Do you remember the Coyote? He was always doing something crazy. Well, Coyote loved to dance also. One night he went out into the dessert and he started to dance around. He chased his tail, jumping, and spinning— he just loved to dance. Coyote looked up at the sky and saw he stars flashing, twinkling and dancing across the sky. He thought how great it would be to dance with them. So he called up to them, “Good evening, Ladies. My, you sure are pretty tonight. Anybody care to dance.” Well, the stars all laughed. A little blue star said, “Did you hear that foolish Coyote? He wants to come up here and dance with us.” A red star said, ” Why, Coyote you wouldn’t last at all. We dance all night long.” Coyote answered back. “Oh, pretty ladies I’m a fine dancer, I would never get tired... we could waltz around all night long. Ladies, please let me dance with you.”
A star from the south felt sorry for him and called down for him to come up and dance with her. But she said that he had to remember that he could not stop because they had to dance all night long. He called back that he wouldn’t stop, “I’ll dance all night with you Pretty Star. “
Well, the star reached down as far as she could and Coyote reached up as far as he could. The moment they touched Coyote was whirled up into the sky and they began to dance and dance. They danced for a long time and Coyote started to lose his breath.
So he asked if they could just stop long enough for him to catch his breath. Star said, “Oh no, we dance all night. Coyote said “Okay,” and they continued to dance. But Coyote was getting so out of breath, he was just hanging on to the star. After a while he couldn’t even do that. He let go and he fell all the way back down to earth.
Some people say that where he fell, there is a big hole in the ground. Other people say the hole was so big it filled up with water and became a great big lake. Others say he burned up and left a bright streak across the sky. The next night, another Coyote wanted to dance with the stars. They called down “Don’t you remember what happened to your brother coyote?” But he replied “I’m a better dancer then him. Night after night those foolish coyotes tried to dance across the sky with the stars and they always fall, leaving streaks of light across the sky. If you go out at night and look up you just might be able to see one of those foolish Coyotes falling back to earth.
THE MORNING MAKERS
A great many years ago, a Spanish traveler who wished to become rich, went in search of a silver mine. He had heard that there was a hidden silver mine somewhere in the Mexican Mountains. So he traveled to the mountains where he encountered an Indian tribe on his way. The tribe invited him to spend the night and as he was tired and very weary, he accepted their invitation. During the middle of the night he was awakened by the sound of dancing feet and voices singing all together. He found the Chief and asked him what was going on. The Chief replied, “These young men are The Morning Makers our morning makers, they are bringing up the Sun." The Spaniard was very puzzled as he watched the men dancing and singing. But they kept it up until the sun appeared in the sky. The Chief explained they had to do this or else the Sun would not rise, “Do you not have to do this in your village?" The Spaniard thought for a moment and answered, “No. Our young men can sleep until the Sun is up because we have little animals that bring up the Sun for us. We call them El Gallo.” The Tribe gathered around to hear about the animal that could bring up the Sun. The Chief then asked if they could get one of these animals for their village. The Spaniard saw this as an opportunity to acquire what he had come for. He bargained with the Chief; if he got this animal for the village they would show him a rich vain of silver and allow him to mine it. The Chief agreed.
The Spaniard left and sometime later returned with a rooster. The Indians had never seen this kind of animal and were afraid that it would not be able to bring up the Sun. They thought they should stay awake and be ready to start dancing and singing, just in case. But just as the
sky began to lighten, the rooster started to crow and crow. The sky got brighter and brighter, the rooster gave one last crow and the Sun showed itself fully in the sky. The Chief then showed the Spaniard where the silver vain was and the young Indian men could now sleep while the rooster did their work. And the Spaniard went home rich.