Peter Blue Cloud (1935–2011)

Coyote is raunchy, wise, foolish, sly; a doctor, a truth-speaker, a con-artist. Together, these stories, speeches, and songs comprise a history of the world, reaching from the beginning times through bringing the first fire (to animals, not humans), and on past the creation of human beings (which he shat into being: after all, nothing else wanted to be human). As the world changes, so do the stories: after Coyote brings fire, everyone becomes entranced with cerebral matters and the stories start incorporating meta-level commentaries. After Coyote creates human beings (who were created to confuse each other), the stories and the characters, including Coyote himself, become fragmented and confused.

Through it all, Coyote spares no one. Sometimes the joke is on anthropologists, sometimes himself, sometimes the reader. After Coyote rebukes folk for becoming so caught up in mental activities that they fail to gather firewood (an interesting criticism, given that Coyote places the blame for all this misplaced attention squarely on the seductive, lulling comfort of fire), he turns to the author: "I suppose you think you'll be winning over women with your cute stories, huh? Well, let me tell you, you got a long way to go yet."

I love this book. The first thing I did upon finishing it was turn back to the beginning again. The more I sit with it, the broader it makes me grin.… (more)