MooNEY] NOTES AND I'AKALLELS 449 



17. How Till-; Kabbit stoi.k tiik Otter's <(iat (p. 2t)7): Tliis .-^tory is well kiiuwn 

 in the tribe and was heard from several informants, both east and west. Nothing 

 is said as to how the Otter recovered liis coat. Tt has exact parallels in the Creek 

 myths of the Tuggle collection, in one of wliich the Ralibit tries to per.sonate a boy 

 liero by stealing his coat, while in another he plays a trick on the Lion (Panther) liy 

 throwing hot coals over him while asleej), at a creek which the Kalibit savH is calleii 

 "Throwing-hot-ashes-on-you." 



18. Why the I'ossu.m's tail js bake (p. 2(>fl): This story was heard from several 

 informant-s, east and wc^^t. In one variant the hair clipping was done by the iloth, 

 and in another by the .sjiells of the Snail, who is represented as a magician. The 

 vei'sion here given is the most connnon, and agrees best with the Cherokee folklore 

 concerning the Cricket (see mmdteroH, "The Smaller Reptiles, Fishes, and Insects"). 



In the Creek myth, as given in th(! Tnggle collection, the Opossum burneil the 

 hair from his tail in trying to put rings upon it like those of the Raccoon's tail, and 

 grins from chewing a bitter oak ball wliich he mistook for a ripened fruit. 



The anatomical peculiarities ot the opossum, of both sexes, have occasioned niucli 

 speculation among the Indians, many of whoni believe that tlie female produces 

 her young without any help from the male. The Creeks, according to the Tuggle 

 manu.script, believe that the young are born in the pouch, from the breathing nf the 

 female against it when curled up, and even Lawson and Timberlake assert that tliey 

 are born at the teat, from which they afterward drop ijff into the pouch. 



.1 rounc'd and a Uance — In the old days, as to-day among tlie remcjte Western tribes, 

 every great council gathering was made the occasion of a series of dances, accompa- 

 nied always by feasting and a general good time. 



19. How THE Wildcat caught the Gobbler (p. 269): This story was heard from 

 .John Ax and David Blythe (east) and from AVafford and Boudinot (west). The 

 version given below, doctore<l to suit the white man's idea, apjiears without signa- 

 ture in the Cherokee A<lvocate of Decendaer IS, 1845: 



" There was once a flock of wild turkeys feeding in a valley. As they fed they 

 heard a voice singing. They soon discovered that tiie nujsician was a hare, and the 

 burden of his song was that he had a secret in his breast which he would on no 

 account divulge. The curiosity of the turkeys was excited, and they entreated the 

 hare to tell tiiem the secret. This he finally consented to do if they would procure 

 for him the king's daughter for his wife and go with him and dance around their 

 enemy. They engaged to do all, and the hare led them to where a wildcat lay 

 apparently dead. The luire prevailed upon them to close their eyes as they danceil. 

 The wildcat meanwhile silently arose and killed several of them before the rest found 

 out what a snare they had been caught in. By this artifice on the part of the wild- 

 eat, seconded by the hare, the former had a sumptuous repast." 



This, with its variants, is one of the most widespread of the animal myths. The 

 same story told by the Cherokee, identical even to the song, is given in the Cicek 

 collection of Tuggle, with the addition that the Rabl)it's tail is afterward bitten off 

 by the enraged Turkeys. In another Creek version, eviilently a later invention, the 

 Raccoon jilays a similar trick upon the Deer for the benefit of the Panther. The Kiowa 

 of thes(iUtliern plains tell liow the hungry trickster, Sinti, entices a nundierof prairie 

 dogs to come near him, under pretense of teaching them a new dance, and then 

 kills all but one, while they are dancing around him, according to instruction, with 

 their eyes shut. With the Omaha the Rabbit liiinself captures the Turkeys while 

 they dance around, with idosed eyes, to his singing (Dorsey, "The Rabbit and the 

 Turkeys," and " Ictinike, tlie Turkeys, Turtle, and Elk," in Contributions to North 

 American Ethnology, vi). The .same stratagem, with only a change of names, 

 recurs in am ither Omaha story, "The Raccoon and the Crabs," of the same col lection, 

 and in a Cheyenne story ni White-man (A. I,. Kroeber, Cheyenne Tales, in .Tonrnal 



lit KTH— (11 2'.) 



