Skunk Outwits Coyote
Coyote was walking along one day, very hungry, when he came upon Skunk.
“Hello, Brother,” Coyote said. “You look hungry and so am I. If you follow me, we can trick someone into giving us some food.”
“Oh, I am starving, I would love some food.” said Skunk.
“There is a prairie dog village just over that hill. You go over there, lie down, and play dead. I will go to the prairie dogs, and ask them to come and dance over the dead body of our ene-my.”
“How will that get us food?” Skunk wondered aloud.
“Go on,” Coyote said. “Puff yourself up and play dead. You’ll see, our bellies will be full soon.”
Skunk grudgingly agreed and went down the hill and pretended to be dead, near the prairie dog village. Soon Coyote followed…show more content… Lets dance and celebrate his death. Everyone come out and join in the fun.”
The foolish prairie dogs did as Coyote asked. “Now,” commanded Coyote, “dance in a circle with your eyes closed. Don’t open them or you will turn into something bad.”
The prairie dogs did as the Coyote asked and danced around the skunk with their eyes closed. Coyote jumped up and killed one of the small prairie dogs.
“Everyone,” Coyote called, “open up your eyes and stop dancing.” The prairie dogs obeyed, and were horrified to see a brother lying dead. “Oh, no,” Coyote said, “He must have opened his eyes and died. Everyone close your eyes and dance again. Please don't look or you too will die.”
Foolishly, they listened to the Coyote and began to dance once more. Soon the Coyote drew them out of the circle and killed a few more. Finally, one of the prairie dogs became suspicious and peeked. “Stop dancing, the coyote is killing our family!” he wailed. Frightened the prairie dogs ran to the safety of their burrows.
Skunk rolled over and stood up, laughing at how well the trick worked. He gathered some firewood and helped Coyote roast the prairie…show more content… “If you tie a big rock to your foot, then I will race you.”
They decided to race over the hill and down to the bot-tom of the valley and back. “I will let you have a head start,” Coy-ote said. “I will tie the rock to my foot while you start running.” Skunk ran and soon was out of sight, over the hill. Coy-ote laughed as he tied a rock to his foot. He jumped up and ran, slowly at first, but soon the rock came loose and he doubled his speed. Skunk, however, decided to find a place to hide.
Skunk waited until he saw Coyote racing past his hiding spot then hurried back to the fire. He took the plumpest prairie dogs out of the coals and cut off the tails and stuck the tails back into the fire, and then carried the meat back to his hiding spot. Meanwhile Coyote continued to run the race, confident that Skunk was just ahead of him. As he ran, he asked himself, where was Skunk? He circled back to the fire and saw the tails sticking out of the ashes. He grabbed one and pulled coming up empty. He tried another and suspected that something was wrong.
Coyote took a stick and poked at the coals, but there was only two bony prairie dogs left. Coyote looked around. “Someone must have stolen our dinner,” he said. He quickly ate the two skinny prairie dogs before Skunk
