“Coyote Kills His Children”
Culture: White Mountain Apache | Narrator: Bane Tithla | Source: Goodwin (1939:154)
Entry by Maiyan Wolley & Michelle Scalise Sugiyama
Story
Coyote started to trot along. While he was on his way he met Turkey and her children. When he saw them the mother turkey was in front and all her children were following in a line behind her. Coyote thought this looked nice, with all the little turkeys in single file, so he said to Turkey, “Why is it, my cross-cousin, that your children always follow you in a line like that ?” Then Turkey said, “I put a little hole through my children’s bills and tie a string through it and then from one to the other this way. What string is left from the front one I put around my waist and lead them along. When they grow larger I don’t use the string any more, but my children still follow that way and it looks better.” Then Coyote said, “Now that you have told me how you did it, I am going back home before I forget and do the same with my children.” So Coyote started off home. When he got there he said to his children, “I have good news for you that I heard from Turkey. I’m going to make a hole in your jaws and tie a string through from one to the other. What string is left I will tie around my belly. This way I will lead you in a line. When you are older you will do it naturally, without any string, just as Turkey’s children do.” Then he pierced a hole through the lower jaws of his children and put a string through them. His children hollered and cried, but he did it all the same. When it was all finished, he took his children outside and told them to line up with him at their head. Then he tried to make his children walk in line after him, but it hurt them so that they fell on the ground and were dragged along behind. Coyote kept on dragging them till they were all killed. He took the string off his children and left them to hunt for Turkey, because it was Turkey who had told him about this. He was mad about it and was going to eat all the turkeys up. But before he got there, Turkey saw him and flew up into a tree and sat there. Coyote came under the tree and sat down. “My cross-cousin, come on down with all your children. I want to see you walk in line with them as you did before,” he said. But Turkey would not come down because she thought Coyote would kill her and her children. “My children have been walking all day and they are tired so I will sit here till sunrise and get down then,” Turkey said. “I want you to come down just for a little while so I can see you line up,” Coyote pleaded. But Turkey said, “No, I will stay here all day and not come down.” Coyote was having a hard time of it so he gave up and left.
While he was on his way he met Deer and her two fawns. They looked good to him, the little deer with white spots all over them. “My cross-cousin, how did you put spots on your children like that? It looks good to me with spots all over. I think my children should wear them also,” Coyote said. Deer told him, “I put my children in a hole and then at the mouth of the hole I build a fire of juniper wood and back it in with rocks. Then I go over the hill and stay quite a while, till the fire is burnt down. When I come back I find my children spotted from the ashes. That’s the way I always do it.” Coyote said, “I’m going to do the same with my children.” So he went on home to where his children were. He told them, “I have good news for you. I want you to wear white spots on your body just like I saw on Deer’s children.” Then he took his children to where there was a rocky hole close by, and put them inside it. He started to gather up juniper wood and pile it at the mouth of the hole. Then he set fire to it and went off over a hill and stayed there a long time. When the fire was all burnt up he came back to the hole. He looked down into the hole where his children had been burnt all over their bodies. Their lips were burnt away so that Coyote could see their teeth. “You are laughing at me now, but when you come out you will look nice,” Coyote said. He went down into the hole to take them out but he found his children were all cooked and dead so he left them there.
After he had done this he was very mad at Deer for telling him to do this way. He said to himself, “I’m going to find Deer with her two young children and I will kill and eat all of them.” So he started off. After a while he found Deer with her two children. He told them to stop, that he wanted to tell them about something. This was the way Coyote always did when he was going to kill some one. He said to Deer, “There are liable to be people hunting deer in here and they may set fire around in a circle so the deer can’t get out. Then they will kill all the deer. I want you to cross out by here because this will be the only place you can escape if a fire should be set. That is why I have come to tell you this.” Then the deer and the two children deer went to that place. Coyote left and circled around in front of them. Then he shot an arrow of willow wood ahead of the deer and from where the arrow lit, fire started. Coyote ran back as fast as he could to where he had told Deer to pass by and escape. Then he hid and peeped out, watching for Deer. When Deer came by Coyote shot at her from hiding, so she never saw him. When she was shot Deer started to walk slowly and in a little way stopped and lay down. Then Coyote went to her and said, “My cross-cousin, I told you not to walk but to go fast. That’s why you have been shot. I told you there were lots of people hunting deer. I thought you understood me, but I guess you didn’t do what I said. Now you are shot.” Coyote had done all this himself and was lying. “Over there is good shade. I will carry you to it and doctor you there. Maybe you will get well,” Coyote said. Deer said to her children, “This Coyote, when he packs me over there means to kill me and he is going to kill you when he has killed me. If he kills me, then one of you run one way and one the other so Coyote won’t catch you.” Coyote carried Deer over to the shade. His arrow was sticking in her side. Coyote said, “I am going to try to suck the blood out of your wound where it has gone into your stomach. That is the only way I think you will get better.” So he sucked on the wound, but all he was doing was sucking the blood out so he could drink it. When he had drunk nearly all the blood he just let the rest bleed out on the ground. “Now I am going to sing over you,” he said to Deer. “Big Medicine, big medicine, get dry and soft.” Then he started over again and sang as before. Deer was just about dead so Coyote jumped on her neck and bit her. After he bit her he turned and went for the two deer children. But before he got there, they each went a different way. He tried to catch both of them but he could not do it, so he gave up and came back.
My yucca fruits lie piled up.
Traditional Ecological Knowledge
Zoology
This story contains information about wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) habitat, life history, behavior, and morphology. The description of the mother turkey being followed by “all her children” indicates that turkeys are terrestrial, that there are multiple chicks in a brood, and that chicks stay close to their mother and have a habit of walking single-file. The reference to Turkey flying up into a tree indicates that this animal is capable of flight and partly arboreal. This information, combined with the reference to the children’s bills, indicates that this animal is a bird. These details are useful for estimating population densities and for hunting, indicating that turkeys may be found on the ground or in trees, and that if you see one turkey chick, there are probably others nearby. Additionally, the mother turkey’s evasive action indicates that turkeys escape into trees to avoid predators. Her decision to remain there “till sunrise” suggests that turkeys are diurnal and roost in trees at night.
The story also provides information about deer. The fact that Deer has two children suggests that deer typically give birth to two fawns, and the reference to them “wearing white spots” on their body provides a description of their markings. Deer’s advice to her children—“one of you run one way and one the other so Coyote won’t catch you”—describes deer predator-evasion behavior, which is useful when hunting them. The information that, after she was shot, Deer began “to walk slowly and in a little way stopped and lay down” suggests that, although a wounded deer may flee, it is unlikely to go far. The severity of Deer’s wound, along with the detail that Coyote’s arrow was sticking out of her side, indicates what part of the body to aim for when hunting this animal. The references to Deer using juniper wood and going over a hill imply that deer live in hilly areas where juniper grows.
The story also provides information about coyotes. Coyote’s attempt to mimic Turkey’s childcare technique suggests that, like turkeys, coyotes have large litters. The fact that Coyote threads the string though his children’s jaws indicates that, unlike turkeys, coyotes do not have bills. Coyote’s failed attempts at imitating the strategies of other species indicate that coyote pups do not follow their parents single-file and do not have spots. The fact that Coyote tends to his children suggests that male coyotes help rear offspring. The reference to Coyote trotting along provides information about gait, and indicates that this species is terrestrial. His plea that Turkey descend from the tree indicates that coyotes are not climbers. Turkey’s fear that Coyote will kill her children indicates that coyotes are carnivores and that their diet includes turkey chicks. Coyote’s declaration that he will “kill and eat all” of the deer suggests that coyotes take both adults and juveniles of this species. His use of ambush to jump on and bite Deer’s neck may reference coyote predation tactics. His interactions with Turkey and Deer suggest that the habitats and active hours of these species overlap.
Photo by Kevin Cole
Photo by Andy Reago & Chrissy McClarren
Photo by Cindie Hansen on Unsplash
Photo by Julie Marsh on Unsplash
Coyote pups | Photo from Wikimedia Commons
Photo by USFWS Mountain-Prairie
Photo by Yifei He
Juniper (Juniperus osteosperma) | Photo by Fcb981
Botany
This story identifies two types of wood that serve different functions: juniper and willow. Deer tells Coyote to make fire using juniper wood, and then stay away “a long time” until “the fire is burnt down.” This implies that juniper is easy to ignite and slow-burning, and that fires made from it do not need to be tended often. The story also provides information about juniper habitat: Coyote builds his fire “where there was a rocky hole” and then goes “off over a hill,” suggesting that juniper grows in hilly areas with rock outcrops. The fact that the arrow that kills Deer is made of willow speaks to the strength of this wood and its suitability for this purpose.
Cultural Geography
Through his envy and selfishness, Coyote is duped into hurting and killing his children. Instead of appreciating their natural abilities and accepting their natural limitations, Coyote pushes his offspring to be like other species. In so doing, he thinks only of himself, blithely ignoring his children’s cries of pain. His loss implies that it is wrong for parents to put their own interests before those of their children.
Photo by USFWS Mountain-Prairie
Technology
This story describes how to cook meat using an earth oven: place the meat in a pit, build a fire of juniper wood, and bank it with rocks. The information that it was “a long time” before the fire burnt out provides an approximate measure of cooking time. The story also describes the use of fire to drive game into a pound or along a corridor where it can easily be ambushed. This is seen when Coyote tells Deer that there are “people hunting deer . . . and they may set a fire around in a circle so the deer can’t get out,” and when he shoots her from his hiding place as she tries to escape. The description of Coyote pretending to cure Deer by sucking the blood out of her wound may reference actual healing practices.
The Land and The People
The White Mountain Apache are a sub-tribe of the Western Apache, who emigrated from Canada between 1400 and 1500 AD, and settled in what is now north-central Arizona in the 1600s. The etymology of the name “Apache” is disputed, but it may have originated among their neighbors, the Zuni. In their own language, a member of the Southern Athabaskan family, the Western Apache refer to themselves as Ndeé, meaning “person.” The Ndeé were divided into local groups, consisting of 35 to 200 people, which had exclusive rights to specific hunting territories. Adjacent groups were linked through their common dialect and marriage ties, and formed bands that controlled hunting resources in the watershed they occupied. In 1850 there were 20 of these bands.
The Ndeé homeland spans the rugged mountains of the Mogollon Rim and the high desert transition zone of the Colorado Plateau, and includes the Verde, Salt, Little Colorado, and Gila river watersheds. White Mountain Apache territory was bordered by the Pinaleño Mountains on the south and the White Mountains to the north. The area features deep canyons and vast desert valleys. The climate is arid, with hot summers and mild winters.
Bear grass | Photo by Michelle Scalise Sugiyama
Although the Ndeé practiced horticulture, cultivated foods made up less than 25% of the diet. Subsistence was based primarily on hunting and gathering. Large game was shot with the bow and arrow; arrows were made of reed or willow. Deer were a favorite food. Hunting methods included both individual stalking and group drives. The latter involved driving deer (sometimes with fire) into a narrow canyon or confined area, where they were ambushed by archers lying in wait. Deer calls were also used: does were lured by imitating the cry that fawns make when attacked by coyotes. Turkeys were hunted by locating their roosting site and returning at night, shooting the animals from the ground. Sometimes smoky fires were made beneath the roosts to stupefy and immobilize the birds. Pit baking was used to cook certain animals or cuts of meat. Deer heads, for example, were wrapped in bear grass and roasted overnight.
Wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) are widely distributed across hardwood and mixed conifer-hardwood woodlands in North America. They are omnivorous and diurnal, foraging in open areas for nuts, seeds, buds, fruits, insects, and small amphibians in the early morning and late afternoon. Although primarily terrestrial, they are also swift fliers, and roost in trees at night. Males do not provide parental care. Females raise one brood per year, and lay 4 to 17 eggs per brood. Chicks are able to walk and feed themselves within 24 hours of hatching, and follow their mother in a cluster or linear formation. Chicks are vulnerable to a host of predators, and coyotes are known to prey on adults.
Photo by D. Gordon E. Robertson
Whitetail deer | Photo by Phil Myers
Two deer species are found in Ndeé territory: whitetail deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and mule deer (O. hemionus). Whitetails are largely crepuscular, feeding at dawn and dusk. Both species eat shrubs and trees, and whitetails often depend on conifers (such as juniper) in winter. Average litter size for both species is two; fawns are born with white spots. Like the doe in the story, whitetail females take great care to keep their fawns safe from predators. Both species are vulnerable to attack by coyotes, and evade capture by quickly bounding away through thick vegetation. Mule deer further foil predators by releasing a metatarsal scent, which alarms nearby deer and causes them to scatter.
Coyotes (Canis latrans) are found throughout North America. This highly adaptable species occupies a wide range of habitats, including deserts, forests, grasslands, and swamps. Although they are strong swimmers, they are poor climbers. The average litter size is six pups, which are fed and protected by both parents. The young emerge from the den about a month after birth, and are weaned shortly afterwards. When hunting, parents keep their pups in or near the den to prevent them from being taken by predators. Although largely nocturnal, they are sometimes active in the daytime. Their diet consists mostly of small mammals, but also includes deer and birds. When hunting deer, they take turns pursuing it until it tires, or drive it into an ambush. They are capable of running at speeds of 40 mph and leaping distances of 4 meters.
Image from Wikimedia Commons
Among the Ndeé, boys learned to hunt by accompanying adults on hunting trips, experimenting on their own, and listening to their elders. As one informant explains: “My maternal uncle, an old man, taught me all the different names of plants and animals and how they were related. For instance, while we hunted he told me that jack rabbits and cottontails were relatives; that chipmunk and rock squirrel were relatives. . . . By the time I was twenty I knew all these things about animals and plants” (Goodwin 1942:465). Storytelling was an important means of teaching behavioral norms and worldview. Myths that recounted the adventures of Coyote were especially popular, and “served as vehicles of instruction and amusement for both children and adults” (Basso 1983:477).
“Of all the figures in Western Apache mythology, none was so fondly regarded as Coyote. Exemplifying all the strengths and weaknesses of man himself, Coyote was both admirable and pathetic, dignified and ridiculous. . . . Whenever Coyote behaved foolishly there was a moral lesson behind his actions, and Apache parents were quick to point it out to children.”
–Basso (1983:477)
Photo by Joshua Wilking on Unsplash
Map
The White Mountain Apache are a sub-tribe of the Western Apache, who emigrated from Canada between 1400 and 1500 AD, and settled in what is now north-central Arizona in the 1600s.
References
Basso, K. (1983). Western Apache. In A. Ortiz (Ed.), Handbook of North American Indians, vol. 10. Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution, 462-488.
Buskirk, W. (1986). The Western Apache: living with the land before 1950. In The Civilization of the American Indian Series, v. 177:xiv, 273. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press. Retrieved from https://ehrafworldcultures-yale-edu.libproxy.uoregon.edu/document?id=nt21-058
Dewey, T. (2003). “Odocoileus virginianus.” (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed December 2020 at https://animaldiversity.org/Odocoileus_virginianus/.
Goodwin, G. (1935). The social divisions and economic life of the Western Apache. American Anthropologist, 37(1), 55-64.
Goodwin, G. (1942). The social organization of the Western Apache. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.
Greenfield, P. J. (2002). “Culture summary: Western Apache.” New Haven, CT: HRAF. Retrieved from https://ehrafworldcultures-yale-edu.libproxy.uoregon.edu/document?id=nt21-000
McCullough, J. (2001). “Meleagris gallopavo.” (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed December 2020 at https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Meleagris_gallopavo/
Misuraca, M. (1999). “Odocoileus hemionus.” (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed December 2020 at https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Odocoileus_hemionus/.
Nelson, R. (1997). Heart and blood: Living with deer in America. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Tokar, E. (2001). “Canis latrans.” (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed December 2020 at https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Canis_latrans/.