Coyote [itsaya' ya] was going along up the valley when he met an old woman.

“Ah, old man, I meet you.1 You are a pitiful old man; let me give you something.” The old woman carried a pack on her back.

Now Coyote spread out his blanket and turned his back to her while she unwrapped and laid out a share of her goods for him. Suddenly Coyote felt little stinging bites. “I feel as if lice were biting me, but I won’t turn around to look until I can see what she has given me.” The old woman quickly repacked her bundle and went on. Then Coyote turned to his bundle and unwrapped it. “Oh, so this is what she gave me!” A great mass of fleas was piled on his blanket. He took up his blanket, descended to the river, and washed out all the fleas.

He went up the valley again whistling.”‘ Presently Coyote saw another old woman coming toward him, and he said to himself, “This one shall not do the same thing to me.

She won’t give me anything.” Here they met.

“Ah, old man I meet you. Let me give you something-even just a little. I have nothing, really,”4 the old woman said to Coyote.

So Coyote spread out his blanket again, and she gave him a part of what she had. “I seem to smell something stinking,” Coyote said to himself. The old woman repacked and went on. Coyote now looked around, and suddenly he saw what he had. “Ugh, she has given me dung! That filthy person!” He went down to the stream again and washed out his blanket.

From there he went along up the valley. Again he met an old woman, a greasy old woman. “It is most vexing, for she is bound to do the same to me as the others did.” He met her.

“Oh, I meet you, old man. Let-me give you something, just really nothing at all. I go along very poor, with just nothing.”

Coyote was fully aware of what he was in for, but he spread his blanket again. The old woman now gave him a portion of her goods, rewrapped her bundle, and went on. Then Coyote looked back of him. Ah, there he saw venison, fat, and grease. He began to eat at once, but just then an idea came to him. “Why not go to meet her again?” He quickly hid his supply of meat. Then he charmed himself, and became different; he suddenly became changed in appearance. He went by a far circuitous route and again met the old woman.

The woman came. “Ah, I meet you. Let me give you something, even just nothing at all.”

“Yes,” said Coyote as he spread his blanket. “Yes,” continued Coyote, “but many others are coming along behind yet. They are shamans from down the river.”

The old woman seemed to recognize him. “I’m quite sure I met this person before.” Nevertheless, she gave Coyote a large quantity of meat and fat. She went on.

Coyote ate quickly. “Now I am going to meet her again.” So he loped back and came up to meet her again. By this time the old woman clearly recognized Coyote, but she gave him more meat. Coyote now repeated the trick again and again. Suddenly, he had the thought, “I believe I ought to kill her. I could waylay her, hit her with a stone, and then all would be mine.” Thus, Coyote ran ahead and hid. As the old woman came by, he made a perfect hit with a stone. But, lo, she just crumbled away and disappeared. Nothing remained of her but a little smear of grease. “Now what has she done!” Now where was there any of that venison which he had thought would be splendid to have for himself. “Well, then let it go. I still have all that I left along back there. I will get that, but what does she mean by crumbling away?” Coyote returned to the place where he had hidden his venison, but he found there only a little smear of grease. “Well! But perhaps I will find meat in another of my caches.” But, again, he found nothing but a grease smear. Then he looked at his other caches and found that all his venison had disappeared.

From there Coyote went on up the valley, whistling. While he was crossing a ridge, he became thirsty and decided to go down to the river to drink. He went there and began to drink when, suddenly, all of his teeth fell out into the water. “Ugh! There he was toothless. He continued toothlessly up the valley.

He was going along when, suddenly, he saw a large conical lodge. “Hm, I am arriving at a lodge.” He approached very slowly and cautiously by way of reconnoitering. He peered inside and beheld a beautiful woman working at ornamentation. He came back very quickly now and began to invoke his supernatural power. “Become a handsome person; become a thoroughgoing east-country expeditioner, very handsome to look upon; and be a spotted horse outfitted with bells that will jingle and jingle [siy, siy, siy].” All of these things came to be. Now Coyote went forth. “Thump, thump, thump [kux, kwc, kux].’ his footsteps resounded. He tied up his horse, entered the lodge, and sat down. “What, you are alone?”

“Yes,” the woman replied. Coyote gazed about and saw five feathers, each tied to a lodge pole. The young woman said to him, “I have five brothers, but they are out hunting.” Now she gave Coyote a large quantity of food: meat, venison-loaf, fat, grease, and various other things.

“Ah, now let me eat heartily,” Coyote said to himself. He took a piece of venison and put it in his mouth. Oh, he nearly fell backwards from the sudden pain in his mouth. “I forgot to make myself some teeth; this hurts so bad!” Now he ate only grease and did not touch the meat. He finished all the grease, and then he lay back and began to whistle and sing, just as an expeditioner would do. However, in doing these things he put himself to sleep. The young woman heard him snoring, and she looked across the room at him as he lay asleep with his mouth wide open; she perceived that he had no teeth at all.

“So it was for this reason he ate no meat. Such a fine man to have no teeth.”

The young woman stood up, went over to a deer’s head, knocked out its teeth, and set them in the sockets of Coyote’s jaws. But Coyote continued to snore. At last Coyote awoke, and the woman gave him food. Now he took up the meat and very slowly and carefully put it in his mouth; suddenly, with a snap he bit right through the meat.

“Teeth grew while I was sleeping,” he thought. Now he ate voraciously and consumed all the meat. They sat there. After awhile he heard someone approaching, “Thump, thump, thump [kux, kux, kux],” outside.

Another of the brothers had returned. He put his pack down, entered, and said to Coyote, “Move over a little, honorable guest.”

Coyote now thought, “There are two more to come, and I will have moved over close beside the young woman.”

Soon they heard another one approaching. He came in, and, seeing Coyote, he too said, “Move over a little beyond you there, honorable guest,” Soon all the brothers felt a deep anxiety and dread about their youngest brother.

“Where is he? He will surely be mischievously rude to our guest.”

“Bump, bump, bump [qol, qol, qol],” they heard his hurried arrival. The door opened suddenly ["xala' p"], and he glided into the room. He saw Coyote and said to him, “Just move over a bit, honorable Coyote-guest.”

“Oh you! Will you ever show respect for anybody” the brothers thought. But Coyote had moved right up against the young woman. Thus she became his wife.

The next morning Coyote wanted to go out hunting with the brothers. He was most anxious to go with them. As a matter of fact, however, these brothers were wild Geese [ya' yax]. They told Coyote, “You cannot come with us because we always fly across the water to hunt on the other shore.” Only with the greatest difficulty they prevailed on Coyote to stay behind.

Coyote did not go with them for five days, but then he told them, “I am going too. I am having a sweat bath, and then tomorrow I will go with you. I will go to get skins with which to make clothing for the girl.”

The brothers scolded and tried to dissuade him, but all in vain. Thus, when they went again, Coyote went with them. They arrived at the river, and there they said to him, “We are going to carry you across.” Coyote lay flat on his stomach across the backs of the five wild Geese. “You must not say a thing while we are flying.”

“Yes, what could I say?” replied Coyote.

They flew towards the other side with Coyote lying flat on his stomach on their backs. The Geese in flight began to chant, “hu’, hu’, hu’, [the flying call of wild geese].” (This chant was the source of their flying power.) Coyote became so enraptured by their flight that he could scarcely restrain himself from joining with them in their chant. But he remembered that they had told him strictly not to do so. They alighted on the other side of the river and began their hunt.

Coyote too went off and shot some kind of game. Now he saved all of his kill, the intestines and everything. On the other hand, the Geese had always taken only those parts which were the choicest. Coyote packed up his kill and went to the place which had previously been designated as their meeting place after the hunt. None of the others had arrived, and Coyote decided, “Then let me have a swim, because, very likely, I have a long time to wait for them.” He went down the river a short distance to swim.

The other hunters arrived soon. “Here is your brother-in-law’s pack already,” they observed.

But Coyote, bathing in the river below, felt something entangling his legs.

“What is entangling my legs?” He looked into the water. “It looks like the intestines I left over there,” he thought. He returned thereupon to their meeting place.

The youngest of the brothers addressed him, “Just why were you saving all those intestines and things? Such a load would be altogether too heavy. It would be too much for us, and we should fall into the river.”

“I only thought to take it for daughter-child,” Coyote explained.

“Now let us start across,” the Geese said, and they began to arrange their packs of meat. They warned Coyote again, “You must positively not say anything, nothing at all.”

“Yes, and what would I be saying?” replied Coyote.

They loaded Coyote on top of their packs, and they sailed into the air. Now the Geese began their flying chant, “Hu’, hu’, hu’.” But there, flying along, Coyote could no longer restrain himself, and he joined in their chorus and imitated them, “hu’, hu’, hu’.”

“Be quiet! Make your brother-in-law hush! We are falling into the water!” the Geese shouted in alarm. They fell downward very fast; but now Coyote became silent, and they soared upward again. They flew on chanting in unison, “Hu’, hu’, hu’.”

But soon again Coyote imitated them in his delirious exultation. Again they began to fall. They fell fast because they had begun to tire. “Throw off the packs! Throw off the packs” the Geese shouted to one another. They let the packs of meat fall.

Riding alone, Coyote remained silent for a little while, but he couldn’t resist the thrill of joining in the chant. The moment he began to imitate the Geese again they started falling. The wild Geese had become tired out by the constant climbing and falling. Now the youngest one said in desperation to his brothers, “Let us drop him into the water! He is only a coyote, and why should we value him? Why are we carrying him along when he is about to cause us to fall into the water?”

But at this moment Coyote shouted in glee, “Be a feather!” Away he flew by himself. “Be a sinker!” and downward he glided. When he wanted to go up, he would shout, “Be a feather!” and up he would sail.

Spellbound, the Geese watched Coyote. “Truly he is a coyote. He is cavorting in a truly coyote manner,” they said to one another. But in his hilarity while flying low, Coyote got his tongue twisted; he said the wrong words, “Be a sinker!” and “Plop [I'ap!],” he dropped into the water. Now the wild Geese started home.

Meanwhile, at the lodge, the young woman was working at her sewing when, suddenly, her needle broke. “What!” she exclaimed. She took up another needle, and it also broke. “They have killed my husband!” She put away her work. “I will kill them, she decided. She took some arrows and a bow, and then she put her heart in the little finger of her left hand.

The eldest brother came home first. The sister went out to meet him. “Sister, desist! He was a coyote. He nearly caused us to fall into the water. Desist!” But no. She shot him, killed her eldest brother.

Another of her brothers arrived, and she did the same to him even though he pleaded with her, “Sister, desist! He was a coyote, and he nearly caused us to fall into the water.”

“I will kill all of them,” she avowed. Soon another brother arrived, and he, too, addressed her affectionately. It was of no avail. Now it happened that the two youngest brothers came home together. They seemed to have had a premonition that all would not be well, and out of fear they arrived home together.

The woman said to herself, “I fear the youngest one. He is powerful.”

The two brothers saw her coming to meet them. “She is after us,” they said to each other. Now they spoke to her, “Sister, desist! He was a coyote.” No. She began to shoot at them with her bow. They retreated, but she chased them along.

“Now we must shoot her!” the younger brother exclaimed. “She has killed our three brothers already.” They began to shoot wildly back in her direction while she, their sister, shot at them from behind. It was useless for them to shoot at her because she carried her heart in her little finger. Suddenly, the younger brother shot towards her again without aiming, and his arrow happened to strike her squarely on the little finger. She fell dead.

There they were now, only the two brothers surviving. “Where shall we go?” one asked the other. “It looks as if the sun is shining over there. Let us go there.” They set off in that direction when, suddenly, they came upon a lodge, a lodge which seemed to be built of ice. They went inside and found within a hideous looking old man and a girl. The two were seated before an open fireplace on which no fire was burning. The girl sat there exposing herself indecently.

“Gusty Wind [xa' Ipxalp], go get some wood. Start a fire for our guests,” the old man told the girl. Gusty Wind rushed outside and brought in an armful of icicles for fuel.

“Gusty Wind, go and bring your sisters and have them prepare food for the guests.” The girl went and brought her sisters. The five sisters began to prepare food. They ground up root-loaf and mixed it with water in a large pan. At this point their father said to them, “You may return to your own lodge now. We can stir the mush for our guests.” The sisters went away to their semi-pit lodge. Here the old man and the girl stirred the mush. Every few moments they would taste it with wooden sticks and their mouths became smeared.

The old man said, “Gusty Wind, it is well cooked now. Take that bowl10 and let us cool it for our guests by eating some of it.” Now they supped, and supped, and soon they had eaten every bit of the mush. The guests sat their without having eaten at all. “Gusty Wind. go and bring your sisters again. Let them paint our guests’ faces” with red powder.” Gusty Wind ran along with gusty strides ["xalp, xalp, xalp"] and blew open the door of her sisters’ lodge.
“What do you want, Gusty Wind?”

“Father told me to have you come and paint our guests’ faces,” Gusty Wind replied to their question.

“Have they finished eating already?”

“Yes, we have finished eating already.”

The sisters were incensed. “Oh, you glutton! Was there ever a time you did not do this!” All together, they seized Gusty Wind and pummeled her unmercifully. Gusty Wind howled in pain and rushed home.

“What have they done to you?” the old man asked.

“What they did to me was pitiful. They asked me, ‘Have they finished eating already?’ and I told them, ‘Yes, we have finished eating already,’ and for that they nearly killed me,” the girl explained.

Now the two guests said to each other, “Come, let us go. We are getting cold sitting here.” They went outside. “It looks as if the sun is shining over there. Let us go there.” They went along. They came upon another lodge. “Let us go in even though they may treat us as they did at Gusty Wind’s lodge.” They approached the lodge and entered. There sat a kingly looking old man and a lovable little girl.

The old man said to the girl, “Zephyr [t'akaka' tsya], bring your sisters and let them prepare food for these men.” The girl rushed out like a playful breeze ["t'a' kakak, t'a' kakak"].

“What are you about, Zephyr?” her sisters asked.

“Hm,” Zephyr replied, “two men have come, and father asked me to tell you to come and prepare food for them.”

“Run along then, and we will be there soon.” These five sisters now went over to their father’s lodge. They ground up root-loaf and mixed it into a mush.

“You may go now. We will fix the rest for them,” the old man told them.

The two men, the guests, whispered to each other, “Even if they do the same as the others did over there, let us stay anyhow because it is warm here.”

Now the old man tasted the mush while it cooked. He scarcely touched his tongue to the spoon and commented, “Just to see if it is done.” Then he said to Zephyr, “Get a bowl and a spoon for them.” The girl gave the guests a very small bowl.

The brothers looked at it askance. “Obviously we are going to eat very little. We cannot satisfy our hunger from the contents of such a little bowl.” The younger brother said, “Now you eat first.” The elder brother ate for a little while and said, “Now you eat. I have had enough.” The younger brother ate.

He ate very much, but the contents of the bowl seemed to remain undiminished. Now both of the brothers, together, ate and ate until their hunger was most completely satisfied. But there remained as much in the bowl as there had been at first.

When they had finished, the old man said to the girl, “Take their bowl and set it away for them to eat when they get hungry again. And, Zephyr, bring your sisters once more and let them paint these men.” She ran like the gentle wafting of a breeze ["t'a' kakak t'a' kakak"].

“What now, Zephyr?” the sisters asked.

“Our father told me to have you come and paint our guests’ faces.”

“Very well. Go along now and we will come soon.” The five sisters went to their father’s lodge where the youngest two painted the face of the younger brother, and the three elder sisters painted the elder brother. Thus, the brothers became the husbands of Zephyr’s sisters. The two brothers continued to live there. They would go hunting daily as they used to do in the days gone by. They supplied such an abundance of meat that soon there was venison stacked all about in large quantities.

At the other lodge now the old man said to his daughter, “Gusty Wind, go to call on your sisters at Zephyr’s. Perhaps those two men went there.” And so Gusty Wind went forth ["xalp, xalp, xalp"]. Soon they heard her coming. They heard Gusty Wind’s gusty sounding approach ["xalp, xalp, xalp"]. Suddenly the weather became cold.

“It looks as if we are to have a bothersome caller,” they said to one another.

A gust of wind flung the door open, and Gusty Wind entered. She rushed straight to the fire and straddled it. The old man, Zephyr’s father, picked up a piece of liver and threw it at her. Gusty Wind caught the liver and began to snap and bite it voraciously ['smi' t, sini' t"]. Then she rushed out of their lodge and ran home. She took the liver up to her father and threw it in his face.

“Look at this. We ate them out of our lodge! The men are at Zephyr’s, and they have a tremendous quantity of meat!” she told the old man. But he only chewed voraciously on the liver.

Then he said, “Regrettably, we ate them out of our lodge! Go bring your sisters Gusty Wind, for we are going to attack Zephyr’s family.” The girl ran along to her sisters’ pit-house.

“What is it. Gusty Wind?”

“Our father told me to have you come because we are going to make an attack. Those two men who were here are now at Zephyr’s, and they have enormous quantities of meat and things.”

“Oh, you gluttons! You cast them out by your greediness!” the sisters berated Gusty Wind wrathfully, and they seized and pummeled her again. Gusty Wind ran home weeping.

“They have trounced me dreadfully!” she told her father.

“Come, Gusty Wind, let only the two of us go then.” And they set out ready for battle, spears of icicles in hand. “We are going to kill them, to kill Zephyr and her father,” the old man growled.

Meanwhile, those at Zephyr’s lodge sensed the approaching danger. “Oh, the filthiness of it; they seem to be coming here,’ they commented. The weather turned very cold. The old man told his daughter, “Zephyr, you are to go out and meet them. Come here a moment and let me paint you. They must not come inside.” He painted Zephyr properly for the encounter, and Zephyr went outside just as Gusty Wind and her father arrived. Zephyr faced them; and then, suddenly, the invader’ icicle spears began to melt, break and fall to the ground with resounding “Clang, clang, clang [llila'y lilay].”

The old man, Gusty Wind’s father, said meekly to Zephyr, “We have just come to ask for food. We had none, and we decided to come and ask my younger brother for a supply.”

Now Zephyr’s father came out and said to them, “There is plenty of meat outside the lodge yonder. Take as much of it as you will not find too heavy to carry.”

“Yes, brother; yes, brother; that is very good,” Gusty Wind’s father mumbled in confusion because just a few moments ago he had been so boldly intent on killing these two who were facing him. Gusty Wind and her father then returned home. They still live there.

Taken from Tales of the Nez Perce by Donald M. Hines, Ye Galleon Press; Fairfield, Washington, 1999 [gathered from other source books dated between 1912 and 1949]

Grizzly-Bear was a chief, and Coyote was jealous of him. Now, Coyote had many friends who would do whatever he told them to do. He arose early in the morning, and announced that there would be a great hunt that day, and that he himself would take part in it. So the people all went out, and with them went Grizzly-Bear.

Coyote told his friends just what to do when they arrived at the hunting-grounds. He told the people that he wanted Grizzly-Bear to go up a draw between the hills, because he was a chief and the best hunting was there. Every one could scare the game towards him. He told all the people where to hunt, and he stationed six of his friends in the hunting-ground of Grizzly-Bear. Coyote had some arrows poisoned with rattlesnake-poison. He gave one arrow to each of his friends. These men waited for Grizzly-Bear with their arrows on their bows. Coyote said to Grizzly-Bear, “If you see objects like men, do not be afraid, for they are only rocks.” When Grizzly-Bear saw the men, he was afraid; but Coyote shouted to him, “Do not be at all afraid!” Grizzly-Bear went up close to the men, and they shot him with their arrows. When he was dead, they skinned him and took him into camp. The sister and wife of Grizzly-Bear were in this camp along with the six hunters.

When Coyote came into camp, he went around and made a speech to all the people, bidding them to a great feast when the game they had taken was cooked. Soon the meat was cooked and dressed up finely. Then every one was called in to the feast. The sister and wife of Grizzly-Bear were called in with the rest; and as soon as they entered, they knew from the smell that the meat was Grizzly-Bear meat. The tears rolled from their eyes; but they were afraid of Coyote, and said nothing.

The wife and sister made up their minds to get revenge. Their plan was to go with the hunters and kill them one by one. But there was a Black-Bear in camp who heard the planning of the two women, and told Coyote. As a result of this, Coyote did not send out the hunters one by one, but in bands of three and four. When the wife of Grizzly-Bear was killed, that put an end to it all. A younger brother and the sister were spared, so that there would always be grizzly bears in the country. That is the reason there are still grizzly bears.

Nez Perce Tales, By Herbert J. Spinden, 1907

There was a widow, Frog (wexwext), who was maltreated and became angry. So she went up the river to the source, and sat over the fountain-head, so that the entire river went dry. There was no water except in some deep holes. Now, the people had not missed her; but Coyote (itseyeye) thought something like this must have happened to make the river go dry. He went upstream, because he knew the place where the water had been stopped. As he travelled up the dry bed, he made five rafts, and placed them about five bends of the river apart.

At the head of the river he saw a lodge. He was nearly dead of thirst when he arrived; so he entered the lodge. Inside he saw a mountain-sheep-horn bucket of water, and he said to the woman, “Pass that water over to me; I have drunk a great deal of water along the river to-day, still I am very dry.” So he drank up all the water.

Coyote lay down on the opposite side of the lodge from the woman, and covered his head with his blanket. But he had an eye-hole in the blanket; and he saw her rise, take the empty bucket, and dip up water from where she had been sitting. After this, Coyote arose and went out.

Near that place he spat upon some tule rushes, and told them to give war-whoops after he had re-entered the lodge. So he went again into the lodge, and soon there was a great noise of war-whoops. He said out loud to himself, “I thought I heard something when I was outside.” But for all his strategy, the Frog widow would not budge from where she sat. So Coyote seized her by the arm and jerked her up. Then the water came out. When the water was running freely, he threw the woman into the stream, saying, “This is the way you will always be: whenever high water comes, it will always carry frogs down the river.”

Coyote then started downstream, running as fast as he could. When he reached the place of the first raft, he found it had broken adrift. So he ran on to the next one, and found it also adrift; and the third the same, and the fourth. He reached the fifth, however, just as it was breaking loose, and managed to jump aboard. Then he went down the river on the raft. This is how Coyote recovered the water from Frog.

Nez Perce Tales, By Herbert J. Spinden, 1907

Frog had a smooth pole set in the ground, and with it he had devised a means of killing off all the birds. A race would be run up this pole, and whoever got to the top first would cut off the other one’s head. The pole leaned a little; and Frog would get on the upper side, and make the opponent get on the under side. Thus Frog continued to win races for a long time, and managed to kill off many birds.

Coyote was in this camp. He became afraid that Frog was going to kill off all the birds. So Coyote gave a big feast, and invited every one to attend. He wanted the people to work out a plan to get the best of Frog; but every one was afraid to run him a race. After a scheme had been devised, Bluejay (kuyeskuyes) undertook the job; and Coyote made a speech, calling everybody to the pole, and announcing that there was to be a race between Frog and Bluejay.

Now, little Frog became uneasy, and feared that Bluejay was going to win and then kill her. So when they were half way to the top, Frog tried to kick Bluejay off the pole. When they were nearly to the top, Bluejay used his wings and flew the rest of the way. He got to the top first. When Frog got to the top, Bluejay kicked her, and she fell to the ground and was killed. Ever since that race there have been no feathers on the side of Bluejay’s face, because Frog had torn them all off when she tried to knock Bluejay from the pole. After the race was over, Coyote made a speech, saying, “Hereafter there will be frogs on the earth, but they will never hurt any one. People will hear the frogs singing, and then they will know that warm weather is coming.”

Nez Perce Tales, By Herbert J. Spinden, 1907

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