When did Native Americans arrive in present day Nevada? Western Shoshone, Washoe and Northern Paiute creation stories tell how the first people began in present-day Nevada at the very beginning of time. Countless generations of children, comforted by a campfire and a rabbit skin robe, listened to their elders’ stories as they drifted off to sleep. Many of today’s elders remember hearing the old stories during winter, as bedtime stories or sitting around a table in the warmth of their grandparents’ kitchens.
Children learned valuable life lessons from the adventures of ancestor animals that act and speak like people. Trickster Coyote’s deeds are particularly entertaining, although his behavior was less than ideal. Some stories tell of creation of living things and of the landscape; others of how animals and people came to act as they do. Many stories are shared between groups, while others are unique to a particular group. Stories and songs are the property of the family or person telling them; those that you will hear are graciously shared with us so that we may all learn.
