Week 11 Story: The Teamwork of Coyote and Raven

Photo of Raven by Greg Schechter. Source.

Photo of Coyote by Yathin S Krishnappa. Source.

Raven was perched on the Old Tree, searching for his friend Coyote. The two planned to meet up. Except Coyote was late. When Coyote did arrive, his ears were drooped. Coyote didn't even try to eat the snow that fell through the sky.
Coyote flopped onto the ground, and after a moment, Coyote's looked up to Raven.

"I don't think the people like the Dark and Cold," Coyote stated as if that sentence made any sense at all.

"Okay, I'll bite. What's 'Dark' and 'Cold'?"

"The Old Ones told me that this world we live in is Dark and Cold, and the people are unable to see, eat, or live well. I learned of something called 'Light' and 'Warm' which would better suit the people. My neighbor Old Chief has a box of Light, but he refused to share it with me. And I do not know where to find Warm."

"If you want to know where Warm is, I can help."

Coyote's ears perked, and the next moment Raven had a full view of Coyote's eager face very reminiscent of a pup's.

Raven, of course, preened at the attention. "I happen to know that Warm comes from fire, which you can get from the nearby Fire People. However, they live in hidden areas, and the only sign of them is from their smoke, which blends with Dark. We would need to make to obtain Light from Old Chiefs box first."

"But I already told you, he won't share it. And his security is really good. I tried stealing the box for hours but didn't get close."

"We'll just have to trick him into opening it then, won't we." At Raven's mischievous twinkle in his eyes, Coyote felt a thrill. "I love tricks!"

Coyote and Raven then came up with a plan. Coyote visited every animal he knew, which was all of them. The Flyers, the Climbers, the Swimmers, the Runners, and the Diggers all assembled outside Old Chief's house.

The animals began to sing, "Light, Light, Light" over and over again, each with a unique tune and tempo. Their music's power summoned Light, which quickly began to envelop the sky. However, before the Light passed on to the Old Chief's home, the man himself came out and shouted, "Let it not be!"

The Old Chief's strength restored the Dark sky. However, the animals were not deterred and continued to sing "Light, Light, Light" through the night. Over time, the Old Chief grew tired from the ruckus at his door and in his weariness, shouted, "Let it be—Light!"

With this mistake, Old Chief unlocked the box containing Light, and Light enveloped the world.

As Light fully enveloped the world, Raven's sharp eyes caught a glimpse of a dark cloud, from none other than the Fire People's smoke. Raven traveled to the Fire People's lands and returned with a lit torch.

And so it was Light and Warm for a long time with the gifts from Raven and Coyote. However, some animals, such as Grizzly Bear, soon wished for Dark and cold to return. These animals began to sing for Dark and Cold to return, while the rest sang with Coyote and Raven to keep the world Light and Warm forever. However, the tremendous amount of singing later tired out the animals, and they decided to compromise.

If you wish to know the results, hear this ancient rhyme: "Dark" became "Night" and "Light" became "Day. The turns of "Cold" and "Warm" is how the Seasons were made.

Author's Note:

Excerpts from Myths and Legends of British North America by Katharine Berry Judson (1917). Source.

Creation of light. Source.

An old chief owned every bit of light, fire, and water and refused to share it. The animal people of the time gathered outside the old chief's tepee and began to try to create their own light by singing and dancing. Because of this, light began to show but the old chief banished the light again. However, after the animals sang more, the old chief became distracted at the noise level until he accidentally summoned light. Since then, people have had access to light.

Grizzly Bear and Coyote. Source.

Grizzly Bear did not like that nighttime was very short and wanted to make it night all the time. Coyote fought against this idea as people need light. They each began to sing a song. Grizzly Bear sang about how it would always be darkness, and Coyote sang about how it would always be light. The louder song then controlled whether it was light or dark. However, they both got tired and decided to make half the time light and half the time dark. This is how the cycle of day and night was made.

Later on, Grizzly Bear wanted very long winters while Coyote knew all-time winter would hurt people. Instead, Grizzly bear decided to want as many moons of winter as feathers in a Blue Grouse tail. Coyote suggested that they instead do half the number of feathers, but Grizzly Bear did not want this. Coyote suggested they instead do half the number of feathers in Flicker's tail to determine the number of moons in winter. Grizzly Bear agreed because he thought Flicker had a lot of tail feathers. This is how the seasons were made.

Origin of Light and Fire. Source.

Sea Gull owned all the light in the world, and Raven wanted to share light with the people. Ravel tricked Sea Gull into releasing the light. Raven used the light to find out where the fire was and trade for it so the people could have fire.

For my retelling, I combined these three stories. I tried to give Coyote and Raven distinct personalities. Raven is more mocking, confident, and a loner compared to the loyal, people-person Coyote.