Tales of the North American Indians

It was Coyote who brought it about that people die.[51] He made it thus because our hands are not closed like his. He wanted our hands to be like his, but a lizard said to him: "No, they must have my hand." He had five fingers and Coyote had only a fist. So now we have an open hand with five fingers. But then Coyote said: "Well, then they will have to die."

[59]

YOKUTS: Kroeber, University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology, iv, 231, No. 38