34 The Skunk 
“In the long ago, a skunk, a coyote, and a rattle- 
snake each had a farm on the top of the Whitestone. 
Those were the days before the skunk «was as odoros 
as he is now, and he was esteemed a good fellow and 
pleasant companion by the other animals. As in 
other smal] communities, jealousies, dissensions, and 
intrigues arose. The result was that the coyote and 
the rattlesnake took a mean advantage of the skunk, 
and one night, when he was asleep, threw him off the 
rock, away down into the river. He was not drowned 
however, but floated on and on, far away to the south 
and west, until he came to the mouth of the river 
where lived a great medicine-man and magician. 
To him the skunk applied for means of revenge, and 
was fitted out with an apparatus warranted to g-ve 
him immunity from, and conquest over, his enemies. 
Back he journeyed along the river to his old home, 
where he arrived safely, much to the surprise of the 
coyote and the rattlesnake. So unpleasant did he 
make it for them, with the pungent burning liquid, 
the gift of the magician, that they soon left him in 
undisturbed possession of his rocky home.” 
The self-confidence of the skunk sometimes causes 
him to become quite aggressive upon a slight pretext. 
John Burroughs, the naturalist, told me of an incident 
of this kind which happened to him a few years ago 
