Читать книгу The First Americans: Legends, Folklore & Myths Across the U.S.A. - Phyllis Ph.D. Goldman - Страница 7

One day, Bear was walking through the woods, thinking about how thirsty he was. He came to a clearing in the trees and saw a lake of fresh water.

"Aahhh," he said, "just what I need!"

Bear went up to the edge of the lake, and as he lowered his head to drink, he saw his reflection. Liking what he saw, Bear turned and turned, looking at himself with pride and admiration. He especially liked the way his long bushy tail looked. Excited about this discovery, Bear went up to every animal in the forest and told them about his beautiful, long furry tail.

Bear showed it off to everyone, saying, "My tail is much more beautiful than yours. Just look at it!"

All the animals in the forest got very tired of hearing about his tail, but because of Bear's big teeth and sharp claws, they were afraid to tell him that he was being too pompous.

That winter, Bear was walking by the same lake and saw Fox sitting near a fishing hole in the frozen lake with a big pile of fish.

"Wow!" Bear said. "How did you catch all those fish?"

Now Fox was a trickster and was very tired of hearing about Bear's long, beautiful tail. Fox decided to teach Bear a lesson.

"Well I caught them with my tail!" Fox said. "All you have to do is stick your tail down into the fishing hole and the fish will bite at it. Then, when you feel one really grab on tight, you jump out of the water!

But you have to wait a long time and be very patient for the right bite, otherwise you will not catch any big fish."

"Well my tail is so long and beautiful that every fish in the lake will try to bite it. I can certainly catch more fish than you, Fox."

Fox took Bear to a hole in the ice to catch fish. Bear sat down and stuck his tail in the icy cold water. "Now," Fox said, "remember you have to be very patient. I want you to count to the highest number you can think of, and by then you will know the right time to jump out with a fish. Do not move until you can not count any higher."

"Okay, I will not move," said Bear.

"And I am going to go back to the den and make my fish so that I do not scare any fish away from you," said Fox.

So Bear sat and counted. He counted and counted until he became sleepy and when he closed his eyes, he just kept counting. Soon Bear was asleep. Overnight, a great snow had fallen, but Bear was still asleep.

The next day, Fox came back to the spot where Bear was sleeping with his tail in the lake. Seeing that Bear's tail was frozen in the water, Fox thought, "Aha! My plan has worked!"

Slowly Fox crept up to Bear, and when he was right next to him, Fox tapped Bear on the shoulder and shouted, "WAKE UP! WAKE UP! You have so many fish on your tail, Bear! Get up before you lose them!"

Bear was surprised and before he could feel anything, he jumped up.

Quickly he turned around to see all the fish his beautiful tail had caught, but when he looked, he did not see a long bushy tail, but just a short stumpy ball of fur.

"Fox! Where is my long beautiful tail? Where did it go?"

"Well," said Fox, "you left it in the water so long that every fish in the lake came to nibble on it. But all you could think about was how beautiful your tail was and how much better than me you would be at catching fish. And you lost your beautiful tail to the water! Now you have nothing to brag about!"

So Bear learned his lesson about being too proud and vain. To this day, all of Bear's descendants have short, fluffy tails to remind them it is best to be humble.