Myth of the Stars

In the beginning, before people, when only animals were on earth, all the animals worked, except for coyote. He was lazy. He merely watched while the other animals put the rivers where they are now, so that there would be water to drink. They made mountains for beauty. They made forests and trees for shade. The animals made grass grow. They created the deserts by putting down sand and all kinds of other rocks. To make the desert attractive they painted rocks pink and yellow and many other colors. They made cactus grow, and then put lakes in different places.

The animals looked at what they had done and said, "It is not enough." So they made mesas and canyons. They did one more thing. They made hundreds and hundreds of tiny, shiny objects with which they planned to complete their work. But they didn't know what to do with them. Some said, "Put them in the mountains." Some said, "Hang them in the trees." Others said, "Sprinkle them in the dessert." They couldn't all agree. So they left them on the ground and went to bed.

While they slept, Coyote came to see what they had been up to all day. He sniffed the objects. He picked one up and examined it closely. "What is this good for?" he said. Seeing no use for it, he threw it into the air. "What is this good for?" he said. Then he tossed it over his shoulder. Again he picked up one of the objects."What is this supposed to be?" He threw it away in disgust. He examined each shiny thing, and finding them not good to eat and not useful in any way, he threw them away into the air, until at last there were not any left.

Then he looked up into the sky and saw them where he had thrown them, tiny spots of light in the darkness. This is how the stars came to be where they are now. Coyote, the busybody, is responsible.