Native American Culture Blog

Reflection on Coyote and the Buffalo

      Coyote and the Buffalo is known as a trickster tale. A trickster tale is a type of folk tale that features an animal or human character who typically engages in deceit, violence, and magic.
      The story started off talking about how there were no buffalos that lived in the Swah-netk'-que country. It was all because of the coyote who was foolish and greedy. The Native Americans are known to come up with stories about why things are they way they are, and this is one of those stories.
      A coyote who was traveling over the plains beyond the mountains came across a buffalo skull. He recognized it as the skull of Buffalo Bill, who he was always afraid of. He then began laughing because Buffalo Bill was dead. He threw the skull in the air, spat on it, kicked it, and threw dusk in the eye sockets. He then heard a rumbling sound, and when he turned around he saw that Buffalo Bill was coming right at him! He ran as fast as he could and prayed to his gods for trees to appear. They did and he grabbed onto a branch so he could get away from Buffalo Bill . Buffalo Bill rammed into the tree over and over until it fell down. Coyote then ran to a second tree and Buffalo Bill rammed that one down as well. So he then went to the third tree and asked Buffalo Bill if he could smoke before he died. He prayed to his gods and an pipe was given to him. Buffalo Bill began to talk about how he was killed by Young Buffalo and how he took his herd. Coyote being as clever as he was offered to make Buffalo Bill new horns so he could kill Young Buffalo. Buffalo Bill agreed to this and spared Coyote his life. Buffalo Bill came upon Young Buffalo killing him with little to no effort and he took back his herd. Buffalo Bill was so grateful for his horns that he gave Coyote a young cow to take care of. Whenever he got hungry he could just cut of some of the fat and eat it and she would be fine. He was not supposed to kill the young cow otherwise she would die. But Coyote was greedy and killed the cow so he could eat down to the bone. He was so upset that he no longer had the young cow, so he went to go ask Buffalo Bill for another cow. He refused to give him another cow. So because of Coyote's greediness that is why there are no buffalos in Swah-netk'-que.
     This story does a great job in showing what happens when you become greedy. If Coyote would have appreciated what he had, he could've lived off the young cow for the rest of his life. But instead, he was greedy and was left with nothing. I think our society today is also very greedy. We always want the new phone or the new car. We're always looking for something better, and we don't always appreciate what we have. The Native Americans appreciated their land and treated it with respect. They create stories like this one to explain why certain things are the way they are. They believe that because of Coyote's greediness there are no buffalos on the other side of the mountains.