How Coyote got His Cunning
(Shastan Literature)

LONG, long ago, Chareya, Old Man Above, made first the fishes, then the lower animals. Afterwards he made a man. Chareya ordered the man to decide the rank of the animals. The man said he would give to each a bow. By the length of the bow given him would each animal know his rank. The next day, when the sun was new, would man give away the bows.

Coyote listened. If he received the longest bow, he would be the most important animal; he decided not to sleep. He would be the first one at the meeting place when the day was new. Night Owl hooted, Wolf howled in the darkness, and Bat flitted over his head. Coyote slept not. Robin chirped and Thrush sang when the day was new. Coyote slept. So Coyote was last to reach the man and received the shortest bow of all. So Coyote became the meanest of all animals. But in his distress, Coyote howled to the man, and he, in turn, appealed to Old Man Above. Chareya ordered that Coyote should be the most cunning of all animals. And so he is to this day.