As Coyote was traveling up the river when he saw five mallard duck girls swimming on the other side, he hid himself in the bushes and became aroused right away. Then he thought out a plan to satisfy himself.
Coyote lengthened his penis and let it fall into the river. It floated on top of the water. Coyote didn’t like this, so he pulled it back in and tied a small rock to it. This was just right. It floated just below the surface of the water where no one could see it. He sent it across to where the girls were swimming.
He began having sex with the oldest girl. Now, these girls did not know what was wrong with their oldest sister, the way she was moving around in the water and making strange sounds. Then they saw what was happening and they grabbed the penis and tried to pull it out. When they couldn’t, they got on the bank and held down their older sister and tried to pull it out that way, but they couldn’t and they began laughing about it.
When coyote had satisfied himself, he called over the girls and said, “My sister, what is the problem over there?” They told him.
He said, “Cut the thing off with some wire grass.” They did, and Coyote cut the other end off where he was, and the middle section of the penis fell in the river and became a ledge.
The eldest girl became ill. Coyote went down the river a short distance, swam across the river, and then came upstream to the girls’ camp, where the oldest girl was almost dead. The girls recognized Coyote and said, “Coyote, the medicine man has come.” They asked him to cure the sick girl.
He told them that he would do it, but that they had to close up all the chinks in the lodge so no one could see and steal his medicine. He told them to leave him alone with the girl for awhile. He got the sisters together around the lodge and told them to sing a song and keep time on a log with sticks.
“Keep time on the log very carefully, for now I am going to take it out.” Coyote began singing, “I will stick it back on, I will stick it back on.” He went into the lodge and had sex with the mallard duck girl again and recovered the end of his penis. The girl was cured. After that, everyone said the medicine of Coyote was very powerful.
(Nez Perce)
Acknowledgement:
