Coyote is a major figure from Native American myth and folklore. At times playing the hero and other times the villain, he fits comfortably into multiple roles, occasionally within the same culture. He is primarily understood as a trickster.
Found primarily on the west side of the Mississippi River but no stranger to the eastern parts of North America, Coyote is one of the most prevalent folklore figures on the continent. References to Coyote date back farther than written language in North America and are varied. In Native American folklore, nearly every tribe has a different way of portraying him; however, despite the number of tribes that claim him as their own, several things are constant. Coyote is male and is always portrayed as intelligent or at least clever. He is most often portrayed in the form of his namesake but can often change his form as he wishes. Coyote often falls under three categories, either playing the trickster, the culture hero, or, very rarely, a creator.
The character of the trickster is fairly common in Western literature. Many ancient as well as modern stories involve a trickster in some form. Tricksters are generally characters whose only goal is amusement; to this end they often annoy the hero or villain, while working for their own interests over helping others. Despite this, they are usually portrayed in a positive or at least humorous light. However, while modern tricksters tend to have a reserved quality about them, Coyote is a much older figure. When portrayed as a trickster in this older tradition, Coyote has a tendency to be harsher and more primal. An example of this can be found in a story of the Caddo, a tribe that lived in the southeast of North America.
In this story Coyote becomes distracted from hunting buffalo when he spots a turkey sitting in a tree. Deciding that the turkey would make a better meal than buffalo, Coyote speaks out to the bird. He taunts it, telling it that he plans on climbing the tree to eat it. He then lies and says that the bird’s only hope would be to fly toward a nearby prairie, instead of the forest, where Coyote will clearly catch him. The turkey, clearly falling for the trap, flies out towards the open prairie. Coyote swiftly catches up to his prey and bites into the hapless bird. However, as he does Coyote sees a dark shadow fall over his right eye. Assuming that something is now attacking him Coyote drops the bird and takes off at full speed. He runs as fast as he can, even leaving the wind behind in an effort to escape whatever was pursuing him. He eventually tires, and while rolling on his back, intending to surrender and beg for mercy, Coyote hears a snap. It is then that he realizes that a feather from the turkey had gotten stuck between two of his teeth. It had been held in place perfectly to appear as a shadow behind his right eye. Enraged at the trick, Coyote speeds back, but the turkey is long gone. The Caddo claim that this is why coyotes look over their right shoulder before running. In this story we can also see another trend with Coyote as a trickster: whenever he plays the role of a more villainous trickster, he tends to outsmart himself or make foolish mistakes that lead to his downfall.
Coyote is not always seen as a villain. In a story that also belongs to the Caddo, Coyote is credited with a rather selfless act. In this story the people of Earth were unhappy because the days were too short, since the sun was traveling across the sky too quickly. Coyote sets out to fix the problem by asking the sun if he could come along on one of his walks. The sun agrees, but is convinced that Coyote is up to something. Coyote plays nice and keeps up some pleasant dialogue as they travel across the sky, but once they have traveled halfway Coyote asks if they can take a break so he can relieve himself behind a bush. The sun agrees to wait, and Coyote goes behind the bush. Coyote, however, does not actually stop and moves on, leaving the sun behind. The sun waits for a few hours before growing bored and moving on. The extra time that the sun spent waiting extended the day. The Great Spirit finally agrees to change the sun’s speed, but also warns Coyote that he would be punished if he continued with his tricks. Coyote agrees, but soon goes back to his old ways.
Another common theme in Coyote stories is the trickster’s punishment for his antics, even when they have positive effects. He is usually punished by the Great Spirit or creator and his sentences range from simple punishment to death. Death does not seem very permanent for him, however, as he is often portrayed coming back from his death to continue his tricks. Most often, even when acting as the bad guy, his main goal seems to be self-amusement, although there are some stories that portray him as having darker motives. In one tale, for instance, he steals Duck’s wife and children purely out of spite and threatens to eat them. It is much more common, though, for him to act out of the desire to amuse himself than out of pure evil.
The second role that Coyote plays in his stories is one of a culture hero. This role is harder to find, as he can often play a trickster and a culture hero at the same time. A culture hero is a figure that teaches people of the ways of their past and their origins. A good example of Coyote as a culture hero comes from a Nez Perce story in which the Nez Perce originated as a result of the Coyote’s victory over a great sea beast. Coyote accomplished this feat by tricking the beast into eating him so that he could get inside and strike at its heart. To celebrate his victory he scattered the pieces of the beast’s corpse across the world. Wherever parts of the corpse landed a tribe of people sprang up. When he was finished Coyote showed his handiwork to Wolf. Wolf was quick to point out that, while the feat was impressive, Coyote had forgotten to start a tribe where he had defeated the beast. Thinking quickly, Coyote wiped his hands and let the last drops of blood fall to the ground where he had won the battle. The Nez Perce sprang into place and Coyote declared, “These are the Nez Perce; they will be few, but pure and strong.”
The Nez Perce story also illustrates the third role that Coyote takes in Native American folklore: that of a creator. This can be further broken down into two separate categories. In the Nez Perce story, Coyote is seen as a culture hero and the creator of part of creation, namely people. However, the animals and other things in the world are not created by him. This is how he is usually portrayed as a creator. Very rarely he is spoken of as the creator of everything in the world. In these cases it seems that his name is used as a placeholder for the traditional Great Spirit. This is because many tribes revered the Great Spirit so much that they did not dare speak his name, and so used Coyote’s instead. This is clearly evidenced by most of these tribes still using the traditional Coyote in their folklore. When these two would interact the traditional Coyote would refer to the creator as “older brother,” implying a connection between the two. In these situations the creator seemed a little more lenient when dealing with the actions of his “little brother,” but would still admonish him if he went too far.
Raven
The trickster figure of the Native American peoples of the Pacific Northwest is Raven. As with the trickster across cultures, Raven blends wisdom with cupidity into a potent narrative mix that both instructs and amuses the storyteller and listeners alike. Raven’s prodigious appetites for food and pleasure make him an object of fun, but he is also a culture hero who brings great gifts to the people. Though he is lustful and vain, and though all may be thrown into chaos by his foolishness, the world of people emerges from this chaos as he seeks to redress these wrongs; while Raven may be humiliated as balance is restored, the world emerges a better place because of him. In various other Native American traditions, the trickster is represented by another figure, usually in animal form. The best known of these is Coyote.
C. Fee
Coyote also quite often holds a connection to travelers, regardless of his main role in folklore. Similar to Mercury in Greek mythology, he can be seen as a protector of travelers and thieves. However, it is more often the case that he is seen in light of his trickster side, messing with the paths and generally making the journey hard for the traveler for his own amusement.
Beyond the more serious stories about Coyote there are several that read much more like one of Aesop’s Fables. In one such story Coyote sees Silver Wolf creating people out of whittled sticks. The carved and whittled sticks became chiefs and warriors and the shavings became normal people. Coyote, wishing to prove that he was just as good as Silver Wolf, duplicates the process and creates his own people. However, when he tries to grab the women he finds that they turn back into sticks. Many stories, like this one, have Coyote either thinking he is smarter than everyone else or trying to be something he is not, usually with disastrous or at least hilarious consequences.
Matthew Planalp
See also Anansi/Anancy; Azeban; Brer Rabbit; Great Hare; Iktomi; Trickster Rabbit
Further Reading
Berk, Ari, and Carolyn Dunn Anderson. 2008. Coyote Speaks: Wonders of the Native American World. New York: Abrams Books for Young Readers.
Ferguson, Diana. 2001. Native American Myths. London: Collins & Brown.
Josephy, Alvin M. 1968. The Indian Heritage of America, First Edition. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Marriott, Alice, and Carol K. Rachlin. 1968. American Indian Mythology. New York: Crowell.
Zimmerman, Larry J. 2011. The Sacred Wisdom of the American Indians. London: Watkins.