Thunderbird has the power to "rise from the ashes," that is, to die and be reborn.  (The rise from the ashes phrase belongs to Phoenix.)

 

The thunderbird used as an illustration in the story is a drawing made from a photograph of an Eastern Woodlands copper (I think) gorget, an ornament worn on the chest.  I made him blue because the, or maybe it's "a," nest of the blue thunderbird is in a place very important to my great-grandfather and because Halulu, one of two thunderbirds in Hawaii, is blue.

 

Five high mountains  The five high mountains are the five "naked eye" planets, those planets which can be seen without the aid of binoculars or telescope.  The five are Mercury, Mars, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn.

 

Coyote was wiser  Coyote is a trickster and a gift-giver.  He teaches the people things, like how to make fire, and he also causes trouble.  He's like Polynesia's famous Maui.

 

The Above-World  An important distinction, as there are three worlds - the world/sky/heaven/sea/waters above the plane of the earth's equator;  the world/sky/heaven/sea/waters of earth; and the world/sky/heaven/sea/waters below the plane of the earth's equator.

 

The 3 regions generally speaking, go like this:

the sky above - where dieties reside

the earth - where we the living reside

the skt below - where the spirits of the dead/ancestors reside

 

Five days and five nights  This represents getting to the sky beyond the fifth planet.

 

Blind the eyes of Thunderbird  Spirits/gods/heroes/supernatural beings associated with the sun are often blinded temporarily or permanently - Orpheus, Orion, Lono, Maui, Thunderbird, etc.

 

Eagle  Eagle, and in some cases other birds (usually raptors but not only raptors), can carry messages between Akua/Great Spirit/Io/etc.

 

Near the heart  By proximity to the heart the feather takes on the characteristics and spirit of the heart.

 

I will give you my power  When a mortal's journey is blessed the deity/supernatural being usually gives some kind of helping phrase or object.

 

Thunderbird became angry  When a sun or supreme god is angered by the activities of earth people there's likely to be some kind of payback - like a Deluge or . . .

 

Great River  The Milky Way.

 

The five mountains crumbled and fell  The planets (and the rest of the celestial objects) fell out of their correct places in the sky because the sky moved because of precession of the equinoxes.

 

Came back to life  Death is the entrance to the realm of spirit/potentiality, often linked with the Milky Way as the road from earth to the spirit world and/or the water/river of life, and the realm of potentiality leads to life again.

 

Bridge of the Gods  Humankind has always taken on the guilt/assumption of wrongdoing which causes the Deluge or whatever form the shifting of the heavens takes.

 

Knew that some day it would fall  Because the sky will fall or the world will end someday.  It ends every 2400 years because of the precession equinoxes.

 

The prophecy of the wise men came true  Because the equinoxes precessed.