The Trickster

by Alan Nafzger & Lilly Tabbytite (Comanche)

The Trickster

Coyote was walking along one day when he noticed a man throwing his eyes up into a tree.

"Eyes, hang on a branch," the man said, and his eyes left him and hung on a branch high up in a tree where they had a good view of the countryside. The man asked for his eyes to return when he wanted them back.

Coyote was immediately interested in learning how to do this and asked the man to teach him.

The man agreed and taught him, but he cautioned Coyote not to repeat the trick more than four times in a day.

The coyote threw his eyes up into a tree as soon as the man left. He then returned their call. When his eyes were on the top of a tree, he could see a long way across the land and was glad he had learned the trick.

Coyote believed he could perform the trick as many times as he wanted, and he did so four times on the first day. When he said, "Eyes, hang on a branch" for the fifth time, his eyes disappeared into the top of a tree and did not return when he called them. Coyote called again and again, but his gaze remained fixed on the tree. Coyote begged his eyes to come down, but they remained firmly attached to the limb. His eyes began to swell and spoil as the day progressed, and flies began to congregate on them.

Coyote yelled all day and into the night for his eyes to close, but they never did. Coyote finally fell asleep.

The Coyote's chest was run over by a mouse. A coyote was about to brush him away when he had an epiphany. He was motionless. The mouse crossed Coyote's chest to Coyote's head and began cutting the hairs on Coyote's head for its nest. Coyote made no movement. While the mouse was busy cutting the hair, its tail fell into the coyote's mouth. The coyote quickly shut his mouth and grabbed the mouse.

Coyote informed the mouse of what had occurred. The mouse claimed to have seen Coyote's eyes up in the tree, and they were indeed puffed up to enormous proportions. He offered to go up and get the eyes for Coyote, but Coyote refused. The mouse tried and tried to break free from the coyote's grasp, but it was impossible. Finally, the mouse inquired as to what he needed to do to be set free. Coyote informed him that he would have to give him one of his eyes.

This was done by the mouse. Coyote grabbed the mouse's eye and let it go. The eye was very small and fitted far back in Coyote's eye socket, impairing his vision.

There was a buffalo grazing nearby who had been watching the whole time. "This buffalo has the power to help me out," Coyote reasoned.

The buffalo inquired as to what Coyote desired. Coyote informed him that he had lost one of his eyes and that he required a replacement. The buffalo extracted one of his eyes and implanted it in Coyote's other socket.

Coyote could see clearly now, but he couldn't walk straight. The buffalo eye was so large that most of it was outside the socket. Back inside, the other eye was circling.

Coyote walked around with his head tilted to prevent his one eye from rolling out.