Old Man Coyote and the Rock
(Pawnee Great Plains)
Old Man Coyote was going along.
It had been quite awhile since he had eaten and was felling
the cut in half by hunger. He came to the top of a hill and he saw a big rock.
Old Man Coyote took out his flint knife.

“Grandfather,” Old Man Coyote said to the rock, “I give you this fine knife.
Now help me in some way, because I am hungry.”

Then Old Man Coyote went along further. He went over the top of the hill
and there at the bottom was a buffalo that had just been killed.

“How lucky I am,” Ola Man Coyote said. “But how can I butcher this buffalo
without a knife? Now where did I leave my knife?”

Then Old Man Coyote walked back up the hill until he saw the big rock.
“You don’t need this knife,” he said to the big rock. Then he picked it up and
ran back to where he had left the buffalo. Now, though, where there had been
a freshly killed buffalo, there were only buffalo bones and bones were very old and gray.
Then, from behind him, Old Man Coyote heard a rumbling noise. He turned around
and looked up. The Big Rock was rolling down the hill after him.
GA-DA-RUM, GA-DA-RUM.

Old Man Coyote began to run. He ran and ran, but the stone still rumbling after him.
GA-DA-RUM, GA-DA-RUM.
Old Man Coyote ran until he came to a bear den.

“Help me,” he called in to the bears.

The bears looked out and saw what was chasing Old Man Coyote.
“We can’t help you against Grandfather Rock, “ they said.

GA-DA-RUM, GA-DA-RUM. The big rock kept coming and Old Man Coyote
kept running. Now he came to a cave where the mountain lions lived and
he called out again.

“Help me,” Old Man Coyote said. “I am about to be killed!”

The mountain lions looked out and saw what was after Old Man Coyote.
“No,” they said, “we can’t help you if you have angered Grandfather Rock.”

GA-DA-RUM, GA-DA-RUM.
The big rock kept rumbling after Old Man Coyote and he kept running.
Now he came to the place where a bull buffalo was grazing.

“Help me,” Old Man Coyote yelled. “That big rock said it was going to
kill all the buffalo. When I tried to stop it, it began to chase me.”

The bull buffalo braced his legs and thrust his head out to stop the rock.
But the rock just brushed the bull buffalo aside and left him standing there dazed,
with his horns bent and his head pushed back into his shoulders. To this day all
buffalo are still like that.
GA-DA-RUM, GA-DA-RUM. The big rock kept rolling and Old Man Coyote
kept running. But Old Man Coyote was getting tired now and the rock was getting closer.
Then Old Man Coyote looked up and saw a nighthawk flying overhead.

“My friend,” Old Man Coyote yelled up to the nighthawk,
“this big rock that is chasing me said you are ugly. It said you have a wide mouth
and your eyes are too big and your beak is all pinched up. I told it not to say that
and it began to chase me.”

The Nighthawk heard what the Old Man Coyote said and grew angry.
He called the other nighthawks. They began to swoop down and strike at the
big rock with their beaks. Each time they struck the big rock a piece broke off
and stopped rolling. GA-DA-RUM, GA-DA-RUM. The rock kept rolling and
Old Man Coyote kept running, but now the rock was much smaller.
The nighthawks continued to swoop down and break off pieces. Finally the
big rock was nothing but small pebbles.

Old Man Coyote came up and looked at the little stones. “My, my,” he said to the
nighthawks, “Why did you wide mouthed, big-eyed, pinch-beaked birds do
that to my old friend?” Then Old Man Coyote laughed and started on his way again.

Now the nighthawks were very angry at Old Man Coyote.
They gathered all the pieces of the big rock and franned them together with
their wings. The next thing Old Man Coyote knew, he heard a familiar sound
behind him again. GA-DA-RUM, GA-DA-RUM. He tried to run, but he was so
tired now he could not get away. The big rock rolled right over
him and flattened him out.