Meadowlark
Nez Perce · numen · Nez Perce traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Meadowlark is the small prairie bird who acts as Coyote's informant, disclosing to him news he could not otherwise learn, including word of his wife on the journey to the land of the dead. In a widely told incident Coyote, hurrying past, breaks the bird's leg; repenting, he mends it with a splint, and the meadowlark's slender legs and dark breast-markings are traced to this repair. Her disclosures are as apt to further Coyote's schemes as to expose them.
Domains
- omens
- birds
Powers
- reveals hidden news to Coyote
Relations
- ally: CoyoteInformant to Coyote, though her disclosures may help or hinder him.Herbert J. Spinden, 'Myths of the Nez Percé Indians,' Journal of American Folklore 21 (1908) (primary)
Sources
- Meadowlark acts as Coyote's informant; Coyote breaks her leg and mends it with a splint, an etiology of the bird's slender legs and markings.: Herbert J. Spinden, 'Myths of the Nez Percé Indians,' Journal of American Folklore 21 (1908) (primary); Ella E. Clark, Indian Legends of the Pacific Northwest (1953) (secondary)