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Coyote — Part 3
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"This was the coyote's opportunity. As the hags dashed out at one door, he seized a flaming brand in his teeth and leaped through the other. He almost flew over the ground, but the hags saw him and the sparks and gave chase, gaining on him fast. By the time he was out of breath he reached the puma, who took the brand and ran with it to the next animal, and so on. Last of all was the frog, who caught the last spark of fire in his mouth, swallowed it and dived, the hags catching his tail, twitching it off in the act. The frog swam under water a long distance, then came up and spat the fire into a log of driftwood, and there it has stayed ever since, so that when an Indian rubs two pieces of wood together the fire comes forth."
Most tribes of Western and Northwestern Indians are friendly to the coyote, and their dogs seem to be partly at least of coyote descent.
The coyote is much too cunning to allow himself to be trapped. The trappers say that there is only one animal that is harder to catch, and that is the wolverine. The coyote's ravenous appetite, however, frequently gets him into trouble, for in winter he picks up and bolts every scrap of meat that he can find, first making sure that there is no hidden trap beside it. But he cannot always tell when meat has been poisoned, and large numbers are destroyed every season by scattering scraps of poisoned meat where they will be sure to find it.
The soft yellowish-gray fur of the coyote is rather pretty, but is not of the right quality to make it a valuable fur. The best skins seldom sell for more than 50c. or 75c.; even at this price large numbers are collected each winter. They are usually made up into lap-robes or great coats, and sometimes into driving gloves.