Coyote energy is edgy, and one of Coyote's jobs is patrolling and defining boundaries. He lives on the margins and displays no respect for rules or protocol. Coyote even trespasses against the sacred---he tramples the bones of Buffalo Bull!---and he survives, even heals the breach. He makes an offering to the powers that be in smoking his pipe, and he makes an offering to Buffalo Bull, the gift of a new set of horns.The self-interest behind this gift is kind of embarrassing to us, brought up as we are (some of us anyway) to think that a high-minded purity is the only proper approach to all things godly. But let's face it, we often do things until we get caught, and as this Coyote story suggests, he can't dismantle or escape the sacred order of things. The young cow that he kills reappears in Buffalo Bull's herd, balance is maintained despite his actions.
Of course Coyote loses the cow. He can't follow the rule to keep her, behavior consistent with his foolishness and appetite, and his wandering nature. Coyote can't settle down, hold onto possessions, or maintain a routine, even if it keeps him fed. That's just his way, all the way, but the end of the story tells us that his model is not the model for everyone to follow. He is sanctioned by the rest of his community, by others bound to respect the skull of Buffalo Bull and the sanctity of the life of the young cow, representative of the relationship between the living and the dead, the hunter and the prey, the eater and the eaten. This relationship depends on respect for limits, practical, moral, and spiritual that his community values. Greed is not good---what a concept!
Coyote isn't capable of respect but the human listeners of this story are, and his exploits allow them/us to evaluate and reaffirm the boundaries of the culture and their proper place in the cosmic order. Institutionalized questioning---imagine that. Although these stories typically reinforce the prevailing cultural mores, I have to wonder what it would be like to live in a culture that invites Coyote to sniff around its most cherished notions, a culture in which there may be off-limits actions but no taboo subjects, provided humor is used to loosen up all involved. There is a resiliency to a system that allows for the chaos that testing the edges invites, even if the considered choice is to reaffirm the commitment to the established order.
