Folk Tales
Author's TalesOnce upon a time a young fox lived with his grandmother near Nambe. He went out for a walk one day. Very soon he came to a fence where some choke cherries were growing: “I shall adorn myself with these like an Indian,” thought young Mr. Fox, “and go over to Picuris to see those two pretty Corn girls.” Now his grandmother had warned him to keep away from the Indians, for they would kill him; but “Grandmother is old,” he thought, “and doesn”t know.” So he picked some twigs of cherries and fastened them in his hair, in his belt, on his shoulders and around his ankles. Then he mashed some cherries, and rubbed them over his body and hands to paint himself like an Indian. When he was all decorated he danced off to Picuris singing:
Yellow Corn and Green Corn were in their house grinding corn when they heard Mr. Fox”s singing.
“Mr. Fox is calling our names,” said Green Corn, “Let us go up and see where he is.”
So the two girls climbed up on top of their house. Mr. Fox was below dancing as hard as he could. The girls cried, “Come up here, Mr. Fox, and dance for us!”
Mr. Fox felt flattered so he came up the ladder and began dancing on the roof.
“Dance hard, Mr. Fox, dance hard!” laughed Green Corn and Yellow Corn. And Mr. Fox danced so hard that he fell off the roof. But he jumped up from the ground where he had fallen, climbed up the ladder, and danced and danced again on the roof.
When the Corn girls grew tired of his dancing, they grabbed poor Mr. Fox, took all of the choke cherries off him and ate them up.
The people in the village heard the girls laughing, so they came out to see what was the cause of so much merriment. The men ran for their bows and arrows, and poor Mr. Fox just did get away alive from all the arrows that flew after him.
He bathed his wounds in the spring on his way home and decided that ever afterward he would pay more attention to what Grandmother Fox said.