Skin wager and failed renewal

navajo

• Navaho Legends LEGENDS. / THE NAVAHO ORIGIN LEGEND. / I. THE STORY OF THE EMERGENCE. / II. EARLY EVENTS IN THE FIFTH WORLD.; lines 3757-3851 confidence: high

  Otters play nánzoz by the stream and wager skins, which they renew by jumping into water. Coyote loses his skin, cannot renew it in the water, is placed in a badger hole, and emerges with coarse rough hair like the coyote pelt described as lasting ever since.

  Otters can lose and renew skins by entering water, but Coyote loses his skin, fails to restore it in water, and receives a different rough covering after burial in a badger hole.

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