Tapestry of Faith: Virtue Ethics: An Ethical Development Program for High School Youth

Alternate Activity 2: Story - How Coyote Lost His Song, Music and Dance

Part of Virtue Ethics

Activity time: 25 minutes

Materials for Activity

Preparation for Activity

  • Print the story "How Coyote Lost His Song, Music, and Dance" and copy for all who will need to use it as a script. Note: This version of a Native American wisdom tale is from Our Seven Principles in Story and Verse: A Collection for Children and Adults by Kenneth Collier (Boston: Skinner House Books, 1997). It is used by permission of the author in the Tapestry of Faith children's curriculum, Wonderful Welcome.
  • Decide how you will cast the performance of the story. If possible, give the story to volunteer narrator(s) and actor(s) in advance.

Description of Activity

Youth act out a story and interpret its meaning in terms of the virtue of forgiveness.

Have the youth enact the story "How Coyote Lost His Song, Music, and Dance," either with actors making up lines or with a narrator reading text for others to act out.

Afterward, ask:

  • There are a few possible morals to this story. What are some of them?
  • Would you say this story is also about forgiveness? In what way?
  • Is it harder to forgive people who are very different from us or those who remind us of ourselves? [Participants may respond differently.] Why do you think this is so?