Coyote

Coyote, Sk'elép, is the great transformer and trickster of the Nlaka'pamux and the central figure of Teit's collections. Commissioned by the Old-One to travel the land, he clears obstructions from the rivers, releases and distributes the salmon, and turns dangerous beings into the rocks and animals that mark the country to this day. He is at once benefactor and fool: his appetite and lust as often bring disaster and ridicule as they bring order, and his death and revival by his brother Fox recur through the cycle. In one of the best-known tales he covets the wives of his own son Nliksentem and contrives to send the young man into the sky world.

Children

• Nliksentem

Domains

• transformation
• trickery and appetite

Powers

• transforms beings and the land
• deceives out of appetite and lust
• dies and is restored to life

Epithets

• Sk'elép — CoyoteTeit 1912, 'Mythology of the Thompson Indians.' (primary)

Relations

• ally: Old-OneActs as the Old-One's world-fixer.Teit 1912, 'Mythology of the Thompson Indians': commissioned by the Old-One. (primary)
• child: NliksentemFather of Nliksentem, whom he betrays out of lust.Teit 1898, 'Traditions of the Thompson River Indians,' Coyote and his son. (primary)
• sibling: FoxBrother to Fox, who repeatedly restores him to life.Teit 1912, 'Mythology of the Thompson Indians': Fox as Coyote's brother and reviver. (primary)

Sources

• Coyote (Sk'elép) is the principal transformer-trickster of the Thompson, sent by the Old-One to make the world habitable, and the protagonist of the largest body of tales.: Teit, James A. 'Mythology of the Thompson Indians,' Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural History 12, 1912, Coyote cycle. (primary); Teit, James A. 'Traditions of the Thompson River Indians of British Columbia,' Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society 6, 1898. (primary)