"Like the clever [Kootenai Indian] Frog discussed in the opening chapter, Coyote is forthrightly celebrated in this [Chumash Indian] narrative as a cheater. In a series of contests, he resorted to deception to continuously triumph over physically superior rivals...
Coyote is revealed as a "fast thinker" as he cleverly undermined the confidence of the Swordfish. As the narrative unfolds, the Swordfish became increasingly frustrated and began to express their growing impatience. They confided to one another that they no longer believed that Coyote could be beaten, and they thus grew increasingly eager to get rid of him.
To fully appreciate the narrator's admiration for Coyote in his triumph over the Rulers of the Ocean, the reader should keep in mind a number of fundamental problems facing Coyote before he swam down to the House of the Swordfish at the bottom of the ocean. First of all Xelex (Hawk) was in no position to help Coyote at any point in the drama. Xelex died because he foolishly ventured outside his proper sphere of influence.
[Xelex] apparently was a land hawk, who made the mistake of going fishing with his friends Pelican and a seabird identified only as Mut. Not being familiar with the ocean, Xelex could not swim and was easily seized by a Swordfish when he fell overboard. The Swordfish too Xelex's drowned body to his home at the bottom of the sea.
When Coyote agreed to rescue Xelex he knew he was taking on a very difficult task. Coyote not only had to compensate for hawk's pretentiousness (lack of personal balance) but he also had to carry out the rescue operations against the fastest animal in the sea. In case the audience had any doubt about their powers, Suluemeakit described in detail how the Swordfish were also the greatest sorcerers in the ocean realm.
For all these reasons, the relatives of Xelex were greatly concerned when they sent Coyote to rescue him. They wanted Coyote to succeed but did not want him to offend the rulers of the sea. They gambled that he would outsmart the Swordfish, without making them vengeful, for Coyote was a very clever person. If they were wrong, they faced starvation since the Swordfish would stop the ocean fish runs, and their nets and fish lines would come up empty" (page 12, chapter 3).
The coastal Chumash considered them the guardians of the ocean flood sources. They were venerated as the providers of fish, shellfish, and ocean mammals hunted by the humans. At times, the powerful Swordfish even chased whales ashore so the Chumash could enjoy a sudden bounty of nutritious meat and oils.
the opinions of the Chumash Indians, either individually or in a group.
johnandersonlibrary.org
The Fast Thinker (Kootenai Indian tale))
