WELL-BAKED MAN
Pima

Earth Doctor made the earth and all its animals, but he was lonely.

“Why don’t you make yourself a human friend,” suggested Coyote. Coyote was just hanging around, sticking his nose into Earth Doctor’s business, like he usually did. Earth Doctor liked the idea. So he worked his clay into the shape of a man and went to gather fire wood for his oven. Meanwhile, Coyote reshaped the clay to suit himself. When Earth Doctor returned he was in such a hurry to get his creation into the oven that he didn’t notice the changes Coyote made. A few hours later out of the oven jumped a beautiful lady dog.

Earth Doctor yelled, “You have taken my clay-man and turned it into a dog! Now you have a friend and I am still lonely!”

“Make another man,” said Coyote.

Earth Doctor grumbled and created another clay-man. While it baked, Earth Doctor took a nap, but Coyote was impatient and he removed him too soon. Earth Doctor awoke. “No, no!” he cried, “This man is too light. He has not baked long enough. I will send him across the big waters.” Then he made another man. This time he sat beside his over keeping a watch on Coyote.

“I am sure it is done,” said Coyote after several hours. But Earth Doctor had left him in too long, and had to send this one across the big waters also. Earth Doctor shaped his clay and made yet two more people that baked just long enough. And that is how Pima Indians finally came to be.

From Traditional Stories and Foods: An American Indian Remembers, by Joan Leslie Woodruff