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Shoshoni - Coyote Learns To Fly (ver.2)
(Big Smoky Valley, Nevada. Shoshoni)
Goose said to Coyote, "I'll give you wings. See those two sharp mountains? One is farther away. If I give you wings, you can fly up to that hill." Coyote said, "All right."
Goose pulled some of his feathers out and stuck them along Coyote's arms and said, "If you fly, sit on that mountain and wait for me. Don't go away. I will watch you." Goose sat down to watch. Coyote said, "All right," and went, saying "Wa’ wa’ wa’." He felt good. He said, "I don't want to sit on that hill. I feel good." He flew a long way and fell down.
Goose was watching him and found him. He went to Coyote and broke his head. Coyote's brains ran out and he died.
When he came to life he felt his brains and said. "My nephews gave me some mush." He ate some. Then he found that his head was broken and that he had been eating his own brains. He vomited. Goose came and found him and said, "You are bad, adabu!" He took his wings away from Coyote and left him.
Coyote cried. He did not know what to do.
Some Western Shoshoni Myths, by Julian H. Steward; Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 136, pp. 249-299; Anthropological Papers No. 31; Washington D.C., Smithsonian Institution; US Government Printing Office [1942] and is now in the public domain.
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