In the days before human beings, when there were only the animal people, the Great Spirit said “We’ve been doing this a while, and I know some of you have complaints about who you are, so I’m going to give everyone the chance to be somebody else. Come to me tomorrow at sunrise, and if you want to be somebody other than who you are now I will change you. But it will be first-come, first-serve, and you can only pick something that nobody else has already taken.”
Coyote heard this and thought “I hate being Coyote, I want to be Bear. I will make sure to be first in line, so that I can be Bear. No, wait, I’ll choose Eagle. I’ve always wanted to fly. No, wait, I’ll be Salmon, and be the king of all the rivers. Yes, Salmon is clearly the best thing to be, so I’ll be first in line and become Salmon. Unless I decide to become Lion. Or Bear.” So he went back to his camp and told his wife “You need to make sure I don’t fall asleep tonight. I need to see Great Spirit first thing in the morning so I can be Bear instead of Coyote from now on. Or Eagle. Or Salmon or Lion. Or Bear. Anything but Coyote, because I hate being Coyote.”
Coyote’s wife built a big fire. and Coyote sat down in front of it, trying to stay awake. But he got sleepy. So he told his wife to hit him with a stick every five minutes, to keep him from falling asleep. But he still got sleepy anyway. So he took two little twigs and propped his eyelids open with them, but after a time his eyelids got so heavy they snapped the twigs and Coyote fell fast asleep in front of the fire, while his wife hit him with a stick every five minutes.(cont.)
In the days before human beings, when there were only the animal people, the Great Spirit said “We’ve been doing this a while, and I know some of you have complaints about who you are, so I’m going to give everyone the chance to be somebody else. Come to me tomorrow at sunrise, and if you want to be somebody other than who you are now I will change you. But it will be first-come, first-serve, and you can only pick something that nobody else has already taken.”
Coyote heard this and thought “I hate being Coyote, I want to be Bear. I will make sure to be first in line, so that I can be Bear. No, wait, I’ll choose Eagle. I’ve always wanted to fly. No, wait, I’ll be Salmon, and be the king of all the rivers. Yes, Salmon is clearly the best thing to be, so I’ll be first in line and become Salmon. Unless I decide to become Lion. Or Bear.” So he went back to his camp and told his wife “You need to make sure I don’t fall asleep tonight. I need to see Great Spirit first thing in the morning so I can be Bear instead of Coyote from now on. Or Eagle. Or Salmon or Lion. Or Bear. Anything but Coyote, because I hate being Coyote.”
Coyote’s wife built a big fire. and Coyote sat down in front of it, trying to stay awake. But he got sleepy. So he told his wife to hit him with a stick every five minutes, to keep him from falling asleep. But he still got sleepy anyway. So he took two little twigs and propped his eyelids open with them, but after a time his eyelids got so heavy they snapped the twigs and Coyote fell fast asleep in front of the fire, while his wife hit him with a stick every five minutes.(cont.)