We can only begin to guess how long it took for all the living creatures to agree on a problem of such magnitude.

The early people must have had fun naming all the things in their environment–stars, clouds. The Navajo names for things are not arbitrary sounds, but the words take form according to the function of the thing named.

In the story of the placement of the stars in the heavens, we find the people discussing, agreeing, disagreeing, naming and we introduce another element –Coyote.

The people had the same light as they had in the worlds below, but they wanted a stronger light to awaken them in the morning, and they wanted a light at night. Also, the people wished to straighten out the night and the day so that there would be some order in their lives.

They laid stars on a blanket on the ground. Black God placed the North Star. First Man placed the Big Dipper while the First Woman put the Little Dipper into the sky. First Man also placed the Seven Stars which Black God claimed represented parts of his body. When first Man and First Woman had named the main stars and placed them in the sky, they instructed the stars to guard the sky and man.

Before First Man was finished placing each star in a particular preselected place in the sky, Coyote came along and asked what they were doing. Coyote picked up a star and put it into the south and said it was his morning star.

Later, after having placed his star, Coyote wanders away. He comes back–Days? Years? –later to discover the people still naming and placing the stars. Impatiently, he grabs a corner of the blanket and flips the whole star scheme into the sky.

First Man is angry and scolds Coyote. They were not yet finished. It might have been better if–; Coyote shrugs and walks away, satisfied that he has done a good job.

Since everything was not in place or in order in the world, Coyote had to double-check all the actions of the First People. This continues throughout history. Coyote zigzags from right to wrong, from obedience to disobedience.