Subject: Coyote, Raven and Jackrabbit
From: awright@falcon.cc.ukans.edu
(Ashley Wright)
Date: 19 Oct 94 13:58:53 CDT
(This is a continuation of a fable- part one is strictly background stuff, contains no spanking, and is posted under the same title with the addition of (a fable))
**No animals were harmed in the production of this fantasy.**
Father Sky and his eldest son, Eagle, were going to the north country to hunt elk for the winter. Mother Earth made beautiful blankets and moccasins from the soft elkskin and with the cold weather coming, the meat and tallow would be appreciated. As Father Sky's eldest son, Eagle had the honored responsibility of leading the other youths in the hunting party, all of whom had been chosen for their strength, swiftness, bravery and wit. Bear, Wolf, Badger and Lynx would be joining him on this hunting expedition, and as a special treat, little Fox was allowed to come along since although she was the smallest and youngest and a girl, she was also swift, cunning and brave. It was she who had suggested that two of the hunters wait in a tree and shoot at the elk from overhead, while the others hid in the bushes and attacked their quarry from the sides. Mother Earth had made Fox a brand new jacket of red cloth with a beautiful sunburst woven into the back in honor of her first hunt.
To get to the north country where the elk and caribou roamed, the hunting party had to pass through the Badlands, the exclusive territory of those three tricksters, Coyote, Raven and Jackrabbit. But none of the brethren worried about being waylaid by the trio, after all, they were travelling with Father Sky. Even the incorrigable cousins wouldn't be so rash as to misbehave when he was around, or so they thought. Actually, the three tricksters were eagerly scheming nasty pranks to play on them. The first thing to do, of course, was to get Father Sky out of the way. The hunting party had been travelling many miles and were tired and hungry by the time they reached the Badlands, which was right on the edge of the world. Father Sky proposed they go ahead and make camp in the Badlands for the night, and get an early start for the north counrty in the morning. "If we travel on now, it will soon be dark. This way, we can make camp and start a fire before we're too tired."
Although they didn't want to spend the night in the Badlands, the brethren had to agree with Father's logic. "Besides," Fox added, already unrolling her saddle blanket, "it's easier to make camp with Selo helping us than if we had to rely on Luma." Brother Bear pulled her hood over her head playfully, warning her, "You'd better not let Luma hear you say that!"
For she was jealous, and might go away for days at a time and the green corn wouldn't sweeten until she returned. Corn that ripened under Luma's full glow was the sweetest and juiciest, and if she was insulted and decided to go away and sulk, the fall crop would be withered and tough, deprived of the nourishing milk of the moon. The little band of hunters unrolled their saddle blankets and took from their knapsacks the cornbread and dried meat that Mother Earth had packed them. Then they prepared to make camp for the night. Eagle and Wolf gathered mesquite wood to make a campfire; Bear and Badger, gathering brush, found a bee and asked if it would show them where to find a honey tree and followed it over a small precipice, promising to bring back plenty of sweet honeycomb. Father Sky went off to the creek to go get water, leaving Lynx and Fox to finish setting up for the night and tether the horses. While they were feeding some sweet wild oats to Fox's spotted pony, Lynx suddenly spied movement in a patch of sagebrush across the mesa. His keen eye narrowed as he watched the slight movement... and suddenly, he gave a whoop of excitement and sprang upon his own brindled pony, uncoiling his rope bridle and calling over his shoulder to Fox, "Stay with the horses, little sister! I'm going to get us some meat!" Lynx's sharp eyes had spied a covey of prairie chickens nesting down for the night. On his swift pony, it was only a moment before he had reached the sagebrush and flushed out the game hens, and he skillfully whipped their necks with his rope bridle, snapping their heads backwards and killing them instantly. Fox watched her older brother with admiration- and reflected excitedly on how pleased Father would be when he returned from getting the water to find the two youngest members of the party had brought back good meat!
Fox was remembering how Mother had taught her to dress a game hen, when from behind her a little voice said, "I want your jacket."
Fox spun around in surprise and found herself staring eye to eye with none other than the mischievous Jackrabbit! "Well, you can't have it," Fox answered her rudely, "Mother made it for me for my first hunt."
"But it's just my size," Jackrabbit protested, "it would look really good on me. Just let me try it on." she batted her big brown eyes appealingly at her cousin, but Fox was stubborn. She could see through Jackrabbit's tricks- if she let her try on that jacket, Jackrabbit would turn tail and run away swifter than lightening, and Fox would never see her beautiful red jacket again! Fox shook her head and said firmly, "Leave me alone. My Father told me to tend to the horses, and he'll be angry if he comes back and I haven't done it."
But Jackrabbit wouldn't leave her alone, she tagged after Fox as closely as if she were her very shadow, and hampered everything she tried to do. Jackrabbit loosened the tether harnesses when Fox wasn't looking, then snuck up behind Father Sky's handsome black stallion and beat her drum fiercely. The horse reared up in horror, thinking it was an earthquake, and all the other horses followed his example and became terrified. Fox had to leap out of the way or be trampled- all the horses ran down the mesa, snorting and rolling their eyes in terror, as Jackrabbit chased them beating her drum fiercely and laughing.
Fox was angry and frightened, none of this would have happened if Lynx hadn't gone away! She was afraid Father Sky would be angry and send her home, and she didn't know how to make the horses come back. Poor Fox sat down on a rock, pulled her hood over her head and began to cry.
Meanwhile, Lynx had caught enough prairie chickens for a good meal and had just turned around to head back to the campsite, when he heard the distant drumming. Riding back in the direction of the noise, he was surprised to find all their horses charging over the mesa straight at him! A stampede! Something had frightened the horses and Fox might be hurt- Lynx had to get back to make sure his sister was safe but for the moment he had no choice but to ride alongside the frantic horses and try to figure out how to calm them. He was swept along with the stampeding horses and realised suddenly they were approaching an area of the mesa that was walled in by high cliffs on three sides- a box canyon. The horses were being driven! Lynx angrily pulled to the left, separating his pony from the wildly racing steeds, and half circled back around to see just who was stealing their horses. Running at the back of the procession, her eyes sparkling and not even out of breath, was Jackrabbit, beating her drum to spur the horses on! Lynx was so angry when he saw his mischievous cousin that gnashed his teeth. "Jackrabbit!" he shouted, "Stop it! What do you think you're doing?! Where's my sister? If you've hurt her, I swear--"
"Oh, don't be such a spoilsport," Jackrabbit retorted, throwing the drum back over her shoulder and putting her hands on her slim hips. "Nobody got hurt, it's just an innocent little joke. Your sister's fine, but I really think she's too young to leave out here all by herself at nighttime."
Once the drumming ceased, the horses calmed down and the weary and sweat lathered beasts smelled the water of the river running through the canyon. They approached it, suddenly docile, to drink. Stupid beasts, cursed Lynx inwardly. He turned back to face Jackrabbit, his fists clenched menacingly. "You little troublemaker," he began, "I'd like to take my harness rope and whip your little backside until you couldn't see straight!"
"Go ahead and try, Lynx- if you can catch me!" Jackrabbit stuck her pink tongue out at her angry cousin, and in the blink of an eye, she'd disappeared, leaving only a thin cloud of dust in her wake.
Lynx cursed under his breath and trudged over to the river, trying to figure out the best way to get the horses back to camp. Selo was sinking low over the horizon, and the first stars were coming out. Father and the others would be worried soon, and Fox was probably terrified, convinced he'd left her all alone. Lynx vowed to get revenge on his prankish cousin for this trick...
Meanwhile, Bear and Badger had followed the honeybee to a tree whose trunk had been split open by a bolt of lightening. It had been converted into a massive hive, and fairly buzzed with the activity of the multitude of bees within. Runnels of sticky golden honey coated the sides, and Bear and Badger exchanged eager looks. How pleased Father would be when he came back and found that they had brought back such a treat! Both brothers had extremely tough skin and so they weren't afraid of the bees buzzing around their heads as they reached into the tree trunk to scoop out the sweet delicacy. Besides, the bee had showed them to the tree willingly, so they had leave to take what they wanted. The bees knew that the brothers would take no more than they needed. As the eagerly reached into the hollow and withdrew the first sticky handfuls, however, Bear and Badger were startled to hear a shout from behind them.
"Hey! Drop that! I was here first- this is my tree!" the stranger angrily insisted. Bear and Badger turned around, licking a few sticky droplets from their wrists, and came face to face with the scowling countenance of Coyote, Jackrabbit's crafty cohort.
"There's plenty of honey here to share," Badger said, offering Coyote a handful. "We only want enough for our dinner, and to share with Father Sky and our brothers and sister. You'll have lots of honey left."
Coyote slapped the honeycomb from Badger's paw and drew his hands into fists. "I say, this is my tree and my honey, and if you want it, you'll have to fight me for it!"
"Don't be so greedy, Coyote," Bear scolded his cousin, "You couldn't eat all that honey by yourself anyway."
"It isn't your honey- the bee showed us to the tree and it's the bees' decision to let us take it, not yours," added Badger. He turned to his brother and said, "Come on, Bear, there's plenty for the three of us."
"Fine!" retorted Coyote, "Go ahead then, but you'll be sorry! I hope you both get stung!!" he then turned his attention to the bees, shouting at them, "Oh, sure, you'll let them take your honey and not me!" He kicked the tree angrily and a cloud of bees arose from it in response, buzzing angrily. Coyote yelped as he was stung on the nose and ran away, shouting curses and dire threats until he disappeared in the hills. "I'll get you two! OW! Just you wait! Yipe! That lousy honey's no good anyway- I hope it makes you sick! Yeek!!"
Badger and Bear just laughed and continued collecting their prize. Had they been wiser, they would have gone straight back to Father Sky and told him what happened, but they were young and fearless. What could skinny, blustering Coyote do to them?
While Fox was sitting on the boulder, the sky growing darker, and wondering if something terrible had happened to Lynx and she should go find help, the third and final of the mischievous cousins came upon her.
"Why, Fox," Raven exclaimed in his charming way, "what a pleasure to meet you here, and dressed so stylishly! My dear, that's a beautiful jacket, you must be very proud of it."
Fox sniffled and refused to answer. The crafty Raven sat down right beside her and took her slender chin in his hand tenderly.
"You've been crying! What's the matter, darling, tell Cousin all about it. Are you lost?"
Although she distrusted Raven, Fox was frightened and lonely and eventually succumbed to the soothing voice and friendly words of her cousin. She told how Jackrabbit had frightened off the horses, and how Lynx had gone away and left her, and she was cold and hungry and afraid that Father Sky would be angry at her when he found out what had happened.
"That is a sad story," Raen said, sympathetically, "hmmm, maybe you should have given Jackrabbit your coat after all."
"But my Mother-" Fox began to protest, but Raven quickly went on, soothingly, "There, it's all right, Fox, I'm sure your Father won't be too angry at you- if you tell him right away. In fact, he probably won't even whip you too severely." Fox's eyes widened at this, and she began crying anew. Raven patted her shoulder in pseudosympathy.
"I think we should go tell him right now," he suggested, "and maybe if you offer to let Jackrabbit have your coat, he'll just let you off with a sound thrashing and won't send you home in disgrace."
Fox certainly didn't like the prospect, but she would rather die than be sent home. She had been so proud to be included on this hunting trip! So, numbed by fear about the horses and Lynx, feeling guilty and urged on by the persuasive Raven, Fox reluctantly led him back to camp.
Oh, what will happen when Father Sky hears about this? And who will wind up with that gorgeous red jacket?
J A C K R A B B I T
(I look great in red)