ONE TIME THE ANIMALS decided to have a council to see who had the finest fur. They all had different coats, some with short hair, some with long, some with spots, some colored yellow or black, some brown. They were always arguing about whose coat was best.
All the animals had heard that Otter had the finest coat but no one knew because Otter lived up at the head of a long creek and never came down to where the other animals were. They did not even know exactly where he lived, but only the general direction. They hoped he would come. They thought he would hear about the council from someone and come along.
Coyote had been listening to all this talk. He thought his own coat was the finest but he was worried that some of the others might think Otter’s was better. He could see them deciding that way, so he began asking about where Otter lived. When someone gave him an answer, he would look away like he wasn’t listening so no one would know what he was thinking.
Then, without saying anything, he went off to find Otter.
He walked up the creek for four days and found him. He knew it was Otter right away because Otter’s fur was soft, dark brown and very thick.
Otter was glad to see him. “Coyote, where are you going?”
“The animals sent me up to bring you down to the council. Because you live so far away, they thought you would not know the road.”
This pleased Otter very much. They set off right away for the village.
They traveled all day and when night came Coyote found a place to camp. The country was strange to Otter. Coyote cut down some bushes for beds and fixed up everything.
The next morning they set off again. Late in the afternoon Coyote began collecting sticks along the way.
“What are you doing, brother?” asked Otter.
“We’ll make a good fire tonight and sleep warm and comfortable.”
After a while, when it was near sunset, they stopped and made camp.
When supper was over Coyote got out a stick and carved it into a paddle.
“What are you making there?”
“This is a paddle. I always have good dreams when I sleep with a paddle under my head.”
When he was finished with the paddle, Coyote cut away all the bushes to make a clear path down to the river.
“What are you doing?”
“This place is called ‘the place where it rains fire.’ Sometimes it rains fire here. The sky looks this way tonight. You go to sleep. I’ll sit up and watch. If the fire comes, as soon as you hear me shout, run down this path and jump in the river. You better hang your coat on that limb over there so it won’t get burned.”
The Otter hung his coat up and went to sleep.
After a while, Coyote called out in a low voice to see if Otter was awake. There was no answer. He called out again. Otter was really sleeping. Then Coyote took the paddle and loaded it up with hot coals from the fire. He threw them up into the air and shouted, “It’s raining fire! It’s raining fire!”
The hot coals were falling everywhere and Otter jumped up and ran for the river. “Jump in the water and swim!” yelled Coyote, who was right behind him. Otter jumped in and swam out into the middle of the river. Finally the fire stopped falling down. Otter called out after Coyote. There was no answer.
Coyote went down to the council with Otter’s coat on. When the other animals saw him they thought it was Otter and agreed Otter had a very fine coat. They were all anxious to meet him, but Otter was very bashful. He kept his arm up over his face. Finally Bear pulled his arm away and they saw it was only Coyote. Bear tried to grab him, but Coyote was too quick. He got away.