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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why do the Zunis have their rain dance ceremony before their rodeo?
(a) Having it before rodeo kept the cowboys from getting hurt.
(b) Because there is a time lag between the dance and when the rain comes.
(c) So it will keep the dust down in the arena when it rains.
(d) So that it will rain and cool off the participants.

2. What does Cowboy Dashee want Joe to do?
(a) Take his cousin Billy out to find the shaman who has the diamonds.
(b) Help prove Billy Tuve's innocence.
(c) Speak at a Tribal Governing Council.
(d) Fly to Denver to interview Joanna Craig.

3. Where is Billy?
(a) The second mesa.
(b) The tribal convention center.
(c) The jail awaiting a trial date.
(d) A pow wow.

4. What do Sherman and Chandler think will be easier than finding John Craig's arm?
(a) Finding the shaman.
(b) Finding the diamonds.
(c) Preventing someone else from finding the arm.
(d) Buying off the jury.

5. What saves Jim from a crazy woman who believed him to be a skinwalker?
(a) A coyote howl.
(b) His pan trap that she tripped and made a racket.
(c) A dream.
(d) His stray cat.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Bernie want to do?

2. What do Cowboy and Jim tell Joanna they want to do?

3. Why can't Billy Tuve tell Cowboy and Jim what he is doing in the canyon when he gets the diamond?

4. Why is Louisa Berbonette going to the canyon floor?

5. What does Joanna hope will prove her kinship to John Clarke?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Joanna say that gains Billy Tuve's attention and why?

2. What does the telephone conversation between Bernie and Chee say about their relationship?

3. At this point in the story, do you believe it when Joanna says that she seeks only her father's arm to end his pain in the afterlife and is not interested in the diamonds?

4. Why do you think Hillerman stereotypes characters such as Chandler and Plymale, making them one-dimensional?

5. What event is the starting point for what becomes known as the Skeleton Man case?

6. In a mystery, every sentence offers clues, either about the case or about the characters that are part of the case; what does the reader learn early on about Joe Leaphorn from one sentence?

7. What story does Shorty tell that is the motivation for the setting moving to the floor of the Grand Canyon?

8. How does Hillerman use the story of the cat in Chapter 6 for more than one purpose?

9. How is the story about Cat an allegory for what Chee has encountered in his life?

10. How is a Caucasian woman from New York related to a case that takes place on Navajo lands in New Mexico?

(see the answer keys)

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