Bear and Coyote Hang the Stars

Based on a Navajo Legend

Use this story for Narrative Play! Check out our store for Story Sparks Tales of Valuable Virtues for the storytellers’ summary and children’s activity pages.

Story retold by The Legendary Connection, a variation of the Navajo Legend “How the Stars Were Placed.”

TLC#00043

This is a story I was told when I was a little girl in school.

Long ago when the Earth was still new and only the animal peoples lived on the land. Bear was given the task of hanging the stars in the sky. Bear was chosen for this task because he was very careful and planned where each and every star was to be placed. Bear slowly hung one star at a time, following the map he made as he created pictures in the sky.

Soon another creature came along and stopped to watch what Bear was doing. Coyote was a very curious creature, but he was also known for being lazy, cunning, and deceitful. Coyote stopped what he was doing and watched Bear as he carefully worked.

“What are you doing, Brother Bear?” asked Coyote.

“I am writing the stories that will teach the future people how to live well. I am writing them in pictures and hanging them in the sky, as you can see Brother Coyote” answered Bear.

“It is a good and great thing that you are doing. I too, would like to help you hang the stars in the sky. Will you let me help you?” asked Coyote.

“This work is not easy, it will take a long time to finish. You must be patient and hang each star with great care. I do not think this work would suit you Coyote” replied Bear.

“But I am very good at doing something once I set my mind to it. I know that I can help you with this work. Maybe I can just hang a few stars and show you that I can do this work” said Coyote.”

“Very well,” said Bear. “But you must follow my directions and take your time as you hang the stars. Otherwise, the pictures will get confused and the future people will not know the stories. Then how will they know how to live a good life?”

“I will do as you say,” said Coyote.

So Bear and Coyote began to carefully hang the stars. At first, Coyote hung the stars with great care, but soon Coyote began to get bored. Coyote was impatient to be done, he felt that hanging the stars one by one was taking too long. As he took a step back to see what they had already placed in the sky, his face fell thinking about how many more stars he had left to hang. Suddenly he could not stand it any longer and seized the blanket the stars were on and flung all them all up into the sky, scattering them across the sky. Bear was so angry that he and Coyote were never friends again. In his act of impatience, Coyote created the Milky Way and obscured the pictures that Bear had already hung, which is why when we look to the stars we must have patience and search out the constellations.