WHY BEAVERS HAVE
LONG TAILSWHY BEAVERS HAVE
LONG TAILS
A NATIVE AMERICAN MYTH BY STEVEN D.
"The end" finished Red Fox
the chief of the tribe.
"Whew! I thought this time would never come!" whispered
Little Bear to his father. It was time for Little Bear's favorite
story, WHY BEAVERS HAVE LONG TAILS. The wise old man came up to
the fire and began his story.
"A long long time ago when the world was first beginning
the creator created beavers. They were a lot like the beavers
today except they didn't have long tails. Only one beaver had
a long tail and that beaver was the chief beaver. He only had
a long tail for show. One day after moving their camp the worker
beavers thought they saw a leak in their new dam but they weren't
worried. They didn't think the leak would get worse. Soon the
small leak turned into a large leak. Then the very next day the
dam collapsed. It wasn't easy to fix the dam because the workers
didn't have long tails and they couldn't pat down the mud that
held the dam together. One week after the dam collapsed the look
out beaver spotted a wolf at the edge of the woods. The beavers
at the camp were too far away to hear the lookout shout a warning.
The lookout couldn't run to camp fast enough. When he reached
the camp the wolf had already attacked the beavers. One week later
a wise old beaver spoke up at a camp meeting . The wise beaver
had an idea. He would ask the creator for long tails. The wise
old beaver said that long tails would help the beavers protect
themselves. By slapping the ground with long tails or by raising
their long tails they could warn the others of danger. Their tails
could also be used as weapons. So they asked the creator for long
tails. The next day when they woke up all the beavers checked
their tails to see if their tails were longer but they hadn't
grown. The beavers, so upset that their tails hadn't grown at
all, complained to the wise beaver. The wise beaver said don't
complain and your tails will grow. Because the beavers thought
his advice hadn't helped them before, the beavers kept on complaining
that their tails hadn't grown. Nine days after the beavers had
asked the creator for long tails they stopped complaining and
to their surprise that's when their tails grew. The next day the
beavers noticed that their tails had grown. When the beavers went
over to the wise old beaver's lodge he was gone. To this day no
beaver knows what became of the wise old beaver. The end"
"I can't believe the story is over" Little bear whisperd
to his father . The campfire had then ended so Little Bear and
his father went back to their wigwam to sleep.
THE END