djonn | Coyote needs cookies?

I see by my friends-list an advisory from

cadhla that today (being May 1, a date of some significance in certain quarters) is a day when one should offer cookies to your friendly neighborhood Coyote -- be they real cookies, metaphorical cookies, or offerings of some other sort of Good Thing. In which light it seems a reasonable moment to post a song lyric of mine dating from some while back.

Note the first: "Koyoda Speelyi", as introduced and described in the second verse-pair, is a mythological figure unique to the Klickitat Indian tribal groups inhabiting the Columbia Gorge and surrounding areas. There are correspondences between Koyoda (essentially a "Changer" figure), Coyote (the familiar Trickster figure, who also appears in the myths of the region), and the coyote we know, but there are also distinct differences. It's a complicated discussion....

Note the second: For purposes of scansion, the lyrics assume that Koyoda is pronounced koyOHdah, that Coyote (uppercase) is pronounced COYoat, and that coyote (lowercase) is pronounced coyOHtee. (Sahale Tyee, the Great Spirit, is pronounced sahHAHlee tie-EE).

Soul of the Coyote

words: John C. Bunnell © 1993
music: Leslie Fish ("Kerowyn's Ride")

First there was Coyote, the soul of the Trickster,
Clever and arrogant, foolish and wise;
Alone among animals, he kept his powers
After the New People first did arise.

Not Eagle, not Beaver, not Bear, Fox or Salmon
Survived un-transformed by the change;
Coyote the Trickster alone won the privilege
To travel the New People's range ... to travel the New People's range.

Next came Koyoda, the Great Spirit's envoy,
Shaman and shapeshifter, teacher and guide;
Bringer of laws to the homes of the people,
Source of their honor, their lore, and their pride.

Koyoda Speelyi, so legend names him,
A spirit, yet formed as a man;
Sent by Sahale Tyee to his people,
Part of the Great Spirit's plan ... part of His purpose and plan.

Next, the coyote, the wolf's smaller cousin,
Hunter and scavenger, stealthy and sly;
Heir to the legends but not to their powers,
And yet he refuses to vanish and die.

This time the change is enveloped in shadow
And clouded in history's smoke;
Speelyi's spirit is gone or in hiding
Concealed by memory's cloak ... beyond any means to invoke.

But wait, for the ending has not yet been written;
The stories of old may provide an escape;
For Trickster and Speelyi, brothers in spirit,
Locked in the trap of the small hunter's shape.

Koyoda Speelyi — Coyote — coyote,
Three spirits, one ancient soul;
So long as the tales are shared and remembered,
One day the three may be whole ... the Great Spirit's voice may be whole.