# In the Reign of Coyote/Why the Dead do not come back

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WHY THE DEAD DO NOT COME BACK
ONE day Juanita was mourning the loss of a pet canary. Antonio had gone off for the day with the herders, and she was lonely in her sorrow. She went over to the saddlery to tell Klayukat her trouble.
"Just think, Klayukat, it won't sing any more. It used to love so to sing. Captain Bangs says it sang all those long days when he was bringing it from China. And now it will never sing any more," and sobs choked her words.
"Oh, Ninita mia, weep not so. I think your bird is singing more happily in the Land of the Dead. You know when Coyote went there he found all the dead singing and dancing and having a good time."
"Did he? When did he go? How did he go?" and Juanita's voice became firmer.
​"You sit on the hides, Chiquita, and eat these nuts, and old Klayukat will tell you what Coyote learned about the Land of the Dead."
Many, many moons ago, the animal people had one sorrow,—their relatives who died never came back again. The whole land was filled with mourning, for almost every household had lost one of its number. Eagle's wife was gone, and he wept all day and would not be comforted.
Coyote felt sorry for the animals. "The leaves come back to the trees," he thought. "Why should not people come back to the earth? I ought to be able to do something to bring them back."
He went to Eagle and said: "Don't grieve so, Brother Eagle. I think people ought to come back like the leaves on the trees. Wait until spring. Then, when the grass comes out in its greenness and the flowers smile in their beauty, the dead will return from the Land of the Dead."
"Spring is too far off," sobbed Eagle. "It is only autumn now. I want my wife before spring. I want her just now."
"Well, come with me, and we will see if we can get her now," said Coyote.
Eagle wiped his tears away and picked up a basket. Then they started out for the Land of the Dead. ​They traveled for a long time, until they came to a lake. Across it they could see houses, but there was no sign of people. Everything was as still as death.
"Oh! we have come all this way for nothing," wailed Eagle. "They are all dead here. I shall not find my wife."
"Wait until night, Brother Eagle," answered Coyote. "The dead sleep in the daytime. At night they come out. Let us rest until darkness falls." He threw himself down under a cypress tree, and Eagle lay down beside him.
When the sun had passed into the west, Coyote began to sing. He had sung only a short time, when four men came out of the houses across the lake and got into a canoe. Coyote sang on. The men did not touch the oars, but the boat skimmed over the water to the cypress tree.
Coyote and Eagle got into the canoe. Coyote kept on singing. The boat skimmed back over the water toward the houses. As it neared the shore, they heard music and drumming and dancing.
"What a good time the dead must have!" said Coyote. "I shall be glad to see them and their houses."
"You must not enter those houses," cautioned the four men in the boat. "You must not look at the people. This is a sacred place."
​"But we are cold and hungry," replied Coyote. "Do let us in to warm ourselves."
"Well, you may come in for a little while," conceded the men.
They entered a large mat house. There were flowers in bloom and sweet music, and the people were all singing and dancing. Everybody looked well and happy.
An old woman came toward them. She carried a glass bottle in one hand and a feather in the other. "Eat, son," she said, and she dipped the feather into the bottle and passed it once over Coyote's tongue. He felt as well satisfied as if he had eaten a hearty meal.
"Eat, son," the old woman said again, and she let one dip of the feather fall into Eagle's mouth. His hunger, too, was satisfied.
Coyote and Eagle looked around them. They saw many of their dead friends. The friends did not answer them when they spoke, nor even look at them, but went on singing and dancing and having a happy time. Coyote saw that the mat house was lighted by the moon. The moon was hung from the ceiling, and the frog was attending to its light. As night faded, the spirit songs became fainter. By the time the sun appeared, all the dead had departed to sleep.
​During the next day Coyote killed the frog and dressed himself in its clothes. Then at night he went into the mat house and attended to the light of the moon. All the dead people came again to the mat house. They began singing and dancing in a happy way. Suddenly Coyote swallowed the moon, and the mat house was in darkness. The spirit people began groping about. Coyote and Eagle picked them up and put them into the grass basket which they had brought from home. Then they shut the basket tight and started back to the Land of the Living.
Coyote carried the basket. After traveling a long while he heard a noise inside it. He pricked up his ears. "Brother Eagle," he said, "the people are beginning to come to life again."
Soon they heard different voices from the basket crying out, "I 'm being bumped; I want to get out; I want to get out."
The basket was becoming very heavy. The nearer they came to the Land of the Living, the more alive the people became. They weighed nothing when they were spirits, but were heavy when they became alive. Coyote began to get tired carrying them. He said to Eagle, "Why not let them out as long as they wish to come?"
"No," answered Eagle; "let 's get them home."
​Still the voices from within grumbled and called aloud, "I want to get out; I want to get out." Still the weight grew heavier with every step. Finally Coyote could not walk under it. He set the basket down.
"I am going to let them out," he said. "They are so far away from the Land of the Dead that they will not go back there now." He opened the basket. The dead people flew out. They changed into spirits and faded like the wind.
"Now," growled Eagle, "see what you 've done. You 'll have to go back with me in the spring, when the new buds are out, and try to get them back again."
"No," answered Coyote, "I 'm tired. The dead don't want to come back. They are happier in the Land of the Dead than we are in the Land of the Living. Let the dead stay in the Land of the Dead and never return to our land."
So because Coyote made this law, the dead do not come back. If he had not opened the basket, they would have returned every spring with the new grass and the fresh blossoms.
"Do you think my canary is singing now in the Land of the Dead, Klayukat?"
"Yes, Ninita, he is singing all the night long."
​"And is he happy, too?"
"Yes, Chiquita, happier than here."
"But who gives him seed and water and fresh chickweed?"
"The dead do not care about eating. They are happy without it. You may be sure your canary is happier than here."
"Oh, how lovely! You dear Klayukat! I must go and watch for Tonio. He 'll be glad to have me tell him this story."
Klayukat looked after her. "Pobrecita," he murmured, and he sighed as he continued his stitching.