Native American Tales

How Antelope Stole the Moon

There was an Indian village down near the place where the sun sets. The people there had the moon.

Other Indians wanted to go and steal the moon and put it back up. They were going to hide and try to steal it. The Indians who had it knew the others were coming to get the moon. They were going to run after them and kill them.

Then two antelope came and decided they would steal the moon. They knew they were so fast the people wouldn't be able to catch them. They stole the moon, and sure enough, the people couldn't keep up because the antelope ran so fast.

When the antelope came to the other village they put the moon outside a teepee and went in. Coyote heard about it and ran out and saw the moon outside by the teepee. He took the moon and ran away with it.

The antelope heard him, and they ran after Coyote as he raced toward the river. They were going to catch Coyote, but he gave the moon a mighty heave and threw it in the pool below the falls in the Spokane River.

It is still there.

(Inland Northwest - Spokane)