Young Spirit Tales
Stories for the young ones and the young at heart.

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Mr. Coyote Meets Mr. Elk

Mr. Coyote was a very lovely tan colored animal with a long bushy tail.  He was fast, clever, and a truly admired animal. The only problem was that Mr. Coyote knew he was worth being admired.  In fact, he spent time everyday, to compare his beauty to all animals!

While walking through the beautiful valley that he called home, Mr. Coyote by habit compared his beauty to all other animals.  His favorite spot was on a rock overlooking a lovely pond.  From here, he could compare himself to several critters.

Mr. Coyote saw Mr. Beaver hard at work.  He was towing a very long tree toward his dam.  Work, work, work, thought Mr. Coyote, that’s all a beaver does!  Look at that flat ugly tail, he thought, as he swished his long bushy, lovely tail.  Even his ugly teeth are pitiful, thought Mr. Coyote, as he showed off his own teeth in a nice silent growl.  Then, Mr. Coyote noticed that across the pond was Mr. Moose.  Mr. Coyote was always happy to compare his looks against Mr. Moose!

Mr. Moose had a long face, an ugly nose, and long horrible legs.  Mr. Coyote raised his perfect nose in a proud pose, then stretched his perfect leg!  Why, thought Mr. Coyote, Mr. Moose even has an ugly coat of three shades of dull brown.

A splash from a log caught Mr. Coyote’s attention.  It was only Mr. Otter, with his way too long body, and his short silly legs, and his small beady eyes.   Mr. Coyote knew that Mr. Otter could not compare to Mr. Coyote’s perfect beauty.  This only added to Mr. Coyote’s conceit.

Next to be judged, was Mr. Whitetail Buck!  Mr. Coyote knew all the deer’s faults by heart.  Mr. Deer has a huge white spot on his tail area.  Although, he had a lovely coat of brown he couldn’t change to a beautiful white in the winter.  Mr. Buck’s feet were hooves, so he couldn’t sneak quietly through the woods like the lovely paws of Mr. Coyote.

Once again, no one could compare to Mr. Coyote’s beauty.  Mr. Coyote continued to pose with pride.

All of a sudden Mr. Chipmunk chattered; Mr. Beaver slapped his ugly flat tail, and Mr. Deer ran away. Oh shut up, thought Mr. Coyote, you have no beauty at all.  But, Mr. Chipmunk continued to chatter away!

So Mr. Coyote watched him while comparing looks.  Way too small, not even enough to be a snack!  There’s a long stripe down the back, stupid little head, long useless tail.  Mr. Coyote got up and proudly went on his way.  Even the chipmunk’s chatter was ugly, thought Mr. Coyote.

About a mile down the trail, Mr. Coyote saw Mr. Bobcat.  Mr. Bobcat had no tail, his legs were also mismatched, and his coat was too spotty with his longer back legs.  Mr. Bobcat’s looks would never, and could never, compare to Mr. Coyote’s beauty.

With a proud swish of his tail, Mr. Coyote went down the trail again.  Further along Mr. Coyote saw Mr. Raccoon. No wonder he wears a mask, thought Mr. Coyote, he’s really ugly.  His fur is too coarse, plus he has too many colors.  His legs are also mismatched, and he has ugly paws!  Look at those tiny paws, those paws could never run as fast as I can, thought the proud coyote.

With his nose held up, Mr. Coyote walked away with pride. There was not one animal to compare to his looks!  He has strong fast legs; his nose was perfect and could smell a mile away!  His eyes were so lovely, and his bushy tail was the greatest.  After all, his tail was his best feature.

Next came Mr. Squirrel, a small critter with a lovely bushy tail which was way too large for his small skinny body and puffy ugly cheeks.  His colors looked ugly together, his bushy tail would never compare to Mr. Coyote’s lovely tail.  Like everyone else, his legs were mismatched and his front paws too small to be any good!

Mr. Coyote walked away with even more pride.  The next critter that made Mr. Coyote more conceited was Mr. Cougar.  Looking up the hill, Mr. Coyote thought about that old Cougar.  His tail was long with no fluff, and much too long for his body.  His face was flat, his eyes beady, his ears too small, and feet too large!  Although the cougar was fast as he was, he was also as ugly as he was fast!  Mr. Cougar had a soft tan coat, but he was too skinny to make that coat nice.  Nope, thought Mr. Coyote, that ugly cougar could never compare to my beauty!

Mr. Coyote swished his lovely tail and continued down the path.  All of a sudden, a mouse dashed across the path and into a tiny hole.  The mouse had a hairless tail, a skinny body, and was way too small. The mouse didn’t even have one good feature to compare to Mr. Coyote!

Crash, Crunch, Bang!  Mr. Coyote jumped at the sudden sounds.  Then, onto the trail stepped Mr. Elk; “Hey there, ugly coyote, get out of my way!” grunted Mr. Elk.

“Ugly? Me? Well, Mr. Elk,“ said Mr. Coyote, “ you are the ugly one!”  “Your antlers are too big for your ugly face!”  This angered Mr. Elk, so he quickly and firmly swished his large antlers, which knocked Mr. Coyote off the path and out of his way.

Mr. Coyote got up, shook his beautiful fur off, and then growled at Mr. Elk.  “Look at you, your antlers must have crushed your brain because you don’t even know that I’m the most lovely of all animals! You don’t even have a tail, you ugly beast!“

This angered Mr. Elk even more, so he picked up his hoof and crunched it on top of Mr. Coyote’s tail.  

“OUCH!“ growled Mr. Coyote, “move your ugly stinky hoof from my lovely tail!”

Mr. Elk snorted, then pushed down harder with his hoof on the rude Coyote’s tail. Mr. Elk said “Run you ugly rude coyote, run if you can!“

“Move your ugly stinky hoof from my tail” shouted Mr. Coyote.

Then, old Mr. Elk became even angrier, so he pushed down even harder on Mr. Coyote’s tail.  Slowly, Mr. Coyote’s lovely, bushy tail was becoming flat and ugly like Mr. Beaver's.  Mr. Coyote cried at the thought of that.

Mr. Elk took a deep breath, then spoke slowly, so Mr. Coyote would listen: “Beauty comes from inside of you.”  “Mr. Beaver might have a flat tail, but his coat shines. All the work he does on the dam helps all the animals in the forest have fresh water to drink and to swim and play in.”

This made Mr. Coyote reconsider his values.  Now he saw that his long lovely bushy tail only got in his way!  But, Mr. Elk continued, “without his size, Mr. Moose couldn’t eat the weeds from the pond. Without Mr. Otter's games the pond would be so still and quite.”

The poor coyote felt sad to have been so mean and vain.  He now realized that all animals fell hand in hand.  He knew Mr. Bobcat caught the bunny, but this area had too many bunnies that eat the growth of grass.  Mr. Bobcat’s longer hind legs helped him to jump farther and higher.  The rabbit’s long ears helped him hear better, and his long large back legs made it possible to sit up to check the area.

Mr. Moose cleared out the weeds from the pond.  Mr. Chipmunk warned the beaver.  But, what good was Mr. Coyote?  Mrs. Duck ate the bugs from the pond, and Mr. Beaver made sure the dam was strong!  But, what about Mr. Coyote!

Mr. Elk let Mr. Coyote know that all this time he was only an example!  If all critters only ran around looking beautiful, then the balance of nature would be upset. The lovely valley would slowly die away.

Mr. Elk picked up his hoof, and let Mr. Coyote know he served as a bad example, then down the path went the strong wise Elk.  Never again would Mr. Coyote compare beauty between the valley animals. Although, he did take the time to clean and fluff his lovely tail!

Author:   Storie-Jean Agapith       storytrail@yahoo.com

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