Coyote And The Origin Of Death

In the beginning of this world, there was no such thing as death. Everybody continued to live until there were so many people that the Earth had no room for any more.

The chiefs held a council to determine what to do. One man rose and said he thought it would be a good plan to have the people die and be gone for a little while, and then return.

As soon as he sat down, Coyote jumped up and said he thought people ought to die forever. He pointed out that this little world is not large enough to hold all of the people, and that if the people who died came back to life, there would not be food enough for all.

All the other men objected. They said that they did not want their friends and relatives to die and be gone forever, for then they would grieve and worry and there would be no happiness in the world.

Everyone except Coyote decided to have people die and be gone for a little while, and then come back to life again. The medicine men built a large grass house facing the East. When they had completed it, they called the men of the tribe together and told them that people who died would be restored to life in the medicine house. The chief medicine man explained that they would sing a song calling the spirit of the dead to the grass house. When the spirit came, they would restore it to life.

All the people were glad, because they were anxious for the dead to come and live with them again. When the first man died, the medicine men assembled in the grass house and sang.

In about ten days a whirlwind blew from the West and circled about the grass house. Coyote saw it, and as the whirlwind was about to enter the house, he closed the door. The spirit of the whirlwind, finding the door closed, whirled on by.

In this way Coyote made death eternal, and from that time on, people grieved over their dead and were unhappy.

Now whenever anyone meets a whirlwind or hears the wind whistle, he says: “Someone is wandering about.” Ever since Coyote closed the door, the spirits of the dead have wandered over the Earth trying to find some place to go, until at last they discovered the road to the spirit land.

Coyote ran away and never came back, for when he saw what he had done, he was afraid. Ever after that, he has run from one place to another, always looking back first over one shoulder and then over the other to see if anyone is pursuing him. And ever since then he has been starving, for no one will give him anything to eat.

Go Back To: Caddo Nation