A Coyote's Tale
	©1999 and 2000 Joseph M Harrison
	
		
	
	So pups, you want the old 'yote to tell you a story, do ya? Well, I'll
tell you how we got here.
	After nearly a year of planning, on 31 December 2000, midnight, the cusp
of the new year, and a new millenium, they performed their sacrifice. On that
day...
	What's a day Grampy? shouted one young 'roo
	A day huh? Well, that's the old Sapien measure for the time from one
sunrise to the next. 
	Now, where was I? Oh yes. On that night, about 2.9 billion Sapiens
sacrificed themselves for the Earth Mother. They had seen the pain and the
damage that their fellow Sapiens had inflicted on the Earth. On that night,
they decided to help her, by thinning the herd as it were, which gave her a
fighting chance, to heal the damage inflicted on her. At growing season,
something special happened, some pups were born larger than normal, and
although this wasn't noticed by the Sapiens, it was important, for the next
generation was larger still, and the next after that, until one day, pups were
born that could walk upright as the Sapiens did, and reason as they could.
	When the Sapiens saw this, they were scared. Some found reasons of faith
to hate us, while others needed no reason at all. Still others saw us as
dangerous predators, the only serious threat to "humanity" Earth Mother had
created. But, a few wise ones realized what we were, the proof that Homo
Sapiens had been relegated to the fate of the Neanderthal man.
	What ever the reason, they chose to attack us, and while some ran and hid,
some tried to hold their ground, but there were so few of us, and so many of
them. A few of us became travelers, searching for brothers and sisters who
would help us in our fight, and in return we would help them in theirs. My
travel would take me through the deserts, into swamps, and eventually to the
frozen north.
	The frozen north, where the fight was a bit more bizarre. You see, in the
temperate climates, the fight was over who's territory it was, but in the
frozen north, the Sapiens fought to claim land they could not make use of,
simply because it was 'theirs'. But they hadn't counted on our Ursine brothers,
who were not only holding their own, but actually pushing the Sapiens back.
Boy, you should have seen it, 9 feet of polar bursting from the snow, using
weapons captured from the Sapiens against them.
	It was one of these fights that I stumbled upon, I suppose more to the
point, I was curious as to what was happening, I'd never seen anything like
this before. When I saw one of the Sapiens sneaking up on one of the bears, I
attacked, I wasn't going to let one us be killed in such a manner. The Sapien
must have heard me, as he spun pointed his weapon at me and fired, and with a
sound like thunder, I felt something hit my ear. In pain I fell to the snow,
looking up I saw the hunter reloading, so I launched myself at him, sinking my
teeth into his throat, and ripping it out. It had been so long since I had had
fresh meat, and Sapien tasted sooo good.
	Why don't we hunt Sapiens Great Father?
	Well, there aren't many of them, just a few in colonies scattered here and
there, plus its not right, as I learned, it would have led us down the path we
followed.
	Now, back to the story.
	With this act, I had made an important friend, in fact him and his
brothers would travel with me, and we helped others fight the Sapiens.
Eventually, what was ours, oh not the world, just the care of it. Earth Mother
and all those on her are ours to protect. We take only  grasses for those of us
who eat no meat, and a few of the primitive animals for those that do, some
branches and the like for our dens, but no more than what we need.
	Great Grandfather, do any of the fish talk like we do?
	Old Father, do we ever hunt each other?
	Yes, some of the fish do, at least a few dolphins I met, but they have no
legs, so they can't join us here. No little one, we never hunt our brothers and
sisters, its not our way, there are plenty of animals for us.
	Now pups, run along home, I've kept you out to late, your parents must be
worried. He reaches down and scritches a young wolf by his side between his
ears. Tomorrow's first day of harvest season, and I see some young predators
here that are old enough to leave the fields, and learn their part in the
harvest season.
	Grampy?
	Yes little one.
	What happened to the first Sapiens
	Which ones?
	The ones who sacrificed themselves.
	Ah them, well the Earth Mother rewarded them for their sacrifice. We
became her protectors. As he said that, he ran his paw across the top of his
head, almost as if running a hand through his hair. With a wry grin, he
wondered to himself how many lives ago he started that habit.
	Now children, run along, there are plenty of stories for plenty of days.