end of which he hollowed out a comfortable bedroom and lined it with
grass. When it was finished he was quite satisfied.

"'I don't believe,' said he, 'that any one will have the patience to dig
to the bottom of this.'

"So at night he slept in his bed at the end of his long hall far below
the surface, but all day he spent above ground, for he dearly loved the
sunshine. All went well until there came a time of heavy rains. Then
Yap-Yap discovered that the water ran down his hole, and if he didn't do
something, he was likely to be drowned out. Right away he set his sharp
wits to work. He noticed that when the water on the surface reached the
little piles of sand he had made, it ran around them. So he made a great
mound of sand around his hole with the entrance in the middle and
pressed it firm on the inside so that the rain would not wash it down
in. Then, although the water stood all around, it no longer ran down in
his house. In fair weather that mound was a splendid place on which to
sit and watch for danger. So once more Yap-Yap was happy and care-free,
all because he had used his wits.

"And from that day to this the Prairie Dogs have made their houses in
just that way, and no one that I know cares to try to dig one out,"
concluded Old Man Coyote.




IV

WHERE YELLOW-WING GOT HIS LIKING FOR THE GROUND