Coyote was walking on the road, he thought only of eating. It had been several days since he had swallowed anything, and he was so distressed by his sad plight that he was sobbing, his head buried in his arms.

His stomach was making noises like boiling water, and his head ached. And suddenly, where the sumac grows, he saw large clusters of red berries! Coyote, excited, threw himself on it. But just when his hand touched them, he remembered a conversation he had had with the Old Sage. During one of their many discussions, Coyote had asked, "Tell me, Old Sage, where does this land come from?" Was it given to us by the ancestors? ". And the Old Sage replied, “Of course not, Coyote. We borrowed this land from our great-great-great-grandchildren. You have to be careful about it because it belongs to them. To remind us, the children of the future placed large clusters of red berries where sumac grows. These berries belong to them, so even if you are starving, you must not touch them. They are there to remind us that this Earth belongs to the unborn children.
"But we did it happen, wise old man, if you eat them? "
And the Old Sage replied, "I'm sorry Coyote, but if you eat these berries your bottom will crumble."

That's what Coyote remembered as his hand touched the berries. He paused to think a bit. Sweat was running down his forehead, and he said to himself, "I always knew Old Sage was an idiot." What does he know? He's just trying to save the berries for himself. And besides, I don't see how I could owe anything to people who weren't even born. "

And so Coyote ate the berries. He ate as much as he could, as quickly as possible. And he felt good! He looked behind him, and his behind was still there, he hadn't collapsed! He burst out laughing, very loudly, and continued on his way, jumping.

He hadn't gotten very far before his stomach started to ache horribly. And that's when he got the diarrhea, first just a little trickle and then a real torrent! Coyote was sick, sick as he had never been before. He felt terrible. He thought of the unborn children, and he thought of the Old Sage, and he was very embarrassed. Coyote walked over to the river, drank some water, then hid in the bushes. He especially didn't want people to know that he had forgotten the unborn children, or that his bottom had collapsed.

An anonymous American Indian history.