How Coyote BroughT Fire TO The people

by Alan Nafzger & Lilly Tabbytite (Comanche)

The animal people did not have fire at first. The only fire anywhere was on top of a high, snow-covered mountain, where the skookums guarded it. The skookums were afraid that if the animal people possessed any fire, they would become extremely powerful—equal to the skookums. As a result, the skookums would not give any of the fire to anyone.

Because the animal people lacked fire, they shivered constantly and had to eat their food raw. When Coyote arrived, they were cold and miserable.

"Coyote," they begged, "bring us fire from the mountain or we will perish from the cold."

"I'll see what I can do for you," Coyote promised.

Coyote began the long and difficult climb to the top of the mountain where the skookums kept the fire as soon as the sun came up the next morning.

When he reached the top, he noticed three wrinkled, old skookums, all sisters, guarding the fire all day and night, each taking a turn. While one stood guard, the other two ate and slept in a nearby lodge. When it was time to change watches, the person at the fire would go to the lodge's door and yell, "Sister, get up and guard the fire!"

The skookum who had been watching the fire all night was stiff with cold at dawn, and she walked slowly through the snow to the lodge door to call her sister. "This is the time to steal a brand of fire," Coyote thought to himself. But he was also aware that he would be pursued. And he knew that despite their age, the skookums were fast and strong runners. Coyote would need to devise a strategy.

Coyote pondered and pondered, but he couldn't come up with a plan. So he decided to enlist the assistance of his three sisters, who had always resided in his stomach in the form of huckleberries. They were wise and would advise him on what to do.

He urinated.

Coyote's sisters were initially hesitant to assist him. "If we tell you," they explained, "you'll just say you knew it all along."

Coyote remembered his sisters' fear of hail, so he yelled into the sky, "Hail! Hail! "Fall from the sky."

His sisters were terrified as a result of this. "Stop!" they exclaimed. "Don't bring down the hail. We'll tell you everything you want to know."

Coyote's sisters then instructed him on how to steal the fire and deliver it to the people without being discovered.

"Yes, that was my plan all along," Coyote said after they had finished talking.

Then Coyote went to see the animal people. He gathered everyone, as his sisters had requested, and told each animal—Antelope, Fox, Weasel, Beaver, Squirrel, and others—to take up specific positions along the mountainside. When everyone was in place, they formed a long line stretching from the top of the mountain all the way back to the village.

Coyote returned to the mountain and waited for sunrise. The old skookum watching the fire had sharp eyes, and she noticed him. But she assumed it was just a skulking animal looking for scraps.

The skookum walked slowly over to the lodge door at dawn, leaving the fire. "Sister, get up and watch over the fire."

Coyote leapt from the bushes at that precise moment. He grabbed a burning brand from the fire and dashed across the snow as fast as he could. In an instant, the three skookums were right behind him. They were so close that they were pelting Coyote with the snow and ice they were creating in their rage. Coyote was running faster than he had ever run before. He jumped over ice cracks and rolled down the mountain like a snowball, but the skookums were close behind him, so close that their hot breath scorched his fur.

When Coyote reached the tree line, Cougar leapt from his hiding place, snatched up the firebrand, and dashed away—just as Coyote collapsed on his face from exhaustion. Cougar dashed all the way to the high trees and set fire to Fox. Fox raced until he reached the dense undergrowth, where he set fire to Squirrel. Squirrel jumped from branch to branch as he ran through the trees. Because the skookums couldn't get through the trees, they decided to catch Squirrel at the forest's edge. But Antelope was waiting for Squirrel to give him the fire, and Antelope, the fastest of all the animals, bounded away across the meadow. Each of the animals carried the fire in turn, but the skookums remained right behind them.

When there was only a single glowing coal left, the fire was passed to Frog. Frog gulped down the hot coal and hopped away as fast as he could. When he dove into a deep river and swam across to the other side, the skookums were almost on top of him. The youngest skookum had already leapt across the water to meet him. Frog saw what had happened as soon as he landed and jumped between the skookum's legs, bounding away. The skookums were on him again in an instant, and Frog was too tired to jump, so he spat the hot coal on Wood, who swallowed it. The three skookums stood there, unsure of what to do. None of them could figure out how to extinguish Wood's fire. They eventually left and returned to their lodge at the top of the mountain.

Coyote then summoned the animals, and they all gathered around Wood. Coyote, who was very wise, knew how to extinguish the fire in Wood. He demonstrated to the animals how to rub two dry sticks together until sparks appeared. Then he demonstrated how to collect dry moss and make wood chips to add to the sparks to start a small fire. He then demonstrated how to add small twigs and pine needles to make a larger fire.

People knew how to make fire out of wood from then on. They cooked their meat, warmed their homes, and were never cold again.