Brave Roadrunner

The Indigenous Yokut tribes of central California share an old tale of a brave roadrunner and how he came to have red spots next to his eyes. Oi-Oi the roadrunner kept warm by chasing Lizards but his Coyote and prairie falcon friends were very cold. So they hatched a plan to borrow fire from the first man Wi-ness by placing a branch into his campfire. As Oi-Oi the roadrunner sped away with the burning branch, Wi-ness called upon the rains to douse the burning branch. Oi-Oi saved the day because he tucked bits of flame behind the feathers around his eyes where they would be protected from the shower. He zoomed back to his animal friends who were happy and they were able to survive the cold winter with a warm fire of their very own. In nature, the male roadrunner actually has a red and blue patch of skin on the side of its head as Hudson Sandy has masterfully shown in his Picasso marble bird. Red coral and turquoise inlays accent either side of the face, while watchful eyes are from jet