User:Anewell5/Coyote (mythology)

Plateau- Northwest
Myths and stories of Coyote are also found in the cultures of the Plateau area: the Chinookan (including the Wishram people and the Multnomah), the Flathead, the Nez Perce, the Nlaka'pamux, the Syilx (Okanagan), the St'at'imc,  the Tsilhqot'in, and the Yakama.

One story from the Chinookan describes Coyote's attempts to catch salmon. After repeated failures, Coyote defecates and his own feces begin to insult him. Eventually, his feces stop insulting him and offer detailed advice not only for catching the salmon, but also for preparing the fish once he has them. Coyote enjoys success for a while before he begins to fail once again. Coyote stops and, as before, defecates again. This batch of feces tells Coyote that there are even more aspects he has to take into consideration when fishing including specific instructions for specific geographic location. The story concludes with Coyote finally understanding how to fish properly but thoroughly exhausted.

Sk'elep is the traditional trickster figure in Secwepemc mythology. He is featured in many legends and has many powers, including the ability to die and come back to life. Like the animal his character is enjoined to, he is very clever. But like all intelligent beings, he can also have his foolish moments and can make emblematic mistakes that people can learn from. According to one story, he once decided that he had to climb into a tree and spin a web like a spider. The only result of this misguided idea was that he left behind clumps of his hair in the tree. This magical hair, however, became wila, the Secwepemc language for a species of lichen.

In some other Interior Salish cultures, Coyote went into the tree for other reasons; for example, in Colville-Okanagan culture, he was dropped into the tree by some swans he had grabbed in a hunt. In this story also, though, his hair became the hair moss lichen.

Between the Fraser and Columbia rivers, the Natives of the area held stories of Coyote in their Creation mythology. Coyote held a pivotal roll in the change between a world of animals and plants only, to a world where humans roamed as well. "The people of the time, though they had human form, were really animals, gifted with magical powers. Into the world then came certain transformers, the greatest of whom were the Coyote and the Old Man, who put the earth in order, giving the mountains and the valleys their present aspects and transforming the wicked among them, and these were the beings who the ancient world denizens into the animal shapes which are still theirs; the descendants of the good among these pristine beings are the Indians of today" "(Native American Mythology).

Southwest
Coyote also appears in the traditions of the Jicarilla Apache. In the mythology of the Tohono O'odham people of Arizona, he appears as an associate of the culture-hero Montezuma. Coyote also appears as a trickster in stories of the Tohono O'odham people. As told by a collective of natives in O'odham Creation and Related Events- Coyote Marries the Hunter's Wives, Red Racer Snake and Coyote, Turtle and Coyote, and many more stories of Coyote dealing in his usual mix of kind gestures with tricky twists and ulterior motives.

He appears with a pivotal roll in the creation myth of the Navajo people of Northern Arizona. "The Navajo people believe the world is built in a sequence of storeys, the fifth of these being the earth on which men now dwell. The genesis Legend of this tribe divides into four episodic tales, the first of which, The Age of Beginnings, narrates the ascent of the progenitors of Earth's inhabitants from storey to storey of the Underworld, and their final emergence upon Earth" As the story develops Coyote guides the humans down to earth while badger continues to the underworld. "One day they saw the Sky stooping down and the earth rising to meet it. At the point of contact, Coyote and Badger sprang down from the world above; Badger descended into the world below, but Coyote remained with the people (First Man)"

He also appears in a legend of the White Mountain Apache, "Coyote fights a lump of pitch" (a variant of the Tar-Baby theme), and in similar legends of the Zapotec and Popoluca of Mexico.

Coyote plays a prominent role in many stories in the Diné (Navajo) mythos; see Coyote (Navajo mythology).