Coyote's Den

Coyote Brings a Woman Back

Another tale of why death is forever

Another story in this vein, wherein Coyote brings a woman back from the dead, but loses her again, and is so angry that he prevents others from ever raising the dead again.

Coyote once fell in love with a woman. And not the kind of love where the woman was pretty and he just wanted to have intercourse with her (he fell in that kind of love a lot of times). He really loved her.

Her parents didn't like Coyote. "He is a good-for-nothing, everyone knows that," they told her. "You are a chief's daughter, you need a better husband than him." She always respected her parents and did what they told her.

Coyote would still come by to woo her. Her parents told him to go away.

"You are no good. Get away from here! We don't want someone like you for a son-in-law!"

One day, while the girl was out picking berries, or maybe fishing, I don't remember, she was bitten by a snake. She stepped on it, and it bit her.

Coyote saw this and said "That snake is poisonous. You should let me doctor you."

"No. My parents said I am not to be around you. I am going home."

After a while she didn't feel well. She went home and laid down to sleep. When her parents tried to wake her up to eat something, she was dead.

Coyote came by. He said "Your daughter is probably very sick. If you let me doctor her, I can make her well again."

Her father told him "You get away! My daughter is dead, and I'll bet you know something about it. It's probably your fault!"

Coyote left.

They had a funeral. After they had put the girl on the scaffold, they cried for a while, then went away. Coyote was nearby the whole time. He went and got the girl's body. It had already begun to smell, even through the wrappings. He took her body away, and got into a canoe. They gave her up for dead he thought, obviously they don't want her as much as I do.

At four places on the river, he sang a special song, and each time some of the bad smell went away, and she looked more alive. After this, he fixed her eyes, and made her wake up and breathe. She was confused. He told her that she had died, and he had doctored her so that she was all right again. He told her that for this, he was now going to be allowed to marry her. He took her to a little house he had built down the river, and they lived there for a while.

One day, one her father's friends happened by. He stopped to see what Coyote was up to. Coyote reluctantly invited him in. When he asked how it was that she was alive again, Coyote told him. The man stayed and had dinner with them, and then went straight back to tell her parents that their daughter was alive again.

The girl's father came. Coyote invited him in and didn't say anything. The father told the girl that she should come back to her mother. He told her that Coyote hadn't really fixed her. He said "You were sick, but that is all over now. You can come back with us." Coyote didn't say anything. He just watched as the girl agreed to leave with her father.

After they got home, the girl was fine for a bit. She helped her mother, and they had a big homecoming. One night, after being by the river, the girl said she didn't feel good again. She went to bed. When they went to wake her up, she was dead.

The chief was anguished. He realized what he had to do. He went downriver to where Coyote was living. He said "My daughter has died again. I will give you anything. Everything I own, horses, blankets, just doctor my daughter. Bring her back to life. You can even marry her. We won't prevent this anymore."

Coyote told him. "No. I am not a good son-in-law. Your daughter needs someone better than me. I'm not good for anything, you said so. And she didn't want to be alive if she had to be with me. Her life ended when that snake bit her, and I shouldn't have made her come back from the dead in the first place just to make her like me."

"I will not bring her back again. You have wronged me, and she went with you. If you had acted better, people would be able to come back from the dead, but because of this, there will be no coming back. From now on, medicine men will only be able to help people who are still alive. It is because of you. If you had acted better, it would not be this way."

And it is still like this. Medicine men can heal the sick, but the dead stay dead. It is because of what happened with Coyote and that girl. Some people say he was just being spiteful. I think he really loved her. You ask Coyote and he'll tell you so.