"And how did you do the work?" asked Coyote.
"I put my children into a cave and built a fire of cedar in front of it.
Every time a spark flew from the fire it struck my children, making a
beautiful spot."
"Oh," said Coyote, "I will do the same thing. Then I will make my
children beautiful."
He hurried to his house and put his children in a cave. Then he built a
fire of cedar in front of it and stood off to watch the fire. But the
children cried because the fire was very hot. Coyote kept calling to
them not to cry because they would be beautiful like the deer. After a
time the crying ceased and Coyote was pleased. But when the fire died
down, he found they were burned to death. Coyote expected to find them
beautiful, but instead they were dead.
Then he was enraged with the deer and ran away to hunt her, but he could
not find her anywhere. He was much distressed to think the deer had
fooled him so easily.
How the Bluebird Got its Color
Pima (Arizona)
A long time ago, the bluebird was a very ugly color. But Bluebird knew
of a lake where no river flowed in or out, and he bathed in this four
times every morning for four mornings. Every morning he sang a magic
song:
"There's a blue water. It lies there.
I went in.
I am all blue."
On the fourth morning Bluebird shed all his feathers and came out of the
lake just in his skin. But the next morning when he came out of the lake
he was covered with blue feathers.
Now all this while Coyote had been watching Bluebird. He wanted to jump
in and get him to eat, but he was afraid of the water. But on that last
morning Coyote said,
"How is it you have lost all your ugly color, and now you are blue and
gay and beautiful? You are more beautiful than anything that flies in
the air. I want to be blue, too." Now Coyote at that time was a bright
green.
"I only went in four times on four mornings," said Bluebird. He taught
Coyote the magic song, and he went in four times, and the fifth time he
came out as blue as the little bird.
Then Coyote was very, very proud because he was a blue coyote. He was so
proud that as he walked along he looked around on every side to see if
anybody was looking at him now that he was a blue coyote and so
beautiful. He looked to see if his shadow was blue, too. But Coyote was
so busy watching to see if others were noticing him that he did not
watch the trail. By and by he ran into a stump so hard that it threw him
down in the dirt and he was covered with dust all over. You may know
this is true because even to-day coyotes are the color of dirt.
Coyote's Eyes
Pima (Arizona)
When Coyote was travelling about one day, he saw a small bird. The bird
was hopping about contentedly and Coyote thought,
"What a beautiful bird. It moves about so gracefully."
He drew nearer to the bird and asked, "What beautiful things are you
working with?" but the bird could not understand Coyote. After a while
the bird took out his two eyes and threw them straight up into the air,
like two stones. It looked upward but had no eyes. Then the bird said,
"Come, my eyes. Come quickly, down into my head." The eyes fell down
into the bird's head, just where they belonged, but were much brighter
than before.
Coyote thought he could brighten his eyes. He asked the bird to take out
his eyes. The bird took out Coyote's eyes, held them for a moment in his
hands, and threw them straight up into the air. Coyote looked up and
called,
"Come back, my eyes. Come quickly." They at once fell back into his head
and were much brighter than before. Coyote wanted to try it again, but
the bird did not wish to. But Coyote persisted. Then the bird said,
"Why should I work for you, Coyote? No, I will work no more for you."
But Coyote still persisted, and the bird took out his eyes and threw
them up. Coyote cried,
"Come, my eyes, come back to me."
But his eyes continued to rise into the air, and the bird began to go
away. Coyote began to weep. But the bird was annoyed, and called back,
"Go away now. I am tired of you. Go away and get other eyes."
But Coyote refused to go and entreated the bird to find eyes for him. At
last the bird gathered gum from a pinon tree and rolled it between his
hands and put it in Coyote's eye holes, so that he could see. But his
eyes had been black and very bright. His new eyes were yellow.
"Now," said the bird, it "go away. You cannot stay here any longer."
Coyote and the Tortillas
Pima (Arizona)
Once upon a time, a river rose very high and spread all over the land.
An Indian woman was going along the trail by the river side with a
basket of tortillas on her head, but she was wading in water up to her
waist. Now Coyote was afraid of the water, so he had climbed into a
cottonwood tree. When the woman came up the trail, Coyote called,
"Oh, come to this tree and give me some of those nice tortillas."
The woman said, "No. I can't give them to you; they are for somebody
else."
"If you do not come here I will shoot you," said Coyote, and the woman
really thought he had a bow. So she came to the tree and said, "You must
come down and get them. I can't climb trees."
Coyote came down as far as he dared, but he was afraid of the deep
water. The woman laughed at him. She said, "Just see how shallow it is.
It's only up to my ankles." But she was standing on a big stump. Coyote
looked at the water. It seemed shallow and safe enough, so he jumped.
But the water was deep and he was drowned. Then the woman went on up the
trail.
Coyote as a Hunter
Sia (New Mexico)
Coyote travelled a long distance and in the middle of the day it was
very hot. He sat down and rested, and thought, as he looked up to Tinia,
"How I wish the Cloud People would freshen my path and make it cool."
In just a little while the Cloud People gathered over the trail Coyote
was following and he was glad that his path was to be cool and shady.
After he travelled some distance further, he sat down again and looking
upward said, "I wish the Cloud People would send rain. My road would be
cooler and fresher." In a little while a shower came and Coyote was
contented.
But in a short time he again sat down and wished that the road could be
very moist, that it would be fresh to his feet, and almost immediately
the trail was as wet as though a river had passed over it. Again Coyote
was contented.
But after a while he took his seat again. He said to himself, "I guess I
will talk again to the Cloud People." Then he looked up and said to
them,
"I wish for water over my road-water to my elbows, that I may travel on
my hands and feet in the cool waters; then I shall be refreshed and
happy."
In a short time his road was covered with water, and he moved on. But
again he wished for something more, and said to the Cloud People,
"I wish much for water to my shoulders. Then I will be happy and
contented."
In a moment the waters arose as he wished, yet after a while he looked
up and said, "If you will only give me water so high that my eyes, nose,
mouth and ears are above it, I will be happy. Then indeed my road will
be cool."
But even this did not satisfy him, and after travelling a while longer
he implored the Cloud People to give him a river that he might float
over the trail, and immediately a river appeared and Coyote floated down
stream. Now he had been high in the mountains and wished to go to Hare
Land.
After floating a long distance, he at last came to Hare Land and saw
many Hares a little distance off, on both sides of the river. Coyote lay
down in the mud as though he were dead and listened. Soon a woman
ka-wate (mephitis) came along with a vase and a gourd for water.
She said, "Here is a dead coyote. Where did he come from? I guess from
the mountains above. I guess he fell into the water and died."