The people who lived in the Great Basin region were almost all speakers of Uto-Aztecan languages. Only the Washo spoke a Hokan language and, in that sense, seem more nearly related to other Hokan speakers across the Sierra in California. This difference in language families shows up clearly in their oral traditions. The Paiute, Ute, and Shoshone had quite similar stories based centrally on characters like Wolf and Coyote. The Washo, on the other hand, had quite different stories based on an entirely different set of characters. I will begin with the coyote stories of the main portion of the Great Basin.
Bibliography
Steward, Julian H. "Myths of the Owens Valley Paiute" in University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology, Vol. 34, No. 5 (1936)
Smith, Anne M. and Alden Hayes. Ute Tales (University of Utah Press, 1992)
Smith, Anne M. and Alden Hayes. Shoshone Tales (University of Utah Press, 1993)
Downs, James F. The Two Worlds of the Washo (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 19)
Price, John A. The Washo Indians: History, Life Cycle, Religion, Technology, Economy and Modern Life (Nevada State Museum, 19)