Coyote's Wife

Mouse had never found a husband. Maybe it was because she was so plain looking. More likely, it was because she couldn't keep her busy fingers off of other people's things. She didn't mean any harm in it. When some object attracted her fascination it grew to an obsession, and she couldn't rest until she had it in her possession. She was so small and quiet; she could return and sneak into any place and no one ever caught her. The others were more than happy to ask for her help in retrieving stolen goods or spying on enemies, but the young men scoffed at the notion of accepting her as a bride. Mouse did not seem to mind. She drifted around the world, never settling in a permanent home, seeing interesting things and collecting stories. The pilfered trinkets were stashed away like buried treasure, forgotten as soon as the fascination wore off.

Coyote found her near his home. She was sitting on a sunny hillside, turning a flower this way and that. He sat beside her, laid an arm across her shoulders, and gave his most charming smile. "Has anyone ever told you what a lovely little lady you are?"

She turned her head, but only seemed to be half looking at him. "No."

He tickled her whiskers. "Well, let me be the first. How would you like to be my wife?"

She picked a petal and tossed it into the wind. "All right."

Coyote took her back to his home. He rarely stayed there, preferring to spend much of his time traveling, and it showed. The walls needed patching and there was no food stored in the larder. It made him look poor, hardly a fitting abode for such an important person. He grinned to Mouse while he explained what a wonderful life they would have together.

After they were married he took his new bride to see his brother, Gray Fox, and sister in law, Red Fox. Red Fox answered the door and stared, slack-jaw, at the pair. He wrapped an arm around Mouse and grinned at Red Fox. "How long do newlyweds usually have to wait before being invited into your home? Go tell my brother he's having guests for dinner!"

Red Fox retreated and found Gray Fox. He was humming absentmindedly while he made arrows for his new bow. She spoke in a hushed voice. "Gray Fox, your brother is here. He's convinced some poor girl to marry him."

He met her eyes with a hopeful gaze. For a long time he had wanted to see his brother find a mate who was up to the task of grounding his foolishness with a little common sense. "Who is it?"

Red Fox's mouth twitched, flashing the tip of a thin fang. "It is Mouse."

Gray Fox buried his face in his paws. "I see. Well, go take care of them. I will be with you soon."

Red Fox returned to find that they had already let themselves in. Mouse walked slowly, staring with a look of wonder on her face. "Oh Red Fox, you keep such a lovely home!"

She stopped and looked at a pile of coats, neatly stacked and waiting to be mended.

Red Fox swooped in and took one from the bunch. It was luxuriant and warm, but a rather plain red with black and white trim. She gave it to Mouse as a distraction. "Here, a wedding gift from my husband and me."

Mouse hugged the coat and buried her face in it. "Thank you."

Coyote leaned over and took another coat out of the pile. It was mostly red, with a bold black stripe down the back. Gray spilled from the stripe down the sides in a beautiful gradient pattern. He spread it out for Mouse to see. "Look at this one! Wouldn't you like to see yourself in this one?"

Mouse's eyes glazed over. She reached out and traced the complex patterns with a finger, transfixed.

Red Fox spoke to Mouse while glaring at Coyote. "He is right; you would look very pretty in that one. You may count it a gift as well."

She left them to finish preparing a meal large enough for her unexpected guests. They started dinner in a tense silence, which she tried to remedy by asking Mouse about her past with Coyote. She gave a polite nod and a "that's nice" at the answer. Mouse hadn't been with Coyote long enough to have any stories to share about their budding love, but she did have plenty of travel anecdotes. She regaled her hosts with tales of faraway places and amusing people. By the time they were finished eating, Red Fox had smiled and laughed so much she was almost willing to forget the loss of her favorite coat.

A stuffed Coyote rose and slapped his brother on the back. "Say, how is your latest project going? A bow designed for slaying monsters, right? What an impressive and noble goal. May I see it?"

Gray Fox fidgeted. "It isn't exactly finished…"

Coyote took Mouse by the paw. "No problem. An expert craftsman should never be afraid to show off his works-in-progress."

He led her to the place where he knew his brother kept his weapons for hunting and ridding the earth of ghastly creatures that preyed on the weak. It was an impressive collection. One bow stood out from the rest. It was enormous and it looked like it possessed the power to drive an arrow through a giant's heart. He picked it up and held it out to Mouse.

The weight of it surprised her and she almost dropped it. Gray Fox was such a strong warrior that even Coyote would have a difficult time using the bow properly. Mouse was not deterred. It was the first of its kind, and that was fascinating.

Grey Fox smiled weakly. "Do you like it?"

She nodded. "Oh, yes!"

Coyote stepped up beside him. "Why brother, you are so generous with your wedding gifts! I will think of you every time I use it."

Gray Fox slumped. "Anything to make my brother and his wife happy."

Coyote's pleasure spilled out into a wide grin on their walk home. "So, did you have a good time dear?"

Mouse snuggled her face in the coats. "Oh, yes. They were so kind, and I loved sharing my stories with them."

"Great, because we're going to do this every day."

The next evening they showed up unannounced at Raven's home. They found him in the back, smoking and drying meat. Neither had seen such a large store of dried meat. It looked like it could last through two whole winters. Coyote shared his good news, and Raven ushered them inside.

Mouse's eyes roamed across the sculptures, beadwork, and polished stones that decorated Raven's home. Raven quickly grabbed a bone carving of a wolf and pressed it into her hands. "A wedding gift for the beautiful bride."

Mouse gave an excited squeak at the sight of the little animal. "Oh, thank you!"

Over dinner Mouse described artwork she had seen created by tribes scattered to the farthest corners of the world. Her experience captivated Raven, and they spent most of the evening talking. Coyote ate noisily and watched, saying little.

On the way out Coyote casually steered Mouse back to the racks of dried meat. He waved a paw at them, watching Raven's growing unease from the corner of his eye. "Look at it all! Just look at it. Such a clever fellow, Raven. Here he is all by himself, not even a wife to provide for, and he has all this food stored up. Have you ever seen the likes of it?"

Mouse thought very hard and decided that, in all her travels, she had indeed never seen a single person produce so much fresh dried meat in a season. Her eyes widened and she tried to calculate how long it would take to eat it all.

Raven sighed. "Would you like to take some home with you?"

Coyote chuckled and laid an arm across Raven's shoulders, ignoring his attempt to flinch away. "Raven, friend. We are a new couple. We have been so, uh, busy together that I have been quite unable to hunt enough to store up for the winter. You wouldn't want the young lady to go hungry, would you?"

Raven squirmed out of Coyote's grasp. Desperation gripped his mind to get his guest to leave before he implanted any other disturbing images in his imagination. "Fine. Be quick about it."

Coyote whined. "But Raven, I can't carry all that by myself!"

Raven bit back further grumbles in the face of Mouse's emphatic expression of gratitude. He loaded his store into two sacks, and he and Coyote each carried one. Mouse carried the little figurine.

The next evening they showed up at Bear's home. Bear's wife greeted them, and she did not seem surprised to see them. Their home was emptier than Coyote's was before he started collecting wedding gifts. They sat down to a simple meal served in old, cracked dishes. Mouse shared stories and expressed interest in a chipped pot with a faded design painted on it. Bear's wife gladly let her take it. Coyote grumbled all the way home, but Mouse was too engrossed in her new cookware to notice.

This continued day after day, until Coyote's home was filled with discarded garbage. He began to grow tired of Mouse's company. He left her alone to mind the house and roamed, trying to think of a way to save face. When he returned, all the wedding gifts were gone.

He cornered her and spoke with the edge of a snarl in his voice. "What happened?"

She smiled, seemingly oblivious to his rising temper. "My things were not safe here. I put them somewhere safe."

Coyote growled. "You are my wife. That makes them my things. Put them back in my home."

Mouse shook her head, still smiling. "No, those people gave them to me. If you want them, go find them yourself."

"How dare you? I am Coyote! No one takes things from me!"

He brought his paw around with a slap full of claws. Mouse ducked with a frightened squeak and scurried past him. Outside she dropped to all fours, became small, and hid. Coyote hunted her in his own four-legged form, but he could not find her. He shouted curses after her in case she was still in earshot, saying that she was no longer his wife and he was glad to be rid of her.

Mouse was pregnant when she left Coyote. When her time came she gave birth to five children, three girls who looked like their mother and two boys who looked like their father. She took them on her travels. When they grew old enough to take care of themselves she dropped each one off in a different corner of the earth where Coyote could not find them and continued traveling by herself. This is why mice and coyotes are found in so many places.