Coyote is easily the most famous trickster figure in the lore of the Native peoples of North America, and the Coyote tales of the Apache are among the best-known. As a trickster figure, Coyote appears alternately as a hero, villain, wise man, and fool, but his stories always involve some form of transformation.
This transformation can be dramatic, such as the introduction of death to the world, or stealing fire from the birds to share with other animals, or simply a shift in self-image, as in the tale where Coyote tries and fails to capture Turkey. The Coyote tales of the Apache share similarities with the Wihio tales of the Cheyenne, the Iktomi tales of the Sioux, the Saynday tales of the Kiowa, Manabozho tales of the Ojibwe and other Algonquin people, Glooscap tales of the Wabanaki Confederacy, Blue Jay tales of the Chinookan peoples, Coyote tales of the Shasta nation, Nih'a'ca tales of the Arapaho, and Rabbit tales of the Cherokee; though, in many of these, he is not the main character.
He features as the central character, however, in the same sort of trickster tales from the Navajo, Nez Perce, Paiute, Pawnee, Salish, Shoshone (Shoshoni), Ute, and many other nations. In Pawnee literature, he is featured in the popular tale, The Girl Who Was the Ring, where he plays the Native American ball game chunkey (tchung-kee) to rescue a girl he endangered in the first place.
Coyote's motives may not always be in the best interests of others, though they can be, and he is frequently depicted as a cunning conman, gambler, and thief, but, as noted, his tales always involve some form of transformation. Their intention, or one aspect of it, is to offer an audience the opportunity to examine their own behavior and, perhaps, make an effort to change when they do not like what they see.
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The following tales are taken from Myths and Tales of the Chiricahua Apache Indians (1942) by Morris Edward Opler, republished by Bison Books in 1994. The five stories below are among the most popular Coyote tales of the Chiricahua Apache, though they are also told by other Apache bands as well as citizens of other Native American nations.
Coyote Causes Death
Raven said that he did not want death in this world. "I'll throw a stick in the river. If it sinks, there is going to be death, but if not, everything will be all right," he said.
Then Coyote came along and said, "I'll throw a rock in the river. If it sinks, people will die. If it doesn't sink, there will be no death."
Raven threw the sticks and they floated off. Then Coyote threw the rock, and it sank. After that, people began to die off.
Coyote Steals Fire from the Birds
In the beginning, no one but the birds had fire. No others had it; no fire was allowed to any of them. And these birds had a fire in one big place only, on a big bluff, a round bluff, I guess.
Coyote was coming from over this way, running around. He came to the place where the children of these birds were shooting arrows. And he began to play with those boys up on the side of the mountain where the bluff was, shooting arrows. He won all the arrows from those little boys.
He asked these children, "Do you boys know the path that leads over this bluff?" And he also said, "I know it. There's a place to go right over the bluff. I know where to go up." He didn't know it himself, but he wanted the boys to tell him about it. He just said this to get one of them to tell him so he could steal the fire.
The boys told him, "Our parents told us not to let anybody know where that path is."
"Well," he said, "I'll give half of these arrows to any boy who can tell me the way to get over this bluff."
But those children said, "No, our parents told us not to tell anybody."
He then said, "I'll give all the arrows to anyone who can tell me where you go up on the bluff."
Then the youngest boy there told him, "I know what to do and what to say to get over that bluff. You see that pinon tree just on the edge of that bluff? You tell that pinon tree to bend down over you, and then it goes up with you and you get up on the bluff."
Instead of giving that little boy all the arrows, Coyote gave him half of them and started for that tree. He wanted to be sure of it. And he went to that bluff over there and told the tree to bend down. It bent down four times, and then he was sure of it. Then he was certain he could go up on that pinon.
And he went down where those birds were on the big bluff there. He mad an announcement to those people. He said, "Around this country they have killed all your enemies. They have told me to come down and tell you to have a big celebration tonight."
And they listened closely to him and said, "All right."
So, when night came, they all gathered together. And they made four big rings around the fire of different classes of birds.
Then Coyote went away and pulled the bark off the juniper tree, the softest part, and he tied it under his tail so he could catch the fire with it.
Then they began to have the dance. Coyote got right in the middle, close to the fire, and he was dancing there by the fire all by himself. Every now and then he stuck his tail in the fire while they were having a good time. One of the birds told him, "Old man, you're going to burn your tail." And every time he put his tail in the fire, he looked back to see if it had caught fire.
They said to him again, "Old man, you're going to burn your tail."
And he answered, "Let it burn!" He said, "I feel so happy because all our enemies have been killed! I feel so happy, that's why I act this way."
But some of the birds suspected him. They said, "Friends, he is trying to get away with our fire."
And the coyote said, "I'm so happy! It's my way. I'm celebrating."
Then he stuck his tail in the fire and held it there a long time and looked to see if the fire had caught on the brush he had there. Then he jumped over those four lines around him. His tail was on fire. And he ran with that fire. He dashed for that bluff where the pinon tree was, and he set fire to objects all over the country where he traveled. Some of those birds were hard at work trying to put out that fire. They were after him, and some were trying to put out the fire. But the wind began to blow, and the fire spread everywhere.
They couldn't put out the fire. Then they begged either Wasp or Hawk, I forget which one, to make it rain. And so it started to rain very hard. The rain was putting out all that fire.
But the coyote still had some fire burning. Coyote gave the fire to Bumblebee in a hole in a tree somewhere. And Bumblebee kept that fire in a hollow tree, kept it out of the rain. That's how they got fire, they say. And the Chiricahua used to say, "Under the coyote's tail it is scorched yellow." They say this is what caused it. And there is black on the end of the coyote's tail where it was burned.
Coyote Shows How He Can Lie and Steals a Mule
Well, this one coyote could tell more lies! All the other coyotes came to visit him. And these other coyotes said to him, "Old man, tell us how you lie and how you make people believe your lies."
This coyote said, "It costs a great deal to learn how I lie and how I make others believe my lies. I like knowing how so much that I don't want to tell anybody. It is very valuable to me."
So the coyotes said, "We will give you anything you ask for if you will tell us."
"Well, it's going to cost you a good white horse with a new saddle on it and silver-mounted spurs. That's what it is going to cost you to find out how I lie and make people believe me."
Instead of a white horse, they brought him a fine-looking white mule which belonged to one fellow. It had a new saddle on. Coyote took it and began whipping it and trying to make it balk.
He said, "This mule doesn't act right. This mule is still balking for something."
Then they asked him, "What's he balking for?"
He said, "You must put something under this saddle. It's got to be a find saddle blanket."
Then he got off and they put a saddle blanket on the mule. He got on it again. He was whipping it and holding back on it at the same time on purpose. It would not move.
Coyote said, "This mule is still balking for something more."
They asked him what it was.
He said, "A silver-mounted bridle."
He got on the mule again and began whipping it a little and letting it take one or two steps at a time and then pulling back on it.
Again, he said, "this mule is still balking for something."
They said, "What is it?"
He told them, "Silver-mounted spurs."
Then Coyote thought he had everything he could ask for, and he spurred the mule and rode out and left the crowd. He never went back over there and went off to a distant place where some other coyotes were playing hoop and pole. And he lost everything over there in the game and left that part of the country.
Variant Ending
Coyote knew that the man from whom he had got the mule had a gun and a horse. He wanted these. So he painted the mule black and took it back to the man next day. He said to the man (who now needed a mule), "I'll trade you this black mule for your horse and gun with ammunition."
The man traded. Coyote went off with the gun and horse. He had traded the man's own mule back to him for these.
Pretty soon, it began to rain. The paint was washed off the mule and the man saw that it was his own mule. Coyote took the gun and horse to the hoop and pole grounds and there lost them gambling at hoop and pole.
Coyote Escapes Being Flayed by Inducing Another Coyote to Take His Place
This coyote had been doing a lot of mischief around a certain ranch, killing calves, or sheep, or goats, I guess, and these people went after him and ran him down and caught him. Then they took him home and they tied him up.
Then along came another coyote and asked him, "What are you doing here with that rope on you, tied up?"
"Why, these people love me so much that they feed me well here and give me everything I want. They promise that they're going to give me the very prettiest girl they have tomorrow. These people really like me very much. If you want to, you can take my place. You can get that girl if you want to. She's supposed to be a very pretty girl," he said.
Really, the people were going to skin Coyote, take his hide off, and turn him loose. That was the plan of those people as I heard the story long ago. They were going to do it next day. But this second coyote believed the story about the girl and was very eager to be tied there.
"Well then, untie me."
He untied Coyote and was tied there instead.
Some say that the people took this coyote's hide off. Others say that they put him in boiling water. I don't know which is true.
Well, the second coyote got away from there after they had him skinned and he went to another coyote camp. And he was red all over and he was sitting over there just as thin and cold as could be. Other coyotes looked at him. This was something new around their camps. He was over there by himself, and the other coyotes looked at him. And those coyotes yelled at him, "Hey, you with the red shirt!" He would not look up. He was angry because they yelled about his red shirt. And they kept calling to him, "Hey, you with the red shirt!"
Then, finally, he looked at them, angry, half turning his head, and answered them. He said, "It's your father who has a red shirt!" He was angry and walked off.
Coyote Tries to Catch Turkey by Diving for His Reflection
Coyote was going along a river. There was a lot of water flowing and by the bank stood a tall tree. In this tree a turkey was sitting, and his reflection showed in the water. Coyote saw this reflection and thought the turkey was in the water.
Without waiting, he jumped into the water. He could not find the turkey and came up. When he got to the bank, he saw that the turkey was still there. He dove into the water again and kept it up for as long as he could stand it. Finally, he was so tired that he had to stop and lie on his back to rest. He rolled over on his back and, as he did so, he saw the turkey up in the tree.
Coyote was very angry when he saw this. He ran and got an axe and began to chop down that tree. But, when that tree fell, Turkey flew to another tree. Coyote went to this tree and chopped it down too, but Turkey just went on to another one. Coyote kept this up till he was so worn out that he had to give up, and Turkey got away.
