Coyote and Rabbit - Yaqui

ONE DAY rabbit was out on a plain eating when Coyote came up. "I am
very
hungry," said Coyote. "I am going to eat you."

"No, wait here and I will bring you a really good meal of chicken.
They are
cooking it over there." Rabbit ran off toward the Monte and Coyote
happily
waited, singing in anticipation of a fine meal. He waited a long
time. At
last he became angry and followed the tracks of Rabbit.

He found Rabbit in an arroyo standing by the cliff wall holding his
forepaws
against the cliff. "What are you doing?" asked Coyote.

"I am holding this cliff up," said Rabbit. At that moment a little
rock fell
and he held the cliff up harder than ever. "Here," he said to
Coyote, "you
hold it up while I go and get the food I told you about. It is almost
ready."

Coyote put his paws against the cliff, pushing desperately while
Rabbit ran
off. Another rock fell and Coyote pushed all the harder. He waited
for a
long time. He was very tired and terribly hungry. Suddenly he let go
of the
cliff and ran as fast as he could. Nothing happened. He followed the
tracks
of Rabbit.

'Now I really am going to eat you!"

"Just sit down," said Rabbit. "They are going to bring that food
right here.
They'll be here soon." So Coyote sat down, looking hungrily at
Rabbit.
Rabbit jumped up saying, "I'll hurry them. You wait here just a
minute." He
ran off. Coyote waited.

Meanwhile, Rabbit set fire all around the edges of the thicket. Then
he ran
back to Coyote. "Hear the cohetes?" he shouted to Coyote. "The
fiesta is
coming. They are bringing you a wonderful meal." Then Rabbit ran
away as
fast as he could to avoid the fire. Coyote happily danced and sang
as he
waited for his meal. The fire soon surrounded him and he was burned
up.

Told by Ambrosio A. Castro

Footnotes
The above incident and others form a cycle of tales which has a wide
distribution among the Latin Americans of Mexico and Southwestern
United
States (Espinosa 1914b: 211-212). Also, incidents featuring various
animals
are found among widely separated American Indian groups as, for
instance,
the Tepecanos of Mexico (Mason and Espinosa 1914: 204), the Cochiti
of New
Mexico (Benedict 1935: 308), and the Papagos of Arizona (Jane
Chesky, Field
Notes 1942).

YAQUI MYTHS AND LEGENDS
Ruth Warner Giddings

Reposted with Permission from Dream's Archives

From Blue Panther Keeper of Stories.