ONCE COYOTE WAS COMING up a long river and at the head of the valley he climbed up on a ridge and looked around. Down below he could see a man jumping back and forth over a deep ravine. The man had only one leg. He had tied his other leg to his back.
Coyote was on his way to a meeting where there would be many powerful shamans and he thought this would be a good trick to do. They would all ask him how he did it, but he wouldn’t tell anyone.
He went down closer to watch the man jump the ravine, thinking he might be able to see how he did it, and not have to pay the man to learn how to do the trick. While he was watching, the man stumbled and fell down to the bottom of the ravine. He got up and was very mad.
“Someone has been watching me,” he thought. “This is why I fell. Someone is trying to steal my power.” He put his other leg on and climbed out of the ravine. When he got to the top he saw Coyote waiting. “I thought so!” he said and he grabbed Coyote and hurled him into the ravine. The fall killed Coyote and the man came down and threw him in the river.
Coyote floated along until his body rolled up on the shore in some wire grass. Magpie saw him and came over. “Someone has killed Coyote,” said Magpie. “I’ve always wondered if he had good brow fat.” Magpie began pecking at Coyote’s head.
“What are you doing?” yelled Coyote, jumping up. “Are you crazy? I was asleep here in the sun and you come along and begin pecking at my head. I have just brought the daughter of the chief of this place safely across this river. If you knew who I was you wouldn’t be pecking at me like that.”
“How could you have done this?” said Magpie. “You were dead. That man threw you in the river after he killed you. You weren’t carrying anyone across the river,” said Magpie, flying away.
Right away Coyote defecated and turned around to address his excrement. “What has happened?” he asked. “Tell me how I got here.” The excrement said, “Up above here a powerful man killed you. You will have to avenge your death. You will have to kill him.”
Coyote kicked sand over his excrement and went back up the river. When he got to the place where he died, he climbed up to the top of the ravine. The man who had one leg tied to his back was jumping back and forth. Coyote hid in the trees and watched him. After a while he made him stumble and the man fell to his death.
Coyote went on his way.