Ethnological Notes
Morris Opler
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Ethnological Note 1
Texts 10 through 18 are episodes belonging to the
familiar coyote trickster cycle. Among the Chiricahua these stories were told as
a connected series of episodes having a definite order. They were told at night
and in the winter only. The story of the creation of the plant and animal life
of earth is not introduced into the Chiricahua coyote cycle as it is in the
Mescalero narrative. [See note 1. 1 in section A.]
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Ethnological Note 2
The winning of fire for man is always attributed to
Coyote by the Chiricahua. The identities of those from whom he steals it and of
those who aid him in the theft differ in various versions.
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Ethnological Note 3
The informant might have added that the same belief
governs Apache behavior today. If an Apache curses and wishes ill to another
shortly before some disaster occurs to the one upon whom the malediction falls,
the person who spoke so rashly will be considered a "witch" by many and may find
himself in serious trouble.
