Friday, March 21, 2008

Hey, Coyote is Canadian! Woot

I'm going to get all "Canadian" on ya now!

(*pssssst - not surprising, since I am Canadian)

So I came up with a gem of a book, almost falling apart even with the old, red electrical tape that is trying to perk up its spine. Inside are Native/Indian "Legends' and they're mainly Canadian Cree, Sarcee, Chip', MicMac, Blackfoot, and back to more Chip' (Chippewa)...Chippewans have EXCELLENT tales and a great abundance, too...which is important to me even tho' I am Metis-Cree a little down the left-side with a spot on the right.

;)~

Anyhow, I figure that this book PROVES that Coyote is Canadian haha! And, hey - the world started in Canada, too. This book says so!

Coyote and Shuswap Falls (These Falls are in South-Eastern B.C., Canada)

A Long, very long time ago

When the world was young, fresh and new - long before hatred, greed and strife were constant companions of man, this is when Eagle, Bear, Elk, Fox, Coyote and all the other animals and birds lived in peace and harmony together.

Coyote lived in a lovely but lonely place. Coyote's home was far removed from where the others lived. Because Coyote was so far away from everyone, he had nobody to play with and no one to talk to, nobody to feast with, no one to dance with. It wasn't too long before he became so very lonesome that he wanted to invite his friends to have a festival with him. This would be a great time of feasting and dancing and merriment. If the festival was successful, Coyote would make sure to invite everyone and do this over again every year after, too!

Coyote got busy and built some rapids in the river, and he made them end in a waterfall. He made a giant kettle out of stone, put some legs under this kettle, and hung it out over the falls. He also built a fish-trap out of stone. Also, next to the waterfall, he fashioned a stone seat so he could sit and watch fish being caught in the trap and then cooked in his kettle. He set this all up to he would be able to talk to his friends while seeing the sports, dancing and feasting.

Everything was made as Coyote wanted it, and at this time, the buds on the trees were just beginning to burst, so Coyote knew by this sign that the first salmon were on their way up the river waters. He knew it was time to call his friends, so he called out loud for them to come and feast!

Coyote's loud voice could be heard far and wide back then as it can still be heard today.

In every valley and atop every hill, Coyote's friends heard,

"Listen!" They stopped and said, "Coyote is calling us. Let's go!"

Everyone called out to Coyote as they were on their way, and Coyote recognized the return of his calling and knew his friends were on their way. He knew the howl of his friend, Timber Wolf, the roar of Grizzly Bear, the snort of Elk, the hoot of Horned Owl, the cry of Eagle, the chatter of Kingfisher. Coyote was so very happy that he ran around and around in circles, excitedly, trying to catch his tail !

Very soon, everyone gathered together beside the river. They were all amazed when they looked at all the wonders that Coyote had built. They camped beside the rapids for a half a moon, so they could enjoy the waterfall. In Coyote's fish-trap, everyone caught salmon and cooked it in Coyote's big kettle. They feasted and danced and feasted some more. They enjoyed sports, too, while by day and night, the first fire burned brightly. Coyote played and visited and lost his loneliness.

The time came for the festival to end. Everyone shook Coyote's hand with grateful hearts, and promised to come again next year. They would visit again when the fir trees were bursting buds, and were pleased with these thoughts, so they returned home well and happy.

This all happened a very long time ago.

But the rapids and waterfall, the kettle and the stone seat can still be seen in the river where Coyote built them for his great party! And still, every springtime, you can hear Coyote's invitation call and the answering calls of his friends!

AWOL From The Blog

I apologize to people who have browsed by and noticed the long lapse between posts.

Last school semester (fall 2007) was hectic. I didn't log in to post too often and then late in November, unfortunately, I fell ill.

Or, perhaps, the illness has been a fortunate turn, whichever way a person wants to look at things.

The way I'm beginning to see it, "FORTUNA" has been a Lady lurking persistently nearby, for she whispered in my ear, saying "The books, the books...no, silly - those OTHER books..."

The break from formal studies at University has given me some time to delve deeper into some 'legend' books and stories, some recorded tales intended for oral telling - that I didn't have time for before.

Fortuna also rendered me quite literally speechless, that powerful gal - so I had to sh-up for a bit and just reflect, read, reflect some more. Sometimes it was just reflecting - on days that I couldn't read, either, so Lo' and Behold, I also found some audios on-hand for when my eyes were poor!

Quick recent background blurb:

After engaging in a Folk and Fairy Tale class last spring, I had just gotten a better glimpse of how important oral tales are, but the 'student' situation I used to have prevented me from reflecting much or enjoying what I had learned from that class - while I launched into the next semester.

End of quick recent background blurb:

Lady Fortuna, Coyote, hmmm - perhaps Psychopomp (on my scariest low-health days), these 'critchers' came out of nowhere recently, to teach me some stuff, I guess, that I hadn't been learning in school.

...some stuff I hadn't been aware of or learning in life...

To reflect.

To let 'stuff' sink in so that it means something...

To search for the old stories and ignore the present for a little while - devour the stories, the less favoured tales, digging 'em up out of folders in boxes, corners of shelves, and to check out the yellowed pages, dog-eared and wrinkled, too!

Not just the $138 clean, crisp, white texts, brand new from the University bookstore.

On my lowest days since November (the worst days immediately following Christmas day 2007), I couldn't even understand how to operate my cassette player, so I had trouble with Fortuna's directions and couldn't even play my "story-tapes." Instead, I listened to my voice-digi-recorder from the last semester, returning to the STORIES that one of my professors told in class.

I noticed, while I was growing stronger and regaining some health, that the most important messages were in the professors, stories - NOT in the 'lecture' part of the oration. Listening to the stories sparked some recognition of 'how things work,' while my brain was still having problems telling me which was the left side of me and which was the right side.



("We" - docs and I - are still trying to determine if I had a series of mini-strokes or some really whammo, wacky A-typical migraines or just what - should know sometime in April)...so if this post is a little topsy-turvy and non-linear (*laffs hard*), forgive me.

I remembered about my blog a while back, but wasn't able to post anything coherent. I re-read some of my posts and got more interested in "Coyote" again. Not too far back in the posts, I was going to dig up some Coyote stuff, so I dug out those old books that Lady Fortuna whispered in my ears about, and I'll get some tales to you soon.



Just wanted to explain what happened and why I was AWOL for a while...