Then he shot at his wife, just as a medicine man does when he shoots at a new member. Then Rabbit’s wife arose and shot at him. Thus they were very happy.
Then Rabbit began to sing a song which meant this: “If Panther comes across my trail while I am biting the bark from the poplars, he will not be able to catch me for I am a good runner.”
When he had finished his song, Rabbit told his wife he would go out hunting. Panther waited for his return.
Now as Rabbit started home again he was very happy. But when he reached Panther’s hiding place, his enemy sprang on his trail. Rabbit saw him and started back on his trail. Panther raced after him. He caught him and said,
“You are the man who said I could not catch you. Now who is the fastest runner?” And before Rabbit could answer Panther ate him up. But Rabbit was such a boastful man.
Cherokee
ALL the animals were of different sizes and wore different coats. Some wore long fur and others wore short fur. Some had rings on their tails; others had no tails at all. The coats of the animals were of many colors—brown, or black, or yellow, or gray.
The animals were always quarreling about whose coat was the finest. Therefore they held a council to decide the matter.
Now everyone had heard a great deal about Otter, but he lived far up the trail; he did not often visit the others. It was said he had the finest coat of all, but it was so long since they had seen him that no one remembered what it was like. They did not even know just where he lived, but they knew he would come when he heard of the council.
Rabbit was afraid the council would say that Otter had the finest coat. He learned by what trail Otter would come to the council. Then he went a four days’ march up the trail to meet him. At last he saw Otter coming. He knew him at once by his beautiful coat of soft brown fur.
Otter said, “Where are you going?”
“They sent me to bring you to the council,” answered Rabbit. “They were afraid you might not know the trail.”
So Rabbit turned back and they traveled together. They traveled all day. At night Rabbit picked out a camping place. Otter was a stranger in that part. Rabbit cut down bushes for beds and made everything comfortable. Next morning they started on again.
In the afternoon, Rabbit picked up pieces of bark and wood, as they followed the trail, and loaded them on his back.
“Why are you doing that?” asked Otter.
“So that we may be warm and comfortable tonight,” said Rabbit. Near sunset they stopped and made camp. After supper Rabbit began to whittle a stick, shaving it down to a paddle.
“Why are you doing that?” asked Otter again.
“Oh,” said Rabbit, “I have good dreams when I sleep with a paddle under my head.”
When the paddle was finished, Rabbit began to cut a good trail through the bushes to the river.
“Why are you doing that?” asked Otter.
“This is called ‘The Place Where It Rains Fire,’ and sometimes it does rain fire here,” said Rabbit. “The sky looks a little that way tonight. You go to sleep and I will sit up and watch. If you hear me shout, you run and jump into the river. Better hang your coat on that limb over there, so it will not get burned.”
Otter did as Rabbit told him; then both curled up and Otter went to sleep. But Rabbit stayed awake. After a while the fire burned down to red coals. Rabbit called to Otter; he was fast asleep. Then he called again, but Otter did not awaken.
Then Rabbit rose softly. He filled the paddle with hot coals, threw them up into the air and shouted, “It’s raining fire! It’s raining fire!”
The hot coals fell on Otter and he jumped up.
“To the river,” shouted Rabbit and Otter fled into the water. So he has lived in the water ever since.
Rabbit at once took Otter’s coat and put it on, leaving his own behind. Then he followed the trail to the council.
All the animals were waiting for Otter. At last they saw him coming down the trail. They said to each other, “Otter is coming!” They sent one of the small animals to show him the best seat. After he was seated, the animals all went up in turn to welcome him. But Otter kept his head down with one paw over his face.
The animals were surprised. They did not know Otter was so bashful. At last Bear pulled the paw away. There was Rabbit! He sprang up and started to run. Bear struck at him and pulled the tail off his coat. But Rabbit was too quick and got safely away.
Biloxi
RABBIT and Bear had been friends for some time. One day Rabbit said to Bear, “Come and visit me. I live in a very large brier patch.” Then he went home.
When he reached home he went out and gathered a quantity of young canes which he hung up.
After a while Bear reached a place near his house, but was seeking the large brier patch. Now Rabbit really dwelt in a very small patch. When Rabbit found that Bear was near, he began to make a pattering sound with his feet.
Bear was scared. He retreated to a distance and then stopped and stood listening. As soon as Rabbit saw this, he cried out, “Halloo! my friend! Was it you whom I treated in that manner? Come and take a seat.”
So Bear went back to Rabbit’s house and took a seat. Rabbit gave the young canes to his guest, who swallowed them all. Rabbit nibbled now and then at one, while Bear swallowed all the others.
“This is what I have always liked,” said Bear when he went home. “Come and visit me. I dwell in a large bent tree.”
Not long after, Rabbit started on his journey. He spent some time seeking the large bent tree but he could not find it. Bear lived in a hollow tree, and he sat there growling. Rabbit heard the growls and fled for some distance before he sat down.
Then Bear called, “Halloo! my friend! Was it you whom I treated in that manner? Come here and sit down.”
Rabbit did so.
Bear said, “You are now my guest, but there is nothing for you to eat.” So Bear went in search of food.
Bear went to gather young canes, but as he went along, he gathered also the small black bugs which live in decayed logs. When he had been gone some time, he returned to his lodge with only a few young canes. He put them down before Rabbit and then walked around him in a circle. In a little while, he offered Rabbit the black bugs.
“I have never eaten such food,” said Rabbit.
Bear was offended. He said, “When I was your guest, I ate all the food you gave me, as I liked it very well. Now when I offer you food, why do you treat me in this way?” Then Bear said, also, “Before the sun sets, I shall kill you.”
Rabbit’s heart beat hard from terror, for Bear stood at the entrance of the hollow log to prevent his escape. But Rabbit was very nimble. He dodged first this way and then that, and with a long leap he got out of the hollow tree. He went at once to his brier patch and sat down.
Rabbit was very angry with Bear. He shouted to him, “When people are hunting you, I will go toward your hiding place, and show them where you are.”
That is why, when dogs hunt a rabbit, they always shoot a bear. That is all.
Menomini
AFTER Rabbit had decided about light and darkness, he saw Owasse, the Bear, coming.
Rabbit said, “Bear, what do you want for food?” Bear said, “Acorns and fruit.”
Then Rabbit asked Fish Hawk. He said, “Fish Hawk, what will you select for your food?”
Fish Hawk said, “I will take that fellow, Sucker, lying in the water there.”
Sucker said at once, “You may eat me if you can, but that has still to be decided.”
Sucker at once swam out into the deepest part of the river, where Fish Hawk could not reach him. Then Fish Hawk rose into the air to a point where his shadow fell exactly on the spot where Sucker lay. Now as Sucker lay there, he saw the shadow of a large bird on the bed of the stream. He became frightened. He thought, “It must be a manido,” so he swam slowly to the surface. At once Fish Hawk darted down on him and carried him into the air. Then he ate him.
Rabbit looked about him again. He saw Moqwaio, the Wolf. He cried, “Ho, Wolf! What do you wish for food?”
Wolf said, “I will eat Deer.” Deer said, “You cannot eat me, because I can run too swiftly.” Wolf said, “We will see about that.” So they had a race. Deer started ahead and ran very swiftly. Wolf ran swiftly, too, but his fur robe was too heavy. At last he thought, “This robe is too heavy. I will slip it off.” So he threw it off. Then he bounded ahead and caught Deer and ate him.
Then Rabbit asked another Deer, of the same totem, “Deer, what will you select as food?”
Deer said, “I will eat people. There are many Indians in the country. I will eat them.”
At once all the animals began to talk. They said to Deer, “The Indian is too powerful. You can never eat him.”
Deer said, “Well, I will plan to eat Indians, anyway.” Then he walked off.
Now one day an Indian was out hunting. He saw deer tracks to the right and so followed them. They went in a large circle until they brought him back where he had started. Then he saw deer tracks to the left. So he followed those, until they also brought him back, in a large circle, to the point where he started. Then the Indian saw that Deer was following him.
Deer was determined to eat the Indians, because there were many of them. It would not be difficult to hunt for food. But first he wanted to frighten the hunter. So he pulled two ribs from his sides, and stuck them into his lower jaw. They looked like tusks. Deer looked very fierce. Then Deer came walking along, looking for an Indian. But the hunter raised his bow and shot Deer. He carried the deer meat back to his wigwam.
The shade of Deer at once went to the council of birds and animals. He told Rabbit all about it.
Rabbit said, “I told you that you could not eat people. You see how it is? Now you will have to live on grass and twigs.”
And so they do, even to this day.
Biloxi
RABBIT and his grandmother lived in a wigwam. Rabbit used to go hunting every day, very early in the morning. But no matter how early he went, a person leaving long footprints had passed along ahead of him. Each morning Rabbit thought, “I will reach there before him.” Yet each morning the person leaving long footprints passed before him.
One morning Rabbit said to his grandmother, “Oh, Grandmother, although I have long wished to be the first to get there, again has he got there ahead of me. Oh, Grandmother, I will make a noose, and I will place it in the trail of that one, and thus I will catch him.”
“Why should you do that?” asked grandmother.
“I hate that person,” said Rabbit. He departed. When he reached there, he found that the person had already departed. So he lay down near by and waited for night. Then he went to the trail where the person with long feet had been passing, and set a snare.
Very early the next morning he went to look at his trap. Behold! Sun had been caught. Rabbit ran home very quickly.
“Oh, Grandmother, I have caught something but it scares me. I wished to take the noose, but it scared me every time I went to get it.”
Then Rabbit took a knife and again went there. The person said, “You have done very wrong. Come and release me.”
Rabbit did not go directly toward him. He went to one side. He bent his head low and cut the cord. At once Sun went above on his trail. But Rabbit had been so near him that Sun burned his fur on the back of his neck.
Rabbit ran home. He cried, “Oh, Grandmother, I have been severely burned.”
“Alas! My grandson has been severely burned,” said grandmother.
Ojibwa
ANIMALS and men lived on the earth in the beginning. The animals killed all the people except a girl and her tiny brother, who hid from them. The brother did not grow at all. Therefore when the sister collected firewood, she took him with her. She made him a bow and arrow.
One day she said, “Now I must leave you for a while. Soon the snowbirds will come and pick worms out of the wood I have cut. Shoot one of them and bring it to me.”
The boy waited. The birds came and he shot at them with his arrows. He could not kill one. The next day he shot at them again. Then he killed one. He came back to the wigwam with a bird.
He said, “My sister, skin it. I will wear the skins of the snowbirds.”
“What shall we do with the body?” she asked.
“Cut it in two. We will put it in our broth.” Now at that time, the animals were very large. People did not eat them.
The boy killed ten snowbirds. Then his sister made a coat for him. One day he said, “Are we alone on the Earth-plain?”
She said, “The animals who live in such a place have killed all our relatives. You must never go there.” Therefore he went in that direction.
Now he walked a long while and met no one. Then he lay down on a knoll where the sun had melted the snow. He fell asleep. Then Sun looked down at him and burned his bird-skin coat. He tightened it so that the boy was bound into it. When he awoke, the boy said to Sun, “You are not too high. I will pay you back.”
He went home. He said to his sister, “Sun has spoiled my coat.” He would not eat. He lay down on the ground. He lay ten days on one side. Then he turned over and lay ten days on the other side.
At last he rose. He said to his sister, “Make me a snare. I shall catch Sun.”
She said, “I have no string.” The boy said, “Make a string.” Then she remembered a bit of dried sinew which her father had had. So she made a snare for him.
The boy said, “That will not do. Make a better snare.” She said, “I have no string.” At last she remembered. She cut off some of her hair. She made a string from that.
The boy said, “That will not do. Make me a noose.” She thought again. Then she remembered. She went out of the wigwam. She took something. She made a braid out of that thing.
The boy said, “This will do.” He was much pleased. When he took it, it became a long red cord. There was much of it. He wound it around his body.
The boy left the wigwam while Sun was at home. He did this so that he might catch him as he came over the edge of the earth. He put the noose at the spot just where Sun came over the edge. When Sun came along, the noose caught his head. He was held tight, so that he could not follow his trail in the Sky-land.
Now the animals who ruled the earth were frightened because Sun did not follow the trail. They said, “What shall we do?” So they called a great council. They said, “We must send someone to cut the noose.” Thus they spoke in the council.
Now all the animals were afraid to cut the cord. Sun was so hot he would burn them. At last Dormouse said, “I will go.” He stood up in the council. He was as high as a mountain. He was the largest of all the animals.
When Dormouse reached the place where Sun was snared, his fur began to singe and his back to burn. It was very hot. Dormouse cut the cord with his teeth. But so much of him was burned up, he became very small. Therefore Dormouse is the smallest of animals. That is why he is called Kug-e-been-gwa-kwa.
Ojibwa
ONCE there was a little white hare, living in a wigwam with her grandmother. Now Grandmother sent Hare back to her native land. When Hare had gone a short way, Lynx came down the trail. Lynx sang:
“Tshwee! Tshwee! Tshwee! Tshwee!” cried Hare, and ran back to Grandmother.
“See, Grandmother,” she said, “Lynx came down the trail and sang,
“Ho!” said Grandmother. “Have courage! Tell Lynx you are going to your native land.”
Hare went back up the trail. Lynx stood there, so Hare sang,
Lynx looked at the trembling little hare, and began to sing again,
“Tshwee! Tshwee! Tshwee! Tshwee!” cried little Hare, and ran back to Grandmother.
“See, Grandmother,” said Hare, “Lynx came down the trail and sang,
“Ho!” said Grandmother, “Go and tell him your uncles made them so when they came from the South.”
So Hare ran up the trail and sang,
And then Hare laid her little pink ears back upon her shoulders, and started to go to the point of land. But Lynx sang again,
“Tshwee! Tshwee! Tshwee! Tshwee!” cried Hare and again she ran back to Grandmother.
“Ho! do not mind him,” said Grandmother. “Do not listen to him. Do not answer him. Just run straight on.”
So the little white hare ran up the trail as fast as she could. When she came to the place where Lynx had stood, he was gone. So Hare ran on and had almost reached her native land, on the point of land, when Lynx sprang out of the thicket and ate her up.
Cherokee
LITTLE WREN is the messenger of the Birds. She pries into everything. She gets up early in the morning and goes around to every wigwam to get news for the Bird council. When a new baby comes into a wigwam, she finds out whether it is a boy or a girl.
If it is a boy, the Bird council sings mournfully, “Alas! The whistle of the arrow! My shins will burn!” Because the Birds all know that when the boy grows older he will hunt them with his bows and arrows, and will roast them on a stick.
But if the baby is a girl, they are glad. They sing, “Thanks! The sound of the pestle! In her wigwam I shall surely be able to scratch where she sweeps.” Because they know that when she grows older and beats the corn into meal, they will be able to pick up stray grains.
Cricket also is glad when the baby is a girl. He sings, “Thanks! I shall sing in the wigwam where she lives.” But if it is a boy, Cricket laments, “Gwo-he! He will shoot me! He will shoot me! He will shoot me!” Because boys make little bows to shoot crickets and grasshoppers.
When the Cherokee Indians hear of a new baby, they ask, “Is it a bow, or a meal sifter?” Or else they ask, “Is it ball-sticks or bread?”
Cherokee
Ojibwa
IN THE hot summer evenings, when the grassy patches around the lakes and rivers sparkle with fireflies, the Indians sing a song to them.
Cherokee
ONE day a hunter in the woods heard singing in a cave. He came near and peeped in. It was a mother bear singing to her cubs and telling them what to do when the hunters came after them.
Mother Bear said,
Another hunter out in the woods one day thought he heard a woman singing to a baby. He followed the sound up a creek until he came to a cave under the bushes. Inside there was a mother bear rocking her cub in her paws and singing to it,
This was after some of the people had become bears. The hunter knew they were of the Ani Tsagulin tribe.[23]
[23] See “Origin of the Bear.”
Cherokee
AN INDIAN had a field of corn ripening in the sun. One day when he wanted to look at it, he climbed a stump. Now the stump was hollow and in it was a nest of bear cubs. The man slipped and fell down upon the cubs.
At once the cubs began calling for their mother, and Mother Bear came running. She began to climb down into the stump backwards. Then the Indian caught hold of her leg; thus she became frightened. She began to climb out and dragged the Indian also to the top of the stump. Thus he got out of the stump.
Biloxi
THE Ancient of Ants was building a house. She worked hard to finish her house before the cold weather came.
Now when it was very cold, the Katydid and the Locust reached her house, asking for shelter. They said they had no houses.
The Ancient of Ants scolded them. She said, “After you are grown up, in the warm weather, you sing all the time, instead of building a house.” She would not let them come into her house.
Then the Katydid and the Locust were ashamed, and as the weather was very cold, they died. That is why katydids and locusts die every winter, while the ants live in their warm houses. But the katydids and locusts never do anything in warm weather but sing.
Cherokee
ONCE there was a widow with only one daughter. She said often, “You should marry and then there will be a man to go hunting.”
Then one day a man came courting the daughter. He said, “Will you marry me?”
The girl said, “I can only marry a good worker. We need a man who is a good hunter and who will work in the cornfield.”
“I am exactly that sort of a man,” he said. So the mother said they might marry.
Then the next morning the mother gave the man a hoe. She said, “Go, hoe the corn. When breakfast is ready I will call you.” Then she went to call him. She followed a sound as of someone hoeing on stony soil. When she reached the place, there was only a small circle of hoed ground. Over in the thicket someone said, “Hoo-hoo!”
When the man came back in the evening, the mother said, “Where have you been all day?”
He said, “Hard at work.”
The mother said, “I couldn’t find you.”
“I was over in the thicket cutting sticks to mark off the field,” he said.
“But you did not come to the lodge to eat at all,” she answered.
“I was too busy,” he said.
Early the next morning he started off with his hoe over his shoulder.
Then the mother went again to call him, when the meal was ready. The hoe was lying there, but there was no sign of work done. And away over in the thicket, she heard a hu-hu calling, Sau-h! sau-h! sau-h! hoo-hoo! hoo-hoo! hoo-hoo! chi! chi! chi! whew!
Now when the man came home that night, the mother asked,
“What have you been doing all day?”
“Working hard,” he said.
“But you were not there when I came after you.”
“Oh, I went over in the thicket awhile,” said the man, “to see some of my relatives.”
Then the mother said, “I have lived here a long while, and no one lives in that swamp but lazy hu-hus. My daughter wants a husband that can work and not a hu-hu!” And she drove him from the house.
KITE was very boastful. One day he spoke scornfully of Eagle, who heard his words. Kite began to sing in a loud voice,
Eagle answered scornfully. He sang,