Coyote 1

When Coyote became old he became very grumpy and even more rascally.  Coyote and his wife had a young daughter when they were very old. Coyote was very protective of his young daughter, but she had grown into a beautiful young daughter. One day a young man came courting, now he was kind and good looking but no too smart.

            Because the young man was from a distant clan it would be acceptable for him to see the daughter of Coyote. Coyote talked to his advisers Wind and Summer Thunder Cloud. They told Coyote he could not stop time and his daughter was no longer a girl but a woman, and a very beautiful woman at that.

            Coyote told the young man to build a house so that someday he may bring whatever woman he would marry into an elegant house. But, the house could not be built of dried mud, or stone, or pinion, juniper, sagebrush or greasewood or any materials from nearby. The house must be built of flat cedar wood boards planed smooth for the interior and hemlock planks for the outside. Only such a house would be worthy of any man who would ask a woman to marry him. Now because the young man was a little dim he believed Coyote and he failed to notice in the house of Coyote and his wife all the materials deemed unworthy by Coyote were used in the building of Coyote’s house.

            Coyote told the young man the only place to find such materials was several weeks journey to the North. The young man better start soon or he will never make it there before winter. The young man left without any tools or any plan to log or mill the lumber or how to transport it back. He was good looking and kind just not smart. The young man left filled with enthusiasm. Coyote knew the young man would probably never find the land of cedar and hemlock. If did get there the youth would never know what to with cedar or hemlock, and more than likely the boy would never find his way back. After the lad left Coyote felt good.

            The next young man was neither good looking nor smart. He also wanted to court Coyotes daughter. Coyote told the young man needed to become wealthy if he would ever take any woman for his wife. Coyote made a deal with the young man he would give the young man sheeps, goats, and a few cattle to start his own herd. Not very good sheeps, goats or cattle but a few head so old they wouldn’t make through the season. Coyote told the young man to take the livestocks and the two of them would split any natural increase. Now the young man was not to smart. He knew nothing about sheeps, less about goats, never seen cattle before. 

Coyote told the young man to take his herd to a pasture south of the Sonoran Desert