Coyote was out walking one day when he saw an old woman hurrying towards him.

"Turn back! If you keep going that way the giant will get you" she cried.

"Giants don't scare me" said Coyote, pounding his chest bravely . What he didn't tell the old women was that giants didn't scare him because he'd never seen one and didn't know what a giant was.

"This is a very, very big giant" said the old woman.

Coyote looked around and spotted¹ a fallen tree branch. He picked it up.

"I'll him over the head with this" he said, swinging the branch like a club. "This giant will run off like all the other giants I've dealt with.

The old woman hurried on, shaking her head. She knew now Coyote had never seen a giant, but he was too proud to listen.

Coyote walked along the road, whistling and swinging the tree branch until he came to a strange cave that stretched across the road.

"What a weird² cave" he said to himself. "I've never seen a cave with white boulders³ going all around the top and bottom of the entrance. It must be a special pass through the hills". 

Coyote climbed over the strange white rocks and walked inside.

""H'mmm! The floor is very soft and spongy" said Coyote to himself.

Suddenly there was a loud groaning⁴ sound and the front of the cave closed.

"That's strange" said Coyote. "But it doesn't matter because

I'm not going back that way".

He walked on until he met a very thin women crawling along the cave floor.

"Hello. What's the matter with you?" asked Coyote.

"I'm like this because of the giant" answered the woman.

"Where is that giant?" asked Coyote angrily swinging the tree branch through the air. "I'll hit him over the head".

The woman laughed. "You can't see him because you're already inside his stomach. That wasn't a cave you entered, it was the giant's mouth".

"That explains the strange white boulders around the entrance" said Coyote. "They're his teeth".

More thin weak people crawled over to Coyote and the woman.

"None of you look very well. Has the giant made you all sick?" asked Coyote.

"No, we're too hungry and too weak to stand" said a man. "Once you're in here there's no way out and no food".

"But there's food all around you" said Coyote. "If this cave is the inside of the giant, you can eat the giant!".

"We never thought of that" they said.

"You're not as smart as me" said Coyote.

"You're inside the giant too" the woman reminded him.

Coyote didn't answer. He took out his knife and started cutting pieces out of the cave wall. Then he gave the meat to the people. 

There was a loud rumbling⁵ noise.

"Stop that! Who is cutting pieces out of my stomach" roared the giant.

"It's me Coyote. Let us out of hear or I will cut you some more".

"I won't let you out" rumbled⁶ the giant. "You will stay inside me until you die and what's left of you comes out my backside".

The people were stronger now they'd eaten the meat. Coyote said to them "Get ready to run when I tell you".

Coyote started stabbing the walls of the cave with his knife. The giant howled and roared at Coyote to stop but he kept on doing it.

Finally the giant could take no more.

"All right, you win Coyote. I'll let you out" he moaned⁷.

"Get ready to run" Coyote told the people. The giant's mouth opened and they all rushed out into the sunlight. The giant's moaning⁸ sounded like thunder and shook the ground.

"Thank you Coyote" said the people. "Now we know what to do if we're swallowed by a giant again".

"And I know what to do if someone tells me there's a giant ahead" said Coyote.

"Go back the way I came".

The End