I can be contacted for written work and for voice-overs and personal appearances as a storyteller via my publishing company: Dancing Fox Productions. 18 High Street, Twerton on Avon. Bath. Somerset. BA2 1BZ. England. Tel: (01225) 330879.
It was midnight and Tanais the fox was walking alone, deep in thought. It was a beautiful night, a full moon shone high in the sky and he could hear waves crashing against the distant shoreline. He felt a need to look out at the sea, so he decided to walk by himself in the moonlight for a while and maybe smoke his pipe a little. He didn't know why he felt this need to be alone, only that he needed it every now and then. Hoping he would feel a lot happier with the sound of waves and the smell of salt, he sniffed expectantly at the sea air to catch his bearings and started on his journey.
Leaving a long trail of paw prints behind him, Tanais walked the entire length of the beach occasionally puffing on his pipe. At one point he came across a walking stick tossed upon the sand. It was actually a short length of tree branch or a thick twig that had been discarded by the ocean; a few tiny barnacles had attached themselves to one end and it was still quite damp from floating in the sea, but it would dry out eventually, so he picked it up, brushed some seaweed off of it and continued on his journey, propping the stick on one shoulder.
Tanais especially liked to walk along the shoreline and watch the waves as they crashed against the rocks in the distance. It wasa strangely magical night; at one point he thought he heard the sound of fluttering wings somewhere deep in the darkness. Stopping to look around, he saw no-one, so he shrugged - snuggling deeper into a scarf he had brought along for the night - continuing on his midnight walk.
Eventually he came upon a rocky cove; it was a favourite haunt of his and he found it ideal as a place of quiet contemplation - a place where he could get some thinking done at times like this.
Finding his favourite spot in the cove, Tanais stared for a long while at the moon reflecting off the surface of the sea and felt a pang of loneliness. He felt this every now and then and indeed had come to live with it and accept it. He knew that the life of a wanderer is sometimes like that, but he wouldn't have it any other way.
The fox sat down on a smooth rock jutting out over a shallow pool of water; every now and then he puffed on his pipe, sending plumes of smoke into the cold air. Apart from the occasional crash of waves in the distance, all was quiet around him.
Watching the shadows of rocks made by the moon's reflection, Tanais quietly pondered how different everything looked at night; in the daytime the pool was home to tiny sea creatures caught in the low tide, but at night it became something quite different and enchanting. Tanais watched the water in the pool as it caught the moon's reflection, bathing nearby rocks and stones in a shimmering silver light. It was one of the most beautiful places Tanais knew of and he would often return there when he felt sad, lonely or just a little thoughtful.
As he puffed on his pipe Tanais remembered a story he had been told as a cub, a story about the moon and the sea and many other things besides. The moment was perfect for the telling of this particular tale, but there was no one around to hear it! So he sat with his head resting in both paws and looked out at the sea and at the moon's reflection, pondering what to do with the story.
After a while, Tanais shrugged a little and looked thoughtfully at the moon. Try as hard as he might he couldn't get the tale out of his head. Suddenly an idea crossed his mind and he paused for a few moments, pondered quietly on his idea before turning his muzzle skywards where he addressed the moon with a smile. "Then I think I shall tell it to you, my friend. You know, I've never told a story to the moon before - I hope you like it." Shifting into a more comfortable position, Tanais paused only to push his scarf a little higher onto his shoulders and he began his tale:
"This story happened years ago," began Tanais a little uncertainly. "It happened many years before I, or anyone I know was born - at a time when this land was still quite young and when there were many places filled with wild magic."
Tanais reached for the stick he had found on the beach and started to draw shapes in the sand in front of him. "Of all the creatures, the most popular, and certainly the most prolific was the coyote." he said, his sketching rapidly turning into the outline of a coyote.
"Some legends say that the coyotes were the first of the creatures to be made for the new land and that they were told by the creator to look after the land whilst he went off and made the rest of us." Tanais laughed a little. "Others say that the coyote was put here so that none of us would have an easy life." The fox's laugh trailed off into a wistful sigh. "I guess we shall never know exactly for sure," he said as he continued drawing. "Back in those days, people just lived by the fact that the sun always followed the moon and that Winter always followed Summer. They didn't have any need for clocks or calendars, choosing to sleep when they were tired and waking when the sun came up." With a flourish, Tanais finished his drawing and stopped for a moment to admire the likeness.
With a satisfied nod, Tanais looked back up at the moon. "This story is about one tribe of coyotes in particular," he said. "The other coyote tribes had dispersed throughout the land and had fallen into fights and squabbles with each other - mainly over land or food, but this tribe was different. Theirs was a peaceful tribe, working hard and quietly living off the land in their own way."
Becoming more elaborate with his drawing, Tanais started to sketch out some more coyotes in the sand; some were ploughing the land, others were harvesting fields or pulling fishing nets in small boats on the sea. Dotted around his picture were small tepee-like tents - out of which poked the faces and noses of coyote mothers with their cubs.
As Tanais drew each coyote he explained to the moon what each one was doing. "None of them were warriors. They lived a peaceful life in spite of their warring cousins," he concluded as he put the stick down. "Some were farmers, others herded cattle or rode horses, whereas a few would catch fish in the ocean."
Tanais brushed some sand off of his paws. "The other tribes lived far away and would fight and squabble amongst each other, fouling and spoiling wherever they went. The tribe by the sea was, by contrast, the smallest of all the coyote tribes and their peacefulness didn't interest the others. As they never went attacking or plundering anyone, they never got attacked themselves. After a while they had been all but completely forgotten by the other tribes."
Tanais picked up the stick again and started to very carefully adapt the picture of the first coyote he drew. "Not very far away from the tribe lived a coyote woman," Tanais said. "She was very beautiful and wore a green and purple cape and the feather necklace of a medicine woman. Known only as Why-ay-looh', or `Coyote Woman', she loved to take long walks by herself in the plains, searching for herbs and roots that she would later turn into powerful medicines.
"One of her favourite places was a rocky cove; called Medicine Cove, it was shielded on all three sides by a sheer wall of rocks, accessible by a secret path that only she knew about. Coyote Woman would often spend many hours sitting in her cove, looking at the moon as it rose over the ocean. Sometimes she would sing to herself or devise new magic and medicine, sometimes she would braid colourful beads into her long golden fur or prepare her herbs. In the centre of the cove was a pool of water that she would often use to look into and think about things when she wanted to be by herself and not be disturbed.
"One night, Coyote Woman went to her cove and sat on an outcropping of rocks that looked over the pool. As she sat, braiding beads into her hair and humming a song to herself, she looked into the pool and saw to her surprise what looked like a face smiling up at her in the reflection of the moon. With a startled yelp, she jumped back and looked up at the moon shining high in the sky but saw nothing unusual there. Shaking her head, she looked back at the pool and stared into the water."
Tanais looked down into the pool and saw his reflection looking up at him. The reflection of the moon had slid a little further into the pool and shone behind him, lighting the outline of his ears with an eerie glow. He thought about playing with his reflection using the stick he had just been drawing with, but he thought better of it. He paused to remember where he was in the story, then continued.
"At first she thought it must have been some sort of illusion - that the reflection in the moon was her own face looking up at herself from the pool - so she peered a little closer. Although the face was indistinct and shimmered slightly as it rippled in the water, Coyote Woman found that if she squinted her eyes as she looked into the pool, she could quite clearly see the image of a pure white coyote staring up at her with his deep blue eyes.
"Nothing like this had ever happened before! She had acknowledged long ago that this was a very magical place but knowing about magic and coming face to face with it are two very different things."
Tanais looked into the pool again. As he told the story he noticed that the reflection of the moon had slid further into the centre of the pool, bathing even more of the surroundings in its eerie light. This made the rocks appear as if they were formed from glass and made the wet sand glisten with an icy blue radiance as the waves crashed and then drew back from the shoreline in a foaming silver-white carpet.
Although entranced by the beauty of the moment, Tanais remembered his audience; hard as it might be, once a story is started, it should always be finished. He took a refreshing gulp of sea air to bring him back to his story and continued.
"If Coyote Woman was surprised at what she saw from within the pool she was completely unprepared for what followed," said Tanais, looking around him. "The face in the pool became more real and more solid with each passing moment until after a minute or so Hah-ah' - a moon spirit - was shimmering in the pool, looking up at her with his blue eyes."
Tanais paused for a moment; the hairs on the back of his neck and all along his tail were bristling with excitement. The cool sea air had suddenly become as sharp as a razor's edge and seemed to fill the cove with an almost electrifying energy - like the moment just before a thunderstorm. Tanais waited with bated breath for something to happen; he half-expected the Coyote Woman or the spirit from the pool to appear at any moment, but the moment passed and nothing appeared - so he gathered his thoughts together and continued a little more cautiously, his whiskers twitching and one ear cocked to catch the slightest change around him.
"The story is a little unclear around this point..." said Tanais, scratching at an ear as he observed the pattern of rocks shimmering and glowing under the moon's light, "...but the version of the story I prefer tells of the coyote woman and the moon spirit falling in love with each other." Smiling, the fox continued. "You see, the moon spirit loved to look down on this pool from where he lived on one of the moon's highest mountains. When the moon was full and at her most powerful, the moon coyote would shine down on the pool, spreading his magic into the rocks and sand.
"Some say that magic attracts more magic and as the cove was one of the few places still left where wild magic was still very much alive, he naturally felt an affinity with the place. The fact that a beautiful Coyote Woman also loved this place merely added to his insistence that he should appear in front of her.
"Without a word, the moon spirit started to lift himself up out of the pool. First a pink nose pushed through the water, followed by a muzzle and then a pair of milky white ears. The moon coyote was pushing very hard against something as he slowly heaved more and more of his body out of the pool, pausing every now and then to catch his breath. Water didn't drip off of him, rather the water seemed to solidify and become part of him, drawing out into long strands of silver-white hair.
"Coyote Woman stood and watched breathless as Moon Coyote lifted more and more of himself out of the pool. Fighting with all his might, he strained against the water that seemed to cling to him. It was as if it wanted to drag the moon coyote back down, but he continued, straining and pulling with every muscle in his body until he finally leapt free of the pool and stood triumphant in the moonlight.
"The next morning, Coyote Woman and Moon Coyote went into the village. Seeing their medicine woman walking into the village with a stranger, the tribe immediately stopped what they were doing and came rushing to see who her strange new companion was. She padded to the chief of the tribe's tent and knelt as the Chief of the tribe who was called Le-ee'-oo came out to see what was going on.
"`Le-ee'-oo!' said Coyote Woman, holding her head down, `this is Hah-ah'', pointing at Moon Coyote. `He came to me last night from out of the pool in Medicine Cove. I wish to marry him,' she said rather matter-of-factly. There was gasp from the villagers as she said this because the medicine woman normally didn't marry and when they did, they certainly didn't marry at such a young age.
"The Chief just nodded and looked at Moon Coyote as he slowly walked around him. Every now and then he sniffed and prodded at Moon Coyote and muttered to himself and exchanged words with his advisers. Everyone fell silent as he did this until finally the Chief looked deeply into the his eyes, snorted to himself and nodded again.
"Turning to Coyote Woman, he looked at her and said rather gruffly, `Medicine woman, Hah-ah' is a spirit, a moon coyote, he is not from this land. Why do you wish to marry him?'
"`Because I love him!' she said, still kneeling `...and because he loves me'.
"Le-ee'-oo snorted again, but this seemed to be what he wanted to hear, so he looked back at the moon coyote and asked, `...and do you love her Hah-ah'? Will you stay with her for as long as you live?'
The moon coyote nodded and padded over to Coyote Woman and gently lifted her up off the ground. `I do.' he said, `I will love your medicine woman even after I die'.
"`Then let it be so', said the Chief. Turning to the villagers the Chief proclaimed in a loud and very formal voice, `Our medicine woman has a husband. He is Hah-ah' of the moon tribe. From now on he shall be known as `Moon Coyote'. With a nod and a gentle smile at the couple, Le-ee'-oo walked back into his tent, followed by his advisers. Coyote Woman and Moon Coyote were married."
Tanais frowned a little to himself. Had he ended the story there, it would have been a good place to stop, but even he would be the first to admit that nothing much happened and there was more. "...And I suspect you know there's more to the story don't you?" said Tanais, eyeing the moon suspiciously as he sat down on his rock again. Looking at the shoreline and noticing the water was slowly crawling up the beach towards the pool, the fox reckoned that he would have just enough time to finish telling his tale without getting trapped by the rising tide, so settling down to finish the rest of his story, Tanais took one last puff from his pipe and continued:
"Of course Coyote Woman and Moon Coyote were very happy together; they went back to their home by the sea and watched the waves beating against the shore. Throughout the day they were visited by villagers and friends - bearing gifts and blessings for the newly-weds. Later in the afternoon, they decided to explore the beach and the Coyote Woman showed her husband the places she liked to go and things she liked to see. Together they laughed and skipped in the sand, chasing each other up and down the beach as they played games with each other.
"In the evening, Coyote Woman went down to the beach and took her beads and herbs with her. Her husband had gone hunting with his new friends and tribe members, so she thought it would be a good time to sit by herself and contemplate how different her life had suddenly become. She thought lovingly about her husband and soon her thoughts drifted towards raising a family together."
Tanais sighed to himself as he pictured the image in his mind. "For the first time in her life Coyote Woman was truly contented."
Tanais stopped and shrugged as he remembered the story. "Coyote Woman was lost in her own dreams and braiding her hair when, all of a sudden, she heard the distant sound of a yelp followed by a cry of pain. Someone was hurt, and it wasn't far away by the sound of it. She rushed to the top of a sandy hillock to see better and, to her horror, saw her husband in the distance lying on the floor twitching."
"As he was the newest member of the tribe and because he had just been married, it was agreed that the hunters were to go on an expedition and that Moon Coyote was to have the first try at pulling down a bison." explained Tanais, tapping the ashes from his pipe into the sand. "Moon Coyote had never hunted one of these before - being something of a rarity where he came from - and it came as no surprise that he had badly miscalculated. As he chased after his prey, it swerved madly in front of him, trampling him under its powerful hooves, lifting him into the air with its short, but nonetheless lethal horns before dashing him on the floor with a sickening crack of bones.
"Seeing her husband lying there, Coyote Woman didn't hesitate, she grabbed her herbs and ran as fast as she could to his side. By the time she arrived, Moon Coyote was barely alive. He was unconscious and his breath was rasping - a thick pool of blood had soaked into the sand and the rear half of his body lay twisted on the floor. You didn't have to be a medicine woman to realise that his back had been broken.
"Nevertheless, Coyote Woman tried to help her husband; she applied her strongest and most powerful medicines - but everything she did to try and heal him was in vain. Moon Coyote's beautiful white coat was now a dull grey and was caked with blood where the bison had tossed him into the air. His deep blue eyes had started to mist over and his rasping breath got fainter with every passing breath. Coyote Woman's instincts told her that he was dying.
"She thought desperately of possible remedies and cures, but this was far beyond her healing capabilities. Eventually, and with tear filled eyes, she admitted defeat and turned away from her husband to howl a cry so painful and so desperate that everyone for miles around stopped in their tracks and listened with dread at the pain in Coyote Woman's voice.
There was nothing else to do but to look on helpless as her Moon Coyote's breath faded. She applied what little medicine she could to ease the pain away and just sat, watching Moon Coyote slowly die - lit by the moon as it rose slowly over the sea. Never before had she felt so helpless, if only there was something she could do!
"All of a sudden she had an idea! It was crazy and desperate, but then she was desperate. Lifting Moon Coyote's dying body in her paws, she ran down to Medicine Cove. The moon coyote was already so far gone that he only moaned pitifully and his breath started to rasp and become more ragged again.
"When she finally arrived, Coyote Woman spread her dying husband out in the shallow pool. Propping his head gently on her robes, she watched helpless as his life seemed to ebb from his body into the pool.
"Pointing her muzzle towards the moon, the Coyote Woman howled again, a lonely, broken howl. Moon Coyote sagged as the life finally left his body and he breathed his last. Coyote Woman looked on with baited breath, waiting for something to happen, but the moon just carried on its upward ascent into the night sky, shining down on the cove, the moon coyote and his disconsolately sobbing widow."
Tanais stared into the pool and sniffed. "The Moon felt that Moon Coyote's death was unfair and although she hadn't the power to bring Coyote Woman's husband back to life, she was, nevertheless, an important part of the wild magic - a magic that was in existence long before death came into the world. She looked down sadly on the sobbing Coyote Woman and decided to do something about it.
"After Coyote Woman had cried herself out, she looked miserably at where her husband lay in the pool and saw, to her astonishment, the ghostly apparition of her husband floating above his body. The moon's silver light was shining down on the pool - stronger and brighter than it had ever been before - and his body was still lying in the shallow pool, but the huge ugly blood stain in his side had been washed away by the pool. The spirit of her husband looked down on his body and sniffed at it before looking at his wife and, to her amazement, smiled at her."
Tanais stopped. Picking up his stick, he looked at the moon and frowned "No one really knows what happened as the story ends there. The next day the other tribe members eventually found their way into Medicine Cove and discovered Coyote Woman's drowned body laying next to her husband in the pool.
"Some stories say that Coyote Woman died of a broken heart," Tanais looked carefully at the rising tide, "others say that she had drowned - too heartbroken to notice, or to care - I guess we shall never know," and he kicked a little at the sand. "But the stories all agree on one thing however. On the night they died, a star appeared next to the moon. It's one of the brightest stars in the sky and is the first to come out in the summer evenings. If you look at it very carefully, you'll see that it appears as if it is two stars joined closely together.
Tanais picked up his hat and looked at his drawings in the sand as the waves crawled closer up the shoreline. The cove was nearly filled with water now and he would have to hurry in order to get out and not get his paws wet. Soon his pictures would be gone - washed away as if they were never there. "Nothing's permanent." muttered the fox as he quickly gathered his belongings together and started on his journey home, his spirit strangely lifted by the telling of such a sad story.
As he turned to walk home, he took one last look at the water rolling relentlessly into the cove. The waves were much heavier now and the water was much higher than before. Nodding his head and sniffing the air one last time, Tanais raised his hat to the moon and walked off.
Had he been a little closer to the pool, Tanais would have seen the faces of two shimmering Coyotes - one white, the other golden - holding each other and looking at him as the water washed over them.
