Northwestern American Myth And Coyote Steals Fire Northwestern Americans

The definition of a myth is a story to explain nature, history and customs within a culture. Myths teach people how and why the world and things of the world are the way they are now. They teach us the origin of things and how they came to be. In class, we read a few myths from different groups of people about how we got fire, and in this essay two will be analyzed for similarities and differences: the Coyote Steals Fire Northwestern American myth and the Maui Steals Fire Polynesian myth. The Coyote myth is about a Coyote that felt bad for humans that were miserable— and even dying— in the freezing winter. So, the Coyote took it upon himself to get fire from the Fire Beings for the People. In the process of getting the fire, the Coyote faces adversity, but he eventually gets it and mankind is safe

In both myths, in the process of the protagonist getting the fire, at least one animal’s physical trait was changed. And, in both myths the antagonists are female. In the Coyote myth, when the coyote was running down the hill trying to get away from the Fire Beings after stealing their fire, one touched the tip of his tail and stained it white, and that is why coyotes have white end the end of their tails. Then, the coyote flung the fire away from him and the squirrel caught it. The squirrel put the fire on his back, and it burned his back so bad that his tail curled up, and that is why squirrels have curled tails to this day. After, the chipmunk got the fire, and the Fire Beings started to chase after him. They tried to grab at her and clawed her back scraping 3 white scratches, leaving chipmunks with 3 white stripes on their back to this day. And finally, the frog handled the fire after the chipmunk, and the Beings chased after him next. When he was jumping to get away, they grabbed his tail and ripped his tail off, and therefore, to this day, frogs don’t have tails. And, likewise, in the Maui myth, it was the Hawaiian mud-hen