Fox
Salish · demigod · myth age (animal people / sptákwelh time) · Recorded classification
In the Interior Salish (Thompson, Shuswap, Okanagan) narrative cycles recorded by James Teit and edited by Franz Boas, Fox is a distinct animal-person of the myth age, usually presented as Coyote's elder brother or close companion. His signature role is that of reviver: whenever Coyote's greed or foolishness gets him killed, Fox seeks out the bones or carcass and brings Coyote back to life, typically by stepping or jumping over the remains. Fox is generally portrayed as wiser and more restrained than Coyote, serving as a moral counterweight within the trickster cycle.
Domains
- revival of the dead
- cunning
Powers
- to restore the dead Coyote to life by stepping or jumping over his remains
Sources
- Fox is an individuated animal-person of Interior Salish mythology, Coyote's elder brother and companion, best known for repeatedly resurrecting Coyote by stepping over his bones.: James A. Teit, Mythology of the Thompson Indians, Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural History 12.2 (Jesup North Pacific Expedition 8.2), 1912. (secondary); Franz Boas (ed.), Folk-Tales of Salishan and Sahaptin Tribes, Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society 11, 1917. (secondary)