Coyote Obtains Fire - Apache / Chiricahua

[Okwes]

Coyote Obtains Fire - Apache / Chiricahua

Long ago, there was no fire. Then only those who are called Flies had fire.

Then the Flies held a ceremony. And Coyote came there1. At that place where they held the ceremony, Coyote danced around and around at the edge of the fire. And he continually poked his tail in the fire.

Then they spoke thus to him: "Friend, your tail will burn," they said to him.

Then: "Let it burn!" he said to them. And he put his tail in the fire. The fire flared up under his tail.

Then many of them circled around him. The Flies, they did so. Then many of them circled around him but that Coyote jumped over [and] away from them with the fire. He ran away from them with the fire. They ran behind him.

Then, farther on, he gave fire to the Eagle. At that place, now, he scattered the fire all over among these mountains. Fire was burning in every direction.

Then these Flies tried to put out the fire but they tried in vain.

Then, that Coyote having been helped by the blowing of the wind, the fire, becoming impossible to control, burned on. In this way, fire came into existence.2

Then [the Flies] hated that Coyote. And they spoke thus to him: "The stones, the earth, the water: let them all become hot for him!" they said to him. That happened exactly so.

Then he was dashing around and around. The Coyote did so. All of these became hot for him. Therefore he ran away in vain. A [pond of] water lay there.

"This, also, used to be cool." he said. And he jumped into the water that lay there. A [hissing] noise was heard. Right there, he was boiled.

At this time, anything that they said occurred in exactly that way. Anything of which one said: "It is to happen so." happened in just that way. For that reason one did not say just anything to someone. If one spoke in that way to someone one hated, it happened in exactly that way. For that reason, one did not say just anything to someone.3 They spoke only in a very good way.

Then, it having happened so in this place, fire came into existence. Because of Coyote, fire came into existence, they say. In this way, the old people have told them about it.

Ethnological Notes
Morris Opler

2 The winning of fire for man is always attributed to Coyote by the Chiricahua. The identities of those from whom he steals it and of those who aid him in the theft differ in various versions.

3 The informant might have added that the same belief governs Apache behavior today. If an Apache curses and wishes ill to another shortly before some disaster occurs to the one upon whom the malediction falls, the person who spoke so rashly will be considered a "witch" by many and may find himself in serious trouble.

Chiricahua and Mescalero Apache Texts,1938, Harry Hoijer, principal author. Ethnological Notes by Morris Opler.
Told by Lawrence Mithlo

[blackcrowheart]

Coyote Secures Fire (Second Version.) - Apache / Jicarilla

Coyote came where there were three children. "Show me where the trail goes up," he said. "I will give you these beads if you will show me the trail." Then he gave them the beads. They showed him a pi�on tree by means of which the people went up and down. He went down by the aid of the pi�on tree by means of which the people went up and down. He looked for some white clay with which, when he found it, he whitened his face, making zigzag lines.

He came where they were dancing and mingled with them. "Coyote, your tail is burning," one of them said to him. "I have supernatural power for that. It won't burn," he replied. He went among them again, poking the fire with his tail until it took fire, when he jumped over them and ran away with it. "Coyote does not know the trail up the wall," they said. He ran away with the fire and they all ran after him.

When Coyote was tired out, he gave the fire to Duck who ran with it. When Duck was tired he gave it to Dove. Dove ran with it until he was tired and gave it to Kingfisher who ran with it. "Fire came from me," he said. Kingfisher flew entirely around the border of the sky with the fire.

"Fire came from me. All the people secured their fire from me." The people ate with it and their food became sweet. The people all over the world were pleased. Something good happened.

Jicarilla Apache Texts, by Pliny Earle Goddard; New York: Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History, Vol. VIII; [1911] and is now in the public domain.

[blackcrowheart]

Coyote Secures Fire - Apache / Jicarilla [1]

Fireflies had their camp where high rocks stood around it in a circle and there was no trail leading down to it. They were the only people who had fire. They were playing the hoop and pole game with Otters. In vain Coyote walked around the rocks seeking a place to go down. He went where some children were playing beyond a hill and asked them where the trail was that lead down. They would not tell him. Having gathered some red berries and having made two strings of beads from them, he came again to the children. "Now tell me where the trail is," he said as he gave them the beads. "Right by the edge of the rocks stands a cedar tree," they told him, "one takes hold of it and it bends with him to the ground. If one says to it, 'Bend down to me' it will bend down and you may go out with it." Coyote pulled off some cedar bark and made a bundle of it to serve as a torch.

He went over where they were playing the hoop and pole game. They were betting their hides and when one was beaten his hide was pulled off and he jumped into the river and came out again dressed as he was before. Coyote wanted to bet his hide. "No," the other players told him, "your skin sticks too tightly to your nose, you might cry badly about it." He played, however, and lost, and when they were stripping off his skin it stuck to his nose and he cried. He jumped into the river but came out as he went in, red and without a skin. Then the others caught him and pushed him into a badger's hole. He came out with a coat of short fur. He wished to bet again but the others would not permit him saying, "You cry so about it that every one is ashamed."[2]

When it was nearly night Fireflies built a fire in the center of their camp preparatory to a dance. When the people were all standing about after the dance began, Coyote tied the cedar bark he had prepared to his tail, and dancing about, tried to get his tail in the fire. "Coyote, your tail is on fire," they called to him. "I am working magic with it; it will not burn," he replied. His tail blazed up, and he jumped over the heads of the spectators and ran to the place where the trail led up. Fireflies ran after him. "Come bend down to me," he called to the cedar. When it came down to him he went up, tossing up his tail as he topped the rock. He ran off, throwing his tail from side to side. Those running after him tried to put the fire out. Coyote ran on, whipping the trees with his tail, still pursued, until he came to the border of the sky. When he had run almost entirely around the world with the fire he was tired and crawled into a hole.

The whole world was afire and burning. It was burned black everywhere. That is why you can make a fire with a drill from all kinds of trees. Here at the east some trees were left unburned. They are like stone and will not burn if they are put in the fire. Petrified wood was the only thing of all that was on the world that was not burned.

Footnotes:

[1] Russell obtained this story with additional details. The hero in his account should be Coyote instead of Fox, an error probably due to the interpreter. The birds with whom he was flying, if named tetl, (deL) were cranes instead of geese, (a). p. 261. While this form of the story seems to be peculiar to the Southwest, a similar origin for fire is found in many other localities. Teit, (a), pp. 56-57; Goddard, p. 195; Lowie, (a), p. 244; Kroeber, (c), pp. 252-260.

[2] Matthews has this incident in another connection, p. 97.

Jicarilla Apache Texts, by Pliny Earle Goddard; New York: Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History, Vol. VIII; [1911] and is now in the public domain.

[Okwes]

Coyote Steals Fire - Nez Perce

Back then, only Old man knew how to make fire. He would sit in the gray clouds and throw lightning down and burn things. Humans were scared of him and stayed away from his fire. Fire hurt. One evening, Old man sent down a bolt and set Coyote's tail on fire. "d**n you, Old man. I hate your jokes." Coyote wanted to get him back. He created a mound of dry sticks that looked just like a dog. The biggest stick looked like his tail. Old man looked down from way up. He laughed and threw a bolt. The entire stack of dog-looking sticks caught on fire. "Oh, no. I killed Coyote!" Coyote waited for Old man to leave. Coyote Man took the stick that looked like the tail and brought it to human's camp. "Take this fire and heal or kill each other with it. I don't care. Old man does not want you to have it. This is my revenge." The woman took the fire and thanked Coyote Man. Old man saw fire in human's camp and they were not burning to death. "Coyote!" Old man screamed. He has been trying to kill Coyote every since. Coyote laughed.

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