WHY THE DEER HAS BLUNT TEETH Cherokee One day after the race which they did not run, Rabbit stretched a large grapevine across the trail, gnawing it nearly in two in the middle. Then he went back on the trail, took a run, and jumped up at the vine. He did this again and again. At last Deer came along and asked him to tell what he was doing. “Don’t you see?” said Rabbit. “I’m so strong I can bite through that grapevine at one jump.” Deer said, “Do it.” Rabbit ran back, made a long leap, and bit through the vine where he had gnawed it before. Deer said, “Well, I can do it if you can.” So Rabbit stretched a larger grapevine across the trail but without gnawing it in the center. Deer ran back as he had seen Rabbit do, made a spring, and struck the grapevine right in the center. It only flew back and threw him over. Deer tried again and again, but he was only bruised and hurt. “Let me see your teeth,” said Rabbit. They were long like a wolf’s teeth but not very sharp. “No wonder you cannot do it,” said Rabbit. “Your teeth are too blunt to bite anything. Let me sharpen them for you so they are like mine. My teeth are so sharp I can cut through a stick just like a knife.” And Rabbit showed Deer a black locust twig, of which rabbits gnaw the young shoots, which he had shaved off as well as a knife could do it. So Deer let Rabbit sharpen his teeth. But Rabbit got a hard stone with rough edges and ground down the Deer’s teeth until they were blunt. “Now try it,” said Rabbit to Deer. So Deer tried it again, but he could not bite at all. “Now you’ve paid for your horns,” said Rabbit as he sprang through the underbrush. That is why the Deer’s teeth are blunt.
Posted on: Mon, 08 Sep 2014 20:45:10 +0000
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