Many Trails

<br>A boy heard the voice of the whippoorwill one night<br>and went out to find where he was singing. He had to<br>walk quite a ways through a big field, because the<br>song of the whippoorwill carried so well in the wind he<br>sound much closer then he really was. And on the way<br>the boy found a well worn trail, so he stayed on it for a<br>while. And sitting in the middle of the trail was coyote,<br>and coyote was singing too. He turned and saw the<br>boy and he said "Why are you follow me?" The boy<br>was frightened and said "Well the trail you made<br>happened to be a short and easy way through this<br>field. Then coyote asked "Well if your not following<br>me then why are you here?" "Well I heard the beautiful<br>song of the whippoorwill and wanted to watch him<br>sing." "Well do you not think my songs are beautiful?",<br>said coyote. "Oh", said the boy, "there good but I hear<br>you all the time. I much prefer the songs of the<br>whippoorwill" This made coyote furious and he was<br>jealous of the whippoorwill`s song. He said "Listen to<br>my night song you might like this one" And he pulled<br>back his head and yodeled out a tune. The boy<br>covered his ears and politely said, "Thank you for the<br>song, but I must be going now." "Well", coyote said, "I<br>can show you a short cut to the whippoorwill boy, and<br>where he sings is just over there." Pointing his claw,<br>smiling out of the side of his mouth. The boy paused,<br>looked around, he knew the night was passing fast so<br>he agreed to follow coyote. But coyote`s trail was<br>rough and rocky. And the boy fell in quite a few<br>gopher holes along the way. Coyote turned around<br>and laughed and he yelled to the boy. "Were almost<br>there, hurry up." Coyote was at a full trot but the boy<br>had just fallen again and hurt his knee. And by the time<br>he got to the place where the whippoorwill had been<br>singing all night, it was morning. Whippoorwill was<br>gone. And so was coyote, in fact he could hear<br>coyote`s songs in another field. So the boy turned and<br>headed for home, covered with burrs, misq bites and a<br>skinned up knee. And it was many summers later<br>when the boy became a wiser man. And he realized,<br>there are no shortcuts to find something you really<br>love. But there are many trails in this life. So you must<br>stay true to your path, and always keep and eye out<br>for coyote.