Cultural Mythology: Myth, culture, and consciousness

Myth in the Mojave launches this saturday, April 20th

A number of new shows are launching this weekend at radiofree joshua tree. I'm really psyched to be part of this project and encourage you to check out some of the offerings below---including Myth in the Mojave of course!

 

This week on Myth in the Mojave, I'll be telling a couple of stories about Old Man Coyote and talking about the Trickster. This is the first in a series of programs dedicated to this archetypal figure. Trickster is one of my favorite mythological characters because he embodies paradox, and reminds us that everything that is alive (and lively) has to change. Given their ability to shapeshift, and lie while telling the truth, Tricksters may also be the closest image or personification we have of "myth" itself.

 

Please give a listen and let me know what you think. Archived shows will be available at radiofree joshua tree and here on Cultural Mythology.

 

Radiofree Joshua Tree Show Schedule

 

Sunday Evening Variety Show Sundays 5-7 pm, repeat 8-10 pm, repeat Mondays 12 noon-2pm 
HD Underground Mondays 10-11 pm, repeat Saturdays 11pm-Midnight

Trust Everyone Under Thirty Fridays 4-5 pm, repeat Mondays 5-6pm 

Tiki Time Fridays 5-6 pm, repeat Sundays 3-4pm

Mojave Kitchen Dance Diaries Fridays 10-11 pm, repeat Sat Midnight-Sun 1AM, Wed 4PM

Kitten Time  Fridays 11pm-12 m, repeat Saturdays 10-11pm

In the Pit Fridays Midnight -  Saturdays 1am, repeat Sundays 11pm -Midnight

other Desert Stories Saturdays 4-5pm, repeat Sundays 7-8pm

Roadside Rex Saturdays 5-6pm, repeat Sundays 4-5pm

New Wave Dave Saturdays 6-7pm, repeat Wednesdays 5-6pm
Down The Memory Hole Fridays 8-9pm, repeat Saturdays 12 noon-1pm, Tuesday 5-6pm
Indie Lion Fridays 9-10pm
Myth In The Mojave Saturdays 3-3:30pm
Sound Medicine Sundays 2-2:30pm
Sonido Cubano Sundays 2:30-3pm

 

Tune in to radiofree joshua tree here: radiofreejt.com

 

(Image is "Coyote the Trickster" by Lydia "Prairieghost" Jacobs)

Three Ways In (how can I know you, Grandfather Coyote?)

1. Long ago there was only water. Coyote was floating on a log when he saw the ducks. “We are the only creatures in an empty world,” he told them. “One of you should dive down and see if there is a solid bottom under all this water.” The red mallard dove first. He was gone a long time. When he came up he said, “There is dirt down there but I didn’t get any.” The small pin feathered duck dove next but he didn’t get any dirt either. Then the grebe volunteered. “I will bring you some dirt my brother” he told Coyote. The grebe was gone a very long time. When he came back to the surface he had a small bit of dirt between his webbed feet. Coyote spread the mud around and made solid ground. He made rocks and stones and hills and trees and grass. He scooped out ponds and streams and filled them with fish. He created East, West, North, and South and plenty of room to wander around in. From this came everything else.

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2. Measured, marked, weighed, named, mapped, divided and divvied up, known, assessed. Smoothed, reconciled. Dead butterflies on pins mounted in a box with a velvet backdrop. Nothing stirs. Then Old Man Coyote comes and kicks the empty skull of that world. Finds the flaw, the crack, The opening in that world of certainty, fixed points, clarified positions, and Truth. Dust gets in. And light. Coyote’s road is a track in dry sand going everywhere and nowhere. Yiiieee—Coyote was going there! Sanity is discovering the patterns and letting them dissolve. So much good arises from happy accident. This happens over and over again. Old Man Coyote walked in the first twilight and howled at the moon, a soul mate in fickleness and fidelity. When his tail tells him to make dirt and lie down, he does so. Home is where his feet touch the earth. If we are alone it is because we have forgotten him and his way. Changing Person, Chief of the Human People, the one who makes things right. Where Coyote came from, only the Creator knows.

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3. Some mornings I hear coyote yipping and yapping with glee and sorrow as he runs on the rocky hills that surround our cabin. I go outside to catch a glimpse of him, lean and hungry, trotting down the sandy wash between creosote bushes and burro weed on his way to the next valley. I hear his yelping far more often than I actually see him, sense his presence, find his tracks in the dirt of the driveway where he danced in the desert darkness while I slept. Old Man Coyote reminds me that my time in this beautiful world is short and encourages me to enjoy all of it. “Life is serious play” he says, and turns to pull a prickly seed from his fur coat, shaggy and rough in the colors of dirt and gravel. “But if you must have a goal, aim to be a master of opportunity. Learn to make some thing out of something else and show all of your teeth when you smile.” He grins and lifts his tail high in the air. “Today the ground beneath you is solid,” he says, “so why not dance?”
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Notes: (1) This story is a rough paraphrase of a Crow story collected by Barry Lopez in Giving Birth to Thunder, Sleeping With His Daughter: Coyote Builds North America, Avon Books: New York, 1977.

The image is called "Creation Story" by Catherine Svehla.

Grandfather Coyote has been haunting my dreams and our property lately. Yesterday I found half of a jawbone and it toothily told me to repost this litle meditation. This piece first appeared in Mythopoetry Scholar Volume 3, 2012, "Revolution: Chaos As Creation, Revolution As Renaissance, Apocalypse As Promise." Many thanks to Stephanie Pope for bringing this ezine project to fruition.

Winter/Spring Myth and Story Lectures

 Friday February 10th 7-9PM,Room 102 Copper Mt College

"Trickster Makes the World"

The archetypal trickster is a liar who tells the truth, a wanderer between the realms, and a cunning shape shifter who gets caught in his own traps. Some of his best-known faces include Coyote, Raven, Eshu, Hermes, Loki, and Krishna. We will examine this creative mythological figure, drawing on a range of myths and stories from different traditions, in this thought-provoking lecture.

$10. Download the full class schedule and mail-in registration form at CMCC.

 

Native American Coyote Stories, Thursday Feb 16th 7-8PM
Black Rock Canyon Campground Visitor Center
9800 Black Rock Canyon, Yucca Valley JTNP

The Great Spirit told Coyote that he would be wise and foolish, a chief and a clown. Coyote shapes a world hospitable to humans through the gifts that he gives and his exploits contain important lessons. We learn from his successes and most often, his failures. Mythological stories of Old Man Coyote have special resonance here in the desert. Come hear “Coyote Keeps His Name,” based on a version told by the Okanagon people of the Pacific Northwest, and “Coyote Brings Fire to the People,” based on a version told by the Karok people from Mt. Shasta, CA. FREE.

Part of the Black Rock Lecture Series brought to you by the Desert Institute at Joshua Tree National Park.

 

Friday March 23rd 7-9PM, Room 102 Copper Mt College

C.G. Jung’s Red Book

In 1913, at age 38, C.G. Jung experienced a life-altering crisis. His response was the Red Book, a personal journal of amazing images and dream material that chronicle his “confrontation with the unconscious.” Published for the first time in the fall of 2010, the Red Book is a fascinating voyage into the psyche of the man who founded analytical psychology. If you know Jung’s work—and if you don’t—come explore the contents of this amazing book.

$10. Download the full class schedule and mail-in registration form at CMCC.

 

Friday April 20th 7-9PM, Room 102 Copper Mt College

Emissaries of Olodumare: An Introduction to the Yoruban Orishas

The Yoruban spiritual tradition revolves around a pantheon of deities called  “orishas,” manifestations of divine energies that interact with human beings. This system is part of Candomble, Santeria, Vodun, and other religions practiced by millions of people around the world. In this class we will talk about the orishas and consider the similarities and differences with the more familiar Greek Olympians, to understand West African culture and the importance mythology plays in shaping our worldview.

$10. Download the full class schedule and mail-in registration form at CMCC.

 

 

 

 

Trick(ster) or Treat," Native American Coyote tales

Lecture and Storytelling, Friday October 14th, 7-9PM, Room 101 at Copper Mountain Community College

The Great Spirit told Coyote that he would be wise and foolish, perpetually old and eternally young. How can this be? Coyote has special resonance here in the desert. Explore coyote consciousness and the paradox of the archetypal trickster through these traditional stories.  $10. Room 101 CMCC    

Testing the limits

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.

Coyote and Buffalo Bull

Coyote and Buffalo Bull (thanks again to Barry Lopez for Giving Birth to Thunder, from which this paraphrase evolved)

Coyote was traveling over the plains. He crossed the mountains and came down into the prairies. There he found the skull of Buffalo Bull. Coyote was afraid of Buffalo Bull put he played with the skull anyway. He kicked it around like a soccer ball, rolled it in the dust, and spat in the eye sockets. When he turned to go, Coyote heard a very loud sound, like thunder. He looked up and the sky was clear. The sound got louder. Coyote turned around and saw Buffalo Bull charging after him.

Coyote started running around and around in the tall grass but Buffalo Bull was right behind him. He could feel Buffalo Bull’s hot breath on his tail and feel the ground shaking under his feet. Coyote called on his power for help. Suddenly, three trees sprung up and Coyote leaped into the branches of the first one. He climbed up to the top. Buffalo Bull hacked at the trunk with his horns and just as the tree gave way, Coyote jumped to the second tree. Buffalo Bull made short work of that one too and Coyote jumped into the third and final tree. He looked down at Buffalo Bull, who was hacking at the trunk with his horns. “My friend,” said Coyote, “you must let me smoke my pipe one more time before you kill me.” Buffalo Bull stopped and looked up at Coyote. “Okay,” he said, “that is a fitting death for a warrior.”

Coyote loaded his pipe and took a few puffs. Then he offered the pipe to Buffalo Bull. Buffalo Bull said “I won’t smoke with you Coyote. You trampled my bones.”

Coyote looked at Buffalo Bull. “My brother,” he said, “this is no way to act. I see that your horns are dull and cracked. Let me get down and make you a new pair.” Buffalo Bull let Coyote come down from the tree. Coyote go out his flint and some pitch wood and made a beautiful set of horns, heavy and smooth and black and very sharp. He gave them to Buffalo Bull. Buffalo Bull put them on and he was so delighted that he forgot about Coyote and the trampled bones. He went to Younger Bull and killed him. Younger Bull had stolen all of his cows. Now Buffalo Bull got them back.

Buffalo Bull was so please with his new horns that he decided to give Coyote one of his cows. “You must never kill this cow,” said Buffalo Bull. “When you are hungry, cut off a little piece of her fat with your knife. Rub the wound with ashes and it will heal. Do this and you will always have food.”

Coyote took the little cow and headed back across the prairie towards the mountains. For a while he did exactly as Buffalo Bull instructed. He cut off a little piece of fat and he rubbed the wound with ashes. But as they traveled on, Coyote started to get a little tired of the fat. He wanted a piece of fresh liver and some bone marrow. They crossed the mountains and arrived back on the plains. “What Buffalo Bull said only counts in his country,” thought Coyote. “I am chief here.” He led the little cow to a creek and some sweet grass. “You look footsore,” he told her. “Eat and rest.”

When the little cow was resting, Coyote came up suddenly and killed her. He pulled off her hide and a huge crowd of crows and magpies descended and started eating her. Coyote drove them off, but more and more came until there was no meat left. Coyote had only a carcass. “Well,” thought Coyote, “I still have the bone marrow.” He got his cooking pot and started to build a fire.

Just then an old woman came by. “Coyote,” she said, “what are you doing? Why, that’s woman’s work. Let me cook those bones for you.” Coyote really liked this woman’s attitude. He curled up in the grass and went to sleep. When he woke up, he saw the woman running away with the marrow and the grease. Coyote chased her but couldn’t catch her. She had a big head start.

Coyote went back to his fire and the dwindling remains of the little cow. There were a few bones left. “At least I can boil these bones up for soup,” he thought. But when he picked up the bones they turned into sticks. No soup.

Coyote was hungry. “There is only one thing left to do,” he decided. “I have to go back to Buffalo Bull and ask him for another cow.” He crossed back over the mountains and down to the prairie and found Buffalo Bull with his cows. When he came up to the herd he saw that the little cow he had killed was among them. Coyote apologized for killing her and swore that he wouldn’t do it again, but she would not go with him again. Buffalo Bull wouldn’t give him another cow either.

Coyote went back across the prairie and over the mountain to his home on the plains. When he got back he discovered that everyone else had moved. They had heard what he had done and didn’t want to be in the same place with him.

(The photo of the buffalo bull, courtesy of First people ).

 

 

Your Way, My Way, the Right Way

I love the story about Coyote and Bear and Kingfisher (The Bungling Host) for a number of reasons, the humor and the reappearance of the huckleberries (remember Coyote's huckleberry sisters?) to name a couple. But what I find particularly elegant (or sneaky) is the emphasis on the right way to do things, and the idea that the "way" or practice assigned to each being only works for him. It's a lovely illustration of the natural order don't you think? What's so elegant, or sneaky, is the way that we're led to see Coyote's failure and then boom---you realize that actually, Coyote did do things his way. The trickster imitates. He copies. And although Coyote didn't succeed at making meat and huckleberries like Bear and he kills himself trying to fish like Kingfisher, in the end he gets fed. He gets food. And that was what he was after. All three of these characters has a way and each one follows it to the letter, even Coyote.

I imagine that the people who originally told this story understood Coyote's way and saw it as an integral part of the story from the beginning. I didn't at first, and the people that I've told it to didn't either. Coyote is a paradox, a mixture of qualities that we call both good and bad, and his exploits elicit a range of reactions. Since Coyote is Coyote, our reactions reflect back on us. Our judgments about Coyote, that he needs to learn a lesson, for example, stop boasting, find himself, develop some depth, all point at the contradictions in our nature and what we might be struggling with ourselves. If you think that Coyote has a problem, well, consider what's kicking around in your own consciousness.

Yep, story therapy is a lot cheaper and a lot more fun then other types I've tried.

One common reaction I've observed is disdain for Coyote's copying. It's a disdain shared by other characters in Coyote stories and not something Coyote himself reveres. He wants to be a warrior. But he's the trickster, too bad. Apparently this role is needed in a dynamic cosmos. If you think about it, we all learn by observing and drink, in all of our endeavors, from the pool of collective know-how and experience. There are many demands and desires for originality and authenticity but both are in shorter supply then some of us like to think. The tension between what is original and what is acquired, between our innate nature and the will power we exert to become "who we are," may be a place where Coyote slips into our psyche and our lives.

The Bungling Host

This is a paraphrase of the version found in Barry Lopez's Giving Birth to Thunder, Sleeping With His Daughter.

One day there was no food at Coyote’s lodge. Coyote asked his wife Mole to make him breakfast and she replied, “With what?” So Coyote decided to go visit Bear. Bear always had food.

 When Coyote got to Bear’s lodge he called out “Brother Bear hello, it’s me, Coyote. I’m hungry. What have you got to eat?” Bear didn’t really like this, but he invited Coyote in and said that he would make some food.

 Bear put a few stones in the fire to make them very hot, and he got a large basket full of water. When the stones were ready he put them in the basket. Then he reached over a cut a strip of buckskin from his wife’s dress. He smeared some ashes on the dress and it was made whole. Then he put the buckskin in the basket of hot water. Coyote thought this was a silly way to make food but he didn’t say anything.

 When the water was boiling, Bear went outside and picked up a handful of pebbles. He dropped the pebbles in the basket and let them sit for a few minutes. Coyote wasn’t sure he was going to like this meal and wondered if he should have called on someone else. But when Bear handed him a bowlful, Coyote discovered that it was full of meat and huckleberries.

 Coyote ate and ate until his belly was round and Bear offered him the leftovers—there was quite a lot of food left—to take home to his family. “Bear,” said Coyote, “tomorrow you come over to my place and I’ll make you lunch.” Bear agreed.

 The next day, Bear came to Coyote’s lodge. Coyote told his wife Mole to bring him some stones and a basket of water. He heated the stones and put them in the water just as Bear had done. Then he cut a piece out of Mole’s only robe and put the buckskin in the water. Coyote rubbed the robe with ashes but it was not repaired. “That’s funny,” he said, “it has always worked before.”

 When the water was boiling, Coyote went outside and got a handful of pebbles. He added them to the basket. “Husband, what are you doing?” Mole asked. “What do you mean,” said Coyote, “I’m making food for Bear. You’ve seen me do this many times.”

 When Coyote served his lunch it was only boiled buckskin and pebbles. Bear had been very patient. He reached over to Mole’s robe, rubbed it with ashes, and made it whole again. Then he said to Coyote, “Look Coyote, this is my way. This is not your way. You are not a medicine man. You cannot do these things.” Then Bear left.

 Coyote went over and looked in the basket. It was now full of meat and huckleberries. “Look wife,” he exclaimed, “I have made food just like Bear. My medicine is very powerful, and he was afraid to admit it.”

 Some time later, Coyote again woke up to find that there was no food in his lodge. He decided to visit Kingfisher. When he got to Kingfisher’s lodge he called out “Brother Kingfisher, it’s me, Coyote. I’m hungry. What have you got to eat?” Kingfisher didn’t like this manner of speaking but he invited Coyote in and said that he would get some food. Kingfisher called his son and told him to go fetch three willow sticks. Boy Kingfisher did this, and his father heated the willow sticks over the fire until they were very hard. Then he put them in his belt and flew up to the roof of his lodge. He watched the river flowing below and suddenly dived down into the water through a hole in the ice. A minute later, Kingfisher emerged with a fish on each willow stick.

 He gave the fish to Coyote, who ate and ate until his belly was round. Kingfisher told him to take the leftovers home. Coyote said “Brother Kingfisher, tomorrow you will come to my lodge for lunch.” Kingfisher didn’t want to and said no. But Coyote insisted, “You come tomorrow, you’ll like it.”

 The next day, Kingfisher came to Coyote’s lodge. Coyote told his son to fetch him three willow sticks. Boy Coyote did this and his father held the sticks over the fire until they were hard. Then he put them in his belt just as Kingfisher had done, and climbed onto the roof of his lodge. Mole came outside. “Husband, she exclaimed, “what are you doing?” “Oh wife, I’m making lunch for Kingfisher,” said Coyote, “You’ve seen me do this many times.” Coyote dived into the river but he missed the hole in the ice and was killed.

 Kingfisher walked over to Coyote and took the three willow sticks from his belt. He dived into the hole in the ice and soon returned with many fish. Kingfisher stepped over Coyote. He stepped over Coyote three more times and Coyote came back to life. Kingfisher handed the fish to Coyote and said “Coyote, this is my way, not your way. I do not imitate others like you do.” Then he went home.

 Coyote took the fish back home to Mole, “Look at these big fish” he said. “I caught them just the way that Kingfisher does. My power is strong. He told me not to do this anymore because he is afraid of my power.”

 Mole cooked the fish.

 

Coyote Story Consciousness

The stories and myths that we tell reflect our consciousness, our beliefs and assumptions about the world. Bringing that truth to light is one reason to tell them. The light gets even brighter when we learn and listen to the stories of others, to stories from foreign places and different times, told by people with a different set of assumptions. One reason that native American stories and trickster tales in particular seem so strange is they reflect a different kind of consciousness. There are many Coyote stories in which he responds to the needs of the "people" or organizes the "people" to act but hey, there's not one human being in the story. People?

When we talk about Prometheus and his gift of fire, the "fire" is frequently understood as consciousness, that special brand of human self-awareness. Coyote brings fire to the people (see the story posted 7/14), but it is literal fire, fire as a tool to cook food and stay warm. Does that mean that the people who tell this story just don't understand the fire as consciousness? That they don't employ that symbol, make that connection? Maybe. But a cursory examination of native American cultures reveals a sophisticated cosmology of spirit and consciousness.

What lurks behind the action of the Coyote Brings Fire story is the understanding that all the beings involved, the skookums and the animal people who run the relay, already have consciousness--they clearly have language--and they comport themselves with a sense of self and identity that we tend to deny. (I watch my smart cat Harry sometimes and wonder, "Does he know that's he's a cat? Or rather, how does he understand the differences between us? Count legs?) In the Coyote tale, this kind of consciousness and language are not, as we commonly believe, the sole province of the human. In the story about Coyote and His Name (see post 7/6) you get the sense that the new people, the humans, will be another tribe among many with their special place and mission just like everyone else.

The notion of a web of relationship, of an extended family of beings that includes everything, is a common native idea. Certainly I have heard it and understood the words, abstractly, but I never felt the difference between my inherited world of inanimate objects and inferior beings until I learned and told this tale. Robert Avens writes that modern individuals will never find their soul until they find the soul in every other being. Something to ponder, and practice.

How Coyote Brought Fire to the People

Here is the other story from the July Roundtable, one with obvious connections to the myth of Prometheus---and some provocative differences. This story is my paraphrase of the version in Giving Birth to Thunder, Sleeping With Daughter by Barry Lopez. This version is from the Karok tribe, from the Mt. Shasta area in northern California.

Way back in the early days the animal people did not have fire. Only the skookums had fire. The skookums  were kind of like Big Foot, very strong and brave and ancient. They lived on the top of a snowy mountain, and this is the only place in the world where one could find fire.

The animal people were often cold and had to eat their food raw. One day Coyote came through the animal village and the people said "Brother Coyote, you need to help us before we die of cold." Coyote knew where the fire was, and he also knew who was guarding it. So he wasn't exactly sure how he was going to approach this project but he said "Okay, Coyote makes things right. I will get you fire." He made his way up to the top of the snowy peak and he found the lodge of three skookum sisters who were guardians of the fire. And he laid down behind some bushes in the snow, off a little ways from the lodge and the fire, to watch.

What he saw were three old, wrinkled sisters who took turns guarding the fire. One sister would sit outside and feed the flames while the other two were in the lodge, eating and sleeping and doing whatever else they needed to do. When it was time to change places, the sister by the fire would get up, walk slowly to the door of the lodge, open it and call inside, "Sister, come out to tend the fire!" And one of the other skookum sisters would emerge to take her place.

Well, Coyote laid there for awhile and watched this routine and he noticed that the sister who had the night watch was especially stiff and creaky and cold at dawn and took especially long to walk to the lodge door. So he thought, this is the time to take the fire. While she's making her way soooo slowly back to the lodge, I should have plenty of time to grab some fire and take off. The getting it is not a problem. Holding onto it though, that's another story, because these ladies might be old but they are fast and they are strong and there's no way I can outrun them all the way back to the animal village.

Coyote felt that he'd done all the reconnaissance he could do and headed back down the mountain. All the way down he thought and he thought and he thought about how he was going to get fire back to the animal people. He couldn't figure it out. Coyote decided to ask his sisters, who were three huckleberries who were always with him. They were very wise. So Coyote pooped and there were his sisters. Coyote bent down and said " Hey sisters, I have a problem. I need to get some fire. I need to steal some fire from the skookums for the animal people and you need to help me."

Now, the huckleberry sisters didn't want to help Coyote. He was a troublesome pain. So they said, "You know Coyote, as soon as we tell you what to do, you'll just say 'Oh I knew that,' so why don't you spare us the trouble and figure it out for yourself?" Coyote knew that his huckleberry sisters were afraid of hail. So he called up to the clouds in the sky "Hail. Come on down my friend. Hail now!" and a few pieces of hail fell from the sky. The huckleberry sisters said " All right, all right, make it stop and we'll give you a plan." So Coyote did, and they did. Coyote bent down close and the sisters told him what to do. When they were done he said "I already thought of that" and went back to the animal village.

Coyote gathered all of the animal people together and told them the plan. So the following day, the animals came together behind Coyote and they started out for the mountain and along the way Coyote had this one stop here, and that one stop there, and that one stop there, until they made a chain of animals almost all the way up to the top of the mountain. When all of the animals were in place, Coyote himself went back up to the skookums lodge and took his place once again behind the bushes in the snow and watched the fire and the skookums and waited for dawn.

The sister who was guarding the fire had pretty good eyesight and she saw him over there, but figured it was just an animal looking for scraps. Since the skookums sisters had fire and cooked food, they sometimes had such visitors. So she didn't think about it much and sat and stared into the flames and now and then she threw another log onto the fire until her time was up. At dawn she got up very creakily and slowly made her way to the lodge door. Just at the moment that she opened the door and called her sister, Coyote leaped up, ran to the fire, grabbed a burning brand, and took off.

The second that he was gone the sisters in the doorway saw him and the three sisters were after him in a flash. Coyote ran and ran and ran and he ran faster than he ever had before in his life. He even rolled part of the way like a giant snowball but the three skookum sisters were hot on his tail, kicking up snow and ice. So he ran and ran and just as he got to the treeline, there was Cougar. Coyote handed Cougar the burning brand and off went the feline brother, sleek and quick, with the three skookum sisters right behind him. Coyote fell face first into the snow exhausted.

Cougar ran and ran and he couldn't shake the skookums either. Cougar ran all the way to the low trees, to where there started to be some bushes, and he passed the fire off to Fox. And Fox ran and ran with the skookums at the tip of his bushy tail until he got to the dense underbrush. Fox tossed the fire up to Squirrel who snatched it and went off leaping nimbly from limb to limb. The three skookum sisters knew they couldn't travel that way. But they were big and they were strong and they were fast so they just barreled right on through all of those scratchy bushes and they were on the other end waiting for Squirrel. Squirrel had just one split second and he tossed the fire to Antelope. Antelope was the fastest animal hands down and he bounded off across the meadow.

And so it goes. From animal to animal, paw to claw, the relay continues and the three skookum sisters match the animal people step for step and breath for breath.

Now the fire has made its way down the mountain and the animal village is not too far away. The fire is no longer a burning brand. All that is left is one tiny glowing ember which gets passed to Frog, who swallows it. Frog hops, hops, hops and dives into the deep river but the youngest sister saw what he was about and leaps over to the far bank and is waiting for him. Frog hopped right between her legs and for a second it looked like he was going to get away when suddenly all three sisters were there and Frog was so tired, he couldn't jump any more. So he just pssht spit the ember into wood.

The three skookum sisters gather around the wood. They are perplexed. They don't know how to get the fire out of the wood. They talk it over and scratch their heads but finally they have to admit defeat. They made their way back up to their lodge on top of the snowy mountain peak.

By now all of the animals are recovering from their races and slowly making their way back down the mountain. They gather around Frog. There doesn't seem to be any fire. The last one down is Coyote, since he was way up at the top, and he finds the animals all sitting around Frog and the wood. Coyote says "Hey Brother Frog, how did it go?" and Frog says, "Well, there it is" and points at wood. Coyote says "Well, good."

Coyote gets a couple of twigs and rubs them together until he raises a few sparks and he shows the animal people how to add a little dry moss and some bigger sticks to build a fire. Coyote knew how to get the fire out of wood. From that day forward, the animals could cook their food and they weren't cold anymore.