# How the Gopher Raced with the Runners of Kʻiákime explained — Zuni Folktales

> Chapter companion for Zuni Folktales by Frank Hamilton Cushing.

## What happens

The runners of Kʻiákime are unbeaten in the kicked-stick race, having defeated all challengers from neighboring towns. The people of Shíwina and Mátsaki, desperate and stripped of their possessions, seek the help of an old Gopher known for his cunning. The Gopher agrees to run the race on the condition that he can travel underground and be paid in red paint and sacred yellow pollen. He secretly enlists his many identical brothers to pop up at intervals along the course, each wearing a red plume, fooling the runners into thinking the Gopher is always ahead. At the finish, the real Gopher emerges bedraggled but victorious, winning back all the lost wagers and humbling the proud runners of Kʻiákime.

## Themes in this chapter

### Folklore vs. Science

The Gopher's cunning plan uses deception and the natural behavior of gophers (digging tunnels) to outwit the human runners, blending folk wisdom with practical trickery.

### Social Class and Poverty

The people of Shíwina and Mátsaki are reduced to poverty by their losses in betting, highlighting the economic stakes of communal competitions.

## Character check-ins

### The Gopher

The old Gopher who cunningly wins the race by enlisting his brothers to appear along the course.

### The Young Man

Dispatched by the council to recruit the Gopher for the race.

## Key lines

> The people of Shíwina and Mátsaki did not give up easily. They ran again and again, only to be beaten and to lose the vast piles of goods and precious things which they had staked or bet; and at last they were wholly disheartened and bereft of everything which without shame a man might exhibit for betting.

Despite repeated defeats and the loss of all their valuable possessions, the people of Shíwina and Mátsaki kept challenging the runners of Kʻiákime until they had nothing left to wager.

_Illustrates the theme of social class and poverty through the consequences of compulsive gambling._

> Thus it was in the days of the ancients. By the skill and cunning of the Gopher—who, by digging his many holes and pitfalls, is the opponent of all runners, great and small—was the race won against the swiftest runners among the youth of our ancients.

In ancient times, the Gopher's cleverness and network of tunnels defeated the fastest human runners, establishing him as a perpetual adversary to all who race.

_Highlights the folkloric theme of wit overcoming physical prowess._

## Links

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