 12ihno3flstaf xva [lit., coyote pulling-foroakin- back]. And those who wore chasing hin stopped and looked [at the winged ante); thcy said, "What's that?" [In the moantine] Coyote was far away. But again they were about to catch hin. So he urin- ated on a hollow troe. And they cane out, birds cane out. And the people stopped and looked;: they said, "What' s that?" Those are. what they call pthne f6unnivac [lit., little coyote-urine]. Then he ran downriver, to a place uphill fran Requa. There was a big mountain there. So ho said, "Got little, got little." and ran down the other side. Then ho went into a sweathouso. The ones chasing hin ran downriver and looked into the swoathouse. They said, "Have- you soen a person?" And Coyoto said,"lelleiw [Yurok for 'I don't know' ] ." Then thoy said, "I think ho says he' s already downriver." Then [when they had gone on' Coyote junpod out and ran downhill. He junped into a boat and rowed across the river. Then 'ho said, "Mice, cone out' Gnaw holos in the boats'." And they gnawed holes in the boats. Then the ones chasing hin said, "I bet he was the ono in tho sweathouse." So they ran back, and there ho was on the other sido of the river. And when they put tho boats out, they sank, becauso the nice had gnawed holes in then. All this is better known in the for of a separate story. A tolling by JS has been recorded by no, in which Coyote irpregnatos two girls, rath- jr than oneo and at a war dance, rathor than a puberty dance; a chase much liko the one above then ensues. This is given as two stories by Harring- ton---one is about the trickery involved in the inpregnation, but lacks the chase (14); the other is principally about one incident in tho chase, but loos rention a puberty dance.(15) For comparison, tho section of JS' s story which deals with the chase is now given: He ran away, he ran downrivor. There, was a tree standing, and it was hollow. Coyoto shouted into it, "Let a lot of poople cone out and run upriver'." Thon he ran down; but when he had run to just below tisannisk [a village near tho nouth of Canp Croek, below Or- leans], tho ones chasing him were just a little ways upriver froa him. So Coyoto said, `Lot a big creek run down behind no" [and so Camp Creek was created*. Then ho ran on. When he got to Bluff Creek, than he said, "Let it turn into a big crook behind o." And. thcleoi tbllowing him took a long tinle crossing, be~cause theire Wea su. Auh watvr. Thn hc ran dorwnrtvr, t, ran t0 Wartin' s Ferry 1 In Yurok couitwry]. Thero wan i swoathousu standinU thero, and ho jusupod in. He fUll on the floor and said, "Lot sic turn -.why, lot ay oyes fill with ashos. Lt rl beooiso n ld man.' Than hQ wga cA ~old iia lying thorc. Thsn tht. p.ooplt, ?u.U outsidu and shouted into the BwQathouse, sayin?, 'Dia you oce anybody rumikng dowm?"' And said, "?i* fs pUp osoly Yuz- ok, ioaning uzuknown]. Thore was a sound of foototpae thocba." Then thQy ran on down,, trnd Coyote Junpod out* Ho J3npo4 in th%-. river, asrwa across &d rn u t1 mo>tain. To n zrat 511 ,round downwtver anI oouldwn't fiand a thing. Then sgg4goAy u.p- hill acros--river Coyote shoauted, Si4 *hu* That's What Coyote did . Sevonth iprsode r to BarTinston' a test$ 8now still diffoZent cuOdQig iicidonts. In nuner 5, Coot.e 1e l to a vid ow an te StQry ende. in. nuuaber 3 . h0vowver, he fiQoats into the oooan is raoued bY a b'oy whm h-o turns in.to the isa-lion, 4nd ptQoods to th, next Gpixode. 4190th opieo.o At this point ioot verislons gain c-.o& go int-o single plot line. It iPs true that two of our Vo.r$tQ agS and NRI s, hae alr ay ond.a; howevdr, thbis epslode was told y , togethor with the one followinag it,8 asn inde-peadeont story. JS-' s YorSion of' this jighth Qpis.odo, con.rtinuing from what I have nrwab?ored as the asith episode, is thi:4 HQ flouted dowm, wnd floated in on tho seoQ'. Be flotd ashort. and crawled out of the water. T.aoo. wore pQ@ple. livi there, and a SWeath~usQ 8tawng, so he looik4 in.. It was ei)ty, but am, andl he crawoed in. There woere their pillows a.d their "chairs' adisc seats, sll nade out of tAllow. e waa hungr;y, so h ate up their haize a their pillows; he ate the tn all up. hen he wnt bbehind the wQoVp10 e and lay down. Pretty soon the Z0en tbho we-re, d-ukoc3 came igj Juat brQuh Tati n. Then. oe sa 1i , t5y, WeWre' a Uy Seat? Aend aaoher sai, " r s m pill ?" They 1o daL roixnd4 bwt tb+oe vag't a inle one lg tk .. "I bet it was Coyote", they ai. "It' scaid he 1rowned at Kat th Lakos.a Coyo-t ly there and didn't stir. Then the rien start.ed to sirg songs; atey s ang a lot. And they said, "Sing an Orleans a bc- cause we're &,oin thee,` Then C yote was hOPiosik, and ho flopped ogt and rolled. ad on th or and said, "Belle, Q6an, my country'. A4d they, qA, "ItV' e Q.oyote.t Lets s throw hi.n In the Yorivgr" Bu$ ho eried, and sasd, d0No, don' t no i. I'll paint you up nicq ; I'll you hQs nie." Thc$ saeid, "All right." So ho painted thou. Then they got ready to go to Orleans, and Coyrote- said, "I want to go along." And they said, "No." Then ho c~red, and sai d, "Teao rae uprier'." And they sa1id "Well, all rtight. But clost your ;yos, and d.z' t opon theii. If youI open your ~ys, ytni' I tinrd y~nrslf ixck dow hero." Then they pel4. uprivor. Coyotk) lay with his eyes shut, but he got tired ly- ing there that way; he was in a hurry to got hone. "Where havi we paddled to?" ho thought. "I want to see. I'll open ny eyes just a little." So he opened his oyes a little bit--and found himsolf back downriver. Then they paddled back up again. He said, "This tine I won't opon my eyes." Now ho didn't feel any- thing [io.e, didn't notico the passage of tino]. Pretty soon he hoard the gravel grinding. Thoy hauled the boat up and told Coyote, "Hore's Orleans'." The faco-painting occurs only in this version and in D' s, and is supposed to account for the bright-colored heads of the different vari- etios of duck. Coyoto also paints faces to win favor in a nryth recorded by Harrington (16), in one of Olden' s (pp. 132-133), and in still anoth- or which I recorded. It nay well have been transplanted from one of then to the present myth. Other variations are: in CP's version, Coy- otc also eats tho ladder which leads down into the sweathouse, and when the non cme in, each in turn falls headlong. E3 omits tho furniture- eating entirely. In the versions of CP, NR, MO, and D, Puknannahic, a pond below Orleans, is mentioned instead of Orleans itself. The saem pond is evidently referred to in H3 under a different nae.. H3, D, and O lack the incident in which Coyote fails to keep his oyes closed. Ninth episode. In ending the story, every informant describes how, on his homecoming, Coyoto rolled around and exclaimed in joy. Thoy say that the present-day river-bars around Orleans wore forned by this pro- cess, with some naming nore bars than others. Tho most complete account is that of NR: "'Oh, my country, my country'.' ho cried. Then ho kicked dirt into the river, ho kicked dirt out into the river at Orleans. And he kicked dirt out into the river at kittliphirak, crying, 'My country, Lly country"' And he kicked dirt out into the river at tisannik, and ho kicked dirt out into the river at tu* crying, 'My country, ny coun- try, I'm back, ny country'' [Tho nyth concludes with the traditional ending word:] anak - In sevoral versions a humorous effect is added to this ending by having Coyote say not the correct niniQ{v@anne n "my country", but rath- or niniv{vsa*nne'n--a substitution found only onco olsewhere in available linguistic data. (17) In rolation to Coyote's feeling for Orloans, compare the following statement made by Erikson (18) for the Yurok: "An extreme localization of spatial and historical mwaning is another manifestation of the centri- petal tendency of Yurok ethos. It Is one of the strangest expcrionces when walking or driving along with an old Yurok suddenly to seC, hin point to an old house pit barely visible and full of debris, and hear hin say with tho deepost prido, 'This is whero I cone from', like a European nobl- man pointing to the castle of his ancestors; or, better, like a son intro- dulcing his aged nother." 10 This final upisodu is probably the clearest ixpression in the recor- dod mythology of the intense feeling which the Karok have for places, par- ticularly tho places where thuy wore born and raised---they being in this respect much like Erikson' s Yurok. It seems likely that the continued ap- poal of this particular myth is due not only to its plot interest and hun- or, but also in great measure to the sympathetic emotion that must be a-, roused in any Karok by Coyote' s homesickness, which caused. h-imu to "flop._ out and roll on the floor" when he heard his home town mentioned, and by his great joy when he was finally able to return there. A Chart of the Versions of "The Travols of Coyote" The nine episodes into which Coyote' s travels have boon divided art here outlined in chronological order. Chock narks in the accompanying columne indicate which events figure in each of the oight versions dis- cussed. Sequences of events which are found as independent stories are set off by vertical bracketing. Episodca NR CP iS MO H3 H5 0 D 1. Makes twine x x x x Leaves before others x Departs for: ocean X Klanath Lakes x x x x x x x 2. Destroys clothes, shoots at: 10 raccoons x x 5 fishers x Mends clothes with: twine x X twigs x 3. Steals juice fron: Lizard x x x x Meadow Mouso x Dcvours bowls, scares owner x Cursed with: thirst x x x x x grasshoppers x This episode after no. 4 x x 4. Eats grasshoppors X x x x x x Anus burns X x x Thinks noise is: water x thunder x * 11 I~iS)Q(1- . NE CP Js MO H3 H5 C D j. Watr runx w.., X X x X Throws blankk.;t L cr~aK x x X X x JRrops blanket t?roi-. trv. X Drinks and falls in: at Laktcs x x X on river-bank on trc% in riv.r x x Taboo riontionud: drinking w,*atr x A drinking rivur watvr X X -ting or drinkinb ^ Turns to driftwood aind i.Lpr,6;- natus girls x A X . Floats to ocenan x X bmatjn by ycllowj3ckw te. Rascucd by sxjal X Suducos widow Attunde dance and is pirsuuA X Arrivkjs at swuathouLv hb, oc_.n x x A X . A E:ats furniturL x X X J L x Ezits ladder x Paints faCs to win fivor x Breaks taboo on opuning ys X X X Taken hone. to: Orlkas x 'tuknonx#nnahic X x X X x j* Mak,,s bars X x X. A A NOTES (1) Karok mythology is only on- of many, throughout California fnd etlvx parts of western North Amorica, in which Coyote plays this multiplz, role; cf. Barclay, 1938. (2) The motivation horo given for Coyote' s Journey is a reflection of the almost obsossivo interest which tho Karok had in acquiring dun- talium sholls (locally called "Indian monoy") and other forms of wealth. This preoccupation, common to all the tribos of northwest- ern California, is mentioned ropeatedly in the ethnological litora- ture on the area; soe for instance Kroeber, 1925, pp. 20-52. 3) dc Angulo and Frooland, 1931, pp. 202-206. (4) Kroober and Gifford, 1949, pp. 116-117, 123-124. (5) Karok Lyths wore recorded by me, in Karok and in English, durin6 th. course of linguistic field work on the Karok language. This work was uade possible by the Administration of the University of Calif- ornia, and was carried on in the vicinity of Orloans, California, during tho spring of 1949 and the sumaor of 1950. (6) do Angulo and Prooland, op. cit., pp. 206-211. (7) Denny, 1907, pp. 73-77. (8) Oldon, 1923, pp. 134-136. (9) Harrington, 1930, text nunber 3, pp. 135-142, and. txt nuLlbvr 5, ,P 146-147. (10) Denny' s statoeont that Coyote travelled towards thu ocean mlay b,- based on a linguistic confusion: the Klaath Lakos arc called inr Karok "uprivor ocean". Furthormoro, sho recounts that Coyote's - vontual "drowning" took place near Happy Canp, many miles uprivr fron Orleans. (11) Harrington, 1932a, pp. 67-72. (12) This incident, and succeeding ones which arc obscene by whitu stan- dards, may have been omitted on purpose by Denny and Olden, sinc they wore women and were writing for fanily consumption in tho first quarter of this century. On the other hand., their informants, under the influence of white man' s valuoes, ay have suppressed the inci- dents, as has somotimies happned. with no. (13) This taboo is repowted for tho Yurok in Kroebor, 1925, P. 69. (14) Hrw?'ngtox, 19 30, p . 152-154. 13 (15, Harrington, 1932b, p. 25. (16) Harrington, 1930, pp. 155-158. (17) This is in the myth concerning the disastrous seduction of Across- the-Water Widower, in which Tick Woman calls nakk~uti to hi=, in- stead of the normal naldcogi "copulate with rie' '18) Erikson, 1936, p. 273. 14 BIBLIOGRAPHY Barclay, Lillian Elizabeth 1938 "The Coyote: Aniral and Folk Charactur" , in: C ti Wisdmon (uditud by J. Frank Dobic., Mody C. Boatright, and Harry H. Ranson), pp. 36-103. Texas Folk-lore Society, Austin. du, Angulo, Jainu, and Fre-Eland, L. S. 1931 "Karok Toxts", Intornational Journal of Arierican Lin- uistics, Vol. 67iu YW3-4, pp. 194-226 NeYork. Denny, Melcsna Burns 1907 "Orleans Indian Legends", Outwest, Vol. 25, pp. 37-40, 161-166, 268-271, 373-375, 452-454; Vol. 26, pp. 73-80, 168-170, 267-268. Los Angeles. Erikson, Erik Honburger 1943 "Observations on the Yurok: Childhood and World Itiagu", Univorsit of California Publications in Arc-rican Arch- eolo and Ethnology, Vol. 35, No. 10, pp. 257-302. Berkeley. Harrington, John P. 1930 "Karuk Texts", International Journal of Aiaerican - uiatics, Vol. 6, No. 2, pp. 1TT9T New York. 1932a "Tobacco acong the Karuk Indians of California", Bureau of Anierican Ethnoly, ulletin.94. Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C ., 284 pp. 1932b "Karuk Indian Myths", Bureau of American Ethnoloy Bull- ctin 1. Governnant Printing Office, Washington, P. C., Wpp. 15 'Kroubwr, A. L. 1925 "Handbook of th.i Indians of Californial", Burau of Ax.iuri- can Ethnology, Bulletin 18. Govurnunt Printing Officc, Washington, D. C., 995 pp. Kroubur, A. L., and E. W. Gifford 1949 "World Renowal, a Cult Systuiri of Nativu Northwest Calif- ornia", Anthropological Records, Vol. 13, No. 1, pp. 1- 155. University of California Pross, Berkuluy and Los Angolos . Oldens Sarah Er ilia 1923 Karoc Indian Storius. Harr Wagnir Publishing Co., tSan Francisco, 191 pp.