COYOTE

in the mythology and folklore of North American Indians of the Central Plains, California, and the Southwest, the chief animal of the prehuman animal age. His exploits as creator, culture hero, lover, magician, and trickster are celebrated in a vast cycle of oral tales. Among the tribes of the American West, he was predominantly a demiurge (independent creative force) or maker of fateful decisions. Among the Plains tribes, however, he was more often regarded as a culture hero who secured for humans such necessities as fire and daylight or who originated human arts. Although almost all tribes believed he possessed the power to transform beings and objects, they also attributed to Coyote certain negative character traits. These traits often appeared in humorous tales in which he was shown as a clever trickster who, nevertheless, was frequently bested by those who exploited his greed or turned his cunning against him. Among the hundreds of tales in the cycle are a series in which Skunk and Coyote demonstrate their extraordinary incompetence as hunters; another in which Coyote tricks Porcupine out of a portion of buffalo meat, incurring Porcupine's revenge; an incident in which Coyote is tricked into dumping his grandmother's acorns into a river; and the tale of his transformation into a platter in order to be heaped with food to satisfy his voracious appetite. Among tribes of Eastern North America, Coyote was paralleled by the Great Hare, or Master Rabbit, whose adventures became a supplementary source for the Brer Rabbit folk tales of Southern black Americans.