American Indian Trickster Tales (Myths and Legends) (31 page)

The women went to the brink of the cliff. Little Rabbit threw lumps of the jerk meat up to them, but so that they could not quite reach them. He kept throwing it up again and again, until the women came to the cliff’s very edge, leaning way over trying to catch the meat. They leaned so far over that they toppled from the cliff and fell to their deaths. “You got what you deserved for your greed,” said Little Rabbit. “I am on my way to kill Sun.” He went on, uttering war cries.

The day after, Little Rabbit saw two women making willow baskets lined with pitch. He was still a good way off, but he heard them talking, for he had a wonderful ear. He heard them saying: “Here comes that no-good Rabbit. Let’s kill him.”

He went up to them and said: “What were you talking about?”

“Oh, we were only saying: ‘Here comes that good-looking grandson of ours.’ ”

“Is that so? Well, let’s see whether I can fit into one of your water baskets.” He got in. “Now braid the neck,” he told them.

“Gladly,” they said. They wove the basket’s neck really small, thinking: “Now he’s trapped. He can’t get out.” But with his magic breath Little Rabbit burst the basket open, and stood there smiling. “You must surely be a ghost,” said the women.

“I am no ghost,” he said, “just a common little no-account Rabbit. But why do you wonder? Don’t you know that such a basket can hold water, but never a human being?”

“You are smart and know everything,” said the women.

“Try it out for yourselves,” he told them. They jumped into baskets lined with pitch and got stuck. “Why don’t you jump out?” he taunted them. Then he rolled them around, and kicked them about, and made fun of them. Finally he killed them with his magic ball. “I am getting better and better at this killing business,” said Little Rabbit. “I am going to fight Sun.” He uttered a war cry and went on.

The next day Little Rabbit came upon Kwiats, the Great Bear. Kwiats was digging in the ground, making a huge hole. “What are you doing?” asked Little Rabbit.

“Brother, I am digging a hole so that I can hide myself from Little Rabbit, the Great Slayer of all who stand in his way.”

“What a coincidence,” exclaimed Little Rabbit, “I am trying to hide myself from this same terrible killer. Let us dig together.” While Kwiats scooped out huge amounts of earth, Little Rabbit quickly made himself a secret passage out of this den. He slipped out. After a while, Kwiats wondered where his companion had gone. “I wonder where the little fellow is at?” Kwiats grumbled. He found the secret passage all the way to the exit, but he could not get through because he was much too big. He could only squeeze his head through. At the exit Little Rabbit was waiting. He shattered Kwiats’s skull with his magic ball. “I am really getting the hang of it now,” said Little Rabbit. “Now I go on to fight Sun.” He uttered a war whoop and continued his journey.

Next, Little Rabbit came across Tarantula. Tarantula was very smart. He had already heard about Little Rabbit and his deeds. Tarantula had a magic club that could not hurt him, but could hurt others. “I shall be using it to kill Little Rabbit,” Tarantula said to himself. Aloud he said: “Brother, I have a terrific headache. It is caused by an evil spirit inside my skull. Please beat it out of me with this club.”

Little Rabbit pounded Tarantula’s head with the club but could not hurt him. Little Rabbit was smarter than Tarantula. He figured out what Tarantula was up to. He quickly exchanged the club for his magic ball and with it pounded Tarantula’s head to bits. “I am on my way to kill Sun,” Little Rabbit cried. “Now I know I can do it!” He uttered his piercing war cry.

Little Rabbit came to the edge of the world in the east. He was careful not to fall over the edge into bottomless nothingness. He waited for Sun to come up. As soon as Sun did, Little Rabbit shattered his face into a thousand fragments. They were scattered all over the world, setting the earth on fire. The flames burned Little Rabbit’s toes, then his legs, body, and arms, until only his head was left. It rolled on all by itself until the terrible heat burst his swollen eyes, which exploded in a flood of tears that covered the whole earth and put out the fire. It took a long time until Sun and Little Rabbit had re-created themselves. “It seems killing is not the answer,” said Little Rabbit.

{
Omaha
}

Rabbit lived alone in his tipi—alone except for his grandmother. Every morning Rabbit went out to hunt with his bow and arrows and always someone long and black followed his footstep. Whenever Rabbit looked back, the long black one was there. Rabbit could not shake him. It seemed as if he were stuck to Rabbit’s heels.

Rabbit was scared of whoever was following. He said to himself: “I will get up very early, before that long, black fellow.” But it was no use. The stranger kept dogging his trail. This went on day after day. Rabbit was angry. One evening, after he came home, he made himself a snare out of his bowstring.

“Why are you doing this?” his grandmother asked.

“Because someone is always following me,” Rabbit answered. “I am fed up with this. I will trap him.” He put the snare along his footprints.

In the morning, when Rabbit checked his snare, he saw that he had caught something. It was blindingly bright and very hot. He ran back to his tipi. “Grandmother,” he said, “I have caught something terribly bright and scorching. I am afraid of it. But I want to get my bowstring back.” He took his knife and went to where his snare was.

The thing he had caught in his trap was very angry. It shouted: “You no-good fellow, how dare you set a snare for me? Cut me loose at once or I’ll burn you to ashes!”

Rabbit wanted to obey but was afraid to come too near. The thing was so hot that already the grass around it was smoldering. “Who are you?” Rabbit asked.

“They call me Sun,” the glowing thing answered. “Why do you keep standing there with your mouth open? Miserable oaf, use your knife to cut me loose. Hurry!”

Rabbit crept near to the thing on his belly, stretching his arm, holding the knife as far out as he could. Quickly he cut the bowstring. At once Sun rose into the sky and lit up the world. Of course, the somebody who had followed his footsteps had been his own shadow. Coming so near to Sun, Rabbit had been burned between his shoulder blades. Ever since then he has a dark, reddish spot there.

{
Cherokee
}

The Possum used to have a long, bushy tail, and was so proud of it that he combed it out every morning and sang about it at the dance, until the Rabbit, who had had no tail since the Bear pulled it out, became very jealous and made up his mind to play the Possum a trick.

There was to be a great council and a dance at which all the animals were to be present. It was the Rabbit’s business to send out the news, so as he was passing the Possum’s place he stopped to ask him if he intended to be there. The Possum said he would come if he could have a special seat, “because I have such a handsome tail that I ought to sit where everybody can see me.” The Rabbit promised to attend to it and to send someone besides to comb and dress the Possum’s tail for the dance, so the Possum was very much pleased and agreed to come.

Then the Rabbit went over to the Cricket, who is such an expert hair cutter that the Indians call him the barber, and told him to go next morning and dress the Possum’s tail for the dance that night. He told the Cricket just what to do and then went on about some other mischief.

In the morning the Cricket went to the Possum’s house and said he had come to get him ready for the dance. So the Possum stretched himself out and shut his eyes while the Cricket combed out his tail and wrapped a red string around it to keep it smooth until night. But all this time, as he wound the string around, he was clipping off the hair close to the roots, and Possum never knew it.

When it was night the Possum went to the lodge where the dance was to be and found the best seat ready for him, just as the Rabbit had promised. When his turn came in the dance he loosened the string from his tail and stepped into the middle of the floor. The drummers began to drum and the Possum began to sing, “See my beautiful tail.” Everybody shouted, and he danced around the circle and sang again, “See what a fine color it has.” They shouted again, and he danced around another time, singing, “See how it sweeps the ground.” The animals shouted more loudly than ever, and the Possum was delighted. He danced around again and sang, “See how fine the fur is.”

Then everybody laughed so long that the Possum wondered what they meant. He looked around the circle of animals and they were all laughing at him. Then he looked down at his beautiful tail and saw that there was not a hair left upon it, but that it was as bare as the tail of a lizard. He was so much astonished and ashamed that he could not say a word, but rolled over helpless on the ground and grinned, as the Possum does to this day when taken by surprise.

{
Creek
}

The Rabbit had so often deceived mankind that a council was held to try him and, being found guilty, he was condemned to death by drowning. A box was made and he was put into it, carried to the banks of a stream, and left there for a while. A little child came to the box during the absence of the people and, discovering the Rabbit, asked him what he was doing there.

“Oh, I am listening to the sweetest music in the world,” said he.

“Let me get in there, too,” begged the child. So the Rabbit told the child how to open the box, and once Rabbit was out and the child was fastened in, away he ran into the forest.

When the people returned they lifted the box and threw it into the stream and said: “There, we will never be troubled by the Rabbit again.” The next busk came, when every criminal is free to return, and hardly had the dancing ground been swept clean when in jumped the Rabbit, all dressed in red, and danced with the pretty girls, while all the people stood amazed.

“Did we not drown him?” they said. “We put him in a box and threw him into the water, yet here he is.”