In the Reign of Coyote

Folklore from the Pacific Coast

De: Katherine Chandler

Narrado por: Russell Stamets

There was a rivalry among these three storytellers, for they came from different tribes, and the legends of their people were not the same.

Tecla was from Baja, or Lower, California, where Juanita and Antonio's mother had once lived. Old Klayukat's tribal home was to the far north, at Puget Sound. He had been brought down by a king's vessel and given into the charge of the padres at the mission of San Francisco d'Assisi. There he had become a Christian and had been taught the saddler's trade. He had been employed by the children's grandfather ever since their father was a little boy. Wantasson was from Alta California, which is the California that now belongs to the United States. Before he had become Christianized at the mission, he had wandered about and so knew stories from the different tribes of the country.

To Juanita and Antonio it mattered little from what places the stories came—whether from the northern Oregon Country, Baja California, or their own Alta California. All the tales were fascinating to them, and they were always eager to do any favor for Wantasson, Klayukat, or Tecla in the hope of winning a story in return.

Public Domain (P)2022 Russell Stamets