[275] in that case, how awkward!

[Mezzaphor]

Early update

What our new canine friend lacks in tact, he makes up for in enthusiasm.

How does Annie know his name?

[fjodor]

Up to the previous page I was thinking 'what an elegant creature'. That feeling's gone now.

[fjodor]

Long live the godchecker site. This must be him.

www.godchecker.com/pantheon/native_american-mythology.php?deity=COYOTE

[La Goon]

Heh, nothing better than a good laugh to break the ice

I like Anja and Donald's expressions in panel four. Awkward indeed.

[aoeniac]

Unexpected out of ten.

I have to hand it to Tom.

[Cassiopea The Grande]

Ahhhaaaaa, long live wikipedia I say, it's all coming together now...

Coyote often plays the role of trickster, although in some stories he is a buffoon and the butt of jokes and in a few is outright evil. His personality strengths are humor and sometimes cleverness. His personality weaknesses are usually greed or desire, recklessness, impulsiveness and jealousy. Coyote is often the antagonist of his brother Wolf, who is wise and good natured but prone to giving in to Coyote's incessant demands. In Tongva Mythology, it is Coyote who is tricked. Coyote challenges "The River" to a race. Coyote is victorious, but collapses from fatigue. The river laughs at him and takes the name "Hahamongna," which is said to explain the noise made by the upper Arroyo Seco which sounds similar to laughing.

So the river... The river comes into this maybe... And Reynardine is the wolf... Maybe...

[Mezzaphor]

The Great Spirit Names the Animal People: How Coyote Came by His Powers

Poor Coyote's knees grew weak. He sank down by the fire in that great tepee. The heart of the Spirit Chief was touched when he saw the lowered head of Coyote, the mischief-maker. After a silence the Chief spoke, "You are Coyote! You are the hated among all the tribes, among all the people. I have chosen you from among all others to make you sleep, to go to the land of the dream visions. I make a purpose for you, a big work for you to do before another change comes to the people. You are to be father for all the tribes, for all the new kind of people who are to come. Because you are so hated, degraded and despised, you will be known as the Trick-person. You will have power to change yourself into anything, any object you wish when in danger or distress. There are man-eating monsters on the earth who are destroying the people. The tribes cannot increase and grow as I wish. These monsters must all be vanquished before the new people come. This is your work to do. I give you powers to kill these monsters. I have given your twin brother, Fox, power to help you, to restore you to life should you be killed. Your bones may be scattered; but if there is one hair left on your body, Fox can bring you back to life. Now go, despised Coyote! Begin the work laid out for your trail. Do good for the benefit of your people.

I think this is Reynardine's fool cousin.

Speaking of Rey, where the heck is he?

[todd]

Trust a trickster to be commenting so amusedly on the Anthony-Surma-Eglamore triangle, in public. (Judging from today's page, it seems that he can communicate with other people in the room besides Annie; Eglamore informs him that it's Anthony who's Annie's father and not himself, and he and the Donlans both look uncomfortable after Coyote's initial insinuation.)

That's the second figure from Native American mythology who's shown up in the Gunnerkrigg area. I'm curious as to why Coyote's now living in a forest somewhere in Great Britain.

[Yin]

Reynardine's not there probably because he's not allowed in.

[Boksha]

Yeah, considering the Donlans and Eglamore know about Reynardine's form, they'll probably have made sure Annie's not trying to sneak him in.
Especially because, as far as they're concerned, he has absolutely nothing to do with all this.

[UbiquitousDragon]

sli said:

Reynardine's not there probably because he's not allowed in.

Maybe, but Eglamore told Annie to bring him along, here.

Poor Eglamore. I think rather than him really being Annie's father's the sore-point is that he wasn't Surma's husband.

Some more info on the Coyote (mostly because it uses the word 'ubiquitous' in the first sentence). Also it made me wonder about the Tic-Tocs, or the Thousand Eyes as Gamma called them. They look more like toucans than crows or ravens but there always could be some connection with the forest and the Coyote, which is why the slowed Annie's fall, maybe. I dunno.

Would a North American, or any deity, be truly bound to one spot if they're so powerful? (From the sites he seems a pretty powerful deity.) Just because he's, for want of a better phrase, not a mainstream deity doesn't mean he's solely North American. There are tricksters in European religions and mythologies, such as Loki from the Nordic tradition. What if they're all one? Erm, though that's more religious debate than comic debate, let's call it a rhetorical question.

[Aspen d'Grey]

There;s a Coyote figure in pretty much every culture, though. Sometimes under a different name or form, but its the same god. And Coyote is pretty widely used, even in european and african religions.

[Bobbey]

Before this comic, I thought the coyote was a wise and respectful deity of some sort, but now, I feel like I've been let down.

I should've douted that, since it did look like a fox, that it might be a ruseful (can I even say that?) god, since foxes or coyotes often represent trickery.

And why do I keep thinking that Starfox64 is completely wrong now after reading Mezzaphor's quote?

[Mezzaphor]

It would definitely appear that Coyote is the god that Annie was referring to in the chapter's opening narration. Since Annie only mentioned "a god", that would imply that the wolf tree is NOT a god. Which would mean the wolf tree cannot be the Wolf. He probably someone works for Wolf, though.

But there's still enough wiggle room that next week's update could reveal that the wolf tree is in fact the god in question, and that Coyote is some other class of long-lived supernatural being.

ALSO: to answer my own question from the first post, I bet Annie heard of Coyote from Muut or one of the other psychopomps.

[Count Casimir]

Well, it would certainly seem that if Coyote is a god, he's in charge over on the woods side of things. And since Rey talked about his cousin retaliating, as if the cousin were in charge, it's a safe bet that Coyote is Rey's cousin. Can gods and demons be cousins? Or is Rey a god (of a more dubious sort, if true)?

It follows that General Wolftree must be just that; a general.

So now we know; Coyote was NOT the guide who took Surma. Might've been Muut, since Annie was kind of mad at him.

[Boksha]

ubiquitousdragon said:

sli said:

Reynardine's not there probably because he's not allowed in.

Maybe, but Eglamore told Annie to bring him along, here.

Completely forgot about that. I guess that means it'll be up to him or Annie whether and when he actually shows up.

[rastarogue]

ubiquitousdragon said:

sli said:

Reynardine's not there probably because he's not allowed in.

Maybe, but Eglamore told Annie to bring him along, here.

Poor Eglamore. I think rather than him really being Annie's father's the sore-point is that he wasn't Surma's husband.

Some more info on the Coyote (mostly because it uses the word 'ubiquitous' in the first sentence). Also it made me wonder about the Tic-Tocs, or the Thousand Eyes as Gamma called them. They look more like toucans than crows or ravens but there always could be some connection with the forest and the Coyote, which is why the slowed Annie's fall, maybe. I dunno.

I was reading up on Coyote, and encountered his archrival in trickery Raven who is sort of good sort of bad. He did bring the sun moon and stars to the world, but he is also a trickster. Also Odin (norse god) uses to ravens, Hugin and Munin, to gather information, this may or may not have anything to do with the tic-tocs.

[rastarogue]

mezzaphor said:

Early update

What our new canine friend lacks in tact, he makes up for in enthusiasm.

How does Annie know his name?

Annie spent her early life talking with the guides. Muut we know is native American and may have told her about the gods, so she would probably be able to identify Coyote.

[todd]

She also learned a lot from her mother while she was in the hospital (as she mentions in Chapter Two). She certainly seems well-read on mythology (as witness her familiarity with the traditional story of the Minotaur in that same chapter).