Coyote Tales of the Northwest

by Thomas George

A creature of myth and magic emerging from the mist-shrouded forests of the Northwest, Coyote appears as a creator, messenger, hero, trickster, fool or shapeshifter. Always on the lookout for fun, mischief or the opportunity to help humans, Coyote's encounters with gods, demons and the supernatural bring to life the rich cultural traditions of the Northwest * Coyote pierces the sky with his arrow and, with the help of Fox, steals fire from the people in the clouds * Trapped inside a large cedar tree, Coyote takes himself apart, putting each body part through an opening in the bark of the tree, then reassembles himself outside * Coyote helps Wolf rescue his wife from her kidnapper, the Great Whale * Once Coyote finished his work on earth, the Great Spirit placed him in a deep slumber; when the world needs him again, he will reappear and render his unique brand of mischief and spiritual rescue.

Genres: Short Stories

216 pages, Paperback

First published December 15, 2010

Reviews

[Zemmiphobe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a collection of folklore stories of the early people in the northwest US. It reads very much like folklore in that it has a detached feeling to the storytelling. These stories follow the coyote spirit who plays the token trickster role of the spirit world and tells a collection of seemingly unconnected tales of his antics. Some of these stories tell of his role in the creation of land and species of the world while other seem to have been made just for amusement. Though there is a quick introduction that explains the contradictory nature of the coyote as both the trickster and creator, there is little else that helps put these stories into context. Overall, it feels like these stories have been recorded exactly as they have been told, with little or no impression of the author himself. Some stories contradict others with no explanation (including the creation of man, which arguably should be be the clearest given these stories are man's creation). In general, I think these could have been a bit better with either some more cultural insights, some idea of the times in which they came about or Bing anthropormorphized a bit to make the characters a bit more interesting. But this is a personal opinion of mine which contradicts the style of this genre, so.


In general, I reccomend this to anyone looking to know more folklore from this region, but not to anyone hoping for an intriguing storyline or more insight into the people or culture from which these stories originated from.

3.6 stars because I think my criticism might be a bit unfair for the style of the genre and it was overall still a good collection of stories.

[Lyndsay-ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the second Native American mythology book I have read by this author, the first being Raven and the First People. While reading this one I felt that a lot of the stories were very familiar. I would have liked to compare them side by side and see if the author had simply changed Raven to Coyote in some of the stories.

I really enjoy learning about mythology from all different cultures. This book though I found to be very contradictory. For example, in one story it told how Coyote built molds and created all the animals and people of the world. The next story though told how the Great Creator created all the people.

A lot of the people in the stories told here were quite horrible. There was a lot of greed, evil deeds, theft, as well as rape being played of as 'making love'. (She kidnapped him, gave him the equivalent of roofies so he couldn't move and then made love to him). After finishing that story I was very much 'no, that's just rape'.

Overall though I did find many of the stories in this book to be quite interesting. As it is Tales of the Northwest a lot of them took place in BC, so I knew of some of the locations they talked about. I also really liked Coyote himself. He's a trickster and sometimes a jerk, he is usually acting his best to help the people and animals of the world.