Oban's Myths & Legends
Coyote brings fire (continued)
Coyote threw the fire into the air towards Squirrel. She caught it in her tail and scampered off over stumps and boulders. The fire scorched her so badly, that her tail curled up over her back. She was almost caught, until Chipmunk bounded up beside her.
"Me! Me! Throw it to me!" Catching the fire, Chipmunk turned to run. One of the hags clawed her back leaving three stripes down it. Chipmunk threw the fire to Frog, but one of the Beings grabbed his tail.
"Let me go!" yelled Frog. He squirmed and struggled so much that his eyeballs bulged and he thought his heart would burst.
With one last mighty leap he tore himself free, leaving his beautiful long tail behind, still wriggling in the hag's claw.
Frog threw the fire to Wood and Wood swallowed it. The Fire Beings hit Wood and kicked him and cut him with their knives, but still Wood didn't spit out the fire.
At
last the hags gave up and went home, mumbling to themselves:
"Oh dear, I think I broke a nail". "Never mind. We'll have frog's
tail soup tonight." "Mmm! That sounds nice".
Coyote called all the animals together to teach them how to get the fire from Wood.
"Fire is a gift for everyone. If you rub two dry sticks of Wood together very fast Wood will get itchy and give you some fire. From now on you will be warm in winter".
"I told you Coyote was cunning" said Frog.
"Yes, but I wonder what frog's tail soup tastes like?" asked Squirrel.
And that is why today, Coyote's tail has a white tip, squirrel's tail curls around over her back, chipmunk's coat has white stripes and frog has no tail.
But everyone is warm in winter.
The End
