Has there ever been a time when you failed to use your better judgment? What were the consequences? In the story of Coyote's Eyes, a coyote convinces a woman to ignore her own judgment, and the results are, well, surprising. Welcome to the world of Coyote Stories.
stories, a genre of traditional Native American folk tales. Like most animal stories from around the world, these tales offer parables about people. The coyote character in Coyote's Eyes is a trickster.
A trickster is a mischief-making rogue, sometimes a villain, and sometimes a hero, who shows up in the folktales of many different cultures. Coyote's Eyes originated in the folklore of Oregon's warm spring. and is told here by Native American storyteller Terry Tafoya. The tale was passed down to him by his mother, also a storyteller and a member of the Warm Springs tribe.
Observe how Terry used to tell his story. uses his hands, eyes, costume, drum, and even references to modern life to convey Coyote to us. And imagine how different it would have been to have only read the story.
How does the ancient tradition of storytelling still speak to us today? Let's listen and watch. An okwushe washa. Long time ago, a coyote was traveling along. And the coyote saw something very strange.
Something mysterious. He saw a willikiki, a rabbit. This is no ordinary rabbit.
This rabbit was a twati, Indian doctor, medicine person. As Coyote watched, the rabbit sang, Ho, hee, ho, ho, ho. And the eyes of the rabbit flew out of his head, sat up on the branch of a tree, and looked down at Coyote and the rabbit. And as Coyote watched, the rabbit said, Weed him, which in our language means come here. And sure enough, the eyes of the rabbit the rabbit floated down and fell back into his eye sockets and the rabbit could see again.
Well, Coyote ran up to the rabbit and said, Show me that trick, show me that trick, show me the trick, show me the trick, show me the trick. And four times Coyote begged and pleaded with the rabbit. Four times the rabbit said no. But on the fifth time Coyote asked, the rabbit said, I will show you how to do this thing, Coyote, but you must never do it more than four times in one day. If you do it more than four times in one day, something terrible will happen to you.
And Coyote said, No problem, no problem, just show me the trick. And so he learned the song of the rabbit. And now Coyote sang, Oh! And sure enough, Coyote's eyes flew out of his head, sat on the branch of a tree, looked down on Coyote and the rabbit. And then Coyote said, Weenum, come here.
And sure enough, Coyote's eyes floated down gently, fell back into his eye sockets, and Coyote could see again. Well, rabbit left to go into another legend. But Coyote, he practiced this a second time. Did it a third time.
Did it a fourth time. Then Coyote thought, why am I wasting my time doing this here when nobody can see and admire me? I should go find the closest village of native people so they can be impressed.
And he did. And so he went out looking for villages of native people. And he found somebody, called them all together, and he said, now check this out.
And they all gathered together in a circle. And coyotes sang, ho, hee, ho, ho, ho. And sure enough, coyote's eyes flew out of his head, sat on the branch of a tree, looked down at all the native people, and they were impressed. And then coyote said, that's nothing now, watch this.
And coyote said, weenum, come here. And nothing happened. The eyes just sat up there looking at people.
And coyote said, weenum, tuktu, hurry up, get down here. Weenum, tuktu, hurry up, hurry up. But the eyes just sat up there looking at people. The eyes wouldn't budge.
They just sat up there looking at people. And all the native people, they could take a joke, so they laughed and they went home. And just about then, a crow was flying by. And that crow saw Coyote's eyes and thought, hmm, lunch, and swooped down and ate Coyote's eyes and flew away. And now Coyote was blind.
He couldn't see. He was having to feel his way around like this. And Coyote was going, ah, inishnay, inishnay, pootly, pootly, which loosely translates into, I'm just pitiful. I'm blind.
And someone heard him. And that first someone was Mouse. And Mouse said, what's the matter with you, Coyote? How come you're screaming around like that? And Coyote said, ah.
Inish nai, inish nai, poochinay, got no eyes, I'm blind, have to feel my way around like this, I'm just pitiful. And Mouse thought about this and took pity on Coyote and said, Ash, nai, nai, poor pitiful thing, I'll tell you what, I've got two eyes, I'll share one of my eyes with you. And so Mouse gifted one of her eyes to Coyote.
Now Coyote is the size of a small German shepherd and Mouse is so small it'll fit in the palm of my hand. And this Mouse eye was so tiny it would hardly let in any light at all. Coyote could just barely see out of his eye. He was still having to feel his way around like this.
Now Coyote continued. continued going, and someone else heard him. And that's someone who said, the buffalo. And said, the buffalo.
Buffalo said, what's the matter with you, Coyote? How come you're screaming around like that? And Coyote said, ah, Inishnaya, Inishnaya, but usually all I got to see with is a mouse eye so small, like looking through this little bitty hole, hardly lets in any light at all, and just barely see out of this thing.
I have to feel my way around like this. I'm just pitiful. And so Ushimya took pity on Coyote and said, ah, Shnoyan, why, poor pitiful thing. I'll tell you what. I've got two eyes.
I'll share one of my eyes with you. And so Buffalo gifted one of his eyes to Coyote. And so when Buffalo took out his eye, it was so big it wouldn't all fit in Coyote's eye socket. Half of it hung out on his cheek like this.
And it was so big it let in twice as much light as Coyote was used to. And Coyote was blinded by all that light. And poor Coyote was forced to walk around these mismatched eyes, giving him a terrible headache.
Now, finally he got tired of that. And he threw those eyes away. And when he can't think of what to do, he asked his sisters for help.
And so he called upon his Huckleberry sisters. There are three of them who live inside of his stomach, because they had housing shortages in those days, too. And Coyote called, Weedum, weedum, oh! Which means, come here, huckleberries.
And sure enough, they jumped on the ground in front of him. And they said, What is it this time, Coyote? Always bothering us, always asking us what you should do.
And every time we tell you what you should do, you always say, I knew it all along, that's what I was going to do anyway. Well, we're sick and tired of it, Coyote. This time we're not going to help you.
Just figure it out for yourself. And Coyote became angry with his sisters. And Coyote started singing, Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, hey, yo, hey, yo.
Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, hey, yo, hey, yo. The sky grew black. There's a sound of thunder because Coyote was calling forth hail. Now, huckleberries hate hail because it hurts their little leaves and their little branches.
And his sister said, no, no, call off the hail, Coyote. We know what it is you want to know anyway. You want to know what to do about your eyes.
Well, use flowers for your eyes. And Coyote said, flowers? And they said, yeah, flowers.
Now, in our language, they were talking about a very special kind of daisy that even today we still literally call Coyote's eyes. This is the kind of flower they were talking about. And Coyote said, I knew it all along.
That's what I was going to do anyway. And his sisters got angry with him, jumped back inside of his stomach. And Coyote felt around trying to find this special kind of daisy.
And it took him a long time, but he finally found some, pulled them out, plucked them, and put them to his eye sockets. And the petals were like big floppy eyelashes all around his eyes, but he could see really well with them. And he was just proud of himself going around looking at stuff.
Now this went well until the sun started going down. And this kind of daisy does something very special when the sun goes down, they close up. And so he went blind. His sisters had tricked him.
He had to spend the whole night that way. The next morning, when the sun came back out, Coyote was back up in the fields trying to find some more of these daisies. He found some, put them in, and he went looking for someone to trick. Now, he'd gone out so far, it wasn't until late afternoon when he saw somebody. And it was an Indian woman coming down from the side of the mountains with a big basket of berries on her back.
And Coyote said, Oh, look over there! Do you see that pheasant? Now, there was no bird over there.
Coyote was making it up. And the woman said, What bird? And Coyote said, It's the bird behind the tree!
Now this is a plateau area of the United States where there are no trees. And she said, what tree? And Coyote said, it's the tree behind the mountain! And she said, let me get this straight.
You can see a bird that's behind a tree that's behind a mountain? And Coyote said, yes, it's because of my magic flower eyes! I can see everything! I can even see what your husband is doing while you're working so hard over here. And she said, gee, I sure wish I had a set of eyes like that.
And Coyote said, you do? I'll tell you what, I'll trade you straight across. You give me your ordinary, everyday eyes, and I'll give you my magic. flower eyes.
And she took her own eyes out and gave them to Coyote. And Coyote gave her the flower eyes. And now she had flower eyes and he had normal eyes again. And just about then the sun started going down.
And her new eyes started closing up on her and she went blind. And she said, now I know who you are, you little stink Coyote, that trickster. Well, I don't want these old things.
And she threw the flower eyes in the ground. She said, give me my own eyes back. And Coyote became angry with her.
And Coyote said, you didn't want these eyes. Then you'll have no eyes at all. You'll spend all eternity having to feel your way around the way I had to feel my way around. And he used his tamanoa scent, his spirit power on her, and she started shrinking.
And she grew smaller, and smaller, and smaller, until she became the person we call in our language shukshaya. And shukshaya in English means snail. And that's why even today when you see a snail, it still has to feel its way around for all eternity, just like coyote did. And the basket she carried on her back became the shell.
The snail still carries to this day. And a cushion eye, which means the story's over.