The First Americans: Legends, Folklore & Myths Across the U.S.A.. Phyllis Ph.D. Goldman

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lowered his head to drink, he saw his reflection. Liking what he saw, Bear turned and turned, looking at himself with pride and admiration. He especially liked the way his long bushy tail looked. Excited about this discovery, Bear went up to every animal in the forest and told them about his beautiful, long furry tail.

      Bear showed it off to everyone, saying, "My tail is much more beautiful than yours. Just look at it!"

      All the animals in the forest got very tired of hearing about his tail, but because of Bear's big teeth and sharp claws, they were afraid to tell him that he was being too pompous.

      That winter, Bear was walking by the same lake and saw Fox sitting near a fishing hole in the frozen lake with a big pile of fish.

      

"Wow!" Bear said. "How did you catch all those fish?"

      Now Fox was a trickster and was very tired of hearing about Bear's long, beautiful tail. Fox decided to teach Bear a lesson.

      "Well I caught them with my tail!" Fox said. "All you have to do is stick your tail down into the fishing hole and the fish will bite at it. Then, when you feel one really grab on tight, you jump out of the water!

      But you have to wait a long time and be very patient for the right bite, otherwise you will not catch any big fish."

      "Well my tail is so long and beautiful that every fish in the lake will try to bite it. I can certainly catch more fish than you, Fox."

      Fox took Bear to a hole in the ice to catch fish. Bear sat down and stuck his tail in the icy cold water. "Now," Fox said, "remember you have to be very patient. I want you to count to the highest number you can think of, and by then you will know the right time to jump out with a fish. Do not move until you

can not count any higher."

      "Okay, I will not move," said Bear.

      "And I am going to go back to the den and make my fish so that I do not scare any fish away from you," said Fox.

      So Bear sat and counted. He counted and counted until he became sleepy and when he closed his eyes, he just kept counting. Soon Bear was asleep. Overnight, a great snow had fallen, but Bear was still asleep.

      The next day, Fox came back to the spot where Bear was sleeping with his tail in the lake. Seeing that Bear's tail was frozen in the water, Fox thought, "Aha! My plan has worked!"

      Slowly Fox crept up to Bear, and when he was right next to him, Fox tapped Bear on the shoulder and shouted, "WAKE UP! WAKE UP! You have so many fish on your tail, Bear! Get up before you lose them!"

      Bear was surprised and before he could feel anything, he jumped up.

      Quickly he turned around to see all the fish his beautiful tail had caught, but when he looked, he did not see a long bushy tail, but just a short stumpy ball of fur.

      "Fox! Where is my long beautiful tail? Where did it go?"

      "Well," said Fox, "you left it in the water so long that every fish in the lake came to nibble on it. But all you could think about was how beautiful your tail was and how much better than me you would be at catching fish. And you lost your beautiful tail to the water! Now you have nothing to brag about!"

      So Bear learned his lesson about being too proud and vain. To this day, all of Bear's descendants have short, fluffy tails to remind them it is best to be humble.

      The Littlest Fly Flies High

      

Many, years ago when the world was new, a beautiful river flowed through the country. Great numbers of fish lived in the river's sparkling water and many animals went there to drink. The river was important to all of them. It was not long before a giant moose heard about the river. He was very large and drank lots of water. As the moose continued to drink, the river began to dry up.

      The animals started to worry. The beavers were afraid their homes would be destroyed. The muskrats were afraid they would run out of water to drink. The fish were worried most of all. The other animals could live on land, but the fish could not.

      The animals decided to have a meeting to find a way to fill the river with water. They tried their hardest to reach a solution, but they did not have any luck. There was nothing they could do. They had given up hope when the smallest fly spoke up. "I can fill the river with water," he said. All the animals laughed at him.

      "How could a tiny fly carry enough water to fill an entire river?" asked the beavers. "You are too small to do anything. Why don't you just go home?'' said the muskrats. "I think we should at least give him a chance," cried the fish who were becoming more frightened by the minute.

      

The fly was determined to save the river. He took off and flew way up into the sky. He whizzed and whirled through the huge white clouds as he searched for the Great Rain Spirit. The fly spotted the rain spirit off in the distance and landed near the Spirit's ear. "Please help us," the fly said. "The water in the river is running low. Will you please send down some rain to fill the river?

      "It was very brave of you to fly all the way up here," said the Rain Spirit. "From this point forward, I will supply enough rain so that none of you will ever have to worry about water again. Tell the animals that laughed at you that even someone that is very small can overcome the largest of obstacles if they believe in themselves." The fly returned to the ground and told the animals what had happened. At that moment the rains began to fall and as promised, the animals always had enough water to drink.

      How the Buzzard Saved the World

      

During a time when the Sun was very close to the Earth, there lived a great buzzard known as Chaska. The large black bird spent all of his days soaring over the forests of Delaware. On a hot summer's day, Chaska soon became tired and thirsty from the blistering Sun beating down on his black feathers.

      As he swooped down to a river close by, Chaska quickly saw that river was almost dried up. The buzzard was so thirsty, he began to drink what little water was left.

      While Chaska was drinking the water, a fox came running up to him saying "Stop Chaska, don't drink the water! That is all the water left in the forest!" The buzzard looked up at him and asked, "Why is the river so dry? There was a great rain a couple of days ago." The fox explained to him, "The Sun is too close to the Earth which is causing the rivers to dry up. Chaska please help us, you are the only one who can reach the Sun."

      

Seeing the worried look on the fox's face, Chaska decided to help save the forest from drying up. The giant bird began to fly directly towards the Sun in hopes of pushing it further away from the Earth. With all of his strength, Chaska flew higher and higher into the blistering sky. As he

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