Post by Okwes on Apr 9, 2008 16:08:09 GMT -5
Fox and Deer - Apache.
As Fox was going along he met a Deer with two spotted fawns beside her. "
What have you done," said he, "to make your children spotted like that?" "I
made a big fire of cedar wood and placed them before it. The sparks thrown
off burned the spots which you see," answered the Deer. Fox was pleased with
the color of the fawns, so he went home and told his children to gather
cedar wood for a large fire. When the fire was burning well, he put the
young foxes in a row before the fire, as he supposed the Deer had done. When
he found that they did not change color, he pushed them into the fire and
covered them with ashes, thinking he had not applied sufficient heat at
first. As the fire went out, he saw their white teeth gleaming where the
skin had shriveled away and exposed them. "Ah, you will be very pretty now,"
said he. Fox pulled his offspring from the ashes, expecting to find them
much changed in color, and so they were, -- black, shriveled, and dead. Fox
next thought of revenge upon the Deer, which he found in a grove of
cottonwoods. He built a fire around them, but they ran through it and
escaped. Fox was so disappointed that he set up a cry of woe, a means of
expression, which he has retained from that day to this.
Myths of the Jicarilla Apache ,Russell, Frank ,Newell, William Wells
As Fox was going along he met a Deer with two spotted fawns beside her. "
What have you done," said he, "to make your children spotted like that?" "I
made a big fire of cedar wood and placed them before it. The sparks thrown
off burned the spots which you see," answered the Deer. Fox was pleased with
the color of the fawns, so he went home and told his children to gather
cedar wood for a large fire. When the fire was burning well, he put the
young foxes in a row before the fire, as he supposed the Deer had done. When
he found that they did not change color, he pushed them into the fire and
covered them with ashes, thinking he had not applied sufficient heat at
first. As the fire went out, he saw their white teeth gleaming where the
skin had shriveled away and exposed them. "Ah, you will be very pretty now,"
said he. Fox pulled his offspring from the ashes, expecting to find them
much changed in color, and so they were, -- black, shriveled, and dead. Fox
next thought of revenge upon the Deer, which he found in a grove of
cottonwoods. He built a fire around them, but they ran through it and
escaped. Fox was so disappointed that he set up a cry of woe, a means of
expression, which he has retained from that day to this.
Myths of the Jicarilla Apache ,Russell, Frank ,Newell, William Wells