First nations
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First nations
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This is our collection of links to Cocopah stories and folktales that can be read online. We have indexed our American Indian stories section by tribe to make them easier to locate; however, variants on the same legend are often told by American Indians from different tribes, especially if those tribes are kinfolk or neighbors to each other. In particular, though these legends come from the Cocopas, the traditional stories of related tribes like the Kumeyaay and Mojave tribes are very similar.
Sipa (also Sipakmat or Sipakmaat):
The Cocopa creator god. Unlike Native cultures in the rest of North America, the Cocopa and other
Sonoran tribes of southeast California and southwestern Arizona did not consider their Creator to be
a benevolent spirit or a friend to humankind-- he was capricious and deceitful, and was eventually
slain by his own creations after introducing death to the world.
Coyote: Coyote is the
trickster figure of Cocopa legends. He is clever but reckless, and is constantly getting himself
and the people around him into trouble with his irresponsible and socially inappropriate behavior.
In some Cocopa stories, Coyote is generally a likeable character who is merely greedy and impulsive. In others,
he commits serious crimes such as cannibalism and abuse of women. Coyote stories are often humorous
in nature, but they can also be cautionary tales about the consequences of bad behavior and the dangers
of interacting with reckless and immoral people.
The Creation Myth:And It Is Still That Way:Cocopa Texts: 
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