I could see he was interested because of the way he pricked up his ears when I said they were stories about him and tricky ones, too, but he had to pretend he wasn't because he's Coyote and he likes to feel sorry for himself. But he picked himself up and came and sat on the veranda with me and let me pour him some of that tea which he likes with four cubes of sugar and no milk.

So when he was comfortable with his mug of tea I picked up the book and decided I'd read him the story about his Uncle Tompa from Tibet. Well it's not really a story but a poem by that nice woman writer Midori Snyder who has written lots of stories.

This poem is just called "Uncle Tompa," because not many people over in this world know about Coyote's Uncle Tompa from Tibet (he's not really his uncle you know, but one of those old friends of the family you just call Uncle because you sure aren't going to call him mister), and it describes all the tricky things that Uncle does to make people look silly. Coyote, he smiles, 'cause it reminds him of an especially dirty story involving an uppity virgin bride-to-be, her wealthy father, and what Tompa did to them both to take them down a peg or two.

I don't think anyone wants to hear that story so I decide to read him another from the book so he won't tell it. This one's a little longer; it's one by that Charles de Lint fellow. "Crow Roads" is what it's called and it's not a 'ha-ha tricky' story, it's more an 'hmm, make you think about things' tricky story. The type that make you wonder about what goes on in the shadow of a tree when you look at it from the corner of your eye.

Now Coyote liked that story and asked if there were any more stories, and of course there were, and all of them good. That Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling know their stuff when it comes to putting together collections of stories after all. This is the third of what they call their Mythic Anthology Series, and if those first two The Green Man: Tales From The Mythic Forest and The Faery Reel: Tales From The Twilight Realm are as good as this one, owning all three would be a good thing, especially if you get Coyote visiting often like I do.