Jicarilla Apache story of Coyote & Owl

Coyote Takes Arrows From Owl  

Owl was the one who had arrows. He had a club also with which he killed men whom he ate. "Up at the low gap I am watching for men, wû hwû wô," he sang. 

Coyote came walking along in front of him. 

"Wû hwû wô," sang Owl, "I am looking for men in the low gap." The two came face to face there. "Now," said Owl, "the one who vomits human flesh will kill men." 

"Very well," said Coyote, "shut your eyes." 

Owl Shut his eyes. When he vomited, Coyote put his hand under and took the meat. The grasshoppers which Coyote vomited he put in Owl's hand.

"Now open your eyes," said Coyote. 

Owl looked and saw the grasshoppers lying in his hand. Coyote showed him the meat. "What did I tell you," said Coyote, "this is the meat I threw up." 

"Where did I drink in the grasshoppers?" said Owl.

Coyote ran all around Owl. "Because I run fast like this I eat people," said Coyote. "These legs of yours are too large, I will fix them for you. Shut your eyes." 

Coyote cut Owl's leg, trimming away the meat. "Dô xaaa you must say," Coyote told him. He broke his leg with a stone and took the arrows away leaving him only the club.


Coyote ran around Owl who threw his club at him. He would say, "Come back, my club," and it would come back to him. He threw it again. "Come here my club," he called. He hit him with it. 

Coyote said, "Wherever a stick falls when one throws it there it will lie." The club did not return to Owl.

"Now you will live right here in the canyon where many arrows will be in front of you. Somebody might kill you," Coyote told him. 

Owl hitched himself along into the canyon. "Arrows painted black may kill you," said Coyote. Coyote went around in front of him and shot him with his own (Owl's) arrows.

After that everybody was afraid of Coyote who went around killing off the people.

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.

from archives of BLUE PANTHER 

APACHE STORY about Coyote

Coyote Tries To Make His Children Spotted - Jicarilla Apache

A deer was going along the arroyo among the willows with her spotted fawns. Coyote, coming up to her, said, "How do you make your little ones so spotted?" 

"Why, they are born that way," she told him. Coyote did not believe it. 

"O no, you do something to them to make them that way." 

Then Deer said, "I dig a hole for them at the top of the ridge where the wind blows up, then I pile a lot of cedar wood in front, and set it on fire. The sparks that fly out make them spotted." 

"What did I tell you?" he said.

He went home after his children and said to them, "Come my little children, I will make you spotted." He made a hole for them on the crest of the ridge where the wind blows up. He piled cedar wood in front of the opening, lit it, and then sat at one side to watch. They climbed over each other, crying, until the fire killed them. When the fire had burned down he looked at them. When he saw their lips turned back and their teeth showing in white rows he said. "O, you are laughing because you are so beautifully spotted." He took one of them by the arm, but when he pulled, it came off. They were thoroughly cooked.

He went away to find the deer. He set the willows on fire where he supposed she was, saying, "You told me a lie. You may say, tsi." When the fire had burned out there was nothing there for the deer had gone out on the other side. Coyote started away again.

Footnotes:(1) Russell has this story in just the same form but it is told of Fox although the concluding sentence refers to the characteristic howl of Coyote, (a), p. 265. Compare, Stevenson, p. 153.

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

from archives of BLUE PANTHER

Fox and Rabbit - Apache/Jicarilla

Fox one day met a Rabbit who was sewing a sack. "What do you intend to do with that sack?" asked he.

"I am making this coat to protect myself from being killed by the hard hail which we are going to have today," replied Rabbit.

"My friend, you know how to make them; give me this coat and make another for yourself."

Rabbit agreed to this, and Fox put on the sack over his head. Rabbit then hung him on a limb and pelted him with stones, while Fox, thinking it was hail striking him, endured the punishment as long as he could, but finally fell nearly dead from the tree, and looked out, to see no signs of hail, but discovered the Rabbit running away. Fox wished to avenge himself by killing Rabbit, and set off in pursuit of him. When overtaken Rabbit was chewing soft gum with which to make spectacles. Fox's curiosity was stronger than his passion for revenge. "What are you making those for?" said he.

"It is going to be very hot, and I am making them to protect my eyes," answered Rabbit.

" Let me have this pair. You know how to make them and can make yourself another pair."

"Very well," said Rabbit, and he put the eye- shields on Fox, who could then see nothing, as the gum was soft and filled his eyes.

Rabbit set fire to the brush all around Fox, who was badly singed in running through it. The gum melted in the fire, and yet remains as the dark rings around his eyes. Fox again started on the trail of Rabbit, with the determination of eating him as soon as he saw him. He found Rabbit sitting beside the opening of a beehive.

"I am going to eat you," said Fox ; "you have tried to kill me."

"You must not kill me," replied Rabbit. "I am teaching these children," and he closed the opening of the hive, so that Fox could not see what was inside. Fox desired very much to see what was In the hive making such a noise.

"If you wish to see, stay here and teach them while I rest. When it is dinner time, strike them with a club," said Rabbit, who then ran away.

Fox patiently awaited the dinner hour, and then struck the hive with such force that he broke into it. The bees poured out and stung him until he rolled in agony. "When I see you again, I will kill you before you can say a word!" declared he, as he started after Rabbit again. Fox tracked the Rabbit to a small hole in the fence around a field of watermelons belonging to a Mexican. The Rabbit had entered to steal, and was angered at sight of the gum figure of a man which the owner of the field had placed beside the path.

"What do you desire from me?" he cried, as he struck at the figure with his forefoot, which stuck fast in the soft gum. He struck at the gum with every foot, and even his head was soon stuck in the gum. Thus Fox found him.

"What are you doing here?" he asked. "They put me in here because I would not eat chicken for them," said Rabbit.  "I will take your place," said Fox ; "I know how to eat chicken."

The Mexican found him in the morning and skinned him, and then let him go, still on the trail of the Rabbit who had so frequently outwitted him.

Frank Russell, Myths of the Jicarilla Apaches, 1898
From Blue Panther Keeper of Stories.