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Coyote — Part 2
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"The father of the family kept out of view at first; but later I caught sight of him in pursuit of a doe-antelope and her fawn. The doe was backing away over the plain, keeping the little one, which seemed to understand its part perfectly close to her hind legs.
"Following her closely ran the wolf, often making a dash to the right or left to get at the fawn; but each time the brave little mother, whisking alertly, would present to him her lowered head and make a dash at his skull with her sharp fore-hoofs. Thus she retired, but I fancy that the pursuer's longer breath and varied tactics won the day at last." Mr. Ingersoll goes on to say: "The nocturnal prowlings, secretive disposition, and remarkable craftiness of this animal, together with the annoyance it has the power to inflict, cause it to figure prominently in the myths and religious history of the Indians of the far West. Some of these stories I propose to recall, and I am sure that they will suggest to every reader at least the Reynard of European folk-lore, if not other interesting parallels.
"The Deity and creator of the Karok religion was Kareya, who made the fishes, the animals, and, finally, man. Him he commanded to assemble all the animals, in order to assign to each its rank, by distributing bows and arrows. The longest to the most powerful, and so on down the scale.
"The beasts and birds came together the night before the distribution, and all went to sleep except the coyote, who determined to stay awake all night and go forth earliest in the morning to get the longest bow. He took extraordinary pains to keep awake, but over-reached himself in an excess of ingenuity and fell asleep just before dawn. When he opened his eyes only the very shortest bow was left for him. But Kareya, pitying h? weakness and disappointment, gave him cunning ten times greater than before, so that he is sharp-witted above all animals in the woods. In return the grateful coyote befriended the man and his children ever afterwards, doing many helpful things for them.
"When Kareya made the fishes he did not let the salmon come up the Klamath, in consequence of which the Karoks, who lived on its upper reaches, were sore pressed for food. But Kareya had made a great fish dam at the mouth of the river, and given the key to two old hags to keep, who never ceased their watching, even to sleep. Seeing that the Indians were nearly starved, the coyote befriended them. He made a visit to the hags on an ingenious pretext, but only succeeded in discovering that the key was kept too high for him to reach it. He stayed all night in the cabin with the hags, pretending to sleep, but watching their movements all the time out of the corner of his eye.
"In the morning one of the hags took down the key and started to get some salmon for breakfast. Then the coyote happened to think of a way to get the key. Jumping up, he darted under the hag, throwing her down and causing her to fling the key a long way off; before she could scramble up the coyote had seized the key and opened the dam.
"Thus the salmon could ascend the Klamath and the Karoks had plenty of food. But they had no fire to cook it with, because Kareya had hidden it in a basket which he gave to two sleepless hags far towards the rising sun. So coyote promised to try to get this second boon for them.
"He stationed a line of animals all along the way from the home of the Karok to the far distant land where the fire was kept, the strongest near the fire, and last of all concealed an Indian under a hill. This done, the coyote insinuated himself politely into the good graces of the old guardians, and lay all night by their hearth, feeling very comfortable and pretending sleep. But he was soon convinced that without help there was no way to elude their vigilance; so in the morning he stole out and had a talk with the Indian under the hill, after which he went back and lay down by the hearth as before. Presently, as had been preconcerted, the Indian was heard hammering at the door, as if to break it in, and the old beldams rushed out to drive him away.