Coyote
Coyote (Navajo: mąʼii) is an irresponsible and trouble-making character who is nevertheless one of the most important and revered characters in Navajo mythology. Even though Tó Neinilii is the Navajo god of rain, Coyote also has powers over rain.
↻ synthesized from 5 sources
When
- First attested
- 0 CE
- Attested period
- 0 – 2020
- Historical notes
- Appears in creation myths, teaching stories, and healing ceremonies.
Relationships
- co occurs with
- Tó Neinilii, First Man, First Woman, Raven, Sk'elep, Crow, Moctezuma, Tezcatlipōca, Metztli, Sedit, Nihasa, Ahpuch, Mictian, Yaotzin, Great Spirit, Supay
- serves
- Déélgééd
- allied with
- I'itoi, Earth-maker, Montezuma, Black God, Changing Bear, Earth Maker, Black Spider, Parotsokitapitsi, wolf, Old Man, Badger
- enemy of
- Water Buffalo, giant, Sky-Down-feather brothers
Mentioned by
Sources
Source passages
“Once a giant was terrorizing the land, and eating people, especially small children. Coyote convinced the giant that if he allowed Coyote to break his leg and then heal it by spitting on it, he would be able to run as fast as Coyote.”
#3936 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001
“Coyote is compared to both the Scandinavian Loki, and also Prometheus, who shared with Coyote the trick of having stolen fire from the gods as a gift for mankind, and Anansi, a mythological culture hero from Western African mythology.”
#3964 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001
“they were followed everywhere by Coyote, who came to life uncreated and began immediately to poke his nose into everything... the three agreed before they took refuge that the one of them who should emerge first”
#20465 · extracted by anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5
“It is said that all men and animals were speaking a common language in the early days; however a great flood destroyed everyone, with only Montezuma and his friend, Coyote, escaping. Because Coyote had warned him of the flood beforehand, Montezuma had fashioned a boat that he kept prepared on the peak of the Santa Rosa Mountains in Arizona.”
#20482 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001
“Coyote: Indigenous American devil”
#46014 · extracted by openai/gpt-oss-120b:free