nd of the Yellowstone River. We dated our time from these events."

Folklore Tale--Crow

"When I was a little boy this is a story that was told around every
campfire: It was called 'Old Man Coyote!' Before the white man came the
coyote used to roam over all the land. The Old Man Coyote took the little
coyotes he picked up on the prairies and called them his little brothers.
The little coyote was such a sly animal that the old coyote always sent
him on errands, because he knew he would always be up to something. The
Old Man Coyote says: 'We are alone: let us make man.' He said: 'Go and
bring me some mud so that I can make a man, so that we can be together.'
The Old Man Coyote took the mud and put it together, and put hair on it,
and set it up on the ground, and said: 'There is a man!' The little
coyote said: 'Make some more.' And the Old Man Coyote made four--two were
women and two were men. The Old Man sized them up and said they were
good, and so he made a whole lot more. Old Man Coyote said: 'It is good
that we live together, and I want you to open each other's eyelids.' Old
Man Coyote said to these people whom he had made: 'Now, if you stay
together and are good to each other, you will be happy, and you will
increase in numbers.' Old Man Coyote was our creator. Old Man Coyote
said to these people whom he had made: 'This is your land; live here, eat
of the fruit of the trees, drink of the rivers, hunt the game, and have a
good time.' From that we believe that the white people had nothing to do
with the land--it belonged to the Indian. This story, told to our people
so many times, and told to me since I can remember, led me to believe when
I came to know and understand that this land was wholly ours, and belonged
entirely to the Indians. Old Man Coyote, after he had created man and
woman, did not have anything to do, so he made a bow and arrow. He took
the flint for the arrowhead, and with it he killed the buffalo. Then he
gave the bow and arrow to the Indian and said to him: 'This is your
weapon.' The people whom Old Man Coyote created had no knife, so he took
the shoulder blade of the buffalo and sharpened it and made it into a
knife. These people whom Old Man Coyote had created roamed round over the
land and they found a mule. It was a great big mule with great big ears,
and when they brought it home the people were all afraid of it. They all
gathered around the mule, staring in amazement