COYOTE STORIES
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Mourning Dove (Christine Quintasket, c. 1885-1935) was a member of the Salish people of Washington state. Born on the Colville reservation, she lived as a young woman in Montana (where she was briefly married), Portland (where she assumed her pen name), and Calgary (where she attended a business college to improve her English writing skills). She was married again in 1919 and returned to the Colville reservation. Active in politics, she helped found the Colville Indian Association and was the first woman elected to the Colville Tribal Council.
She wrote the novel Cogewa in 1916 (it was published in 1927) and in 1933 published a collection of traditional Salish and Okanagon Coyote tales. In her tellings she minimized the (mostly sexual) details that a non-Indian audience might find offensive, to guarantee their publication.
Mourning Dove first heard many of these stories as a child from storytellers who travelled town
to town on the reservation. In her preface to Coyote Tales she wrote, "We thought of this as fun
and play, hardly aware that the tale-tellings and impersonations were a part of our primitive
education."
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The Spirit Chief Names the Animal People -=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=- REL 203 Syllabus
Fox and Coyote and Whale
Coyote Fights Some Monsters
Chipmunk and Owl Woman
Coyote and the Buffalo
Why the Flint-rock Cannot Fight Back
How Turtle Got His Tale
Why Skunk's Tale Is Black and White
Rattlesnake and Salmon
Coyote Meets Wind and Some Others
Why Gartersnake Wears a Green Blanket
Coyote Quarrels with Mole
How Coyote Happened to Make the Black Moss Food
Why Spider Has Such Long Legs
Why Badger Is So Humble
Coyote Juggles His Eyes
Why Marten's Face Is Wrinkled
Crawfish and Grizzly Bear
Coyote and Wood-Tick
Why Mosquitoes Bite People
The Gods of the Sun and the Moon
Porcupine Learns the Sun Dance
En-am-tues--the Wishing Stone
Chickadee makes a Shoo'-mesh Bow
Coyote and Chickadee
The Arrow Trail
Coyote Imitates Bear and Kingfisher
This page last updated February 16, 1998. It is maintained by Thomas Shoemaker as an education resource for classes taught at Mesa Community College, 1833 W. Southern Avenue, Mesa, AZ 85202-4868.