Sometimes Coyote is Pehrru.
Sometimes Pehrru is Coyote.
Sometimes they're one and the same person.
This one's this one's about Pehrru's wonderful kettle.
One day Pehrru was cooking at his camp.
He had a kettle of meat and corn which he had just taken out
of the ashes and coals.
The food had been buried all day, cooking all day long.
And he put the meat and corn on top of the ashes and coal.
Just then, a troop of sandahlrrutitra, soldiers,
came along.
They saw Pehrru busy at his cooking,
and they saw the kettle, and they smelled the good food.
The kettle was really boiling away.
They could see that, but they could see no fire.
Guwahdze, Pehrru, the soldiers said in greeting.
Dahwah eh, Pehrru said.
He kept on being busy.
You are busy with your cooking, the soldiers asked.
Hah uh, Pehrru answered, yes.
The soldiers were very curious about the boiling kettle
of stew.
They marveled at how it was boiling,
and there was no fire that they could see.
Your stew is boiling beautifully, the soldiers said.
It is boiling, Pehrru agreed matter of factly.
Finally, curiosity getting the best of them,
the soldiers asked, how is it that the stew is
boiling when there is no fire under your kettle?
And Pehrru, noting their overly anxious curiosity said,
oh, it's just that's the kind of kettle it is.
It boils like that by itself.
That must be a wonderful kettle, the soldiers marveled.
Oh, yes, it is.
It's quite useful, he said.
And the soldiers talked among themselves.
And without wanting to be too eager, they
said to Pehrru, compadre, do you think you can give us
that wonderful kettle?
And Pehrru kept on being busy.
And then he turned to them, and he said, tsah dzee wah guwah
nehwadi shrouwah drumanoh.
I don't think there is any way I can give it to you.
The kettle was really boiling away.
The smell of the meat and corn was delicious.
Indeed, it was a marvelous kettle.
They had to have it, and the soldiers said, well,
let us buy it from you.
And Pehrru said, I don't think I can sell it to you.
It's a favorite of mine.
But then he saw that the soldiers were
ready to bargain their treasures for the kettle,
and he pretended to be less reluctant to part
with his kettle.
And they bargained, the soldiers making an offer,
and Pehrru holding back, the soldiers raising their price
and Pehrru seeming to be holding back less
and less until the soldiers said,
we'll give you your weight in gold for the kettle.
And Pehrru, pretending as sorrowful reluctance,
said, you have made me a generous offer
for my beloved, wonderful kettle.
But I think it is a fair price.
You can have it, and the soldiers
brought Pehrru his weight in gold.
And they took the plain kettle, and they rode off.