NAIDA LEFTHAND

Naida Lefthand is a Kootenai Indian who was born and
raised on the Flathead Reservation in Montana. She has
worked for the Confederated Tribes in a variety of capacities
and has been particularly involved in education and coun-
seling, From 1970 to 1973 she was Assistant Director for the
Kootenai Adult Basic Education Program and for two years
served as Home School Coordinator of Elmo School, where
she counseled elementary-grade students and was the
liaison between the school, parents, children and teachers.
From 1974 to 1975 she was a counselor in the Tribal Drug
and Alcohol Program, and for the past three years she has
been Director of the Kootenai Cultural Committee, which
has been trying to preserve the Kootenai culture by record-
ing legends and developing cultural materials. She is mar-
ried and has a little boy.


10

One morning Coyote told his wife,
“Let me help you bring in the food”
It was all right with her, so he went along.
They came to a place where some pieces of meat
were dangling in the water.
Coyote looked for the biggest piece.
When he found it, he grabbed the string with his mouth,
pulled and broke it off.
He did this all morning.
From then on, Coyote went with the trouts every day.
Soon he had all the meat, and the other trouts had none.



One winter day, Coyote went for a walk by a lake.
He saw a woman standing not too far away.
He thought to himself,

“T will walk by and have a closer look”



Booklets available in the Level ITI sequence are listed below. Numbers refer to the planned sequence of use
in the Teacher’s Manual. Materials developed by these tribes and others in the Northwest are included in

the Levels I and II sequences.

1 Story of the Seasons
The Confederated Tribes of the
Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon
2 The Beginning of the Earth
The Confederated Tribes of the
Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon
3 The Blacktail Dance
Blackfeet Tribe

4 How Marten Got His Spots
Kootenai Cultural Committee of
The Confederated Salish and
Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead
Reservation

5 Lost in the Fog
Jamestown-Clallam Tribe

6 How to Be a Friend
The Confederated Tribes of the
Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon

7 How the Morning and Evening Stars
Came to Be
Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the
Fort Peck Reservation

8 Raccoon’s Black Eyes and Ringed Tail
Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of the
Fort Hall Reservation

9 Coyote and Old Lady
Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of the
Fort Hall Reservation

10 Coyote and Trout
Kootenai Cultural Committee of
The Confederated Salish and
Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead
Reservation

11 How the Milky Way Got into the Sky
The Confederated Tribes of the
Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon

12 Inkdomi and the Buffalo
Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the
Fort Peck Reservation

13 Medicine Horse
Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of the
Fort Hall Reservation

14 The Good Hunter and Fisherman
Jamestown-Clallam Tribe

15 The Wild Buffalo Ride
Blackfeet Tribe

161 Ama Rock
Crow Tribal Historical and Cultural
Commission

17 The Man Who Loved Shell Money
Skokomish Tribe

18 Old Man Napi
Blackfeet Tribe

19 The Turtle Who Went to War
Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the
Fort Peck Reservation

20 Coyote and the Mean Mountain Sheep
Salish Cultural Committee of
The Confederated Salish and
Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead
Reservation

For order information and prices of the above booklets and the Teacher’s Manual, contact the publisher:

Educational Systems, Inc.
2360 Southwest 170th Street
Beaverton, Oregon 97005

(603) 649-7516


14

Fox pulled his friend out of the water.
He took a big club
and pretended he was going to kill Coyote.
Coyote yelled, “Don’t kill me!
I’m your friend, Coyote”

Fox mocked him, saying, “Don’t kill me!

I’m your friend, Coyote”
He then asked Coyote, “Why did you do this?”

Coyote said, “I married a trout
and have been living in the water with them.

I didn’t mean to harm anyone”



Coyote and Fox left together,

but hadn’t gone too far when they became separated.
Coyote wandered back to the place by the lake.
Again the lady asked Coyote to wrestle with her.
But this time it would be different,

because Coyote’s powers told him not to get knocked out.
It hurt Coyote when she threw him down.
He almost passed out.
He was so still, the woman thought she had killed him.
She turned to run.
Coyote jumped up and tried to grab her, but he missed.



The woman got hold of Coyote and they wrestled.
Finally, Coyote went down.
He was dead!



As he got near, the woman said,
“Coyote, come over here and wrestle with me!”

“Ha!” said Coyote.
“You must be kidding!
Iam too strong!”



because you tried to take all the meat
and left nothing for others.
This should teach you not to be so greedy.”

15



Fox came to the shore of the lake.
There he found Coyote’s body.
Fox used his powers to bring Coyote back to life.
With no shame at all,
Coyote told how the woman had knocked him out.



Level III Book 10



The woman ran down to the lake as Coyote chased her.
The lake was covered with ice except for a small hole.
The woman jumped through the hole,

with Coyote right behind!
When she was under the water, she turned into a trout.
She turned Coyote into a trout, too, and married him.
Every morning the trouts would leave camp.
When they returned, they would have some meat.
This made Coyote very curious

because he was greedy and wanted some meat.



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Meanwhile, Fox, who had been traveling here and there,
realized he hadn’t seen Coyote for quite awhile.

He knew something must be wrong.

So, being a faithful friend, he went looking for Coyote.





Developed by the Pacific Northwest Indian Reading and Language Development Program
Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, 710 Southwest Second Avenue, Portland, Oregon 97204

Copyright ©1978 by the Kootenai Cultural Committee, designated as the representatives
of The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation
All rights reserved.

The work upon which this publication is based was performed pursuant to Contract
No. 400-76-0048, with the Educational Equity Group/Multicultural/Bilingual Division
of the National Institute of Education. It does not, however, necessarily reflect the
views of that agency.

This publication is not printed at the expense of the Federal Government.
Published by Educational Systems, Inc., 2360 Southwest 170th Street, Beaverton, Oregon 97005
Printed and bound in the United States of America


1



13



ee Il) THE INDIAN READING SERIES:
Stories and Legends of the Northwest

Coyote and Trout
Level III Book 10

Developed by the Kootenai Cultural Committee
of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes

Mary Andrews, Consultant
Joe Antiste, Consultant
Susan Blixt

Sarah Bufton

Glenda Burke, Illustrator
Madeline Couture

Debbie Joseph, I/lustrator
Alex Lefthand, Consultant
Basil Lefthand, Consultant
Naida Lefthand, Coordinator
Adeline Mathias, Consultant

Joseph Coburn, Director
Pacific Northwest Indian Program
Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory



THE INDIAN READING SERIES: Stories and Legends of the
Northwest is a collection of authentic material cooperatively devel-
oped by Indian people from twelve reservations. Development ac-
tivities are guided by a Policy Board which represents the Indian
community of the Pacific Northwest. The Pacific Northwest Indian
Reading and Language Development Program Policy Board members
are:

¢ Warren Clements — Warm Springs
Chairman

* Morrie Jimenez — Klamath

« Joan Kennerly — Blackfeet

+ Walter Moffett — Nez Perce

¢ Emmett Oliver — Quinault

* Bob Parsley — Chippewa

¢ Lloyd Smith — Warm Springs

* Max Snow

¢ Jeanne Thomas — Yakima




12

Meanwhile, Fox, who had been traveling everywhere,
heard that the trouts were starving.
Right away, Fox knew that Coyote was behind it all.
Fox made a fish line out of tough sinew.
The next day, he went fishing.
The trouts were already biting.
Fox threw in his line, hoping to catch Coyote.
Coyote grabbed the line because it had the biggest piece of meat.
He tried to break the line, but he couldn’t.