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Child. I'itio them instructed Soft Child,
telling him that he now had poison and
could protect himself if needed. That
night Tuub, the Cotton Tailed Rabbit, came
into the Great House and saw Soft Child
sleeping in the corner. Tuub thought how
much he'd like to hear the snakes
wonderful music, so he went over to the
corner and kicked him. Soft Child was so
startled he bit out at the rabbit. Tuub
started to swell all over, he became very,
very sick and died. All of the people were
horrified. No one had ever died before.
They did not know what to do with the body
of Tuub. They were afraid that
Coyote,known as Ban, would eat Tuub's
body. The Maracopa Indians suggested to
the Pimas they cremate Tuub's body. So to
get rid of Coyote they sent him to the Sun
for some fire.
In the mean time they called on Green and
Blue Fly, Cheedagi Muuval to make a fire
using a fire drill. Coyote returned from
the Sun just as the people and the animal
people were starting the cremation fire.
Coyote thought to himself, "What a waste
all that perfectly good meat." and ran
round and round the people standing around
the cremation trying to get to the fire.
Finally in desperation, Ban (Coyote),
jumped over the heads of the shortest
people, the Fox People and stole the heart
of Tuub. As Coyote ran he stopped at
places that today still have names
relating to this incident, like Gray
Mountain, because of the ash, and Greasy
Mountain because of the grease from the
cooked heart. Ever since that time Soft
Child has been known as rattlesnake all
people and animals have treated him with
the proper respect.
This Piman story explains how death came
to the world, why rattlesnakes have
poison, why cremation was used and how Fly
showed how to use the fire drill.
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