Manataka American Indian Council
Proudly Presents
LEGENDS
Coyote and Rabbit -
A
Yaqui Legend
ONE DAY rabbit was out on a plain eating when Coyote
came up. "I am very hungry," said Coyote. "I am
going to eat you."
"No, wait here and I will bring you a really good
meal of chicken. They are cooking it over there."
Rabbit ran off toward the Monte and Coyote happily
waited, singing in anticipation of a fine meal. He
waited a long time. At last he became angry and
followed the tracks of Rabbit.
He found Rabbit in an arroyo standing by the cliff
wall holding his forepaws against the cliff. "What
are you doing?" asked Coyote.
"I am holding
this cliff up," said Rabbit. At that moment a little
rock fell and he held the cliff up harder than ever.
"Here," he said to Coyote, "you hold it up while I
go and get the food I told you about. It is almost
ready."
Coyote
put his paws against the cliff, pushing desperately
while Rabbit ran off. Another rock fell and Coyote
pushed all the harder. He waited for a long time. He
was very tired and terribly hungry. Suddenly he let
go of the cliff and ran as fast as he could. Nothing
happened. He followed the tracks of Rabbit.
'Now I really am going to eat you!"
"Just sit
down," said Rabbit. "They are going to bring that
food right here. They'll be here soon." So Coyote
sat down, looking hungrily at Rabbit. Rabbit jumped
up saying, "I'll hurry them. You wait here just a
minute." He ran off. Coyote waited.
Meanwhile, Rabbit set fire all around the edges of
the thicket. Then he ran back to Coyote. "Hear the
cohetes?" he shouted to Coyote. "The fiesta is
coming. They are bringing you a wonderful meal."
Then Rabbit ran away as fast as he could to avoid
the fire. Coyote happily danced and sang as he
waited for his meal. The fire soon surrounded him
and he was burned up.
Told by Ambrosio A. Castro
Footnotes
The above incident and others form a cycle of tales
which has a wide distribution among the Latin
Americans of Mexico and Southwestern United States
(Espinosa 1914b: 211-212). Also, incidents featuring
various animals are found among widely separated
American Indian groups as, for instance, the
Tepecanos of Mexico (Mason and Espinosa 1914: 204),
the Cochiti of New Mexico (Benedict 1935: 308), and
the Papagos of Arizona (Jane Chesky, Field Notes
1942).
YAQUI MYTHS AND LEGENDS, Ruth Warner Giddings
Reposted with Permission from Dream's Archives
From Blue Panther Keeper of Stories.
EMAIL | HOME | INDEX | TRADING POST