Turtle lived alone in a lake
Turtle would get hit by something several times, but didn’t know what it was (couldn’t see it)
Turtle goes to the woods to get help; Deer agrees to help
Turtle asks to see Deer’s fighting ability; Deer fights a tree and breaks his antlers
Turtle says Deer won’t last long enough; Bear offers to help
Bear fights a tree, looks clumsy jumping around while fighting
Turtle says Bear won’t last long enough; crowd of small turtles come out and offer to help
Crowd of turtles fight Turtle to prove abilities; Turtle approves of their fighting
Turtle leads small turtles to the lake; Turtle leaves them and goes home
Big stone falls on the small turtles, killing them
Turtle runs outside to see commotion, sees big Thunderbird
Muskrat explains that is the Thunderbird and he is very scary
Turtle now stays in the water during a thunderstorm
The Making of Lakes and Mountains
Group of bears steal a woman; made to obey them
Woman comes up with a plan to escape
Woman combs/gathers their hair in a pile; also gathered hair oil, sharpening stone, red Earth pigment
Bear/Woman gather wood, Bear walking slow because he has a lot on his back, Woman has small bundle in her arms
Woman runs back to the house ahead of Bear, grabs hair/oil/stone/pigment and runs away
Bears notice she’s gone and chase her; when bears get close, woman pours out some hair oil, and it turns into a lake
Runs some more, breaks off some sharpening stone, it turns into a mountain
Snowbirds surround her, pours red Earth pigment; snowbirds flock to it to paint their faces
Throws hair on ground, turns into a mass of fallen trees to impede the Bears
Bears get closer; woman shoves the comb into the ground, turns into a bunch of mountains
Bears cannot get over them, so they have to go around
Snowbirds surround her; does the same pigment trick
Makes another mountain with whetstone
Birds surround her again; combines hair/oil to create a lake with fallen trees in it
Woman gets to the seashore, asks a man in a canoe to let her go with him
She gets in; Bears catch up, jump in water and swim after her
Man puts a carved club in the water, killing all the Bears
Coyote comes across an underground house
Rock Rabbit People live there- very small and short
Coyote wants to eat them; kills them, ties them up, and carries them off
Coyote finds a tree, makes a fire pit of rocks, puts in rabbits, covers it with leaves and dirt; takes a nap while they cook
Fox sees Coyote/fire pit, digs up the rabbits and eats half
Coyote awakens, tells Fox to leave him some
Coyote too sleepy/lazy to stop him, Fox eats all of them
Coyote wakes up and is mad at Fox, follows him to see Fox sleeping under a tree
Coyote uses magic to make tree fall on Fox, tree misses Fox though
Fox leaves and falls asleep in thick/tall rye grass
Coyote sets grass on fire, Fox wakes up and leaves before fire gets him
Fox goes to where a lot of rabbits are; Coyote sets another fire- rabbits run out everywhere
Fox leaves, Coyote goes for the rabbits
Coyote travels to a magpie area, catches many magpies, makes a robe of their skins
Coyote sees Fox wearing a beautiful robe of silver-fox skins and golden eagle feathers
Coyote offers to trade robes, Fox refuses; Coyote steals robe and runs away
Fox makes magic wind blow; Robe blows off of Coyote’s body and comes back to Fox
Coyote goes to find his old magpie robe, which is gross and broken
Fox wore his silver robe until he became an ordinary fox, robe turns into his beautiful silver fur
Silver Fox, via the Untextbook
Story Source: Myths and Legends of British North America by Katharine Berry Judson (1917)
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