How Coyote Created Death

It is said: it was in times long past, but not in the storied beginning. The Air-Spirit-People had emerged into the Fifth and final World. Emergence was not only a vertical endeavor, cyclically upward, but also a feat of evolution as well.

In the First World, the Air-Spirit-People had existed in a primitive insectile state, in a cramped valley, colorless and void. As if in blindness. World by World, each one of them incomplete in some way, they underwent transformation upon transformation, gaining sight and mind as birds, beasts, humans, and gods during their ascent of emergence, gradually complexifying.

Coyote the Trickster, named Ma'ii, had been there with them since the primal memories of that First World, and he never stopped reminding them of this fact, no matter how humanely civilized and godly they became.

Each world had a limiter, was governed by a single color or direction, or a single mountain range. But this Fifth World was governed by the four directions in equal balance, contained the complete range of colors, and was surrounded by convergence of mountain rage. A broad land to make their way in.

The point of emergence was said to be at the Grand Canyon, there the group, about to begin their migrations, stopped at the banks of the river to make a pact, urged on by the God of the Sun who soared overhead the canyon.

By then, First Man and First Woman had already been created from the sacred ears of corn. The people of the Blue Corn, the people of the Red Corn, the People of the Yellow Corn, and the people of the White Corn had already been fashioned from the four colored kernels, and the pact was that each would migrate in a different direction, to meet again at this spot in ages to come, when they all will have completed themselves and their journey.

From the side of the river, First Man took a lowly piece of driftwood, and after meditating on the river's flow, he addressed the Air-Spirit-People with these words:

"If this piece of driftwood does not sink, then all of us will enjoy life and youth for all time."

Then he tossed the piece of wood into the river, which of course floated on the surface as it went by. Coyote, irked at First Man's presumption, took another piece of driftwood in his teeth, and growled through it:

"If this piece of driftwood floats, then after a certain period of time, our lives will end. Yours and mine included."

So with a flick of his neck and shoulders Ma'ii cast the slobbery wood into the Colorado, which again floated on the surface as it drifted by.

The Air-Spirit-People were outraged, they heckled Ma'ii and tried to shout him down, vowing revenge for his cursing them.

"He's a Sorcerer who practices the dark arts!" hissed First Woman.

"Yes, he's a Predator and a baby-stealer!" Shouted Haashchʼéé Oołtʼohí, God of the Hunt, "Throw him in too and see if he floats!"

"He stinks the Hogan up with his urine and musk," added Hashchʼéoghan, the House God, "Now look how this stray dog has brought Death into our world!"

"Skin him!" They yelled in unison.

Ma'ii put his ears back, bared his teeth, and emitted an eerie noise somewhere between a whimper and a growl.

"All in good time, my fellow...Beings. In any case, the pact honored today at this sacred spot is not a curse. Look at how many of us there already are! Could you imagine if each of us, living forever, each bearing as many children or pups as we desire, were to pursue our migrations? Why, we'd be so much piled atop one another in two generations, that not one of us would be able to draw in the air we breathe. If you ask me (but whoever does?) that sounds miserable! Better this way, that the natural cycle blessed this day by the sun soaring over this canyon, be honored. We will all need our rest at the end of this journey."

Although the Air-Spirit-People grumbled, the could find nothing to say against the wisdom of Ma'ii's words. Thus they went forth into the four directions, to live beget and die, all according to the cycle of nature.

So it is said.

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