One day Old Man went out hunting and took the fox with him. They hunted for
several days, but killed nothing. It was nice warm weather in the late
fall. After they had become very hungry, as they were going along one day,
Old Man went up over a ridge and on the other side he saw four big buffalo
bulls lying down; but there was no way by which they could get near
them. He dodged back out of sight and told the fox what he had seen, and
they thought for a long time, to see if there was no way by which these
bulls might be killed.
At last Old Man said to the fox: "My little brother, I can think of only
one way to get these bulls. This is my plan, if you agree to it. I will
pluck all the fur off you except one tuft on the end of your tail. Then you
go over the hill and walk up and down in sight of the bulls, and you will
seem so funny to them that they will laugh themselves to death."
The fox did not like to do this, but he could think of nothing better, so
he agreed to what Old Man proposed. Old Man plucked him perfectly bare,
except the end of his tail, and the fox went over the ridge and walked up
and down. When he had come close to the bulls, he played around and walked
on his hind legs and went through all sorts of antics. When the bulls first
saw him, they got up on their feet, and looked at him. They did not know
what to make of him. Then they began to laugh, and the more they looked at
him, the more they laughed, until at last one by one they fell down
exhausted and died. Then Old Man came over the hill, and went down to the
bulls, and began to butcher them. By this time it had grown a little
colder.
"Ah, little brother," said Old Man to the fox, "you did splendidly. I do
not wonder that the bulls laughed themselves to death. I nearly died myself
as I watched you from the hill. You looked very funny." While he was saying
this, he was working away skinning off the hides and getting the meat ready
to carry to camp, all the time talking to the fox, who stood about, his
back humped up and his teeth chattering with the cold. Now a wind sprang up
from the north and a few snowflakes were flying in the air. It was growing
colder and colder. Old Man kept on talking, and every now and then he would
say something to the fox, who was sitting behind him perfectly still, with
his jaw shoved out and his teeth shining.
At last Old Man had the bulls all skinned and the meat cut up, and as he
rose up he said: "It is getting pretty cold, isn't it? Well, we do not care
for the cold. We have got all our winter's meat, and we will have nothing
to do but feast and dance and sing until spring." The fox made no
answer. Then Old Man got angry, and called out: "Why don't you answer me?
Don't you hear me talking to you?" The fox said nothing. Then Old Man was
mad, and he said, "Can't you speak?" and stepped up to the fox and gave him
a push with his foot, and the fox fell over. He was dead, frozen stiff with
the cold.