In honor of OPEN DOORS: FRACTURED FAIRY TALES -
http://www.amazon.com/Open-Doors-Fractured-Fairy-ebook/dp/B00AB986C4
Being part Lakota, I couldn't resist fracturing a myth of Coyote, the Trickster Hero. But Coyote, being Coyote, refused to be put into any catergory.
He insists he exists in a category all by himself. He wants no prizes, for he thinks he is the prize to the world:
One morning in a Time that could have been but wasn't, yet might still be, Coyote paddled his canoe furiously down the River Lethe.
He glanced cautiously over his shoulder many times. At the shore a blonde ghoul, yes, children, ghoul, called out, "Oh, sir! We are being chased!"
Coyote snorted, "Me, too, ghoul. Every legend for himself I say."
The young gypsy beside the ghoul laughed, tossing a ball bearing up in the air. "I say that you would hate a hole in your canoe."
Coyote smiled wide with all his sharp teeth, "I like you."
Coyote looked at the ghoul skeptically. "Will you make a meal of me if I let you in?"
The gypsy laughed, "She already had her fill of finger sandwiches ... Trojan fingers."
Coyote winked at her. "I begin to like you, too, The Wentworth."
The ghoul gasped, "You know me?"
Coyote laughed as he pulled up to the shore, "I always know what I need to ... unless I don't."
A splash of water, a swirl of skirt, and a leap of legs later, and the gypsy and the ghoul sat behind Coyote.
"Oh, you are naked!" squealed the ghoul.
Coyote nodded happily, "Under my fur I surely am."
The gypsy grunted, "You've lost one of your tails, too."
The ghoul frowned, "What do you mean 'one,' Victor?"
The gypsy laughed, "Well, Alice, he is sitting on one tail but the bushy one seems to have slipped its moorings."
Coyote sighed, "Don't remind me."
The ghoul named Alice grew sad. "How did that happen?"
Coyote laughed bitterly. "There I was fighting a river monster when the most beautiful fox woman strolled on the shore with her canoe to stare at my wonderfulness."
The gypsy named Victor arched an eyebrow. "That's what you call it, huh?"
Alice slapped his arm and said, "Do go on, sir."
"Well," said Coyote, "the monster must have never seen a naked fox woman before and bellowed, 'Another one!'"
Coyote smiled at the memory. "I took the opportunity to drive my spear into his heart."
He shook his furry head. "I turned to the fox woman and said, 'Thank you for the distraction, Another One.'"
Coyote snorted, "She told me her name was not 'Another One' but Inari and took my lovely tail."
Coyote chuckled, "So I took her canoe and came away with wisdom as well."
"What wisdom, sir?" asked the ghoul named Alice.
Coyote turned and winked at her. "The problem for us two-leggeds is that too often we let monsters tell us who we are."
{Coyote plays a pivotal role in THREE SPIRIT KNIGHT:
http://www.amazon.com/THREE-SPIRIT-KNIGHT-ebook/dp/B00AD94EQE/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1354431420&sr=1-1&keywords=three+spirit+knight+roland+yeomans }
Your story was cool; kind of a twist on the Gingerbread Man :)
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the Coyote Dream video. A superb message.
I'm trying to catch up on blogs; forgive me please if I don't get to most of your posts the last few days.
.......dhole
Hi Roland - Coyote Dream .. is just lovely and certainly has some lessons. While your fairy story tells another great tale .. I can't wait to read your books ...
ReplyDeleteLoved the read and the video - cheers Hilary
This is a great tale :)
ReplyDeleteDonna:
ReplyDeleteI am always happy to see you at my cyber-home no matter the frequency! :-) Wasn't COYOTE DREAM a fascinating video? I hope your computer troubles are behind you.
Hilary:
My Lakota blood stirred at that video. Wasn't it magical?
I hope you enjoy my tales! Have a healing new week, Roland
Siv:
Sandra scolds me for giving away magic for free. I tell her it is the best way to dispence magic -- freely. Have a great new week, Roland
Sharing your story excerpts is a good way to stimulate interest in your writing, Roland. It's what kept me returning to your blog initially.
ReplyDeleteAre Coyote and Sam's blood brother related?
Hi, D.G.!
ReplyDeleteI've missed you as I've traveled all over Louisiana these past days.
I worry that these little episodes (both excerpts and originals like this post) bore my friends -- sort of like visiting a friend and having to endure a long exhibition of slides he took on vacation. "See Maude there in front of the New Jersey Sewage Plant?"
Coyote plays a major role in the last third of THREE SPIRIT KNIGHT. He calls Elu "Little Brother." Elu's connection with the Trickster is at present shadowy.
Coyote also calls Victor "Little Brother," since Victor killed the Being called Sarcasm, taking on her mantle.
Guanshiyin, the Chinese Goddess of Mercy, is quick to point out Victor cannot wear that mantle for with his very birth as the son of the Angel of Death, Victor became Hope and Guanshiyin's Champion -- though she reluctantly admits Victors sometimes exhibits facets of both Sarcasm and Coyote.
Coyote is one of the Ancient Beings known as Concepts. THREE SPIRIT KNIGHT becomes epic in every sense of the term, revealing some secrets which only serves to point to larger cosmic mysteries yet to be revealed.
How cool that you have the mythology of your ancestors to draw upon. :)
ReplyDeleteLydia:
ReplyDeleteMother was half Lakota and half Irish, so I have the myths of two sets of ancestors to draw upon, for she told me tales of both at night before I went to sleep. Thanks for visiting. I really liked the "field of dreams" photo you took for your author profile picture. :-)