Shnilemun, the Sky Coyote or Coyote of the Sky, is a great being of the Chumash upper world whom the ethnographers Hudson and Underhay identified with Polaris, the one star that does not wheel through the night. He is at once trickster and protector, and above all the friend of humankind. Each night, partnered with Morning Star, he plays the gambling hand-game of peon against the Sun and Golden Eagle, and the result of the year's contest decides the people's fate: when Sky Coyote prevails the year brings rain and plentiful food, but when the Sun's side wins, famine follows and lives are lost. He is distinct from, though related in character to, the earthbound trickster Coyote of the many Chumash folk-tales.