How Coyote Stole Fire

What a cute fire-stealer!

Hello again, reader. Today, I thought we'd take a journey down a different path in the folktale library. We'll be looking at How Coyote Stole Fire, which comes to us from the Native Americans. I wish the source for this story said which tribe this came from, but it's not there and I couldn't find out which one or ones it was.

In any event, this is a fun tale because a trickster is actually working to help someone out, and that "someone" is humans. Often, trickster tales begin because the trickster is bored or threatened, so this is a good change of pace. Coyote has one goal here: to give human beings fire so they can survive the winter. It's a surprisingly noble goal for a trickster. I also thought it was interesting that the Fire Beings had to sleep, but Coyote didn't. They're obviously different sorts of beings, so one of those differences must be the need to sleep.

I also thought it was noteworthy how they worked so many creation myths into this story. Not only do we have the title theft of fire, but we have why coyotes, chipmunks, squirrels, and frogs look the way they do. That's efficiency. Although, I do feel bad for the frog, since it lost its tail. Poor thing.

Across cultures, mankind has to steal fire in order to get it. Think of Prometheus, for example. Coyote has to steal fire for humans, and then he teaches them how to get it out of Wood. It is kind of elegant to think about fire that way. Wood has it inside and we just have to coax it out. There's a metaphor about hidden potential there. I also wonder what the Fire Beings did after that. If humans already had fire, did they still feel the need to guard it? Maybe they all got to get a good night's sleep for the first time in years. It's a nice thought, anyway.

Know of a folktale you want me to write about? Comment below and I'll check it out.