One night, coyote was enjoying a beautiful San Diego sunset, and eating a leftover dried up squirrel when he overheard the voices of women giggling and talking. He loved the sound of women laughing, and this surely peaked coyote's curiosity! He left his dinner and walked up the canyon embankment among the nopales, newly flowered buckwheat, and thick chamise to get a closer look. As he made his way to the top of the canyon, he suddenly slung low as he heard the deep voice of a man.
He peered through the bushes and saw the shadow of a big man amongst the women. Edging closer to the canyon top, he could see more clearly now. He was delighted to find three pretty women and the man whose voice he heard. Suddenly, coyote remembered, "I know this man!"
Coyote often seen this man and his wife around the reservation. Coyote really liked the wife who often left him scraps of animal fat on the boulder in the back of their home. He relied on that fat when it got colder outside and food became scarce. He took notice that the man was talking, laughing, and clearly trying to flirt with these women. The man was really paying attention one woman in particular. He was trying to impress her and display his knowledge about the Yaqui people, the woman's tribe.
"This is very bad! This is trouble!", Coyote thought. Naturally, coyote was worried about the future of his fat. Besides, he thought, "There is only one coyote on this rez, and that's me!" Coyote decided to do something about this man and his wandering ways. He said, " I am going to fix this man and I will use my cunning to try and scare them all off!" So coyote left the protection of the bushes, and carefully crept onto the gravel. He slowly made himself visible to the man and three women, and stared as mean and ugly a stare he could muster, hoping to scare them off. The people took notice, and one woman curiously said, " I wonder what that coyote is doing?" But the man turned, looked, then shrugged his shoulders. He just kept talking to the Yaqui lady. He was really working hard to impress her with his knowledge and did not want to bothered by some dusty old coyote.
Coyote got angry because clearly his plan was not working and wondered what to do next. "I know!" he thought, " I will quickly walk up, and stand there among them, and really let them know that I mean business!" This time, coyote walked onto the pavement and headed towards the people. He stood only 10 feet from them this time, and stopped and glared! The ladies shrieked, and jumped up a few steps. The man turned back to look at what the fuss was about. All of the sudden, from nowhere came the familiar face of the man's wife appearing from behind a building. With a confused look, the wife walked up to her husband and exclaimed, "Oh, here you are, I was looking for you!"
The wife, then turns to greet the women, and finds coyote standing there among them. The wife quickly went from looking confused to shocked about seeing a coyote so close. Soon, the poor wife's look became one of disgust then anger! She immediately knew the truth of this scene. No need to figure this one out, the husband was surely exposed! She quickly shot her man a squinting glance, to which he grimaced a crooked grin, and turned as red as the sun! He quickly grabbed his wife's hand, said goodnight, and turned to leave.
In one last weak saving gesture, the man shouted back to the women, "You all be careful now, that coyote means that someone is going trick you up ahead!" With that the coyote was very pleased, and returned to the bushes to enjoy the rest of his meal. All night he listened to the pretty women drum, sing, and giggle as they reminisced about the scene earlier that night.
This tale is based on a true series of events that took place a few years back on a local rez. I was that Yaqui woman in the story. I always wondered what motivated coyote to come up the hill that night, and why he felt the need to tell on that man. It was a comical scene that could have only been understood in Indian country and in the context which we found ourselves. "That was a good one!" is the line we always say when we remember that story.
