“On their return home from a battle, the warriors stayed at their own town council houses for twenty-four days, where before returning to their wives and families, they underwent extensive purification rituals to rid themselves of uncleanness that was contacted during the fighting. At night there were Scalp, Smoke and other dances that the townspeople could watch. During those dances the four men who had served as spies wore the bird and animal skins they had used while on the march: that of the raven, the owl, the wolf, and the fox. Each night, when the Great War Chief put on his raven skin and went forward as a spy, three renowned warriors put on their skins and went off in other directions. The owl man went as a spy to the right, the wolf man to the left, and the fox man went back the way they had come. The raven and owl skins were worn around the bearers’ necks. A slit was made near the head of the wolf and the fox skin for the warrior to put his head through, and the skin was arranged so that the head hung down on the man’s chest and the tail hung down his back. Warriors who distinguished themselves in battle were on their return honored by the gift of a new name that was publicly bestowed by a general council of town leaders. Killer was the highest name, then Raven, Owl, Wolf and Fox.”

From Mails

Two antelope were gambling with a white tailed deer and a frog. The antelope and deer ran a race in the woods. White tail deer jumped over the tree and beat, for antelope had to run where there are no trees. He won from antelope the dew claws and the fat on the hips.

Then the antelope suggested that they run a race with frog out on the plains. Many frogs put themselves in a line, reaching from the starting place to the goal. When they started to run each frog jumped this way just as one shakes a string. The antelope was beaten because he thought frog could not possibly win. That was the way it was done.

Footnotes:

The story is told of Coyote and Turtles among other tribes. Dorsey, (d), p. 105; (e), p, 143.

Jicarilla Apache Texts, by Pliny Earle Goddard; New York: Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History, Vol. VIII; (1911) and is now in the public domain.

Once, Rabbit lived with Frog. Rabbit ran around hunting. He found a beaver lodge along a creek. He thought it was an evil cannibal emerging from the snow. Rabbit was really terrified. He ran home very frightened. Frog said to Rabbit, “Are you out of your mind? It was probably just a beaver lodge.” She told him, “Let’s go over there.” She told him to take his ice chisel along. They left.

Here was a beaver lodge standing there. Frog told her husband, “Let’s try to kill the beavers.” She told him, “Make a hole in the ice there.” Rabbit chiseled a hole in the ice. Frog ordered Rabbit to scoop out all the ice from the hole. Frog ran towards the hole and jumped in. Rabbit stood there and waited.

Frog surfaced and said, “Break open your beaver lodge now.” Rabbit broke open the lodge. Here were all the beaver that were in the lodge that she had killed. Both Frog and Rabbit dragged their beaver’s home.

Rabbit skinned the beaver and cooked them. After he had cooked them, he ate. Rabbit didn’t give any of the beaver meat to his wife, Frog. She told him, “Feed me.” He didn’t. Frog got annoyed and threatened him by saying, “Hey, I’m going to tell Owl that you’re not feeding me.” Rabbit still didn’t feed Frog. Frog got angry and said, “Owl, Rabbit isn’t feeding me his beavers.” They could hear Owl hooting. Now, Rabbit was really frightened. He gave Frog the beaver meat she was asking for. She said, “Owl, it’s OK. He is feeding me now.”

After living together for a while, I guess they finished off eating their beavers. Rabbit went to look for food again. He saw the large tracks of someone. He was really frightened again. Rabbit ran home. That is also why a rabbit is very cowardly today. He said, “I have seen the large tracks of someone.” Frog said, “It must be a moose because I had heard that a moose is walking around.” She must have heard that a moose was walking around. She said, “Let’s go track it.” They left.

It was the tracks of a moose. They tracked the moose. Then they reached it standing there. Frog and Rabbit creeped towards the moose. Frog told Rabbit, “Stand here.” Frog approached the moose. When she got close to it, she burrowed into the snow. She emerged at the leg of the moose. She carefully climbed up the leg and entered into the anus of the moose. She went to the heart of the moose and that was where she started biting and chewing at the heart.

Rabbit was just watching the moose standing there. Then the moose, who just stood there not noticing anything, suddenly collapsed. Rabbit just stood there. Then Frog emerged from the nostril of the moose. They butchered it and took all the meat home. They had plenty of food.

Then one night, they heard a cannibal screaming. They could hear the evil being coming closer. Then it reached them. Rabbit jumped into the food that was on the platform. That was where he hid. Frog jumped into the pot of blood. The evil cannibal barged into their lodge and began eating their food. Then Frog heard the cannibal enjoying itself as it ate her husband, Rabbit. The cannibal ate Rabbit.

The monstrous cannibal turned over the pot of blood where Frog had jumped in. She burrowed into the boughs and burrowed into the ground. The evil creature didn’t find out about her. It didn’t know where she was. Frog couldn’t be killed. That is how long the legend is.

Told by Florrie Mark-Stewart Eastmain
http://www.creeculture.ca/e/traditional/frogandrabbit.html

There was a widow, Frog (wexwext), who was maltreated and became angry. So she went up the river to the source, and sat over the fountain-head, so that the entire river went dry. There was no water except in some deep holes. Now, the people had not missed her; but Coyote (itseyeye) thought something like this must have happened to make the river go dry. He went upstream, because he knew the place where the water had been stopped. As he travelled up the dry bed, he made five rafts, and placed them about five bends of the river apart.

At the head of the river he saw a lodge. He was nearly dead of thirst when he arrived; so he entered the lodge. Inside he saw a mountain-sheep-horn bucket of water, and he said to the woman, “Pass that water over to me; I have drunk a great deal of water along the river to-day, still I am very dry.” So he drank up all the water.

Coyote lay down on the opposite side of the lodge from the woman, and covered his head with his blanket. But he had an eye-hole in the blanket; and he saw her rise, take the empty bucket, and dip up water from where she had been sitting. After this, Coyote arose and went out.

Near that place he spat upon some tule rushes, and told them to give war-whoops after he had re-entered the lodge. So he went again into the lodge, and soon there was a great noise of war-whoops. He said out loud to himself, “I thought I heard something when I was outside.” But for all his strategy, the Frog widow would not budge from where she sat. So Coyote seized her by the arm and jerked her up. Then the water came out. When the water was running freely, he threw the woman into the stream, saying, “This is the way you will always be: whenever high water comes, it will always carry frogs down the river.”

Coyote then started downstream, running as fast as he could. When he reached the place of the first raft, he found it had broken adrift. So he ran on to the next one, and found it also adrift; and the third the same, and the fourth. He reached the fifth, however, just as it was breaking loose, and managed to jump aboard. Then he went down the river on the raft. This is how Coyote recovered the water from Frog.

Nez Perce Tales, By Herbert J. Spinden, 1907

Frog had a smooth pole set in the ground, and with it he had devised a means of killing off all the birds. A race would be run up this pole, and whoever got to the top first would cut off the other one’s head. The pole leaned a little; and Frog would get on the upper side, and make the opponent get on the under side. Thus Frog continued to win races for a long time, and managed to kill off many birds.

Coyote was in this camp. He became afraid that Frog was going to kill off all the birds. So Coyote gave a big feast, and invited every one to attend. He wanted the people to work out a plan to get the best of Frog; but every one was afraid to run him a race. After a scheme had been devised, Bluejay (kuyeskuyes) undertook the job; and Coyote made a speech, calling everybody to the pole, and announcing that there was to be a race between Frog and Bluejay.

Now, little Frog became uneasy, and feared that Bluejay was going to win and then kill her. So when they were half way to the top, Frog tried to kick Bluejay off the pole. When they were nearly to the top, Bluejay used his wings and flew the rest of the way. He got to the top first. When Frog got to the top, Bluejay kicked her, and she fell to the ground and was killed. Ever since that race there have been no feathers on the side of Bluejay’s face, because Frog had torn them all off when she tried to knock Bluejay from the pole. After the race was over, Coyote made a speech, saying, “Hereafter there will be frogs on the earth, but they will never hurt any one. People will hear the frogs singing, and then they will know that warm weather is coming.”

Nez Perce Tales, By Herbert J. Spinden, 1907