Coyote Steals Fire

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“I am presenting you with a rabbit from my lord, the Marquis de Carabas.” This is a quote taken from the trickster tale “Master Cat.” This was just the beginning of how a cat tricked a king. The trickster tales “Coyote Steals Fire” and “Master cat” have many similarities and differences. There is a copious amount of similarities between “Coyote Steals Fire” and “Master Cat”. One similarity is that both of the main characters achieved their goal. In “Coyote Steals Fire” Coyote won the game of dice and got the fire as a prize. In “Master Cat” the miller’s son married the princess and the cat didn’t have to hunt unless he wanted to. Another similarity is that both the stories have evidence of anthropomorphism. In “Coyote Steals Fire” Coyote and Thunder gamble for the fire whereas in …show more content…
For example, how women are viewed in the community. In the Klamath tribe (“Coyote Steals Fire”) men are viewed as more important than women. One can tell this because in the game of dice the female dice were only worth one point whereas the male dice were worth two points. Also the size of the teeth was a subtle clue about how women were viewed; the male teeth were beaver teeth so they were larger than the female woodchuck teeth. Another difference is who the outcome benefits. For “Coyote Steals Fire” the outcome benefits society because everyone got a piece of fire to use. For “Master Cat” the outcome only benefits the miller’s son and his cat. Yet another difference is how the tricksters deceive their own powerful person. In “Coyote Steals Fire” Coyote cheats by stealing the sticks to steal points from Thunder and by distracting Thunder by flipping Thunder’s dice to give himself more points. The last difference is who or what was the powerful entity that the tricksters fooled. For “Coyote Steals Fire” the deity was the Thunder god. In “Master Cat” the powerful person was the

Coyote Steals Fire

In a similar matter, “Coyote Steals Fire” tells the story of the main character, Coyote, accomplishing a selfless task which benefits their society. As told by the title, Coyote steals fire from a common enemy of everyone, Thunder, in order to break apart and give each tribe a piece so that they could all prosper. In the story the narrator recalls, “There was a time when people had no fire” (Erodes and Ortiz 44). The main plot of the story is Coyote getting fire, and this is of great significance…

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Coyote Steals Fire

Parallel to “How Stories Came to Earth”, “Coyote Steals Fire” benefits Earth and its inhabitants rather than just Coyote. Despite the fact that Coyote does everything alone in the story, when it concludes, the change he causes in society is for more than just himself. Each animal takes a bit of fire and spreads it around the globe from tribe to tribe for all to take. This changes the world for the better forever, and he asks for nothing in return. After the whole endeavor, he “calmly [puts] his outer…

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Coyote Steals Fire

had no fire. In the story “Coyote Steals Fire” the coyote tried to steal the stories of the caretaker. After reading “Coyote Steals Fire” and “Master Cat” there are many similarities between both the stories. There are many similarities present in both of the folktale stories “Coyote Steals Fire” and “Master Cat”. In the folktale “Coyote Steals Fire” there can be many examples of similarities shown between the other folktale “Master Cat.” One of the similarities in the folktale “Coyote Steals Fire”…

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Coyote Steals Fire Summary

to Earth” they do in “Coyote Steals Fire”. In “Coyote Steals Fire” Coyote bets his life on a game of dice. HE does this so he can get Thunder to agree that, “If I win, you have to give me fire”(Erdoes and Ortiz 45). Coyote makes sure that he will win the game and not lose his life by cheating in the game. Coyote cheats by distracting Thunder and then “...Coyote turned his dice up so they showed the carved sides”(Erdoes and Ortiz 45). Coyote risks his life to bring fire to the world because he…

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Summary Of Coyote Steals Fire

In “Coyote Steals Fire”, like “How Stories Came to Earth”, Coyote’s actions are mostly moral. Coyote risks his life in order to achieve the much-needed gift of fire. Everyone in the world desires it and he is the only one to challenge Thunder to play dice for fire. Coyote challenges Thunder because of this, “Coyote was not afraid of Thunder. He was afraid of nothing” (Erdoes and Ortiz 44). Coyote cheats during the game, which makes it the only immoral incident present in this story. Cheating is wrong…

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Coyote Steals Fire Summary

stories in “Coyote Steals Fire” Coyote use a low-key way of achieving his goal. Coyote’s low key way of achieving his goal is playing a game of dice with Thunder. This is a low-key way of achieving his goal because he is playing a simple game of dice. Coyote tells Thunder that if he wins he will get to kill Coyote and then Coyote also tells Thunder if Coyote wins Thunder has to give him fire. This seems like a high risk high reward situation but Coyote is going to cheat in the game. Coyote is going…

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Coyote Steals Fire Trickster

Much like the last story, the trickster Coyote in “Coyote Steals Fire” uses deception to achieve his goal. By taking advantage of Thunder’s competitive nature, Coyote starts a game of dice with the agreement of a prize of fire if Coyote wins, then cheats his way into winning. Because Thunder is so much slower than Coyote, Coyote uses this to his advantage and not only rearranges the dice so that he gets more points and Thunder gets less, but also “t[akes] a counting stick away from Thunder’s pile…

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Coyote Steals Fire Summary

In “Coyote Steals Fire”, Coyote, Thunder, and the animals shows a great deal of personification, which is a contributing factor to the story being driven by anthropomorphism. Coyote and Thunder both talk and gamble in games, such as rolling dice. During the game of dice, Coyote distracts Thunder on purpose and cheats in order to win the gift of fire. Erdes and Ortiz describes Coyote’s distractions by saying, “Whenever Thunder took his eyes off Coyote’s hands...he took a counting stick away from Thunder’s…

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Coyote Steals Fire Analysis

In the same way, “Coyote Steals Fire” none of the animals receive any negative affects, which the trick would provoke. Also the only character that could encounter injury,would be Thunder, since the coyote plays a trick on him and ends up giving away his fire because of the ruse. Especially since, a coyote seems inferior to Thunder, who is suppose to be a higher-being that acts stronger and smarter than the lame coyote. A quote that proves that no character really acquired any injuries, which states…

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Summary Of Coyote Steals Fire

No sources of light or heat exist that can be used after the sun sets. In the story “Coyote Steals Fire”, Thunder holds the wonderful gift of fire. The world needed fire to cook raw food, to expel warmth, and to illuminate the world for when night comes, darkness overtakes the land. The problem is that everyone fears Thunder for he is a menacing being. The only one that does not dread the sight of Thunder is Coyote. The storytellers Erdoes and Ortiz both describe the fearful creatures by saying, “Everybody…

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