Apache Coyote Stories/ Moral Wisdoms

Story Telling/Wisdom: A primary way by which Apache values were passed on and sustained was through stories told to the “People” most often during winter months of “Ghost Face”. These stories including “Coyote Tales” provided deep spiritual/psychological insights into the strengths/ foibles of the “People”, about how to live in harmony with nature, practical tips in survival, fighting, living in community and in healing. Basic “Coyote Tale” themes revolved around death, sex, family, animals, truthfulness, self-reliance, and perils of arrogance/pride. For instance, one story has it that Coyote decide to test whether or not a “Rock People” could run by defecating on it and to Coyote’s surprise it pursued; no matter how fast Coyote ran or maneuvered it was unable to get away and finally realized it  better go back and apologized by cleaning up its mess. The moral here was that reverence/interdependence for all things in nature had to be maintained! (Cf, Opler, “Myths & Tales”, p.35.) Apaches too later became increasingly suspicious of the hidden costs of Pindah modernity with its emphasis on material physical comfort/drugs including whiskey/tequila, cotton/kettles, and guns/knives, realizing that these trade items undermined their native lifestyle making them increasingly dependent on Pindah for material survival leading ultimately to loss of their spiritual identity through Christian missionary efforts and to final humiliation of reservations/Indian schools. Later “Coyote Tales” warned them of the implicit dangers of cultural borrowing/imitations. In one such story involving a Snake (Pindah) and Eagle (Apaches), the former convinces the Eagle that it can no longer sustain itself in traditional way as hunters /gatherers but must adopt new ways of farming/ ranching or perish. Cochise intuitively fought against cultural interaction as it breed dependence and fear by limiting White contact and insisting that his Band remain self-dependent. Cochise knew that to imitate the Pindah would undermine Apache identity, a loss of freedom/soul, which led him, along with Mangas Coloradas, Victoria, Nana, Geronimo and others to fight a remarkable twenty-five year war against the Pindah. Cochise‘s attitude captured best by Mescalero leader Cadette who remarked to Cremony: “You are slaves from the time you begin to talk until you die; but we are free as air. We never work, but the Mexican and others work for us. Our wants are few and easily supplied. The river, the wood, the plain yield all that we require, and we will not be slaves: nor will we send our children to your schools, where they only learn to become like yourselves.”(Cf, Cremony, “Life Among Apaches”, p 215.)