NATIVE AMERICAN LITERATURE (Folk tale) Coyote Stories: "Coyote and the Buffalo“, Retold by Mourning Dove

In these traditional Native American tales, no sharp distinction is drawn between humans and the rest of the natural world, suggesting a philosophy that views humans as in harmony with nature.

Meet the author Mouring dove Mouring Dove or Christal Quintasket was a Native American  author in the United States best known for her 1927 novel Cogewea the Half-Blood: A Depiction of the Great Montana Cattle Range. 

One of the first to be written by a Native American woman and to feature a female protagonist. She is also know for Coyote Stories (1933), a collection of what she called Native American Folklore.

She was born Christal Quintasket in 1888, in Idaho She was born Christal Quintasket in 1888, in Idaho. Early, in her life, Quintasket was forced to give up her language while attending the Sacred Heart School near Kettle Falls, Washington. Mouring Dove learned storytelling from her maternal grandmother, and from Teequalt, a grandmotherly lady who lived with her family when she was young. She was also influenced by pulp-fiction novels, which her adopted brother Jimmy Ryan let her read.

Folk Tales "Like myths, folk tales are stories handed down, usually by word of mouth, from generation to generation. In fact, some scholars regard myths--religious stories offering supernatural explanations of the world--as a special category of folk tale.

Trickster Tales Trickster tales are folk tales that feature an animal or human character who engages in deceit, violence, and magic. Often trickster tales are mythic, explaining features of the world. As you read, notice how Coyote demonstrates the trickster's contradictory qualities: he is foolish yet clever, greedy yet helpful, immoral, yet moral. Also notice what Coyote creates" .

Summary The tale goes about the absence of buffalo in Swah-netk'-qhu on the reckless and selfish behavior of a coyote. The coyote's disrespect for the lives of others almost costs him his own life, while his greed causes the death of another. The legend illustrates the importance of behaving honorably and implies that there are consequences of greed and vanity.

When Coyote disrespects his former enemy, Buffalo, the ghost of Buffalo appears and threatens to kill Coyote. He spares Coyote's life because Coyote makes a new set of horns that Buffalo uses to defeat the animal that killed him and stole his herd. Buffalo gives Coyote a cow as payment, telling him that she will provide food for him as long as he does not kill her. Coyote kills her anyway and loses his food to scavengers as well as to a woman who uses flattery to trick him out of the remains. When Coyote visits Buffalo, the cow is alive, but she refuses to go with Coyote. He returns to his land without the cow. As a result, no buffalo were ever seen in Swah-netk'-qhu again.