The Element Encyclopedia of Magical Creatures: The Ultimate A–Z of Fantastic Beings from Myth and Magic. John Matthews
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Coyote was always putting his nose into other people’s business. He once watched the Burrowing Owls dancing, seeing how they carried something on their heads. This was a bowl of foam but the owls never spilled a drop as they whirled limping on their short disjointed legs. Coyote begged to be taught the dance. The Owl chieftain told him that this was a sacred initiatory dance and that the thing on their heads was the heads of their grandmothers and that the limping was caused by the pain of having broken legs. Wanting to punish Coyote for his inquisitiveness, Owl said he would initiate Coyote if he went and fetched his grandmother’s head and smashed his legs with a stone. Hobbling in pain and carrying the head of his grandmother which he had sliced off with some deer teeth, he arrived back at the Owl’s dancing ground. He was unable to do anything except a pathetic dance which caused the bowls of foam on the Owl’s heads to spot their shiny black feathers. On hearing their laughter, Coyote knew that they had made a fool of him.
As the bringer of death, he also had to experience its pain.
A legend of the Pomo Indians of California tells how one day Coyote saw a rattlesnake going down a hole and called people to look, for he wanted people to know death. He got everyone to dance around it until the chief’s daughter was bitten on the ankle by the rattlesnake. She cried out in pain but Coyote got them to dance on. A few hours later the girl died and the chief demanded that Coyote resurrect her. He said, ‘If people live forever there will be too many people and not enough food.’ So the girl was laid on the pyre and cremated. A few days later Coyote awoke to find that his own daughter had died, for the chief had poisoned her in revenge for his own girl’s death. Coyote mourned all night and went to the chief and said, ‘My daughter must live again.’ ‘That’s not fair!’ said the chief. ‘You said it was wise to let people die when my daughter died.’ Coyote accepted that his words must also apply to himself and put his daughter on the pyre to cremate her. He mourned all that night and every night afterwards, which is why the coyote always howls at night.
CRAB
The constellation of Cancer the Crab was created by the Greek goddess, Hera, who raised up the crab that had tormented Hercules when he was attempting to kill the Hydra. Among the Andamanese Islanders in the Bay of Bengal, Lizard decided to hold a dancing party. He became so wild and strong that everyone grew frightened. Whenever anyone tried to catch him, Lizard threw them into the sea, turning them into all kinds of fish and turtles.
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