As Fox was going along he met a Deer with two spotted fawns beside her. ” What have you done,” said he, “to make your children spotted like that?” “I made a big fire of cedar wood and placed them before it. The sparks thrown off burned the spots which you see,” answered the Deer. Fox was pleased with the color of the fawns, so he went home and told his children to gather cedar wood for a large fire. When the fire was burning well, he put the young foxes in a row before the fire, as he supposed the Deer had done. When he found that they did not change color, he pushed them into the fire and covered them with ashes, thinking he had not applied sufficient heat at first. As the fire went out, he saw their white teeth gleaming where the skin had shriveled away and exposed them. “Ah, you will be very pretty now,” said he. Fox pulled his offspring from the ashes, expecting to find them much changed in color, and so they were, — black, shriveled, and dead. Fox next thought of revenge upon the Deer, which he found in a grove of cottonwoods. He built a fire around them, but they ran through it and escaped. Fox was so disappointed that he set up a cry of woe, a means of expression, which he has retained from that day to this.

Myths of the Jicarilla Apache ,Russell, Frank ,Newell, William Wells

Fox was trotting along the riverbank and saw Crawfish walking along ahead of him. Fox had not eaten since morning, so he licked his lips and said to himself, “Hai! A little taste of crawfish would do me nicely until dinnertime.”

He crept ahead silently, his mouth open and ready to snap, but just as he was about to pounce, Crawfish turned and saw him. “I s-see you!” Crawfish called out in surprise and fear. He swung around and raised his claws ready to pinch Pox’s nose.

Now, “I see you” was also the polite way to greet a friend or visitor, so Fox quickly put on his best smile and gave a polite reply “I am here. Are you well, friend Crawfish?”

“Well enough,” said Crawfish. “Come, put away your smile. Fox. I know you mean to eat me. You are big enough and strong enough to do it, but do not try unless you want a sore nose.”

Fox hesitated. He was very fond of his nose. It was a sharp, neat little nose, and an excellent sniffer. But he was very hungry. Crawfish saw Fox’s hungry look, and said quickly, “All right, how about this? We run a race. If you can beat me to the finish, you can eat me. If I win, you don’t.”

Fox was delighted, for he was sure that he could outrun an awkward little fellow like Crawfish. When Crawfish suggested that the race be run over the seven hills to the west, and that the finish mark would be the stream beyond the seventh hill. Fox agreed, and drew a line in the earth for their start-ing point. Fox’s tail twitched in excitement as they crouched down together behind the line, and he stared eagerly ahead. Crawfish swiveled one eye around as Fox’s tail come to rest beside him, and reached out a claw to clamp on to it. , “Let’s go!” he shouted.

Fox sprang away in a flash of red fur, with little Crawfish flying along at his tail. He was so small that Fox could not feel him there. Over one hill, two, three, four-Fox was panting as he raced up and over the seventh hill. When he reached the bottom of the hill, he whirled around to see whether Craw-fish was coming. Not a claw in sight! But-as Fox whirled, his tail whisked around and Crawfish was thrown on ahead.

Fox turned to trot on to the river finish line, and stopped, for there was Crawfish, waving a claw to greet him.

“I knew that you could never run fast enough!” called Crawfish. And he jumped into the river.

Taken from the book The Wonderful Sky Boat and Other Native American Tales of the Southeast retold by Jane Louise Curry

Now, there were several persons suffering from swellings of the body, and they sent for Fox to treat them and make the swelling go away. When these persons were nearly well, Coyote asked Fox for permission to help in the curing. So Fox let Coyote act as shaman, and the patients grew worse again. This happened several times. Fox would make them better, and Coyote would turn round and make them worse. By and by the sick ones ordered Fox to tell Coyote not to help, because he was not a good medicine-man.

Nez Perce Tales, By Herbert J. Spinden, 1907

How this creature can ruin a good day of hunting

As among the Japanese, so also among the Ainu, the fox, being famous for his cunning, is accredited with supernatural powers. He is not only said to be able to change his body into another form when it suits his purpose, but it is reported that he is able to bewitch people, thereby making them ill, driving them mad, or even causing them to die.

I was on a certain occasion out with an Ainu trying to shoot my dinner, and as we were going along we chanced upon the footprints of a fox in the snow, and I asked the Ainu whether we should go for it first and get its skin, and then seek for food. He said “No” very decidedly, not if I desired to get a hare or some ducks. Upon asking him what that had to do with it, he said that if we killed the fox first we should certainly get nothing else that day, for the spirit of the fox would, if we killed the body, travel round and let all the other animals and birds know that we were coming. I therefore had respect for his feelings and went after a hare instead.

In a conversation with this man afterwards he told me that all hunters in ancient times, if, when they went hunting, killed a fox first, always tightly tied up its mouth, to prevent the spirit from going to warn others, and I find that many do this even at the present day.

The Ainu and Their Folklore, by the Rev. John Batchelor (London: The Religious Tract Society, 1901).

Up in White Bank many coyotes and foxes were living. Fox said one day, “I shall take a little walk,” and he went up the hill to the top of the mesa. He stayed all day. About sunset a coyote met him. Fox was on the top of a pine tree. He looked north and he saw a big pond. Coyote got to the pine tree. He looked up at Fox. “What a fine-looking Fox you are!” Fox came down. Coyote said, “Let’s have a race.” “All right. Let’s go first to the pond over north. There’s lots of water there. We can drink first.” As they got to the pond Fox looked in and saw the full moon in the pond. He called Coyote, “Come, see here! Somebody under the water has a big piece of cheese. He’s showing it to us.” Coyote came over and looked. Sure enough he saw the big cheese. “How can we get this out?” “Let’s drink all the pond up. Then we shall get it out.” “You drink first.” Fox set his paw in the water and put his mouth down, but he didn’t really drink. He fooled Coyote. He took out his paw. “Oh, look! See all I drank!” Coyote began to drink. Sure enough he drank and drank. He got out. “Oh, look! See all I drank! Look at my stomach. Now it’s your turn again.” Fox put his paw in but he didn’t drink a drop. He fooled Coyote. He took out his paw and he said, “Oh, look! See all I drank!” Coyote started to drink again and sure enough he drank and drank. Fox called, “Keep it up! We’ve almost got it emptied. Then we’ll eat the cheese.” When Coyote couldn’t drink any more, he tried to come out, but he fell down in his tracks. He vomited, “Wa, wa! wa, wa!” Then he vomited again. “Why don’t you have to vomit, too?” he said to Fox. Fox said, “I’m going to drink a little more and when it’s almost gone, it will be your turn again.” He drank. “Your turn.” The Coyote had vomited all he had drunk so he began to drink again. “That’s enough,” said the Fox. “I’ll drink all that’s left and then I’ll take out the cheese. When I get it I’ll go to that big stone out there and put the cheese on top.” Fox went into the pond. “Just watch me. I’ll pull out the cheese.” He pulled it out. He took up a white stone. “I see it,” said the Coyote. Fox called, “I will put it far off.” “No, don’t put it far off. Put it where we can both see it.” “All right, we’ll have the race from here to the stone.” He put the cheese on top of the stone. “Do you see it here? Does it show plain.” “It shows fine.” “All right. We’ll start. I’ll make a line and we’ll stand on it. Whoever gets to the cheese first shall eat the whole all by himself.” “All right.” Fox called to start the race. He called four times. Four times they started off. The Coyote ran fast as he could. Fox ran slow. As Coyote got halfway he burst. So he got no cheese.

Variant

They told Coyote, “Coyote, go over there. There’s a little stream, you can look in the water.” Coyote looked in and cried, “Oh my, there’s something down there!” “Just jump in and take it out It’s good cheese.” “All right.” He jumped in and was drowned. They called out, “Look, look! The Coyote got drowned.” That’s what he got.

Tales of the Cochiti Indians, by Ruth Benedict; U.S. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin no. 98; US Government Printing Office; [1931] and is now in the public domain