Animals And Man
A Native American myth
Legend goes that coyote
Is to be thanked, for it is coyote
Who created Man.
Coyote went to the animals
And with them did consult.
”What was their image of man?" he asked.
The answer was an insult.
They wanted Man to be
Just like them,
Wild and free.
“He sounds too big” were coyote’s thoughts.
When the animals decided that Man would be a fusion
Of all of them.
“He must be unique to avoid confusion.”
Said Coyote silencing them.
Coyote sent each animal to the task
Of a model of Man to be made.
Till night, they toiled at their task,
But in the morning they completely forgot
That Sun preys on vulnerable things like art.
Coyote was clever enough to hide
His model from Sun’s eyes.
Life was breathed into his model
And to this day Man abides
On Earth, sharing the land with coyote, elephants and the flies.
(1994)
