408 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 196 



announced that there was to be a race over seven gaps between the 

 Wolf and the Terrapin. 



The day set for the race arrived. The Wolf and the Terrapin 

 started off together. The Wolf started off swiftly, and the Terrapin 

 crawled along as fast as he could. 



As the Wolf was nearing the second gap, someone ahead of him 

 whooped. When the Wolf looked to see who it was, he saw that it 

 was the "Terrapin," crawling along far ahead. The Wolf was much 

 surprised. (He thought it was the Terrapin, but it was only one of 

 the terrapins which had been sent to that place by the Rabbit.) 



When the Wolf came to the spot where he thought he had seen the 

 Terrapin, he did not see anything. The terrapin had hidden among 

 the leaves. 



So the Wolf thought that he had passed the Terrapin, but as he 

 neared the third gap, again he heard someone whoop. Once more 

 the Wolf thought that it was the Terrapin, for he did not know that it 

 was another one of the terrapins, sent there by the Rabbit. 



And so again and again. 



As the Wolf approached the seventh gap, again he saw the "Terra- 

 pin" crawling in front of him, and the "Terrapin" got to the seventh 

 gap ahead of the Wolf. The Wolf was very tired, out of breath, and 

 sweating all over. The "Terrapin" was just as fresh looking as if he 

 had not hurried at all. 



The Terrapin won the race, and everyone made fun of the Wolf 

 because he had lost the race against the slow Terrapin.*^ 



6.— THE RABBIT AND THE TERRAPIN DUPE THE WOLF* 



The Rabbit had a place in the grass where he liked to sit. One 

 day when he was dozing there, he awoke to discover that the Wolf was 

 approaching. The Rabbit ran into his hole. 



The Wolf dug in the earth, first upon the front side of the burrow 

 and then upon the back side, and caught the Rabbit. 



"You mustn't kill me," the Rabbit said. 



"Why not?" asked the Wolf. 



"We have a Judge right here," said the Rabbit. "If he decides 

 that you can kiU me, that will be all right — or he may find some other 

 way of giving you satisfaction." 



They went over to where the Terrapin was sitting. He was the 

 Judge. 



« The motif of a race between the Terrapin and some speedy animal is ubiquitous in the Southeast. 

 Swanton (1929) presents these examples of it: five Creeli (pp. 6^66); one Hitchiti (pp. 101-102); one Alabama 

 (pp. 157-158); one Koasati (p. 201); and one Natchez- Cherokee (p. 252). There Is also a Tasgigi version in 

 Speck (1907, p. 155). Mooney (1900, pp. 270-271) records an Eastern Cherokee specimen of it, and Kil- 

 Patrick and Kilpatrick (1964, pp. 17-19) offer tliree Western Cherokee versions. 



