Then Coyote was born. Moon was his mother. When Coyote was large and
strong he came to the land where the Pima Indians lived.

Then Elder Brother was born. Earth was his mother, and Sky his father.
He was so powerful that he spoke roughly to Earth Doctor, who trembled
before him. The people began to increase in numbers, just as they had
done before, but Elder Brother shortened their lives, so the earth did
not become so crowded. But Elder Brother did not like the people created
by Earth Doctor, so he planned to destroy them again. So Elder Brother
planned to create a magic baby. . . .

The screams of the baby shook the earth. They could be heard for a great
distance. Then Earth Doctor called all the people together, and told
them there would be a great flood. He sang a magic song and then bored a
hole through the flat earth-plain through to the other side. Some of the
people went into the hole to escape the flood that was coming, but not
very many got through. Some of the people asked Elder Brother to help
them, but he did not answer. Only Coyote he answered. He told Coyote to
find a big log and sit on it, so that he would float on the surface of
the water with the driftwood. Elder Brother got into a big olla which he
had made, and closed it tight. So he rolled along on the ground under
the olla. He sang a magic song as he climbed into his olla.

A young man went to the place where the baby was screaming. Its tears
were a great torrent which cut gorges in the earth before it. The water
was rising all over the earth. He bent over the child to pick it up, and
immediately both became birds and flew above the flood. Only five birds
were saved from the flood. One was a flicker and one a vulture. They
clung by their beaks to the sky to keep themselves above the waters, but
the tail of the flicker was washed by the waves and that is why it is