Navajo Coyote Tales [Paperback]

Hildegard Thompson (Adapter), William Morgan (Compiler)

Book Description

Coyote encounters Rabbit, Fawn's Stars, Crow, Snake, Skunk Woman, and Horned Toad in these 6 delightful, English-language adaptations of traditional Navajo Coyote stories collected by anthropologist William Morgan and translated by him and linguist Robert W. Young.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)

From the Back Cover

Navajo Coyote Tales During long winter nights Navajo families gathered around the fire in their hogans to be entertained by story-tellers. Children remained awake as long as possible to hear their elders relate the pranks and adventures of that eternal trickster, Coyote. These six delightful tales were collected directly from the Navajo by William Morgan and translated into English. Now children and adults alike can still be spellbound by Coyote as he encounters Rabbit, Fawn's Stars, Crow, Snake, Skunk Woman, and Horned Toad.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 50 pages
• Publisher: Gibbs Smith (January 30, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0941270521
• ISBN-13: 978-0941270526
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 7.2 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,301,744 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Traditional Tales, June 30, 2002

By 

Tracy Robert (Albuquerque, NM United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Navajo Coyote Tales (Paperback)

In many Native American groups, animals are personified in traditional tales, often playing consistant roles which reflect that animal's characteristics. Coyote is most often seen as a trickster who makes a fool of himself so that child listeners may learn the lesson. This book contains an introduction and six coyote tales. The illustrations are black pen and the stories retain an authentic tone. The text is perfect for second graders and would be a great series of school skits, with dialog and narration already in the text. Although this simple book does not use colored illustrations or a rewritten literary text, it does a great job of focusing on the cultural integrity of the stories and delivering them to an audience of 4-8 year olds.

4.0 out of 5 stars pretty good, November 21, 2010

By 

MO "mm" (Eastern Seaboard) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Navajo Coyote Tales (Paperback)

For native peoples, stories can be "telescoped", that is, shortened to say 4 minutes, for a child's attention span, or expanded to hours, with details to savor, for adults. This has been telescoped down. That's ok, given the audience. I watched the Coyote and Roadrunner cartoons as a kid. And that is one adaptation of Coyote stories, if a bit shallow. This is another adaptation. Coyote is in a way the eternal Id, similar in some ways to another Warner Brother's personification of the id: Daffy Duck. Stories have to touch emotional chords to survive. Stories are the software of a culture, perhaps its highest art forms. I used to see the Ramakrien danced, as a kid, overseas, one can see The Nutcracker danced at Christmastime, in the US in the same way. Coyote is Homer Simpson on steroids. He is a very entertaining teacher. Will Rogers used to say that some people learned by reading books, but not many; some by learning from the mistakes of others, but not many; and most people have to learn by peeing on the electric fence for themselves. In the stories, Coyote is the one with the electric fence, so to speak. Native American worldviews are radically different from White Man culture. Journey to the Ancestral Self: The Native Lifeway Guide to Living in Harmony With Earth Mother, Book 1 (Bk.1) gives some idea of what that life is like. Whispers of the Ancients: Native Tales for Teaching and Healing in Our Time gives some idea of the radically different use of story by indigenous cultures. House of Shattering Light: Life as an American Indian Mystic gives another taste of how different stories are, for native peoples. This book is a safe sort of buffet offering of elements of a very different culture. It's worth it. Hearing Coyote tales from a Native American storyteller is great, too. I heard Dovie Thomasson tell a Coyote story, about when the People asked to learn how to lie, years ago, I think she is of Kiowa Apache lineage. Her group only tells Coyote stories in the Winter. When she was young, she tried to tell a story out of season; a white faced bumblebee stung her in the throat, and she had to stop. She later mentioned the story to an elder, who said oh yes, that story is protected by the white faced bumblebee, that is one you really don't want to tell out of season. I would not be telling Coyote stories out of season, myself. It is important to respect the culture that birthed a story. Tom Brown, Jr., The Tracker calls himself a Coyote teacher. This is a different kind of teaching, one of giving just enough information to fascinate a child, so the child goes off to learn for him/herself, and them comes back for the next step. Sometimes children find better answers than the adult had. This is a Westernization, but a necessary Westernization, of teaching stories. Recall that the Br'er [Brother] Rabbit stories were all teaching stories. Br'er Rabbit and the Tar Baby is a story about the cycle of revenge, which happens out of consciousness. The story brings it into consciousness, so the cycle can be interrupted. This is a useful lesson. The Bible is full of similar metaphors, as Neville Goddard points out, but Western literalist exegesis ignores this. When you read the Coyote stories, look for the metaphor. If you need practice in this, google the story of Jumping Mouse, by Hyemoyohsts Storm, the metaphor is very easy to see in that story. Metaphor speaks to the deep mind. Coyote stories are not easy to translate, just as Australian Aboriginal stories are not easily translatable. This book does rather well, for the age group targeted.