to the Delight-Makers.'

"'You know very well it is no such thing,' he answered her roughly, for
it was not permitted a young man to make a choice of the society he
would belong to. He had to wait until he was elected by his elders. The
turkey girl paddled her toes in the Rito.

"'There is only one way,' she said, 'that a man can be kept from making
fun of the Koshare, and that is by electing him a member. Now, _I_
thought you would have preferred the Uakanyi,'--just as if she did not
know that there was little else he thought of.

"Tse-tse pulled up the dry grass and tossed it into the water. 'In the
old days,' he said, 'I have heard that Those Above sent the
Delight-Makers to make the people laugh so that the way should not seem
long, and the Earth be fruitful. But now the jests of the Koshare are
scorpions, each one with a sting in its tail for the enemies of the
Delight-Makers. I had sooner strike mine with a knife or an arrow.'

"'Enemies, yes,' said Willow-in-the-Wind, 'but you cannot use a knife on
those who sit with you in Council. You know very well that Kokomo wishes
to be chief in place of Pitahaya.'

"Tse-tse looked right and left to see who listened. 'Kokomo is a strong
man in Ty-uonyi,' he said; 'it was he who made the treaty with the Dine.
And Pitahaya is blind.'

"'Aye,' said the turkey girl; 'when you are a Delight-Maker you can make
a fine jest of it.'