Coyote

I do not understand why coyotes have such a bad image. In fact the only well known coyote is While E. Coyote from the Road Runner cartoons. And he seems to be pretty clever.

The most impressing thing about him is that he gets mail order delivered to the desert, without living in a house or street or even village. How could the postman find him? Maybe While gave him his coordinates ...

Coyote has always been a trickster figure, so it is no wonder he has been chosen to be the famous Wile E. Coyote. Cartoons are the home of the trickster-myth par excellance.

Only half-awake and thinking it was early morning, Coyote jumped at the sound of Mole´s voice and ran to the lodge of the Spirit Chief. None of the other Chip-chap-tiqulk were there. Coyote laughed. Blinking his sleepy eyes, he walked into the lodge.
»I am going to be Kee-lau-naw,« he announced in a strong voice. »That shall be my name.«
»The name Grizzly Bear was taken at dawn,« the Spirit Chief answered.
»Then I shall be Milka-noups,« said Coyote, and his voice was not so loud.
»Eagle flew away at sunup,« the other replied.
»Well, I shall be called En-tee-tee-ueh,« Coyote said in a voice that was not loud at all.
»The name Salmon also has been taken,« explained the Spirit Chief. »All the names except your own have been taken. No one wished to steal your name.«
Poor Coyote´s knees grew weak. He sank down beside the fire that blazed in the great tepee, and the heart of Hah-ah´Eel-mé-whem was touched.
»Sin-ka-lip´,« said that Person, "you must keep your name. It is a good name for you. You slept long because I wanted you to be the last one here. I have important work for you, much for you to do before the New People come. You are to be chief of all the tribes.
"Many bad creatures inhabit the earth. They bother and kill people, and the tribes cannot increase as I wish. These En-alt-na Skil-ten-People – Devouring Monsters – cannot keep on like that. They must be stopped. It is for you to conquer them. For doing that, for all the good things you do, you will be honored and praised by the people that are here now and that come afterward. But, for the foolish and mean things you do, you will be laughed at and despised. That you cannot help. It is your way.

the sound a coyote makes is not the same as the stereotype yelping howl in cowboy movies. I was camping in California and heard coyotes howling in the moonlight. They sounded like ghosts crying loudly. It was both eerie and beautifully natural.

Sin-ka-lip´ – Coyote – did not like his name; he wanted another. Nobody respected his name, Imitator, but it fitted him. He was called Sin-ka-lip´ because he liked to imitate people. He thought that he could do anything that other persons did, and he pretended to know everything. He would ask a question, and when the answer was given he would say:
»I knew that before. I did not have to be told.«
Such smart talk did not make friends for Coyote. Nor did he make friends by the foolish things he did and the rude tricks he played on people.

the coyote trickster stories are some of the most entertaining of the native american myths. there are other trickster animals, but coyote is probably the most important and widespread.