![]() ![]() These tales have all the trappings of the real Coyote stories in terms of tone, repetition, and lack of moral. When the Old Woman funnels Coyote’s talent for repulsion to its best use, that felt familiar. Not having an intimate knowledge of Coyote tales, these felt original but with elements of more traditional tales referenced throughout. The other interesting thing is the stories themselves. “Coyote’s New Suit”, in contrast, shifts Coyote from schlemiel to schlimazel with Raven (another great trickster character) taking on the former role. In “Coyote Sings the Moon” he’s immediately hurt when the other animals tell him that he doesn’t have the greatest voice in the world (an understatement). In some Coyote tales the character is out-and-out malignant. One of the remarkable things about this book is that even though Coyote is consistently thickheaded, you feel for the guy. When humans and their human clothes get involved in the muddle, things only get rectified after some serious mix-ups. Coyote loves his fur suit, but it doesn’t take much prodding from a mischievous Crow to convince him to try Bear’s suit on for size. In the second story, “Coyote’s New Suit” it is Coyote’s hubris that starts the trouble. Miffed, the moon disappears and it is Old Woman who has the wherewithal to realize that Coyote holds the key to getting the heavenly body back. When told by the other animals to abstain from singing due to his horrendous voice, Coyote offends the moon by questioning her necessity. Coyote, silly and stupid and weirdly sympathetic, all rolled up together.Ĭonsisting of two stories, the first tale “Coyote Sings to the Moon” recounts a time when the moon lay close to the earth and all the animals would sing her praise. The end result is exactly what I was hoping for. Now those two tales have been repackaged in a single book with the highly amusing art of Byron Eggenschwiler to match. He never really abandoned children’s books, though, and over the years has published stories like “Coyote Sings to the Moon” and “Coyote’s New Suit”. King’s been busy since that book came out, winning the Governor General’s Literary Award for his adult novel The Back of the Turtle in his spare time. Somehow author Thomas King, a Canadian of Cherokee and Greek descent, was able to perfectly tap into that combination of heroism and bone-deep foolishness Coyote brings to every tale. That book remains, to this day, the gold standard Coyote story for me. There was the graphic collection Trickster, edited by Matt Dembicki a couple years ago and Coyote Road: Trickster Tales edited by Ellen Datlow and Terrie Windling, but the only other truly fabulous title that comes to mind would have to be Thomas King’s A Coyote Columbus Story from 1992. Oddly, we haven’t seen as many from First Nations cultures lately. Children’s books, as you might imagine, are packed full with them from cultures all over the world. I could make a case for each and every one of those being tricksters. Think of Bugs Bunny and Pippi Longstocking and R2-D2. By rights tricksters fall into the strict purview of children. The older I get the more I like tricksters. A hilarious illustration of the consequences of wanting more than we need. When Coyote finds that his closet is too full, Raven slyly suggests he hold a yard sale, then sends the human beings (in their underwear) and the animals (in their ill-fitting human clothes) along for the fun. Meanwhile, Raven tells the other animals to borrow clothes from the humans’ camp. ![]() In Coyote’s New Suit, mischievous Raven wreaks havoc when she suggests that Coyote’s toasty brown suit is not the finest in the forest, thus prompting him to steal suits belonging to all the other animals. But clever Old Woman comes up with a plan to send Moon back up into the sky and, thanks to Coyote, there she stays. He is crushed and lashes out - who needs Moon anyway? Furious, Moon dives into a pond, plunging the world into darkness. Coyote attempts to join them, but his voice is so terrible they beg him to stop. In those days, when the moon was much brighter and closer to the earth, Old Woman and the animals would sing to her each night. ![]() In Coyote Sings to the Moon, Coyote is at first the cause of misfortune. ![]() Freshly illustrated and reissued as an early chapter book, these stories are perfect for newly independent readers. Two tales, set in a time “when animals and human beings still talked to each other,” display Thomas King’s cheeky humor and master storytelling skills. ![]()
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