A Caddo Legend
In the beginning of this world, there was no such thing as death. Everyone continued to live until the Earth became too crowded.
The chiefs held a council to decide what to do. One man suggested that people should die and be gone for a little while, then return.
As soon as he finished, Coyote jumped up and proposed that people ought to die forever. He argued that the world was too small to hold all the people, and if the dead came back to life, there wouldn’t be enough food for everyone.
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The other men objected. They didn’t want their friends and relatives to die and be gone forever, as this would cause grief and worry, leaving no happiness in the world.
Everyone except Coyote agreed that people should die and be gone for a short time, then come back to life. The medicine men built a large grass house facing the East. When they completed it, they called the tribe together and announced that the dead would be restored to life in the medicine house. The chief medicine man explained that they would sing a song calling the spirit of the dead to the grass house. When the spirit arrived, they would restore it to life.
All the people were glad because they were eager for the dead to return and live with them again. When the first man died, the medicine men assembled in the grass house and sang.
After about ten days, a whirlwind blew from the West and circled the grass house. Coyote saw it and, as the whirlwind was about to enter the house, he closed the door. The spirit of the whirlwind, finding the door closed, whirled away.
In this way, Coyote made death eternal, causing people to grieve over their dead and be unhappy.
Now, whenever someone encounters a whirlwind or hears the wind whistle, they say, “Someone is wandering about.” Since Coyote closed the door, the spirits of the dead have wandered over the Earth searching for a place to go until they eventually found the road to the spirit land.
Coyote ran away and never returned. Realizing what he had done, he was afraid. Ever since then, he has wandered from one place to another, always looking back over his shoulders to see if anyone is pursuing him. And ever since then, he has been starving because no one will give him anything to eat.
