Coyote Quarrels With Mole

(time 5:23)

Big Ideas:

Educators are encouraged to focus on four dominant themes throughout their planning and study of the story Coyote Quarrels with Mole. The themes integral to the story are 1) matriarchy, 2) relationship, 3) communication, and 4) poverty/affluence. The following are suggestions and information that will assist educators in meeting their learning objectives for their students.

Backgrounder:

Teachers are encouraged to read the summaries and reflections found in the book Not Extinct: Keeping the Sinixt Way that reference and relate to this story. Several important topics and concepts are mentioned, such as:

• Matrilineal threads – the roles of the mothers and grandmothers;

• Smum iem;

• Protocols for women – sweat lodge, moontime;

• Babies seen as gifts to the village;

• Obligation to give in a positive way;

• Custom adoption by family members;

• Relevant artwork.

Language:
An introduction to some of the following words and phrases may be needed for younger students prior to, or after, listening to the story:

Sinew, quarrel, tramped down snow, faithful, loafed, deserted his children, resumed his journey.

The Story:

Suggestions for guided questioning:

• Where were Coyote and his family living? What might be some of the reasons for this arrangement? Coyote, his wife Mole, and their five children were living on their own away from the main winter encampment.

• What life skills, if any, are the five sons learning from their role models in the story (father, mother, uncle, community members)? Or conversely, on what are they missing out? As explained in the lesson plan for Critters Help the Helpless, life skills and cultural laws were exampled by mature members of the group. The ‘inclusion’ of the children in daily village life was of utmost importance.

• The family of Coyote and Mole is described as poor during one winter in the story. What would ‘being poor’ mean in this context?

• There seems to be a huge discrepancy between the urgent message Mole sent to her husband via her eldest son regarding the fawn and the message Coyote understood once it was received? What may have caused the misunderstanding? What were the consequences for Mole, for Coyote, for the children? Was the message important enough for Coyote to stop, listen, and respond to a plea for help, i.e. come quickly, bring a knife, I can’t hold the fawn for too long?

• Coyote was practising war songs but had no bow and arrow prepared to help him protect himself, his family, or his home. What does this tell you about Coyote? Are the war songs important or meaningful to him? Would being unprepared for war but practising war songs anyway be considered an oxymoron, like ‘deafening silence’? (Recall that Coyote even missed shooting the fawn, not once, but twice!)

• While working on his bow and arrows, Coyote enjoyed eating all the food supplies Mole had gathered for her family. In this story Coyote demonstrates a lack of, or deficiency in, several virtues. What are some of them? – examples: gratitude, responsibility, respect, integrity, honesty, empathy, etc.

• Coyote takes his youngest son and travels to faraway lands where his tricks and mischief-making are not known. What might he hope to achieve by doing this? A discussion regarding Coyote’s ability to improve his reputation was suggested for the story Coyote Juggles His Eyes. One suggestion on the list was for Coyote to move to a new area to start over, make new friends, and try to behave.

Matriarchy

The Sinixt are a matriarchal people as were many Indigenous societies prior to contact with non-aboriginals. The word matriarchy is derived from the Latin word mater, meaning mother, and refers to a society whereby the prime decision makers are women. Matrilineality, on the other hand, refers to inheritance and descent whereby people passed down their power, wealth, and inheritance through the mother. According to smum iem, the second cultural law of the Sinixt, everything belonged to the women. The women were responsible for the family and keeping the tribe together. The family, according to Sinixt protocol, must live in the mother’s village.

• In the story Critters Help the Helpless it was noted that the protocol for couples states they must be matrilocal, i.e. the man must move to the woman’s camp or village. Why would this protocol be set in place? How would this protocol benefit Mole and her children? How do you think Coyote would fare with this arrangement?

• How is Mole fulfilling the roles of both mother and father to her children?

• What information in the story tells us Coyote is either delinquent or negligent in his role as provider and protector?

• Coyote plays favourites and heads off with Top’kan, the youngest son. What concerns may have influenced Mole’s decision to follow and spy on Coyote and Top’kan?

• Research topics for more senior students:

• Many forms of government are listed on the internet; however, matriarchy is rarely included as one of them. What is a government? With what types of government are the students familiar? Do they think matriarchy should be considered a form of government? Explain the difference between the terms ‘matriarchy’ and ‘matrilineality’?

• Colonial settlers brought their patriarchal ways and beliefs with them. Patriarchy is derived from the Latin word pater, for father. As explained in the Lost in Translation section for the story entitled Coyote Juggles His Eyes, the settlers viewed aboriginal societies through their own patriarchal bias. What difficulties could this bias cause, especially for women?

• https://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca is a useful website for more information on a variety of topics including the marginalization of Aboriginal women; the exclusionary and paternal logic of the Indian Act which identified men as leaders while women were referred to as dependents of their husbands; the impact of Bill C-31 on Aboriginal women; ideas for teaching about Aboriginal Identity in the classroom; plus much more.

Relationship

Coyote and Mole had a close relationship as husband and wife, but not necessarily a healthy one in this story. Relationships are far more intense and meaningful than mere associations. We reference relationships in many ways, often according to the features evident or prominent in those relationships, including traditional, romantic, toxic, codependent, business, platonic, and working are just a few.

• There are many features to a healthy relationship. One normally feels secure, free to be oneself, happy, and respected. From the perspective of a healthy relationship amongst or between friends, what might some of those features be?

• How would you describe the relationship in which Coyote and Mole now find themselves?

• Older students could discuss what ‘reaching one’s saturation point’ means. Have Coyote and Mole reached theirs? What evidence in the story supports your answer?

Messaging/Communication

Sending and receiving a message is an important event in the story, ending with a missed opportunity to harvest fresh deer meat for the family. Communication systems or techniques have been used in many forms since the beginning of time. While the written word is a valid and highly valued method of communication, it is not the only method. We consciously use many forms of communication in order to convey a message, i.e. in verbal, nonverbal, written, or visual forms.

• Have students draw up a list of communication types. Consider the following forms of communication that do not rely on the written word (note: the following list is mostly taken from the introductory document on this blog entitled Oral Tradition):

• Pictographs, Petroglyphs

• Facial expressions

• Body language, gestures

• Singing, music – in canoe as someone nears their territory to tell their people they’re coming home

• Runners to deliver messages/warnings

• Tattoos/markings on the face

• Hand signs

• Signal fires/smoke

• Flashing lights – i.e. lighthouses

• Drawings, i.e. In the sand/dirt

• Branding

• Performance/drama

• Storytelling

• Math – a universal language

• Scouting to find out information

• Dress codes – gang members wearing hoodies/bandanas

• Nature – notching trees for directions, footprints tell a story, bending willows, intertwining trees, culturally modified trees, carvings (Haida)

• Inukshuks – as locators, direction information,

• Drums

• Flags – on ships for quarantine, military, pirates

• Handshake technique and body stance – can relate membership in Masonic Lodge

• In the story Mole sends a clear verbal message to her husband asking for help as quickly as possible; however, the message did not translate well once it was delivered by her son. How could Mole have made sure the message was delivered with accuracy? Do you think this would have made any difference to Coyote’s actions or response time?

• There are many fun communication games listed on the internet. Some ideas:

• Play the telephone game to demonstrate how easily a message can be misunderstood, or how unreliable verbal messaging can be.

• Simple Charades can be fun.

• Younger students could enjoy a guessing game with objects. Place an item such as a wooden spoon in the middle of a circle. Encourage students to imagine uses for the object. By acting out the object’s use their classmates can try to guess what it is, for example: a wooden spoon could become a hockey stick, baseball bat, mirror, canoe paddle, backscratcher, sword, pen, drumstick, walking cane, flute, and so on.

• Messaging has taken on a whole different meaning in a world heavily influenced by technology. Discuss the pros and cons of messaging. What are some of the drawbacks and benefits students have experienced due to instant messaging? Some experts have said that with instant messaging it is easier for people to act irresponsibly in keeping commitments due to the ease of cancelling or rearranging at the last minute.

• Interesting research topics:

• Senior students could research Marshall McLuhan, a Canadian communication theorist and philosopher who studied the effect of mass media in the 1960s. He reached some interesting conclusions that are highly relevant today. His published works include Understanding Media and The Medium is the Massage (no, this is not a spelling error but has an interesting story behind it).

• The ‘hobo code’ (or hobo signs) was a wordless language used years ago by traveling workers to discreetly message each other. What important and helpful information might they be conveying or sharing, i.e. dangers, shelter, work, etc.? Are there any similarities between the hobo code and modern-day emoticons?

• Look up Helen Keller and Pedro Ponce de Leon in relation to sign language, its development, and usage.

• What connections are there between transportation and communication?

• There are over 7000 languages, including the Sinixt language, used on the planet. According to information on the internet, eight languages have over 100 million native speakers each, whereas the Ayapaneco of Mexico, a country where 68 different languages are spoken, has only two fluent speakers left and they don’t wish to talk.

Sinixt Language Clarified

Language is a critical component of Indigenous culture in so many ways; hence, there is an importance in recording Indigenous languages, where possible, and keeping them current and alive. The Sinixt language falls under the umbrella of the Interior Salish language grouping as do most of the Indigenous languages spoken by tribes whose traditional territories border Sinixt traditional territory. Other major language groupings include the Algonkian (east of the Rockies) and the Athabaskan (to the north).

The different dialects of the language grouping come from the land and define whose territory it is. For clarity’s sake, the Sinixt language (sәlxcίn, pronounced cel-tsin) has some similarities to the Okanagan language (nsәlxcίn, pronounced in-cel-chin) but they are different dialects of the Interior Salish language grouping. For accuracy, the Sinixt language should be referenced as the Sinixt dialect of the Interior Salish language grouping or sәlxcίn.

• Teachers can use the book to review and/or teach some of the words from the Sinixt dialect of the Interior Salish Language grouping….see the glossary in the back of the book. ***Additional resources pertaining to the Sinixt dialect of the Interior Salish language grouping are currently in the planning and development stages. Notification will be given when these additional resources are accessible to educators.

• According to one Haida Native man the first ‘communication’ between the white man and the Haida was ‘disease’. He said, “The white man was killing us before we even met him.” How is that possible? Relate this to the COVID-19 epidemic which spread quickly around the globe. The smallpox epidemic and other diseases brought by Europeans decimated many millions of Indigenous People. It spread through what we now know as the Americas and reached the Haida People on the west coast before any exploration by foreigners or settlers had taken place there. In a sense, the diseases communicated or predicted the coming of the white man.

• Research topic: It is a myth that the Indigenous Peoples of the Pacific Northwest lived in total isolation because of challenging topography. Extensive trade and travel networks were already established prior to contact and colonial settlement. How do you think these networks were possible?

• The water-way travel routes via ocean, rivers, and lakes were abundant throughout the Pacific Northwest.

• The grease trails were of vast importance to the Sinixt due to mountainous terrain within their traditional territory.

• What types of food and survival items would be traded? Particularly research the importance of the ooligan fish, ooligan oil, and ooligan grease and their connection to the grease trails.

• How did the coming of colonial settlement and the subsequent development of the railroad system affect trade?

• Languages in the Pacific Northwest were diverse. A trade language was developed called Chinook Jargon. There are many interesting facts regarding Chinook Jargon. Did you know that a Kamloops newspaper was published in the 1800s written in Chinook Jargon? Europeans used Chinook Jargon to communicate with aboriginal people they hired as workers. Some words originating from Chinook Jargon are still used today.

• The language spoken by the Ktunaxa falls under the Algonkian language grouping. It does not fall under the Interior Salish grouping. This made it very difficult for the Sinixt to communicate with them when the Ktunaxa first arrived west of the Rockies. Nor did they speak Chinook Jargon, the language specifically developed in the Pacific Northwest for trading purposes. This was a significant clue in determining that the Ktunaxa had come from afar, from somewhere else. 

They were poor one winter.

Without adequate context it is not clear what the word ‘poor’ in this statement implies. For some, it simply means having little or no money. For others it would also include a lack of property and material goods or possessions. Yet another group of people would view poverty with much more intensity beyond the superficial concept that accumulation of wealth simply involves money.

• Coyote and Mole’s family are described as ‘poor’ during one winter In the story. What would ‘being poor’ mean in this context?

• When a family is struggling and cannot be provided for, other members of the family who have greater capacity as providers need to step in to help. In other words, if there is some way you can give in a positive way, you’re obligated to do that. Coyote’s children would be adopted by their uncle in a custom rather than formal adoption. What clues in the story tell us this would be a good arrangement for the children?

• Here are some ideas and talking points in relation to the concept of affluence and true wealth:

• spiritual well-being vs poverty of the soul;

• good health;

• a meaningful existence;

• an enjoyable life;

• trust and friendship;

• achievement;

• things money can’t buy – i.e. love, personality, silence, peace, freedom.

• Can you still be poor if you are financially well-to-do and own a lot of ‘things’? Explain.

• Is money a ‘tool’?

• If you were deprived of something, what would matter the most to you?

• Why is human solidarity important? Research International Human Solidarity Day and what it seeks to achieve.

Curricular Competency: (developed by the teacher creating the lesson plan in collaboration with the student(s) receiving the knowledge)

Communication:

Creative Thinking:

Critical Thinking:

Positive Personal & Cultural Identity:

Personal Awareness & Responsibility:

Social Responsibility: