Folklore of the Rio Grande Valley

Among traditional fables, the coyote always has the upper hand, except when he tries to outwit a roadrunner. In this story the coyote and the roadrunner shared the same territory. The roadrunner was always minding his own business, while on the other hand the coyote always wanted to catch the little roadrunner. It was not that he was hungry or anything like that, and anyway there was very little meat under the feathers. It was that he wanted to prove this roadrunner wrong.

The Roadrunner and the Coyote

as summarized by Jacinto (Jay) Montez, III

Roadrunners are supposed to be very intelligent and usually die of old age. Well, according to this coyote the roadrunner was not going to die of old age, because he was going to catch him. He was very sure about this. At the end, for sure, the roadrunner died of old age. It was not that the coyote did not have any chances, in fact, he had many. It was that the roadrunner was just too smart. The coyote had failed AGAIN!!!

HOME