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THE RACE |
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Blackfoot
Lodge Tales, by George Bird Grinnell, [1892] |
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Once Old
Man was travelling around when he heard some very queer singing. He had
never heard anything like this before, and looked all around to see who
it was. At last he saw it was the cottontail rabbits, singing and making
medicine. They had built a fire, and got a lot of hot ashes, and they
would lie down in these ashes and sing while one covered them up. They
would stay there only a short time though, for the ashes were very hot. |
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"Little
Brothers," said Old Man, "that is very wonderful, how you lie in those
hot ashes and coals without burning. I wish you would teach me how to do
it." |
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"Come on,
Old Man," said the rabbits, "we will show you how to do it. You must
sing our song, and only stay in the ashes a short time." So Old Man
began to sing, and he lay down, and they covered him with coals and
ashes, and they did not burn him at all. |
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"That is
very nice," he said. "You have powerful medicine. Now I want to know it
all, so you lie down and let me cover you up." |
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So the
rabbits all lay down in the ashes, and Old Man covered them up, and then
he put the whole fire over them. One old rabbit got out, and Old Man was
about to put her back when she said, "Pity me, my children are about to
be born." "All right," replied Old Man. "I will let you go, so there
will be some more rabbits; but I will roast these nicely and have a
feast." And he put more wood on the fire. |
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When the
rabbits were cooked, he cut some red willow brush and laid them on it to
cool. The grease soaked into these branches, so, even to-day if you hold
red willow over a fire, you will see the grease on the bark. You can
see, too, that ever since, the rabbits have a burnt place on their
backs, where the one that got away was singed. |
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Old Man
sat down, and was waiting for the rabbits to cool a little, when a
coyote came along, limping very badly. "Pity me, Old Man," he said, "you
have lots of cooked rabbits; give me one of them." |
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"Go
away," exclaimed Old Man. "If you are too lazy to catch your food, I
will not help you." |
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"My leg
is broken," said the coyote. "I can't catch anything, and I am starving.
Just give me half a rabbit." |
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"I don't
care if you die," replied Old Man. "I worked hard to cook all these
rabbits, and I will not give any away. But I will tell you what we will
do. We will run a race to that butte, way out there, and if you beat me
you can have a rabbit." |
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"All
right," said the coyote. So they started. Old Man ran very fast, and the
coyote limped along behind, but close to him, until they got near to the
butte. Then the coyote turned round and ran back very fast, for he was
not lame at all. It took Old Man a long time to go back, and just before
he got to the fire, the coyote swallowed the last rabbit, and trotted
off over the prairie. |
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(Courtesy
Tiger Lilli Sakima) |
Webmaster: Thurman P. Woodfork
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