Chapter 7

On the edge of the field I dance about, _Ha' nia lil! lil! Ha' nia lil! lil!_

Then the Rabbit stopped a minute. He said, "Now when I sing 'on the edge of the field,' I dance that way"--and he danced over in that direction; "and when I sing '_lil! lil!_' you must all stamp your feet hard."

The Wolves liked that. They liked new dances.

Rabbit began singing the same song, dancing nearer to the field, while all the Wolves stamped their feet. He sang the song again, dancing still nearer the edge of the field. The fourth time he sang it, while the Wolves were stamping their feet as hard as they could. Rabbit made one jump off and leaped through the long grass. The Wolves raced after him, but Rabbit ran for a hollow stump and climbed inside. When the Wolves got there, one of them put his head inside, but Rabbit hit him on the eye and he pulled his head out. The others were afraid to try, so they went away and left Rabbit in the stump.

HOW RABBIT LOST HIS FAT

_Omaha_

At first all the four-footed animals were fat. The one who made them wished to know if they looked well so fat. So he called all the four-footed animals together. He seized by the head each one who did not look handsome with the fat, and scraped it all off.

At length someone took Rabbit to him.

"Fat makes me handsome," said Rabbit "I will be the one."

"Let me see! Come here!" said the one who made the animals. Then he made Rabbit fat. Then he looked at him. "Fat makes you ugly beyond measure."

So he seized Rabbit by the head and scraped off the fat from the base of his neck. But he pulled suddenly at the flesh in the space between the shoulders. Therefore, ever since then Rabbit has had a hollow space between his shoulders, and only in that place is there a piece of fat.

At length the person who made the animals saw that Raccoon was the only person who looked well when fat. So he made the whole body of Raccoon fat.

HOW FLINT VISITED RABBIT

_Cherokee_

Long ago, in the old days, Flint lived up in the mountains, and all the animals hated him because he had helped to kill so many of them. All the arrowheads were made of flint. They used to have councils. They tried to think of some means of killing him. But everybody was afraid to go near to his house, until at last Rabbit, who was the boldest, offered to try to kill Flint.

So Rabbit asked the trail to Flint's house. At last he reached the house.

Flint was standing at the door of his lodge when Rabbit reached there. He said, "_Siyu!_ Hello! Are you the fellow they call Flint?"

"Yes; that's what they call me," said Flint.

"Is this where you live?"

"Yes; this is where I live."

All the time Rabbit was looking at the lodge and all about him. He was trying to think how to kill Flint. Rabbit had expected Flint to invite him into his lodge. But Flint only stood in the door.

Rabbit said, "My name is Rabbit. I've heard a good deal about you, so I came to see you."

Flint said, "Where is your lodge?"

"Down in the broom-grass field near the river," said Rabbit.

Flint said, "I will come and visit you after a while."

Rabbit said, "Come now and have supper with me."

So Rabbit coaxed Flint until he said yes, and the two started down the mountain side together.

When they came near Rabbit's hole, Rabbit said, "There is my lodge, but in summer I stay outside here, where it is cooler."

So he made a fire and they had their supper on the grass. When supper was over, Flint stretched out on the grass to rest. Rabbit picked up some heavy sticks and his knife, and cut a mallet and wedge.

Flint looked up and said, "What is that for?"

"Oh," said Rabbit, "I like to be doing something and they may come in handy."

Flint lay down again and soon he was sound asleep. Rabbit spoke to him once or twice, but he did not answer. Then Rabbit came over to Flint and with one blow of the mallet drove the stake through Flint. Then he ran with all his might for his own hole. But before he reached it, there was a loud explosion, and pieces of flint flew all about. That is why we find flint in so many places now. One piece struck Rabbit and cut him just as he dived into his hole. He sat listening until everything was quiet again. Then he put his head out to look around, just as another piece fell. It cut his lip, just as we see it now.

HOW RABBIT CAUGHT THE SUN IN A TRAP

_Omaha_

Once upon a time Rabbit dwelt in a lodge with no one but his grandmother. It was his custom to go hunting very early in the morning. But no matter how early in the morning he went, a person with a very long foot had been along, leaving a trail. Rabbit wished to know him.

"Now," he thought, "I will go in advance of that person." Having risen very early in the morning, he departed, but again it happened that the person had been along, leaving a trail. Then Rabbit went home.

"Grandmother," he said, "though I arrange for myself to go first, a person goes ahead of me every time. Grandmother, I will make a snare and I will catch him."

"Why should you do it?" she asked.

"I hate the person," he said.

Again Rabbit departed. And again had the footprints gone along. So Rabbit lay waiting for night to come. Then he made a noose of a bowstring, setting it where the footprints were commonly seen.

Next morning Rabbit reached the place very early, to see what he had caught in his trap. And it happened that he had caught the Sun. Running very fast, he went homewards to tell about it.

"Grandmother," he said, "I have caught something or other but it scares me. Grandmother, I wished to take away my bowstring, but I was scared every time."

So he went there again with a knife. This time he got very near it.

"You have done wrong. Why have you done it? Come and untie me," said the Sun.

The Rabbit, although he went to untie him, kept going past him a little on one side. Then he made a rush with his head bent down and his arm stretched out, and cut the bowstring with his knife. And the Sun rose into the sky. But Rabbit had the hair between his shoulders scorched yellow by the heat of the Sun as he stooped and cut the bowstring. Then Rabbit arrived at his lodge.

"I am burnt. Oh, grandmother! the heat has left nothing of me," he said.

Grandmother said, "Oh, my grandchild! I think the heat has left to me nothing of him!"

From that time Rabbit has always had a singed spot upon his back, between his shoulders.

HOW RABBIT KILLED THE GIANT

_Omaha_

When Rabbit was going on a journey, he came to a certain village. The people said, "Halloo! Rabbit has come as a visitor."

On meeting him, they said, "Whom did you come to see?"

"Why, I will go to the lodge of any one," said Rabbit.

"But the people have nothing to eat," they said. "The Giant is the only one who has anything to eat. You ought to go to his lodge."

Yet, the Rabbit passed on to the end lodge and entered it.

"Friend, we have nothing to eat," said the host.

"Why, my friend," said Rabbit, "when there is nothing, people eat anything they can get."

At length the Giant invited Rabbit to a feast.

"Oh ho!" called the man whose lodge Rabbit had entered. "Friend, you are invited. Hasten!"

Now all the people were afraid of the Giant. No matter what animal anyone killed, the Giant kept all of the meat.

Rabbit arrived at the lodge of the Giant. As he entered, the host said, "Oh! Pass around to that side." But Rabbit leaped over and took a seat. At length food was given him. He ate it very rapidly but left some which he hid in his robe. Then he pushed the bowl aside.

"Friend," he said to the Giant, "here is the bowl." Then he said, "Friend, I must go." He sprang past the fireplace at one leap, at the second leap his feet touched the chest of the Giant's servant, and with another leap he had gone.

When Rabbit reached the lodge where he was visiting, he gave his host the food he had not eaten. The man and his wife were glad to eat it, since they had been without food.

Next morning, the crier passed through the village, commanding the people to be stirring.

They said, "The Giant is the one for whom they are to kill game." So they all went hunting. They scared some animals out of a dense forest and shot at them. Rabbit went thither very quickly. He found Giant had reached there before him and taken all the game. When Rabbit heard shooting in another place, he went thither, but again found the Giant was before him.

"This is provoking!" thought Rabbit.

When some persons shot at game in another place Rabbit noticed it, and went thither immediately, reaching the spot before the Giant.

"Friend," he said to the man who had killed the deer, "let us cut it up."

The man was unwilling. He said, "No, friend, the Giant will come by and by."

"Pshaw, friend," said Rabbit. "When one kills animals, he cuts them up and then makes an equal distribution of the pieces," said the Rabbit.

Still the man refused, fearing the Giant. So Rabbit rushed forward and seized the deer by the feet.

When he had only slit the skin, the Giant arrived.

"You have done wrong. Let it alone," Giant said.

"What have I done wrong?" asked Rabbit. "When one kills game, he cuts it up and makes an equal distribution of the pieces."

"Let it alone, I say," said the Giant.

But Rabbit continued to insert the knife in the meat.

"I will blow that _thing_ into the air," said the Giant.

"Blow me into the air! Blow me into the air!" said Rabbit.

So the Giant went closer to him, and when he blew at him the Rabbit went up into the air with his fur blown apart. Striding past, the Giant seized the deer, put it through his belt, and departed. That was his custom. He took all the deer that were killed, hung them on his belt, and took them to his lodge. He was a very tall person.

At night Rabbit wandered around, and at last went all around the Giant's lodge. He seized an insect and said to it, "Oh, insect! You shall go and bite the Giant right in the side."

At length when it was morning, it was said the Giant was ill. Then he died.

The people said, "Make a village for Rabbit!"

But Rabbit said, "I do not wish to be chief. I have left my old woman by herself, so I will return to her."

HOW THE DEER GOT HIS HORNS

_Cherokee_

Long ago, in the beginning, Deer had no horns. His head was smooth like a doe's. Now Deer was a very fast runner, but Rabbit was a famous jumper. So the animals used to talk about it and wonder which could go the farther in the same time. They talked about it a great deal. They decided to have a race between the two, and they made a pair of large antlers to be given to whoever could run the faster. Deer and Rabbit were to start together from one side of a thicket, go through it, and then turn and come back. The one who came out of the thicket first was to receive the horns.

On a certain day all the animals were there. They put the antlers down on the ground to mark the starting point. Everyone admired the horns. But Rabbit said, "I don't know this part of the country; I want to look through the bushes where I am to run."

So the Rabbit went into the thicket, and stayed a long time. He was gone so long the animals suspected he was playing a trick. They sent a messenger after him. Right in the middle of the thicket he found Rabbit, gnawing down the bushes and pulling them away to make a clear road for himself.

The messenger came back quietly and told the animals. When Rabbit came back, they accused him of cheating. Rabbit said, "No," but at last they all went into the thicket and found the road he had made. Therefore the animals gave the antlers to Deer, saying that he was the better runner. That is why deer have antlers. And because Rabbit cut the bushes down, he is obliged to keep cutting them down, as he does to this day.

WHY THE DEER HAS BLUNT TEETH

_Cherokee_

One day after the race which they did not run, Rabbit stretched a large grapevine across the trail, gnawing it nearly in two in the middle. Then he went back on the trail, took a run, and jumped up at the vine. He did this again and again. At last Deer came along and asked him to tell what he was doing.

"Don't you see?" said Rabbit. "I'm so strong I can bite through that grapevine at one jump."

Deer said, "Do it." Rabbit ran back, made a long leap, and bit through the vine where he had gnawed it before.

Deer said, "Well, I can do it if you can."

So Rabbit stretched a larger grapevine across the trail but without gnawing it in the center. Deer ran back as he had seen Rabbit do, made a spring, and struck the grapevine right in the center. It only flew back and threw him over.

Deer tried again and again, but he was only bruised and hurt.

"Let me see your teeth," said Rabbit. They were long like a wolf's teeth but not very sharp.

"No wonder you cannot do it," said Rabbit. "Your teeth are too blunt to bite anything. Let me sharpen them for you so they are like mine. My teeth are so sharp I can cut through a stick just like a knife."

And Rabbit showed Deer a black locust twig, of which rabbits gnaw the young shoots, which he had shaved off as well as a knife could do it.

So Deer let Rabbit sharpen his teeth. But Rabbit got a hard stone with rough edges and ground down the Deer's teeth until they were blunt.

"Now try it," said Rabbit to Deer. So Deer tried it again, but he could not bite at all.

"Now you've paid for your horns," said Rabbit as he sprang through the underbrush. That is why the Deer's teeth are blunt.

LEGEND OF THE HEAD OF GOLD

_Dakota_

A man had four children. And they were all young men, but they were poor and it seemed as if they would die of laziness. The old man said, "Behold! old woman. I have the greatest pity for my youngest child, and I do not wish him to die of poverty. See here; let us seek the Great Mystery, Wakantanka. If we find him, behold! I will give the boy to him to train up well for me."

"Yes, old man; you say well. We will do so," said the old woman. So at once they went toward the Darkening Land, seeking Wakantanka. They came to a very high hill; and as they came to it, behold! another man came there also.

The stranger said, "For what are you seeking?"

"Alas, my friend," the old man said, "my child, whom I pity, I wish to give to Wakantanka, the Great Mystery, and so I am seeking him."

"Yes, friend. I am Wakantanka," said the man. "My friend, give him to me. I will take him to my home."

So when the father gave up the boy, the Great Mystery took him to a house that stood up like the clouds. He said, "Look at this house as much as you like. Take good care of these horses. But do not look into the little house that stands here."

Having said this, he gave him all the keys. He added, "Yes, have a watch of this. Lo, I am going on a journey." He said this and went away.

It was evening; he came home with a great many men, who sat down, filling the house. When they had been there a good while one of them said, "The boy is good; that is enough." Saying this, he went out. In like manner, all the men went home.

Then again Wakantanka said, "Behold, I go on a journey. Stay here and keep watch." So again he went away.

While the boy was watching, one of the horses said, "Friend, go into the little house where you are commanded not to look, and inside in the middle of the floor stands something yellow. Dip your head in that and make haste--we two are together. When he brings home a great many men, they will eat you, as they will eat me, but I am unwilling--we two shall share the same," he said.

So the boy went into the little house. In the middle of the floor stood a round yellow thing into which he dipped his head. Immediately his head became golden and the house was shining and full of light.

Then he came out and jumped on the horse that had talked to him and they fled.

They went very fast. Now when they had gone a long way, behold! there came after them the one who called himself Wakantanka. He shouted, "You bad rascals, stop! You shall not live! Where will you go in such a small country as this?"

Saying this he came toward them and they were much frightened. Again he shouted, "You bad rascals, stop! You shall not live." And indeed it seemed as if they could not live.

Then the horse said, "Take the egg you have and throw it behind us." The boy did so. At once the whole country became a sea. He who followed was obliged to stop. He said, "Alas, my horse, have mercy on me and take me to the other side. If you do, I will value you very highly."

"Oh, I am not willing to do that," the horse replied. But he continued to urge. Then he threw himself down from above the water, so that when he came to the middle of it, he went down and both he and the horse were drowned. But the boy passed safely on.

So he came to the dwellings of people and remained there. But from behind they came to attack and fought with them. But the boy turned his head around, and his head was covered with gold; also the horse he sat upon was golden, and those who came against him were thrown off their horses and only a few remained when the battle was over. Again, when they returned to the attack, he destroyed them all. So the boy was much thought of by the people.

THE MILKY WAY

_Cherokee_

Now the Indians had a corn mill, in which they pounded the corn into meal. Several mornings when they came to the stone in which the corn was pounded, they saw that some of the meal had been stolen. Therefore they looked at the ground. They found the tracks of a dog.

The next night, the people watched, and when the dog came from the north, they saw him begin to eat meal out of the stone bowl. Then they sprang out and whipped him.

The dog ran howling back to the north, dropping the meal from his mouth as he ran. Therefore he left behind a white trail where we now see the Milky Way. But the Cherokees called it "Where-the-dog-ran."

COYOTE AND GRAY FOX

_Ponca_

Gray fox was very fat. Coyote said, "Younger brother, what has made you fat?" "Elder brother," said the Gray Fox, "I lie down on the trail in the way of those who carry crackers, and I pretend to be dead. When they throw me in the wagon, I lie there, kicking the crackers out. Then I leap out and start home eating. It is the crackers which make me fat. Elder brother, I wish you would do likewise. Elder brother, you have large feet, so I think will knock out a great many crackers."

Coyote went to the place and lay down in the trail. When the white man came along, he threw Coyote into the wagon. The white man thought, "It is not the first time he has acted in this way," so he tied the feet of Coyote. Having put the Coyote in the wagon, the white man went to his house. He threw Coyote out near an old outhouse. Then the white man brought a knife, and cut the cords which bound Coyote's feet. He acted as if Coyote was dead, so he threw him over his back and started off for the house.

But Coyote managed to get loose and ran homeward. He went back to get even with Gray Fox.

"Oh, younger brother," said Coyote, "you have made me suffer."

"You yourself are to blame," said Gray Fox. "Be silent and listen to me. You brought the trouble on yourself as you lay down in the place where the white man came with his load of goods."

"Oh, younger brother, you tell the truth," said Coyote. But Gray Fox had tempted him.

ICTINIKE AND THE TURTLE

_Omaha_

Ictinike was journeying. When he came in sight at a bend of a stream, Big Turtle was sitting there in a sheltered place warmed by the sun. Ictinike drew himself back out of sight, crouching at intervals as he retraced his steps, and ran down the hill to where Big Turtle was.

"Why! How is it that you continue to pay no attention to what is going on? It has been said that yonder stream is to dry up so that all the four-footed animals that frequent the water have kept close to the deep water," said Ictinike.

Big Turtle said, "Why! I have been coming here regularly, but I have not heard anything at all. I usually come and sit in this place when the sun gets as high as it is at present."

"Hurry!" said Ictinike, "for some of the young men died very soon for want of water. The young otters died, so did the young muskrats, the young beavers, and the young raccoons."

"Come, let us go," said Big Turtle. So Ictinike departed with him. As he accompanied him, Ictinike sought for a dry bone. Having found one that would be good as a club, Ictinike said, "Friend, go on. _Mingam._"

When he was alone, Ictinike seized the bone, and before long overtook Big Turtle, walking along beside him.

"Friend," said he, "when a person walks, he stretches his neck often."

So Big Turtle began to stretch his neck very far, and he was walking with his legs bent very much. As he was going thus, Ictinike gave him a hard blow on the neck, knocking him senseless, and he did not stop beating him until he had killed him.

"Ha, ha!" said Ictinike, as he carried Big Turtle away. "There are some days when I act thus for myself."

He kindled a fire and began to roast Big Turtle. Then he became very sleepy, and said, "Ho! I will sleep, but you, O, Ijaxe, must keep awake. Big Turtle, when you are cooked, you must say, '_Puff!_'"

So he went to sleep. Now Coyote came along, very cautiously. He seized Big Turtle, pulled one of the legs out of the fire, and sat there, biting off the meat. When he had eaten all the meat on all the legs, he pushed the bones back just as they had been before, arranged the fire over them, and left after putting everything just as he had found it.

At length Ictinike awoke. He pushed into the ashes to find Big Turtle, took hold of a leg, and pulled it out. Only that leg came out. "Pshaw!" said he. Then he tried another leg, with a like result, and still another, but only the bones appeared. When he had pulled out the fourth leg, he was astonished. All at once he exclaimed, "Surprising! I had already eaten the Turtle, but I had forgotten it."

ICTINIKE AND THE CREATORS

_Omaha_

Ictinike married and dwelt in a lodge. One day he said to his wife, "Hand me that tobacco pouch. I must go visit your grandfather, Beaver." So he departed.

As he was entering Beaver's lodge, Beaver said, "Ho, pass around to one side." And they seated Ictinike on a pillow. Beaver's wife said, "We have been without food. How can we give your grandfather anything to eat?" Now Beaver had four young ones.

The youngest Beaver said, "Father, let me serve for food." So the youngest Beaver served for food. Beaver's wife therefore gave some of the meat to Ictinike, who ate it. But before letting him eat it, Beaver said to him, "Be careful lest you break even a single bone by biting! Do not break a bone!" Yet Ictinike broke one of the toe bones.

After the meal, Beaver gathered the bones, put them in a skin, and plunged them beneath the water. In a moment the youngest Beaver came up from the water, alive again.

When the father said, "Is all right?" the son said, "Father, he broke one of my toes by biting." Therefore, from that time, every beaver has had one little toe (the next to the little one), which has seemingly been split by biting.

When Ictinike was about to go home, he pretended he had forgotten about his tobacco pouch, which he left behind. So Beaver said to one of the children, "Take that to him. Do not go near him, but throw it to him when you are at a great distance from him, as he is always very talkative."