Native Mythology - Coyote

Most cultures have a 'trickster' fashioned within mythological accounts of 'how things are in life.' Natives have COYOTE.



Crow, fox, coyote...there are many forms that 'trickster' takes, and these characters have complex, multiple-uses in Native mythology.

Coyote is with Creator at the beginning of time and interferes with the creation of mankind in many myths of Native culture. In this, some of mankind's IMPERFECTION is explained. Mankind cannot be perfect, because COYOTE prevented 'perfection' in the beginning when he toyed with Creator's creation process.

Coyote is often a 'bad guy' (or is he, really?) who does things that are opposite to what Creator wants. Coyote will help makind BREAK Creator's rules sometimes. In this, results are not always negative. For instance, if Creator has made a rule about not eating a certain sacred bird, Coyote may appear on the scene to coax a man or woman to go ahead and eat that very kind of sacred bird. (Remind you of another well-known story - from the Bible??). A Man or Woman might NOT listen to Coyote and the story will have had a positive effect of mankind making a 'right choice.'

A different version of the same story can make different results, too:

Coyote coaxes a man to eat a sacred bird. The man does so and Creator gets angry...

In Native myth, what follows for a similar story of Adam and Eve, may not and probably will not follow suit in some versions.

Example: Adam and Eve were punished by God for eating fruits from a sacred tree in the Garden of Eden - when plainly, God told them this was not allowed. The Serpent (Coyote role) coaxed and managed to get Adam and Eve to disobey God.

A similar situation in a Coyote story might turn out like this:

Coyote coaxes a man and woman to eat a sacred type of bird that Creator told them they weren't allowed to eat. Creator finds out and is angry. Coyote intervenes and argues with Creator. Coyote manages to explain to Creator that the people are HUNGRY and need to eat. Creator loves his people and doesn't want them to be hungry, so Creator listens to Coyote. In the end, Creator allows people to eat a sacred kind of bird and selects a different kind of bird to put as a 'sacred' object that people should honour.

In the above version - NO negative or bad things occur from Coyote's 'trickster' antics.