by Alan Nafzger & Lilly Tabbytite (Comanche)
Coyote was out looking for food as usual when he came across a lodge. There were two women inside: an elderly widow and her lovely daughter. Coyote entered and began telling stories, and the widow, delighted to have a visitor, prepared a large meal of salmon. Coyote looked around at all the food piled up in boxes and hanging from the ceiling.
After the meal, Coyote declared, "Old Woman, I will marry your daughter."
The woman was pleased because she had heard him describe himself as a great warrior. She concurred.
"You know, I love you very much," Coyote later told his new wife. I'm going to build your mother a beautiful canoe out of red cedar. I'll go out tomorrow and look for a good log. "
The young woman immediately informed her mother.
The next morning, the elderly lady got up and prepared a large breakfast. When it was done, she summoned Coyote, who came over to eat. He then went in search of red cedar.
Coyote returned just before dusk, claiming to have discovered a large red cedar log.
"I'll cut it tomorrow," he promised his wife. "Then I'll cut it to the proper length for a canoe."
His mother-in-law prepared a large meal for him.
Coyote collapsed after finishing his meal. "When the canoe is finished," he said to his wife, "we'll go on a long trip." You'll be in the stern, your mother in the center, and I'll be in the bow. We're going to have a good time. "
When his mother-in-law The next morning, Coyote got up and had another large breakfast. Then he went outside with his mother-in-tools. law's They had been hearing him chopping on the tree all day, until they heard the tree crash and more chopping.
Coyote arrived home exhausted and aching from his labors. "Tell your mother that when I get home at night, I want her to boil some good dried salmon," he told his wife. This type of soup appeals to me. It's ideal for a man working on a canoe. "
This is how the old lady cooked for four nights. When the fourth day arrived, Coyote informed his wife that the canoe was nearly finished. He then stated that he needed to rest and eat because he had been working so hard.
The old woman's supplies had run out by this point, and some of the food boxes were empty.
Coyote returned to work a few days later. He always brought some food with him for dinner. Because there was so little food left, the elderly lady was becoming concerned. She told her daughter to "go quietly and see how he's doing." "There isn't much food left."
The young woman continued until she reached Coyote. He was standing at the end of an old rotten cedar log, banging it with a stone to make a noise similar to that of a man using an ax. When Coyote hit the large hole in the log, it made a lot of noise.
She left and returned home to tell her mother what she had seen. They took their old canoe and all the remaining provisions and left.
Coyote returned just before nightfall. When he saw the lodge, he was relieved and whistled because he assumed his mother-in-law would be preparing dried salmon for supper. But when he went inside, he found nothing. There was only a small fire and a few old wooden boxes.
Coyote resumed his journey.