Similarly, Coyote supplies readers with an explanation as to why Earth has fire through his tale of deceit and cunning against Thunder. “Coyote Steals Fire” follows the typical trickster tale layout of cheating the bully of the story, Thunder. Coyote “[decides] this was the time to get the fire away from Thunder” (45). He challenges the angry and bitter Thunder to a game, a gamble of chance. Being the kind of protagonist he is, Thunder accepts the challenge with open arms and loses to a cheating Coyote. Coyote wins and thus wins the grand prize, fire inside of a fragile rock. Animals attempt to help Coyote open the rock to get the lustrous necessity, but Thunder realizes he has been cheated and tries to kill the cunning Coyote. Being the smart
