Mr. Coyote was walking along the river’s edge one morning, when he saw two pretty young girls filling their water jars from the river. He ran up into the mountains, collected all kinds of fruit that grew there, and hurried back to the river with it. He hid in the bushes and dropped the fruit down into the water near the two girls.

The girls were greatly surprised when they saw the fruit. Where had it come from, they wondered. They looked all around and could see no one, so they dipped up the fruit with their gourds and had a big feast.

When they went home with their water jars the girls told their parents; “Oh, Tah and Ye-ah, we found the most delicious fruit in the river this morning. It was floating all around in the water. But we ate it all up.”

Their father and mother said, “Tomorrow you must bring some fruit home to us.”

The next morning when the girls went to the river with their water jars, there was not any fruit in the water. “What shall we do? Tah and Ye-ah will think we have been deceiving them and will punish us. What shall we do?”

Mr. Coyote, who had been awaiting them in the bushes, just laughed. Then he trotted up into the mountains again and brought more fruit and dropped it quietly into the water. Then he laughed to see how eagerly the girls dipped it up with their gourds.

The girls took the fruit home to their parents. It tasted so delicious that the father said, “Tomorrow your mother and I will go for water so that we can get the fruit.”

So the next day the father and mother went down to the river with their water jars. They looked and looked, but there was no fruit in the water. Mr. Coyote, who had been waiting to see the pretty girls, saw them searching for fruit. He rolled over and over with laughter and then he ran away still chuckling.

Note: Santa Clara Pueblo