Coyote Howls

Why Coyote Howls at the Moon It was a starry night on the plains of the Cherokee Territory. Little Bear and his father Chief Brown Elk were sitting on a stump outside of their teepee listening to the songs of the night. When over the sharp crackle of the fire before them, came that familiar howl. The howl they heard almost every night when the clouds seemed to disappear forever. It was Coyote. Little Bear turned to his father and asked with great wonder, “Father, why does Coyote howl at the moon?” The Chief turned to his child and asked if he would like to know what the ancestors have said why he howls. Little Bear eagerly nodded. Chief Black Elk took another bite of the juicy buffalo meat they had cooked not long before and began to speak.
Every night, when the gods would gather around the fire, they would invite the creatures that the sun god had created many years before to sit and eat with them. Coyote, Bear, Eagle, Elk, Moose, and Wolf all sat around the fire with the sky gods. This nightly feasting and celebrating went on for many moons. Coyote suddenly stopped joining the gods and the other creatures around the fire. The gods reached out through the western wind and calmly asked Coyote why he had not been joining them for the feast. With no response from Coyote for many months, the gods began to worry. One night the eastern wind picked up a message from him. The gods were very pleased when Coyote’s news reached them. Coyote and his mate were expecting pups. He was spending so much time hunting and caring for his new family that he had forgotten to let the sky gods know what was occurring. After the birthing of his pups, Coyote started coming back to the fires. Overjoyed, the sky gods gave Coyote many foods to take back to his den to share with his new family. As the weeks went by, Coyote came less and less to the great fires. Confused, the sky gods sent their messenger bird to Coyote’s den. The bird was ashamed when he discovered Coyote did not have