Читать книгу The First Americans: Legends, Folklore & Myths Across the U.S.A. - Phyllis Ph.D. Goldman - Страница 9

During a time when the Sun was very close to the Earth, there lived a great buzzard known as Chaska. The large black bird spent all of his days soaring over the forests of Delaware. On a hot summer's day, Chaska soon became tired and thirsty from the blistering Sun beating down on his black feathers.

As he swooped down to a river close by, Chaska quickly saw that river was almost dried up. The buzzard was so thirsty, he began to drink what little water was left.

While Chaska was drinking the water, a fox came running up to him saying "Stop Chaska, don't drink the water! That is all the water left in the forest!" The buzzard looked up at him and asked, "Why is the river so dry? There was a great rain a couple of days ago." The fox explained to him, "The Sun is too close to the Earth which is causing the rivers to dry up. Chaska please help us, you are the only one who can reach the Sun."

Seeing the worried look on the fox's face, Chaska decided to help save the forest from drying up. The giant bird began to fly directly towards the Sun in hopes of pushing it further away from the Earth. With all of his strength, Chaska flew higher and higher into the blistering sky. As he approached the Sun, his black feathers became extremely hot. Yet Chaska knew was the only one who could reach the Sun and continued to fly closer.

As he flew closer, his feathers were far too weak to lift up the Sun. Chaska, being the great brave bird he was, lifted the Sun with his feathered head and pushed it up into the sky. Unfortunately the Sun burned off all of the feathers on his head, leaving it bald and red.

Soon after the great buzzard had moved the Sun back into the sky, the rivers were no longer dry. The forest animals were so grateful for Chaska and thanked him for his bravery. Chaska promised to always soar across the forest to watch over the land.