The hero-trickster figure in American Indian mythology

Coyote is the tutelary spirit of "Coyoteway", one of the Navajo curing ceremonies. The ceremony is intended to restore the patient's harmonious relationship with Coyote and the world, and to bring about a return to good health. If you film this script, you will be cleansed and restored.

Native American Coyote Stories researched and transcribed by Alan Nafzger...

This is not a movie for brain surgeons, but then again, Old Man Coyote isn't a brain surgeon. Coyote from the Native American tradition was born from hunger. Someone, probably not a very able hunter, wasn't sharing in the food, but he (or she) might have earned a portion with a story.

Hunger is the prerequisite of art...

It begins with a supernatural being whose main concern is getting fed, probably just as his creator is worried about eating. Trickster starts out hungry, but before long he is master of the kind of creative deception, same as his creator. Coyote and his creator is basically the same being.

Aristotle wrote that Homer first "taught the rest of us the art of framing lies the right way." Homer makes lies seem so real that they enter the world and walk among us, just like Coyote. Odysseus walks among us to this day, and he would seem to be Homer's own self-portrait. Odysseus, too, is a master of the art of lying, an art he got from his grandfather, Autolycus, who got it in turn from his father, Hermes. Remember Hermes, in an old story, invented lying when he was a hungry child with a hankering for meat.

Coyote is both blamed and praised by many native tribes for causing death; mixing up the stars; fornicating with birds; bringing fire and burning the prairie; losing his eyes; and freeing the buffalo; and he is blamed by one anthropologist for nearly bankrupting the American Folklore Society in the 1930s.

Wandering Anthropologists

Some tell a story about a wandering anthropologist who came across a coyote caught in a trap on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation in central Oregon.

"Please let me out of this trap; if you do, I'll reward you handsomely," the coyote said.

Well, I'm not certain. Will you also tell me a story? " I asked the professor.

"Sure, I'll tell you a true, true story, a long one for your books."

So the anthropologist set up his tape machine, sprung the trap, and collected a large handful of bills from the coyote. The coyote sat, rubbing his aching legs, and told a long story that lasted until the tape was finished. Then he bolted.

The anthropologist returned home and told his wife what had occurred, but she refused to believe him. He reached into his pocket to show her the money, but all he got was a handful of fur and dirt.

When he went to play his tape for the other professors, all he found was a pile of coyote droppings in the machine.

Why Coyote (the trickster) is an appealing story for a movie or TV series...

1. Coyote is told by and about humans that have only recently left the animal state. The people that invented this character never dreamed of stepping on the moon. However, they clearly would not balk at scavenging some meat off a dead carcass if they found one.

2. Because of the widespread and ancient origins of the story; this might have come from the first humans. Almost ever primative and indigenous people have a story about Coyote. Did that speak with each other and share stories? Probably not; so what does that mean? it's a manifestation of the first (or early) thoughts that separated them from Animals. There is a bit of animal and a lot of human in the stories.

3. Finally, there are a lot of fuckups in the world today. Regardless of how poorly they work in an employment situation, they are paid and they do spend money on entertainment. Many will gravitate to Coyote's hilarious screwups. Behaviorist have long known people are attracted to mirror images of themselves, even when the characters have flaws. Fictosexuality, fictoromance, and fictophilia are all words that come to mind.

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Coyote Keeps His Name (Okanagon)

Coyote Creates the Earth (Crow)

Coyote Makes the Human Beings (Nez Perce)

The Creation of the Shoshone (Shoshone)

How Coyote Brought Fire to the People (Karok)

Coyote Places the Stars (Wasco)

White Crow Hides the Animals (Kiowa)

Coyote Steals Tobacco from Crow (Jicarilla Apache)

Coyote Brings a Girl Back to Life (Quinault)

Prairie Falcon Loses (Yokuts)

The Medicines (Menomini)

The Bungling Host (Okanagon)

Coyote and the Bear Women (Arapaho)

Coyote’s Son (Naskapi)

Coyote and Buffalo (Colville)

Rattlesnake Fools with Coyote (Sia)

The Borrowed Feathers (Laguna)

The Wood-cutting Ducks (Pima)

Coyote and Sandhill Crane (Jicarilla Apache)

The Tree Holders (Menomini)

Always-Living-at-the-Coast (Kwakiutl)

Coyote and the Fire-leggings (Blackfoot)

The Eye-juggler (Cheyenne)

Coyote Marries a Man (Plains Cree)

Coyote’s Member Keeps Talking (Crow)

The Dancing Bulrushes (Plains Ojibwa)

The Deceived Blind Men (Menomini)

The Berries in the Stream (Blackfoot)

Coyote Builds a Canoe (Tsimshian)

Coyote and His Anus (Nez Perce)

Coyote and Spider (Southern Ute)

Coyote and Beaver Exchange Wives (Cochiti)

Coyote and Never Grows Bigger (Wichita)

Coyote Shows How He Can Lie (Jicarilla Apache)

Coyote Cuts His Hair (Arapaho)

Coyote and Skunk Kill Game (Navajo)

Fisher Teaches Coyote to Make Music (Mississaga)

The Offended Rolling Stone (Pawnee)

Coyote Takes Himself Apart (Takelma)

Coyote Loses Some Blood (Pawnee)

Coyote and Mosquito (Jicarilla Apache)

Possum Loses His Hair (Cherokee)

The Dead Whale (Tsimshian)

Coyote and Mouse (Crow)

The Sharpened Leg (Cheyenne)

Coyote and Wolverine (Chilcotin)

Coyote and the Bad-medicine Woman (Huron)

Coyote and Rabbit (Jicarilla Apache)

Whirlwind Woman (Arapaho)

Coyote Imitates Mountain Lion (Jicarilla Apache)

Coyote and His Knee (Wichita)

Coyote Marries His Daughter (Piegan)

Coyote, Wren and Grouse (Pen d’Oreille)

Fox Loses His Tail (Crow)

Coyote Visits the Land of the Dead (Nez Perce)

Coyote Gets His Head Stuck in an Elk Skull (Gros Ventre)

Coyote and the Mouse Girls (Koryak)

Coyote Avenges His Death (Nez Perce)

The Hoodwinked Dancers (Beaver)

Coyote Swallows Horned Toad (Navajo)

Coyote Visits the Women (Assiniboine)

Coyote Gambles (Kalapuya)

Woodpecker Feeds Coyote (Fox)

Coyote and the Mallard Ducks (Nez Perce)

Coyote Steals Otter’s Coat (Cherokee)

Coyote and Buzzard (Kickapoo)

Coyote Takes Water from the Frog People

Coyote Finishes His Work